Review: The Taste of Money, 2012

The Taste of Money was invited by Cannes this year, the first invitation to Sang-soo IM was The Housemaid.  The Cannes must have expected more developed one. My

impression is that it could not go more than the Housemaid. I think critics thought the same way. There are too many unnecessary fresh exposures to describe their decadence. 

Eun-yi worked in the wealthy family and killed herself in the Housemaidi this time Young-jak, a secretary, went through the same abnormal and eccentric family.

The film shows a mountain of money in the introduction. It overwhelms the common audience. It is as if the director will show the taste of money we never tried it before. Is  it going to be sweet or bitter? A suitcase packed with money hands over a government official to cover up his son's financial crime, illegal inheritance.

        

They have a conversation on business, economy, government etc. Money is the main topic. YOON's hand goes inside the skirt of a housemaid. 

Inside the huge mansion, BACK notices her husband YOON has a sex with the housemaid. She has a secret CCTV system, which implies she is a de facto ruler in  the house.

BAEK warns the housemaid, Eva. She can accept her husband's affairs but not in her kingdom.

 

BACK almost rapes YOON's secretary, Young-jak JOO. He feels humiliation which cannot erase through bath and lemon. YOON's daughter, Na-mi and Young-jak have good emotion, but the sex makes him distant.

YOON decides to leave for the Philippines with Eva saying, "I will put on a diaper soon let me go."  However BACK doesn't, she kills Eva. YOON follows her killing himself in the bath.

Young-jak quits, and he and Na-mi fly to the Eva's family with the Eva's coffin. 

Review: Howling, 2012

Ha YOO is the director of these films: On a Windy Day We should go to Apkujeong Dong, Marriage Is a Crazy Thing, Once Upon a Time in High School, A dirty Carnival, A Frozen Flower. Although he was a poet before, he is good at a violence or gangster movie. 

My favorite his film is A dirty Carnival, 2006. I still remember the extremely beautiful kiss scene, In-sung CHO and Bo-young LEE in there. I expected something like that, but Howling is mediocre.    

  

Car fire occurs and a driver burnt to die. Eun-young joins a vice squad, but detectives dislike her because they are all machos. Sang-gil and Eun-young team up. One of the major plots is the conflict with the co-detectives. Sang-gil is behind the promotion, and other detectives wants her to be an assistance.     

There are 2 more victims by a wolfdog attack, and the squad gets to know that the victims are connected. 

Truth reveals they kidnapped girls, injected drugs and made them prostitutes. They are the accomplices. Eun-young stubbornly investigates, and she realizes someone trained the wolfdog to kill them. 

Eun-young finds a place where he trained the wolfdog, but someone sets fire the house because the boss of gangster also tries to find who is seeking them. The wolfdog saves her life in the fire. Sang-gil and Eun-young knows that a retired policeman revenges what they have done to his daughter using the wolfdog.    

The wolfdog is chasing the last target, the boss, and the squad tries to kill the wolfdog. Eun-young follows it and find out the location of the gangsters. Exchange gun shots and fists with the gangsters. The wolfdog bites the boss, but it is killed by police.

Color Correction or Color Restoration

- 한국 고전영화의 색보정, 혹은 색재현 -

 

2011년에 이어 보존기술센터에서는 ‘우수 한국영화 디지털화’라는 사업을 계속 추진하고 있다. 올해는 <마부>(1961, 강대진), <산불>(1967, 김수용), <영자의 전성시대>(1975, 김호선), <이어도>(1977, 김기영), <겨울여자>(1977, 김호선), <꼬방동네 사람들>(1982, 배창호), <안개마을>(1982, 임권택) 7편을 그 대상으로 한다. 이 사업은 한 마디로 원본 필름을 디지털로 스캐닝해서 극장에서 상영할 수 있는 DCP(디지털시네마패키지)로 만들어 두는 것이다. 하지만 단순한 디지털화 작업을 넘어서 디지털 복원까지 포함한다.

 

그 과정을 자세히 살펴보자면, 디지털화 대상작의 오리지널 네거티브 필름의 상태를 점검하고, 그 중 일부를 다른 마스터 포지티브 필름, 듀프 네가티브 필름, 프린트 필름 등 다른 종류의 필름에서 대체할 부분이 있는지 확인하는 것으로부터 시작한다. 이는 가장 좋은 화질의 소스를 확보하거나 다른 판본에는 없는 장면을 획득하려는 절차라고 할 수 있다. 이후에는 우리가 보유하고 있는 Spirit 2K 장비로 스캐닝을 하고, 얻어진 데이터를 조작하여 Baselight Ⅳ 장비로 색보정을 거친 후에 DCP로 마스터링을 하게 된다. 그리고 사운드의 경우 노이즈 제거 등의 복원 과정도 거친다.

