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English reviews! q7 `1 m3 @5 q Z! Q& d0 c" J
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% P9 K$ v% E6 s# \5 C: C3 {+ oSpring in My Hometown, or 'Areumdaun Sijeol' (1998) $ H. f9 A9 L" ^; a! Y
Directed by Lee Kwang-mo
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% N) R* `$ M( `8 ~2 Y% `. ?6 O2 A; F"Spring in My Hometown" is one of the few Korean movies that has been produced about the Korean War, which began in 1950 and ended in 1953. Surprisingly, the movie doesn't show any battle scenes nor war atrocities. Rather, it's focused on describing what happened in a small town from a boy's perspective. Even during and right after the war, life had to go on. Schools, not all of them surely, stayed open and children played war like any other kids in other times. Some less fortunate families fell victim to extreme poverty. The boy's mother had to sell her body to earn the bread for her family. Some mean people made easy money by taking advantage of war-induced, legal loopholes. The movie shows those daily life realities with the war as a backdrop and thereby makes the cruelty of war more noticeable. The scenes are so beautiful that the director's messages are powerful. In addition, many long takes were often used to give the movie an art film quality. It's director Lee Kwang-mo's debut film, and it earned Lee fame at home and aborad. The film was invited to the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes International Film Festival, the first time the honor has been bestowed upon a Korean filmmaker. It won a gold prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival. The films's script that was also wriiten by the director won a Grand Prix at the Hartley-Merill International Screenwriting Contest in 1995. , c9 z5 X/ y1 O( x
% L+ ^- Q& T z% b) }. m% N. kfrom:http://www.korea.net/koreanculture/- f; s6 L4 @& O, Q( C, N0 i
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% G q, o' g" |5 c$ f& hSpring in My Hometown / [$ `9 U! Z7 c# N( s( y* |" q/ \
Lee Kwang-Mo + i9 j7 A( `5 V, L5 i8 o4 a0 R
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Korea
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2 d# f( q3 b( A4 l Spring In My Home Town, directed by first-time helmer Lee Kwang-Mo, is set during the volatile closing months of the Korean War. The movie focuses on the tensions that mount between survivors as the grim hardships of the immediate post-war years in the divided country begin to set in. % K# [1 D& U5 n- y# ?* C
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An old man arouses jealousy by using family connections to get a job on a US military base, while two young boys are forced to grow up after stumbling on a meeting place for American GIs and local prostitutes. Drama and intrigue enter the story when, years later, one of the boys goes missing – and a body is found floating in a swamp. Is it him? 8 C B0 o/ h7 D. g& O, F2 M7 A
Lee spent a full eight years writing the script for Spring. "Expectations run high for his directorial debut," trumpet the producers. 'He is deemed as possessing both literary sensitivity and visual mastery.'
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& F7 c9 y0 Q& V9 W* ?5 y* G# A! ESpring denotes the first move into production by the Korean Film Art Centre (the organisation which Lee himself founded). "We will try to make Spring In My Hometown a film which will embody our people's painful past, sentiments and social conditions," they say. Other investors include Baek Du-Dae Gan along with technology, audio-visual, and software manufacturer SKC Ltd.
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Earlier films that have dealt with the Korean war – a subject that was, until a few years ago, politically taboo – have been artistically successful. Korean master Im Kwon-Taek's epic Taebaek Mountains painted a picture of the devastation caused by both sides to the population – something that didn't go down well with the extreme Korean Right. Two Flags covered a similar theme on a more personal level, while Park Kwang-Su's To The Starry Island looked at wartime feuds that continue to this day.
, h- w. g9 A Z8 J2 v-------Richard James Havis
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from:koreanfilm.org$ U2 X9 _9 N9 W' U0 f# |
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Martin Kohler & u6 {/ n% Z9 f
Pretoria, South Africa. {) x- y, `3 t3 K$ m, e' h
! D0 }6 @" x! G% K/ l6 |' J% lDate: 22 November 2000
! |1 L6 z2 d! mSummary: Beautifully filmed, but an ugly reality.
