Irezumi Kiss
05-11-2004, 03:18 PM
http://www.uiowa.edu/~kolors/images/4th/oasis.jpg
"Oasis"
Director: Chang-Dong Lee
Starring: Kyung-Gu Seul, Soo-Ri Moon
Year: 2002
Time: 132 min
- Special Director's Award, Award for Best Young Actor or Actress, Venice International Film Festival, Italy, 2002
- Chief Dan George Humanitarian Award, Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada, 2002
Jong-Du, a mentally handicapped petty thief, is arrested almost as soon as he is released from jail because he has no money to pay a restaurant bill. Some time later, his brother arrives to get him out on bail and to give him a job and a humble abode. Jong-Du goes to visit the family of the man he is supposed to have killed in a road accident - a crime that was actually committed by his brother - and meets the daughter of the house, the spastic and handicapped Gong-Ju. After a first encounter that goes gruesomely wrong, she seeks contact again with Jong-Du and a close bond develops between these two outcasts. He is the first person who sees Gong-Ju as more than a cripple and she is the first person not to judge him instantly by his deeds. Oasis has been filmed in a loose, documentary style, without much stylistic intervention, so that all attention is focused on the characters. Gong-Ju and Jong-Du are portrayed brilliantly by the actors who also played in Lee's previous film, Peppermint Candy. Moon So-Ri rightly won the prize for the best young actress at Venice.
http://images.villagevoice.com/issues/0333/stephens.jpg
okay, now that I've gotten THAT out of the way...here's my two cents...
I gotta say that I was really moved by this film and it only deepens my love of Korean cinema, which IMO is a thousand times better than anything contemporary Hollyschmood could ever do...
I went into this movie with just a inkling of the premise, which I skimmed over in a weekly newspaper review. I just knew of the character Jong-Du (drolly played by the "Seoul Robert DeNiro" Kyung-Gu Seul), but was sort of unprepared to see the character Gong-Ju (magnificently played by So-Ri Moon, someone give this woman her big-ups, like quick), who seems to be suffering from an extremely severe case of cerebral palsy. The initial scenes of their get-together are quite unsettling and one is not sure how to take it. It all serves, however, to make you better appreciate what actually comes out of it.
The beauty of this film is that it takes the viewer inside both characters and quite faster than you'd imagine, you start seeing them for their hearts and less for their flaws, physically and mentally. In fact, the ugliness of the people around them — their families and how they are being used by them in very blatant ways — becomes glaringly apparent.
The temper to whatever sadness coming from the cruel hand of fate dealt to both characters is the casual, offbeat humor that permeates the entire film, bubbling up in unexpected moments. Jong-Du's getting locked out of his Chinese food delivery job with the company moped because he was late from watching a card game from customers that he had to pick up bowls for (why don't they do that over here?) and then wiping out on the street because he was chasing a film crew shooting a faux car commercial...scenes of Gong-Ju's imagination making her "normal" and walking around straight, dancing with Jong-Du and arguing with him over him yelling at her, hitting him on the head with an empty water bottle after seeing a couple on the subway do the same...the characters elicit more sympathy for being regular people with flaws than outright pity, and you silently root for their burdgeoning affection in the face of adversity, which to their credit, they don't seem to notice. In fact, you start realizing that they don't see each other's problems at all.
Of course, this is one of those movies that has that "all good things come to an end" factor and you KNOW it's coming...and when it does...woooo boy, it's one of those "ohhh SHIIITT" moments that make you cringe but you gotta watch...
However, the ending is more of a surprise than you might expect. Something mentioned quite briefly in a passing conversation gets resolved, with all situational humor intact. One leaves the theater thinking about love and the power of change, the kind of change that comes when something new and unexpected is introduced to an equally likewise new and unexpected element.
I'm not sure about the availability or accesibility of Korean cinema in certain cities other than the major international metropolitan cities like NYC or LA. You might have to cop this on VCD or DVD if you have the connects or if your local Chinatown has a wrecka stow with the video section in the back. But if "Oasis" is showing at your local indie cinema house, do yourself a favor and go peep it. You won't be disappointed.
