THE RETURN
Release: 2017
Running time: 95 min
A frame that says, ‘Drink makgeolli (rice wine) here and the one you miss will return’ is hung on the wall of a tavern titled The Return. The tavern’s regulars miss their lost ones.
MIRA STORY
Release: 2015
Running time: 84 min
“Mira Story” follows the lives of individuals who have been suppressed by government policy and is told through the eyes of Mira--jobless and lost--who sees an opportunity for change and healing by bringing thousands of books to a village in Jeju.
This film, “Mira Story,” has received governmental resistance since its release in January 2015, in part because the opening scene involves the Sewol Ferry- the most controversial issue in Korea- and ends at Gang Jeong village, where for eight years the naval base construction site has been a center of protest.
ARI ARI THE KOREAN CINEMA
Release: 2012
Running time: 110 min
Actress Yoon Jin-seo and director Chung Ji-young set out on a journey to diagnose Korean cinema’s future. They meet with and listen to many industry professionals, reading various tensions in their talks. The work derails the conventions of documentary filmmaking. It pauses at times on Korean cinema’s long and winding road, freely interweaving personal spheres and public discourses, there by fashioning itself a history travelogue written not from the perspective of an outsider but on the basis of‘ our’people’s experiences. Its inherent Koreanness becomes clear when subtle conflicts between Yoon and Chung are exposed. What approaches they take, and what stories they want to listen to are as different as what stances they take. As the film goes on, differences between the two turn out to be a piece of history. The director grows hopeful about the new generation’s passion; the actress is optimistic about learning what a film and documentary are. [Ari Ari the Korean Cinema] is a straight forward film that reveals the self-reflective aspects of Korean cinema in the context of both form and content. (LEE Seungmin)