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An interesting study of the effect of foreign occupation of a small country by a militarily and economically more powerful nation, in this case the de-facto occupation of South Korea by the US during the Korean war. In particular the observation of small details, and in themselves, perhaps insignificant incidents, are brought together with more significant events to show how almost every aspect of life, down to the most intimate and personal details, are affected by the unequal power relationship between the occupier and the subjugated people.
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Except for the opening scene, almost all of the violence and atrocities are off screen, one observes, for example, the expressions on the faces of children turning from inquisitive curiosity to nauseous horror, but not the act that they witness itself. The war, as such, is never shown, but only referred to in title screens reporting some of the most significant events. We see a funeral, but not the killing. To me, this is a very interesting (and in a time where most films rub your nose in graphic and excessive violence, also unusual) technique, because it allows the film to make its point without having to depict what it is actually condemning.
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Admittedly this technique, of only indirectly, or not at all, showing the cardinal incidents, and the overall tendency to view events from a distance (where you can't really recognize characters) made the film very difficult to follow. However once one constructs the sequence of events from the consequences that are shown, the effect is all the more compelling.$ l3 i1 @) {8 F7 ]
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Noods
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. S J- C# J/ Z, {* iDate: 17 June 2000
' `. r9 t+ y; ?- A7 m: @Summary: Too great a distance
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English name: Spring in My Hometown.
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Set in Korea in the early 1950's, family members find tragedy when a small village boy witnesses his mother having sex with an American soldier.
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3 @ C" x% N; m9 W3 f7 zKorean movies are rarely seen in the USA. I gave this film every chance, however with few exceptions most every shot is overly distant from the actors. The pacing becomes slower as the framing becomes wider.
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B7 w6 N+ k' y- ?Kept away at a distance, it is nearly impossible for the viewer to care about the people in the movie.+ G% _( W* ^, ^
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Spring in My Hometown is highly ranked. The shadowed subtitling was very easy to read. Check it out if you find it, but don't plan on being overly enthralled.
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4 [/ x& \* J; J5 V/ \) n- k( t/ Z% iStevie Cho (stevie@unitel.co.kr)
- ^" t7 v9 d6 w" x( \: Z3 C& `" g3 HSeoul, Korea- r( w8 f! j7 q: Y# |9 t
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Date: 30 November 1998
4 @' b. a e: W: J4 u! HSummary: One of the most beautiful films ever made in Korea!' b4 X* M1 Z! Q- j# y3 C+ T3 {
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Korean War can be an out-of-date topic for most Koreans by now, especially for younger generations. The story of two boys during those hard years sounds quite familiar, even somewhat boring. However, when this story is portrayed in such a masterful way, it suddenly gets whole new aspects! Filmed at remote country villages, the movie shows stunning beauties of Korea's four different seasons. And only through this breath-taking scenery, the theme itself obtains its deepness. It's just unforgettable!
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$ e0 [( ], h9 Rreview by Lee Yu-Cheol
6 b2 V1 ]4 z+ g: }6 P9 R$ v6 }! \+ IFebruary 27, 20004 y/ z7 g, e& J3 X) Q
Read: 219
5 y8 a) c8 @1 l( q z$ `Contrast between light and darkness, focusing on images of a road and a flame # Y: a1 F. D) T) h, G" O1 b
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The movie Spring in My Hometown is a beautiful film which draws an attractive picture of our fathers’ and grandfathers' sorrowful, regrettable, and depressed life which cannot be done as beautifully as easily on a pastel canvas. 0 n- K) @1 {* L: X# J: r
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The viewer goes back in a time filled with light and darkness
; N# r! Q L& q: r X' [4 Z2 Vthrough the opening of a well cover to 1952 when few were liberated from an ideology that was deeper and darker than blood. The small town is seen through the eyes of a 12-year old boy, Sung-min where people muddle through their daily routines. His father works for the U.S. army. Because of this, his family can life well in rooms which are Sung-min's house's gate section near a mill that has become a house of prostitution, very typical of those times.
