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fm:koreanfilm.org
Love Talk
by Adam Hartzell
I don't like writing reviews after only one screening of a film. The reason is that I'm well aware of how my feelings and thoughts about a film have occasionally shifted 180 degrees after a second viewing, finding a film I loved less thrilling later, or the reverse, finding a boring film full of wonderful illuminations a second time around. But often circumstances require me to go against my preferences, such as realizing my only opportunity to see a film might be at a festival. And wanting to maximize what I saw at PIFF 2005, I only had one screening of Lee Yoon-ki's Love Talk, a film which premiered at PIFF. The follow-up to his critically successful debut This Charming Girl, I don't find myself talking as lovingly about Love Talk as I do about Lee's debut. This Charming Girl had such an effect on me that I find myself often mis-titling one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands, The Smiths. "This Charming Man" has become This Charming Girl in the mis-connection between my brain and all the other organs that help me speak, demonstrating the huge influence Lee's debut has had on me.
Love Talk intertwines the lives of three individuals of various levels of Korean-Americanization in Los Angeles, California. Sunny (Bae Jong-ok - Chilsu and Mansu, Jealousy Is My Middle Name) works at a "massage" parlor where she obliges all requests except for marriage. Renting a room in her house is Ji-seok (Park Hee-soon - Antarctic Journal), a man who has just come to The States from South Korea. He ends up working at a Korean video store hoping to rekindle what was lost with Young-shin (Park Jin-hee - Byul, Love In Magic) by creating a fateful accident one day in LA's Koreatown. Young-shin is the DJ of a Korean radio program offering advice about romantic relationships.
My disappointment with the film is not due to any feelings that it is formulaic or completely pointless; it simply doesn抰 have an impact on me in either a direct or indirect way. Sunny is perhaps the most interesting character for me. Here Bae again plays a woman who appears to blaze her own trail while negotiating the limited paths this society has left open for her. Next is Ji-seok who seems to float through this world new to him. But Young-shin's character is the least compelling, and with only one screening I can't say particularly why, but I just know I think about her less.
As an English language viewer, unfortunately part of the problem I have initially connecting with these characters and the events in this film is the spoken English from the non-native speakers. Even if English is not the first language of some of these actors and such is in sync with their characters, their English is still stilted in a way dissonant from the real way that English is spoken by non-Native speakers, causing dissonance in an already less accomplished work. But even the Western actors have their troubles conveying sincerity in their dialogue when they are speaking in their native English. Director Lee's opening of the film had me thinking of a great way to deal with the less than stellar performances by Western actors in South Korean films - Don't have them talk at all. The opening has us watch American men walk around the lobby of the modified brothel in a scene that seems right and presents a smooth feel that is disrupted whenever these actors open their mouths. (The exception, if I recall correctly, is Eric Steinberg who plays Sunny's security guard lover Andy, whose portrayal had me intrigued about his character). Again, I am speaking from my perspective of this film as a native English speaker. I have been told by some Korean language speakers that South Korean films I greatly enjoy have characters who deliver their Korean dialogue quite poorly. So Koreans watching this film with less familiarity with English might be less likely to have the reaction I had to this film, so I'm curious what the Korean receptions to Love Talk will be. But I'm always curious about that anyway, just more curious this time around.
Still, with such a disappointing sophomore effort, was This Charming Girl just a fluke? Was it really just Kim Ji-soo who made Lee's debut so impressive? (And stay seated, you'll be rewarded with a very brief appearance of Kim's Jeong-hye.) Well, Kim's performance was truly the surgical thread that sutured us up to find Jeong-hye so endearing. But Lee showed his chops as well with his refusal to chop away from scenes too quickly, allowing the peculiar charms of our lead to seep into our bodies through our eyes. He truly enhanced the character that Kim brought to the screen. In the end, I think Lee simply tried to tackle too much here with Love Talk. Perhaps a single character in LA's Koreatown would have sufficed, leaving us focusing on Sunny and how her life doesn't allow for much demonstration of how eponymous her name might be. I was impressed enough with Bae's performance in Jealousy Is My Middle Name, leading me to believe she could pull it off on her own. However, at the press screening (not at PIFF, but later before its official release), both Lee and Bae said the opposite. Apparently there were three other characters whose deeper lives were cut from the film. Lee appeared to regret cutting these lives away and Bae feels their absence limits the film.
Perhaps a second viewing will change my mind, and LJ Films might provide me that opportunity since they hold the U.S. rights to the film. I doubt another viewing will sway me towards a greater appreciation for Love Talk, but I've been surprised before. (Adam Hartzell) |
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发表于 2005-11-10 01:14
发表于 2005-12-21 22:59