HAPPY END End may be one of Choi Min-Sik’s most low key roles, along with THE QUIET FAMILY. However the length of time he spends in this subdued mode before the devious turn he takes in the film’s final movement is unsettling. In appearance, we have a Choi who resembles his role in OLDBOY before the legendary confinement sequence, but not ---ly drunk. He uncannily embodies a plain faced, burdened salary man (in this movie, a recently laid off one), which makes the dramatic turns his characters take all the more riveting. For much of the movie, he wallows about dejectedly, at first depressed about his unemployment and relative powerlessness in his relationship to his wife (played by Do-yeon Jean), the manager of an English school. Later on he is depressed by his growing awareness of an affair she has been having with a coworker.
It is a subtle portrayal, balanced by showing dutiful attention to the couple’s baby. He has a good natured resignation to his domestic role as he picks her up from daycare. Min-sik can also work with a scene to eschew deadpan humor, as when he whiles away time in a bookstore on romance and mystery novels, coyly aloof to the owner’s chiding that he might actually purchase one of the books. His sulky demeanor is a good counterbalance to Do-yeon’s more animated performance, as her emotional stability is in constant flux. She is frustrated with Seo’s (Min-Sik) despondency, conflicted by her acts of betrayal, and panicked by the discovery of an unexpected pregnancy. Near the end, when she exhaustedly suggests that she and her lover just commit suicide together, it is convincingly authentic appeal for escape.
Seo’s calm remains in effect until a heady steam releasing finale, which finds an indulgent self-absorption of the lovers to do things that callously threaten the infant’s life. This leads to Choi Min-Sik’s character to leap over the edge in an act that is in some part physical rage, but also cold calculation. It’s a move that is not so surprising to behold after some none too subtle hints dropped in earlier scenes. Still, having the range to transform from calm and docile to murderous is Choi Min-Sik’s game. He can do this like no other, making him an asset to this kind of film.
The movie on a whole is not such a memorable one. It starts out with a pretty explicit (as far as Korean films go) fling between Bora (Do-yeon Jean) and her lover, but there is no return to anything nearly as racy. If this movie was made more recently, the final act would have probably been made far more pointedly as a twist. And this might not have been such a bad thing. Much of the movie moves about in straightforward fashion with little art to it. The implications of the story’s final violent act, that life could calmly go on, is maybe even more unsettling than trying to dress things up in dramatic effect.
PAINTED FIRE is a historical drama, told epically, about real life 19th century sumi e ink painter Jang Seung-up. Choi-mink Sik anchors the film as he portrays the artist whose life was a constantly volatile journey. At first defensively combative owing to his lack of noble lineage, he went on to become a peerless talent who would be constantly tormented by desires to improve his artistic expression. Alcoholism, an abusive demeanor towards women, and an unrestrained manner would find him in and out of relationships, at times drifting penniless, at times raising the ire of those who would’ve studied his art with or under him.The story opens with a Japanese journalist requesting to purchase one of Seung-up’s coveted pieces. For historical reference, this is at a moment of political turmoil as Chinese and Japanese forces battled for a foothold in their conflict, leaving a destitute Korea focusing on survival. After an insulting question about Seung-up’s background, we are brought back to his childhood, rescued from a beating by a master painter who would try to mentor Seung-up, but would prove to be inferior to Seung-up’s prodigious talent. Capturing his peers’ fascination with his ability, but spurring them with his crude manner, we follow as the artist rose in stature to the point where he could make demands to a prominent lord. Still, the state of upheaval along with his temperament would prevent Seung-up from any form of permanent inner peace.
It is hard to imagine another actor taking on this role with the same level of competence as Min-sik. He carries the gravity of an obstinate, yet philosophical, figure who is revered and feared by those around him. As drunkenness leads to out of control outbursts, we see the same kinds of raw emotional rages that he later delivers in OLDBOY.
To see Choi Min-sik’s range in dramatic situations, both films are worth taking a look at.
Next and last, before the festival kicks off, will be a look at two films, spread out over time, that lead up Choi Min-sik’s most recent NAMELESS GANGSTER. First is LADY VENGEANCE, followed by I SAW THE DEVIL. They both feature extreme depictions of madcap villainy, like only Choi Min-sik can do. Until then...
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New York Asian Film Festival Info: http://www.subwaycinema.com/nyaff12/
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