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& S, u8 d w6 ^* h" B7 ]This work is a present by a director from the previous generation that lived with pain, but tried to keep hope. Consequently, the scenes are drawn more beautifully than reality calls for. Sung-min's point of view represents the director, Chang-hee's, youth. Scenes with long takes make the characters move like a backdrop without individuality. The close-ups are limited to the members of Sung-min’s family and Chang-hee. Is it because that the story is a fading memory? Gentle fathers and strong mothers existed, like Chang-hee's mother, who carried the family burdens alone, so mothers could not be anything but strong. * U3 B0 j# y7 N& e: s
! e1 ] o0 a% PAs a contrast to weak fathers, mothers commonly struggled to make a living while the fathers were losing ground everywhere. With no ill intentions, Sung-min's father, like many others at the time, picks up American products to sell for his family, yet when he finds a lighter in his own young son’s bag, he beats him so he will not become like himself. The father is forced to walk through town with the spilt red paint on his clothes in front of his son, and finally is compelled to leave the town with his family. " W! v1 Z$ E: e/ Q
. @9 g+ y: e' n/ f8 |In this movie light is used rarely but intensively. In the first scene the luminance in which people who are compelled to hide partisans' families under the darkened well is round and ardent. But as soon as Sang-un forces his father out, the light goes out and even the darkness disappears, as the yellow and green background is replaced by the fading perception of being in the near distance continues. The panorama is spread with the people's silhouettes in what resembles a two-dimensional world. The film shows us a light-blocked picture like a landscape covered with the green color of moss and the yellow color of old photographs. Light is frequently used for close-up scenes, such as the silhouette of a mother sewing behind the candlelight in the moonlight. Few sights could be more touching that that one. And the mill! Light is thrown into the dark center of this mill, spreading to each corner and creating a faint ambience. This dimming light contrasts with the daytime brilliance coming through the well’s hole, driving Chang-hee’s face into sorrow rather than anger.
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In Spring in My Hometown the flame is the main symbol. In the mill, in the corner of darkness, which the light failed to reach, Chang-hee picked up a lighter. Click! A small, quiet flame! But this tiny spark becomes a fire that burns the whole mill. Sparks shoot up in the air. This fiery blaze is the ceremony of the little crucified boy who resists the adult world. Unwillingly, Chang-hee, who burnt the U.S. Army house is burnt also to erase the sin of adults of which his mother is a part.
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2 \. |4 M2 C0 Q" ?7 a( R/ `The surviving children see their own flame through hers. Fires burst out of hidden places in their minds. Sung-min's lighter, which had been forgotten on the day Chang-hee once came to him, burns again. Sung-min's family leaves their devastated home and seeks a better, more blessed place to start over again.
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2 t$ c- n, `2 n7 OThis movie does not give permission for interpreting any emotions a town with evaporated colors, people moving in monotonous motion, the mill burning scene and the turned face of Chang-hee from the hole in the well are cut by the scenes which follow. A terribly sorrowful history, the people who lived in those times struggled, but the director only watches and gives the audience a glimpse from afar without stepping fully into the past. He only asks you to see the shimmering, beautiful scenes. Dejected fathers swinging their arms from slouched shoulders on narrow and dark side streets!
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* ~+ Y* f( Y' }4 O5 d) lThe director pays his respects to the past generation that came through hard times and raised the next generation with awareness. Led by his voice we are reminded unwillingly yet with reverence, of what we have ignored and put aside. Leaving the theater, I felt deep respect for this generation that survived after long trials and afflictions and their succeeding generations.
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from:http://www.asiandb.com/browse/movie_detail.pfm?code=16&mode=review&num=78
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[ Last edited by 阿韩 on 2004-5-29 at 03:56 AM ] |
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