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SCMP Reporter

If Chinese films have been the flavour of the decade, Koreans are finally coming to the fore as the international film circuit wakes up to their refreshing perspective.

Films such as Im Kwon-taek's Taebak Mountains have been highlights of the past couple of Hong Kong international film festivals. This year, film lovers will have the chance to sample the country's diverse past.

Wong Ain-ling, Asian cinema programme co-ordinator for the festival, has selected 12 films for a section entitled Rediscovering Korean Classics. They span 1956 to 1986, with the emphasis on the early 60s, when a brief period of creative freedom led to some innovative and daring films.

More recent works are represented by Park Kwang-su's A Single Spark, recently in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, and Lee Min-yong's A Hot Roof.

  Wong, who became interested in Korean classics about three years ago when friends introduced her to the treasures of the Korean Film Archive, watched about 70 films before making her selection.

In the end, she decided to build her programme around the idea of family.

'It's impossible to talk about Korean cinema comprehensively in a limited retrospective,' says Wong. So I decided to concentrate on contemporary dramas, and look at the evolution of the way the family is presented.' The development of the family drama has mirrored Korea's changing social and political scene. Early films such as A Free Woman are rooted in the idea of a strong family unit.

'We can see that initially there is a strong family. In 60s films, people have a lot of problems but they always have family to support them. Gradually that support diminishes.

'In The Way To Sampo, made in 1975, there is no more family. People's beliefs have been uprooted, and they end up homeless and lonely.' Besides the family, Wong also chose to concentrate on the period between the mid-50s and early 60s: six of the 12 films are from this era.

Although Korean film production dates back to 1923, the 15 years following the Korean war, from 1953 to 1968, are considered to be the Golden Age of Korean cinema - a period when directors enjoyed more freedom.

Five of Wong's selection were made in the early 60s, during the formative years of coup leader Park Chung-hee's government.

Although the military was in power, film-makers managed to cut themselves some slack.

Wong explains: 'There were a few years before the establishment of a strong military government, and this coincided with the emergence of some strong and interesting directors.' The earliest work in the programme, Han Hyong-mo's The Free Woman (1956) is a fascinating film which traces an errant wife's romantic flings and her ultimate return to the family fold.

The film attracted considerable controversy on its release.

Audiences were split: half rooted for the woman, and the other for the husband.

'The Free Woman, along with Housemaid and The Guest And My Mother, portray women caught in a transitional society' says Wong.

'Free Woman is about an ordinary housewife married to a professor; she is elegant and dutiful.

'Then she takes a job, which opens up a new world to her.

'She becomes attracted to a number of men, and is seen to enjoy her relationship with them. Finally she realises she is wrong and goes back to her husband.' Wong comments: 'The ending could be a compromise, given the moral code of the time.

'The film caused a scandal, as it was considered outrageous for the woman to enjoy her relationships with other men.

'Of course, they had to bring her back to the family in the end.' Housemaid, made by Kim Ki-Yong in 1960, is another of Wong's favourites. The film is about a maid who seduces the master of the house and thus brings about downfall of the family, and by extension, Korean society as a whole.

The film reflected a middle-class concern about the morality of young girls leaving villages to work in cities as factory workers or maids during the early 60s.

'The woman in Housemaid is a monster,' laughs Wong. 'She's portrayed as a demonic force - a threat to stable middle class families. But I think at the time, the film-makers were wary of upsetting the public too much. So they made it look like total fiction, by having it unravel as a newspaper story within the film. But there is an anxiety.' However, the selection shows an enduring fascination with outrageous or socially 'aberrant' characters: just as A Free Woman is a social comment on infidelity, modern films such as Chan Sun-woo's To You, From Me (at last year's festival ) deals with issues of sexuality.

There is only one film from the 70s, Yi Man-hui's The Way To Sampo. 'The films from this period aren't really that good,' Wong says. 'There was tight censorship and people were unable to make interesting films.' The 80s focus on the emergence of Im Kwon-Taek, the leading director in Korea today.

A prolific film-maker, Im has made more than 70 films, and since the late-70s has combined commercial movies with his own, more personal, visions. The selection features Tchakko (1980), The Misty Village (1982) and Ticket (1986).

'Im is a very Korean director in the sense that he assimilates Korean culture, art and values and puts them into his films,' says Wong. 'He is the only director in the country who has the strength to see the history of South Korea.' What about Park Kwang-su, whose A Single Spark tells the story of labour-rights activist Jeon Tae-il? 'Park belongs to a younger generation,' says Wong.

'His films are successful, but he shows things from a different perspective. Im lived through everything, and you can see that emotion in his films. Park is more detached.' Those who have seen more contemporary Korean works will notice that the social and political consciousness which underpins many works in the retrospective is even more pronounced in today's liberal climate.

'In literature and art as well as films, Korean artists have consciously made their work socially committed,' says Wong. 'There is a strong tradition of using art to bring out social concerns.' The 20th Hong Kong International Film Festival runs from March 25 to April 9. Programme catalogues available at Urbtix outlets. Counter bookings from Tuesday.



Mirrors of a changing world