#bae doona

this post is not about korean films - but a special space is carved out to two of the best korean dramas i’ve ever watched. a potent mix of everything i wish for in a drama converges in Signal andSecret Forest - tightly written plot, poignant but un-didactic social commentary, excellent acting, composed direction, remarkable cinematography and music. these two dramas are on another level of distinction compared to the rest.

Signal is a crime drama with a dose of fantasy. when a young upstart prosecutor (Lee Je-hoon) encounters a walkie-talkie that connects him to the past, he teams up with a determined cop (Kim Hye-soo) to solve cold crimes and unearth the truth about a cop who had mysteriously disappeared (Jo Jin-woong). dealing with similar themes, Secret Forest features Jo Seung-woo as an apathetic and principled prosecutor, who works together with a warm-hearted kick-ass cop (Bae Doona) to expose and punish the rampant corruption in the prosecution, police force, and conglomerates. 

*spoilers ahead*

what i really appreciate about both dramas are that its stories are based on real cases, and pays extreme detail in imitating them. Signalbegins with the Hwaseong serial killings, which have been amply covered in other works (e.g. Memories of Murder) and form the groundworks for many korean films/dramas’ creative reimagination. Signal also covers the Miryang gang rape case (a la Han Gong Ju), and even incorporated the line that outraged the korean public into the script (”my boy’s not at fault for being a rapist - she seduced him”). it also makes reference to the collapse to the Seongsu bridge collapse in 1994 (as in House of Hummingbird too). in fact, a family member of a victim of crime sent a message of gratitude to the Signal production staff, for recognising and giving space to their pain.

Secret Forest does not make such direct references to cases of corruption that happened, but does so in more subtle ways. when a security guard is unable to hand over a CCTV tape from a month ago, citing that they typically discard the tapes after 14 days although the rules stipulate a 2-month period, Jo Seung-woo’s character coldly points out that this trivial attitude towards following the law will eventually lead to the sinking of a ship or the collapse of a department store. (Sewol ferry incident in 2014, Sampoong Department Store collapse in in 1995). in doing so, it is not afraid to pointedly criticise the ills that have gone unchecked. when the corrupt conglomerate CEO is arrested and arrives in court feigning illness on a wheelchair, we laugh because we’ve seen this before - in different countries, in different eras. 

***more spoilers***

another area that distinguishes these two dramas from the rest, is the rich and complex characters created. the cops in both dramas were coerced into ill-doings because of the widespread corruption in the system around them that punished those who tried to stay morally upright. but there remain people who would sacrifice themselves to uproot corruption. Shin Hye-sun’s character in Secret Forest was a sacrificial victim that eventually pointed the team to the culprit, Jo Jin-woong’s character in Signal knowingly risked his life so that his remains could become evidence for indicting the culprit. Kim Hye-soo’s muted optimism, which so quickly deflated into a cold-hearted realism, was especially painful to watch.

but the character that fascinated me most was Yoo Jae-myung’s character in Secret Forest, who unintentionally tumbled into corruption step by wicked step. it all started with an uneventful lunch that a senior volunteered to paid for; it then became a senior doting on him buying him a luxury wallet; and it ends with him being pressured to do him favours. while pretending to be a corrupt prosecutor, Yoo Jae-myung’s character secretly collected evidence, created a special investigation taskforce for Jo Seung-woo’s upright prosecutor, accumulated power to protect the upright prosecutors, before handing the evidence over and committing suicide in disgrace. 

*end of all spoilers*

one final spoiler - both dramas do not end in blinding optimism for the future (why should it?) but this should not deter you from watching the drama. rectifying crime & undoing corruption is a systemic unearthing that requires stamina. and if you’re a fan like me, thankfully season 2′s of both dramas are in the works!

five high school friends, after graduation, embark on diverse and sometimes divergent paths to adulthood, creating a quiet movie of change and disruption. the movie is quiet not because it literally is - in fact, it is quite opposite, with the chatter and shrieks of five twenty year old girls. the movie is quiet because the movie is firmly centred on relatable characters that have been crafted with warmth, instead of theatrics and absurdist plots. (i was pretty sure, without checking, that take care of my cat is directed by a female - the sensitive dynamics of schoolgirl friend groups would not have been achieved by a male hand)

the film is centered around hye-joo (played by a young lee yo-won), tae-hee (played by the inimitable bae doona), and ji-young (played by ok ji-young). the other 2 girls - ethnic Chinese twins - are left as side characters. hye-joo is pretty and ambitious. but beneath her surface obsession about self-improvement and corporate progression lies insecurity that stems from the violence of her divorced parents and her lack of a college education. tae-hee comes from a normal middle-class family who runs a hot stone public bath, and her relatively well-off background allows her to be free from job-searching. she channels her energy in kind-hearted ways. beyond working for the family business, she volunteers to be a typist for a poet with cerebral palsy and makes friends with southeast asian immigrants near the port. ji-young, orphaned at an early age, lives with her grandparents in a shanty / container house that eventually collapses and leaves ji-young all alone. she has dreams of pursuing textile design overseas, but her poverty is continually compounded by unfriendly state support (she cannot find a part time job without guardians’ verification, and she is sent to juvenile detention after her grandparents’ death). she adopts a cat, which is passed on from friend to friend, hence the film name.

most of the film’s plot is around the dynamics of the 3, where ji-young and hye-joo grow apart and tae-hee remains loyal by ji-young. hye-joo is frustrated at ji-young’s self-pity and moodiness, ji-young is aggravated by hye-joo’s moral high horse and condescension. tae-hee plays mediator, but in her desire to keep the group together, she sticks too much to the presets of the past without realising friendships must evolve over time too. when hye-joo asks tae-hee why she is calling during work hours, tae-hee says “you used to call me all the time for no particular reason, too, in the past, why can’t i do the same now?”. at 2 hours, though, the film gets draggy at certain points, but the relatability of the characters somehow sustains the viewer’s interest. bae doona is such a natural and such a pleasure to watch too!

i really liked the setting choice of incheon - which embodies the film’s theme of modernisation and change. there are plenty of scenes of incheon’s port life (fishermen going out to sea and sorting their loot in early dawns) and incheon’s town (where small business owners are starting to hang big neon signboards and a swanky new international airport is opening). people from incheon are unapologetically less modern than the people in seoul. we see tae-hee’s parents order american ribs from tony roma in a traditional korean way (”why must we look at the menu in such detail. just give me what’s most popular here. if it’s not good we’ll look for you!”); we see people arriving off cruise ships with boxes and luggages, trying to make a living by importing goods; we see the twins’ chinese grandparents living in a chinese ethnic enclave that barely resembles korea; we see immigrants from myanmar and philippines speaking relatively fluent korean, amidst government posters warning against illegal immigration.

the symbolism of the cat as the girls’ relationship is less fascinating to me than the symbolism of incheon representing the girls’ fringe positions in society and the girls’ growth. the girls may not have been given the best lots in life, but no matter the paths the girls take, incheon’s inclusivity always has a place for them. – 8/10

radmoonlover:

This fanvid honsetly has very little to do with Stranger/Secret Forest but it has Bae Doona and Cho Seung Woo in it, with a brief nod to the secret forest universe, and is just generally a very sexy video. I’ve watched it like five times already. I need Stranger 3 :(

The Drug King (2018) dir. Woo Min-Ho