As promised, I went to the 19회 부산국제영화제 (19th Annual Busan International Film Festival). In short, cinema dopeness.

First off, I didn’t get to stay there as long as I wanted due to lack off Cinemaphile tickets, an upcoming midterm, and the fact that I was with friends that wanted to also head to another festival. In lieu of train, we made it to Busan by about a 5 hour long bus ride. Tiring but we survived. Following a quick lunch at the terminal, we made it over to Haeundae to enjoy check out the completion of BIFF Village. Being Busan’s most notable beach, it would also serve home to a bunch of celebrity and filmmaker discussions, short outside screenings, sponsor tents and displays, and much more.

Following the BIFF Village, we basically spent the rest of the night walking and talking around Busan’s coastline and just checking out parts of the city. The travel did kill us a bit and we knew we had to wake up early for tickets, so right after getting desert for dinner, we (excluding Emily for the night) headed over to crash at a 찜질방 for the night.

Back up dark and early at 4:30AM, we got ready and headed out to the Cinema Center Ticket box immediately. Although we weren’t the first in line by choosing not to camp over night, I’d say our placement in line wasn’t too bad.

So keeping conversation to keep us alive (and eventually some 편의점 breakfast), the box office opened in no time. So if you didn’t manage to get one of the online reservations, BIFF saves 20% of theater seats for same-day purchase only. I already had a reservation for an Italian feature, but I was determined to see “Boyhood” and a Japanese film.

My purchases were successful and the rest of the day for me was focused on enjoying myself just as well outside the cinema as in it. Fortunately, since this was something I had been waiting for a long time, I was just bouncing with energy. The other kids needed an adrenaline boost. But they got food in themselves and all was well.

Note that we ended up crashing at a 찜질방 again and left midday the next day for 진주 (Jinju). But before the culture stuff, look at us being goofy!

So now film reviews:

“Boyhood” (2014) written and directed by Richard Linklater was a plotless film twelve years in the making starring Ethan Hawke (a personal favorite) as the father and Ellar Coltrane (his real last name is Salmon) as Mason. Filmed in bursts over the twelve, we see the life of a fictional boy from a mid-level suburban background develop on screen. There are cliches: the stargazing, the awkwardness of having divorced parents, the underage rebelliousness. But then, there are fantastic filmmaking tools: the point of view shots, paralleling his sisters traits and trajectory, the soundtrack. It isn’t a surprise that the film did so well at Berlin Film Festival. Coming-of-age story, yes. Great indie flick, yes. Must-see movie, yes but only because anyone who’s watched it will have a strong urge to discuss it with you. It wasn’t the bread and butter of all indie film but what the film does best is get you thinking about what we do and what we reflect on that we label our childhood and what it means to grow up. Obviously, a moderately liberal, middle-income, suburban, split household, white boy from Texas is not the prototype of the average child, people can relate.

“Black Souls” (“Anime Nere” in Italian/2014) written by Francesco Munzi, Fabrizio Ruggirello, and Maurizio Braucci and directed by Francesco Munzi was a dark albeit realistic depiction of the struggle that comes with loyalty in Calabria mafia scene. I thought it would be fitting for me to watch an Italian film at Busan since “Life is Beautfiul” (“La Vita è Bella” in Italian/1997) got me into film in the first place. Although the earlier film tried to bring positivity into the dark atmosphere of the story, “Black Souls” was relentless with pushing the envelope on the politics of the mafia in modern Calabria. The film juxtaposes the world views between the three Carbone brothers–Luciano (Marco Leonardi), Luigi (Marco Leonardi), and Rocco (Peppino Mazzotta)–on the decisions of Luciano’s son, Leo (Giuseppe Fumo). Leo acts naively causing trouble that re-ignites the tension between the Carbones and the Barracas, the killer of the Carbone brothers’ father. Luciano is a pacifist focusing on goat farming to avoid a return to his mafia life, Luigi is your the friendly goon with a hearty appetite, and Rocco is the Calabrian peasant turned Milanese cosmopolitan. Munzi stressed loyalty heavily throughout the film as it was used to calculate nearly every decision made by the mafia honchos, but ambitious but naive Leo acts without thinking about the long-term consequences and monumentally ruins himself. The cinematography really reigned in tension throughout the scenes. The beautiful ominous nature of the Calabria country side gets moderately darker throughout the film paralleling the slow collapse of the family. Despite the lack of expected mafia action, scenes weigh heavy and keep you attuned to the self-destruction.

“Taksu” (“欲動” in Japanese/2014) directed by and starring Korean-Japanese artist Kiki Sugino focuses on the decisions of Yuri, portrayed by Yoko Mitsuya, on her dilapidating marriage while on vacation in Bali for the birth of her sister-in-laws baby. We attended the world premiere screening. If you anything about modern Japanese film, it normally gets pretty erotic and it would not be farfetched to label most contemporary pieces as soft-core porn. Little did I know, “Taksu” would also be one of them. Sugino’s approach to directing heavily lingered on fleeting moments and slow conversations. The motif made the film feel very realistic but really pushed you towards wondering what would happen with the story. But as the marriage continues collapsing, a gigolo enters Yuri’s life (yes, you can take that a step further in your head) and makes both the audience and Yuri question what the hell she was doing. Personally, since the film left on an ambiguous note, I felt further enraged but more satisfied as a filmgoer to not fully known what ended happening to the marriage, but the aftereffects of the film just leave you hoping that you didn’t gain any morals from the story. Otherwise, I feel every future commitment I have is already compromised.

“The Fatal Encounter” (“역린” in Korean/2014), a feature debut directed by 이재규 (Lee Jae-Gyu), followed the assassination attempt on 정조왕 (King Jeongjo), portrayed by 현빈 (Hyun Bin), the 22nd ruler of the Joseon Dynasty. Fortunate for the film crew and audiences, the feature was Hyun Bin’s first film following his military service (READ: He was really cut in the film.). The film focused just as much on the two assassins-in-charge–Gap-soo, portrayed by 정재영 (Jung Jae-Young), who acted as the king’s eunuch, and Eul-soo, portrayed by 조정석 (Cho Jung-Seok), who was Gap-soo’s long separated blood brother–as it did on King Jeongjo. As cinematically beautiful as it was, I felt the writing was a little lackluster. It didn’t exaggerate much on the history but the randomness of time lapses in the story took away from the gravity of the event. They were not well executed but fantastic ensemble did a great job at holding on their own and working off of each other during numerous scenes. Not too bad for a first feature but Lee Jae-Gyu, will definitely need to collaborate with a more nuanced or innovative writer if he wants to keep up with his contemporaries.

Phew.

Now I really wanted to see this Iranian project that was up for competition but due to time constraints, I instead reunited with my amigos following “The Fatal Encounter” Q&A and went over to 감천문화마을 (Gamcheon Culture Village) that pretty clearly mimicked Iwha Village but with a bunch of hipster painted houses. It was a definite tourist trap but damn was it pretty.

Now, I just can’t wait for Jeonju International Film Festival in the spring!