"Oasis"
Director: Chang-Dong Lee
Starring: Kyung-Gu Seul, Soo-Ri Moon
Year: 2002
Time: 132 min
- Special Director's Award, Award for Best Young Actor or Actress, Venice International Film Festival, Italy, 2002
- Chief Dan George Humanitarian Award, Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada, 2002
Jong-Du, a mentally handicapped petty thief, is arrested almost as soon as he is released from jail because he has no money to pay a restaurant bill. Some time later, his brother arrives to get him out on bail and to give him a job and a humble abode. Jong-Du goes to visit the family of the man he is supposed to have killed in a road accident - a crime that was actually committed by his brother - and meets the daughter of the house, the spastic and handicapped Gong-Ju. After a first encounter that goes gruesomely wrong, she seeks contact again with Jong-Du and a close bond develops between these two outcasts. He is the first person who sees Gong-Ju as more than a cripple and she is the first person not to judge him instantly by his deeds. Oasis has been filmed in a loose, documentary style, without much stylistic intervention, so that all attention is focused on the characters. Gong-Ju and Jong-Du are portrayed brilliantly by the actors who also played in Lee's previous film, Peppermint Candy. Moon So-Ri rightly won the prize for the best young actress at Venice.
http://images.villagevoice.com/issues/0333/stephens.jpg
okay, now that I've gotten THAT out of the way...here's my two cents...
I gotta say that I was really moved by this film and it only deepens my love of Korean cinema, which IMO is a thousand times better than anything contemporary Hollyschmood could ever do...
I went into this movie with just a inkling of the premise, which I skimmed over in a weekly newspaper review. I just knew of the character Jong-Du (drolly played by the "Seoul Robert DeNiro" Kyung-Gu Seul), but was sort of unprepared to see the character Gong-Ju (magnificently played by So-Ri Moon, someone give this woman her big-ups, like quick), who seems to be suffering from an extremely severe case of cerebral palsy. The initial scenes of their get-together are quite unsettling and one is not sure how to take it. It all serves, however, to make you better appreciate what actually comes out of it.
The beauty of this film is that it takes the viewer inside both characters and quite faster than you'd imagine, you start seeing them for their hearts and less for their flaws, physically and mentally. In fact, the ugliness of the people around them — their families and how they are being used by them in very blatant ways — becomes glaringly apparent.
The temper to whatever sadness coming from the cruel hand of fate dealt to both characters is the casual, offbeat humor that permeates the entire film, bubbling up in unexpected moments. Jong-Du's getting locked out of his Chinese food delivery job with the company moped because he was late from watching a card game from customers that he had to pick up bowls for (why don't they do that over here?) and then wiping out on the street because he was chasing a film crew shooting a faux car commercial...scenes of Gong-Ju's imagination making her "normal" and walking around straight, dancing with Jong-Du and arguing with him over him yelling at her, hitting him on the head with an empty water bottle after seeing a couple on the subway do the same...the characters elicit more sympathy for being regular people with flaws than outright pity, and you silently root for their burdgeoning affection in the face of adversity, which to their credit, they don't seem to notice. In fact, you start realizing that they don't see each other's problems at all.
Of course, this is one of those movies that has that "all good things come to an end" factor and you KNOW it's coming...and when it does...woooo boy, it's one of those "ohhh SHIIITT" moments that make you cringe but you gotta watch...
However, the ending is more of a surprise than you might expect. Something mentioned quite briefly in a passing conversation gets resolved, with all situational humor intact. One leaves the theater thinking about love and the power of change, the kind of change that comes when something new and unexpected is introduced to an equally likewise new and unexpected element.
I'm not sure about the availability or accesibility of Korean cinema in certain cities other than the major international metropolitan cities like NYC or LA. You might have to cop this on VCD or DVD if you have the connects or if your local Chinatown has a wrecka stow with the video section in the back. But if "Oasis" is showing at your local indie cinema house, do yourself a favor and go peep it. You won't be disappointed.