Aptly surfing on the wave of Korean cinema’s extremely healthy state, the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) is fast becoming Asia’s leading event for fantastic cinema. The 7th edition of the festival, which takes place in Seoul’s satellite city of Bucheon (Puchon), opened on July the 10th with the world premiere of widely-anticipated animation title Wonderful Days, in a choice that perfectly reflected the festival’s motto “Romance, Fantasy and Adventure”.

The long-in-the-works production relates a story set in 2142 A.C., when survivors of humanity are halved in two communities: the elected ones, who live in Ecoban, and the outcasts, who live in Marr. When an intruder from Marr introduces himself in Ecoban to sabotage its self-preserving system, based on energy produced from atmospheric pollution, patrol guard Jay discovers he’s no other than her long lost first love Suha. With the help of doctor Noha, Suha wants to bring back the world to the hopes of a blue sky. Although its ecological message is nothing particularly new and the technique of “multimation”, which combines 2D for character graphics and 3D for the settings, requires a while to get accustomed to, Wonderful Days, first feature by Kim Moon-saeng, is a first class production that does not sacrifice its heart to technical perfection. The enchanting set design in fact enriches, instead of stealing the show to the storyline’s main core of capturing and moving the viewer. With further credit of an effective score, Wonderful Days is an excellent example of the giant steps made by Korean animation.

In the competition, Puchon’s audiences could not help themselves from falling prey to the charms of Sam Leong’s crazy Stewardess, to which they tribute their most enthusiastic welcome. A rollercoaster movie riding on the edge between comedy and horror, the Hong Kong production plays also as an irreverent spoof of such Asian cult titles as Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express and Nakata Hideo’s Ring. Sam Lee stars as Keung, a scriptwriter who’s entangled in an oppressive relationship with an airhostess, who’s also the daughter of a menacing triad boss. While his girlfriend is away on a trip, Keung is seduced by front-neighbour Yurei, a Japanese stewardess, who happens to look just like a nightmarish vision haunting Keung’s dreams. A real folly of a movie, Stewardess is pure entertainment, excellently sustaining a high voltage level of hilariousness through all its length and intelligently playing with movie genres.

However, it was Korean cinema that gave the competition its best title, with Jang Jun-hwan’s Save the Green Planet! Recently awarded the best director prize at Moscow Film Festival, Jang’s debut feature is another alien movie coming from Korea: not just because of its narration involving extraterrestrials, but mainly for its being another unidentified filmed object coming from the ever-surprising galaxy of Korean cinema. Protagonist Byung-goo is a slightly retarded beekeeper who believes earth is endangered by aliens conspiring against it. With the help of funambulist fiancée Soon-i, Byung-goo kidnaps Man-shik, president of Yuje Chemical Company, in the belief he might be an undercover alien. Mixing comedy, science fiction, social drama, detective story, tortures and dark humour with outrageous savoir-faire, and taking advantage of Sympathy for Mr Vengeance star Shin Ha-kyun’s impressive performance, Save the Green Planet! is a truly unique cinematic experience that manages to enlighten, discomfort and move audiences at the same time.

Another title worth of notice was Christoph Gampl’s The Antman. A German production, set in Mexico, but actually shot at Babelsberg Studios, Berlin. Narrated through a voice over speaking with a funny Spanish accent, this story of a national hero, Don José, who saved the country from the terrible monster El Bicho and who returns to his hometown with his seductive bride Bella Bonita, only to discover he’s not welcome, and that he’ll have to fight against ant-charmer Loco Satano, is an honest and proud B-movie, that pays homage to cheap sci-fi cinema of the 40s and 50s, inevitably making fun of it, but always with affectionate respect.

Among titles in the short film competition, standouts were Gerardo Naranjo’s AFI thesis film The Last Attack of the Beast, which skilfully develops an intriguing premise through an utterly mature cinematic language, and Russian master Garri Bardin’s Choo Choo 2, which once again renews the delight of classic childhood storytelling. Anyway, two other titles deserved attention: DEF by Ian Clark (UK), which, through rough B&W images, recreates the atmosphere of Britain’s best social dramas, telling the story of a deaf youth who wants to become a rapper and United We Stand (Norway), first short from the acclaimed director of Zero Kelvin (1995), Hans Petter Moland, a light yet sad reworking on the theme of the fall of ideals and socialism.

Adventuring into the wide choice of titles selected for the World Fantastic Cinema section permitted some pleasant discoveries. Such as Peruvian satire El Destino No Tiene Favoritos (Destiny Has No Favorites) by Alvaro Velarde, in which bourgeois housewife Ana, left alone by her husband, out on a business trip, gets increasingly involved in the making of a novela (Latin American version of soap-operas) that’s being shot in her huge garden. Or such as Cho Keun–shik’s humorous yet touching Conduct Zero, a hugely successful plunge into Korean 80s nostalgia, through the classic story of high school students’ loves and fights, centred on tough guy Joong-pil (magnificently played by Ryu Seung-bum) and his crush on four-eyed Min-hee.

By the way, earlier in the festival, faced with bad quality prints, programmers had to reduce the usual Korean Cinema retrospective from four to just one title, this year devoted to horror master of the 70s and 80s Park Yun-kyo. Nevertheless, fest-goers could find more than adequate consolation in the enrapturing cinephile pleasures offered by the Special Programs, which include a Bollywood special, featuring Karan Johar’s irresistible Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Mani Rathnam’s unforgettable masterpiece Dil Se (From the Heart), a Shaw Brothers Retrospective, comprising Chang Cheh’s The Heroic Ones and Li Han-hsiang’s The Love Eterne, and a focus on Canadian idiosyncratic auteur Guy Maddin, creator of such cinematic gems as Archangel and Careful.

Paolo Bertolin