Critics
who share the feeling that most films are too long should
visit South Korea, where programmes of domestically-produced
shorts play to enthusiastic audiences. As with documentary
film-making, directing shorts can shape the film-makers approach
to full-length features. To paraphrase the Argentinian short
story genius Jorge-Luis Borges, it's the situation in a short
that matters most, rather than the characterisation.
Korean
film-maker Jung Ji-Woo, whose short films include A
Bit Bitter (1996), hopes to bring something of the
short aesthetic to a feature film in Happy End.
The film, which saw heavy interest when it played at the American
Film Market in February, promises a tight structure and precise
exposition. It's essentially three versions of the same story
a ménage à trois of dissatisfied lovers
set against the millennium celebrations in Seoul.
"It's
about a young who
simply wishes to make his home happy," says director Jung.
"He becomes confused and frustrated by his wife's infidelity.
The wife, meanwhile, finds that her husband and her lover
bring her happiness in two different ways. She wants to keep
both something which leads to even more confusion."
The
husband, Ming-Ki, is a former banker who, after being made redundant,
takes a liking to his new life of leisure. His quality of life
doesn't suffer because his wife, Bo-Ra, has a well paid job.
Then Ming-Ki discovers that Bo-Ra is having an affair with her
childhood sweetheart Il-Beom. Tensions rise between the three
as each dreams of their own 'happy end', which results in an
unexpected outcome.
"I
don't mean to analyse or to
judge the morals of these characters they are just
confused," says Jung. "I want to portray things as they are,
to show the reality of the tensions that arise from their
greed and the conflicts between their differing desires, against
the backdrop of a Seoul excitedly anticipating the new century."
Happy
End was a hit with Korean audiences the second-biggest
Korean feature of the year so far. Male star Choi Min-Shik
is recognisable from blockbusting actioner Shiri, while Bo-Ra
is played with some degree of daring by respected actress
Jun Doh-Yeon. "She enchanted movie fans with her outstanding
performance in blunt sexual scenes," say the producers, which
she did, apparently, "without using a replacement".
Terry
E Lawrence