 

작년엔 ‘개벽’을 디지털화 하는데 있어 일반 프린트와 영어자막 프린트를 비교 분석하고 빠진 부분을 조합하여 긴 버전의 DCP를 만들었었고, ‘왕십리’의 경우 DCP에 사운드 복원을 해서 넣기도 했다. 이런 일련의 작업들은 많은 시간과 노력이 소요되는 일이긴 하지만, 그 가운데 디지털 색보정을 통해 당시의 색을 재현하는 일은 가장 어려운 작업 가운데 하나다. 보통 두 차례에 걸친 색보정 과정(Primary & Secondary Color Correction)에 있어 상영본 필름의 원래 색을 찾아내는 것이 중요한 관건이 된다. 왜냐하면, 오리지널 네거티브 필름은 시간이 지남에 따라 화학적 분해가 일어나고(Degrade), 그 결과 색이 바래게(Fade) 되기 때문이다.

 

흑백 필름의 경우 명암부의 조작으로 보완할 수 있지만, 칼라 필름의 경우는 전혀 다른 이야기가 된다. 과거 아날로그 색보정기인 애널라이저는 RGB의 색을 조작하여 프린팅을 했지만, 지금의 디지털 기술은 아주 디테일한 부분까지 색을 만지는 것이 가능해졌다. 그럼에도 불구하고, 과거의 색정보 없이는 첨단의 색보정 장비도 무용지물일 수밖에 없다. 2012년 디지털화 사업을 시작하면서 고민했던 지점이 여기에 있다. 과연 어떤 객관적인 기준을 가지고 색재현을 할 것인가?

 

<The Godfather>(1972) 디지털 복원시 해당 팀에서 Francis Ford Coppola 감독과 Gordon Willis 촬영감독을 인터뷰를 했다는 사실을 접하고, 우리도 영화제작에 참여했던 관계자의 자문을 받는 형태로 진행해보면 어떨까? 하고 제안했다. 실무 담당자에게는 번거로울 수 있고, 작업 일정이 늘어질 수 있는 위험이 있으며, 감독님들을 초청할 예산도 편성되어 있지 않았지만, 그 중요성을 감안하여 약간의 고집을 부려 색재현을 위한 자문시사를 시작하게 되었다. 즉, 당시 영화관에서 상영되었던 프린트 중에 상태가 가장 양호한 것을 골라 레퍼런스로 삼고, 연출자 또는 촬영감독, 우리 측 담당자들, 그리고 DI 작업처의 칼라리스트들과 함께 자문 시사를 진행한 것이다.

 

지금까지 ‘산불’의 김수용 감독 그리고 <꼬방동네 사람들>의 배창호 감독과 함께 자문시사를 진행했고, 앞으로 <겨울여자>의 김호선 감독과 <이어도>와 <안개마을>의 정일성 촬영감독과 자문시사를 진행할 예정으로 있다. 특히, ‘이어도’는 색이 많이 바래서 정일성 촬영감독의 협조가 반드시 필요한 작품이다.

 

자문시사는 기대 이상의 결과를 낳고 있다. 감독님들과의 질의 응답을 통해서 우리 측 담당자들과 컬러리스트들이 디지털 색보정시 전체 룩에 대한 판단을 내릴 수 있었고, 특정 장면에 대한 색깔이나 밝기 등에 대해 구체적으로 문의함으로써 색재현에 있어 어느 정도 객관성을 담보할 수 있게 되었다.

 

흑백 필름인 <산불>의 경우 별권으로 칼라 네가필름이 있어서 질의했더니, 배우 신영균의 회상장면을 생생하게 표현하기 위해 의도적으로 칼라필름을 사용했다고 한다. 상영용 프린트의 경우에는 이 부분이 아예 빠져 있고, 텔레시네를 했던 베타 테이프에는 흑백으로 바뀌어져 있었다. 만일, 자문시사를 하지 않았으면 우리도 칼라를 흑백으로 바꾸어 디지털화 작업을 했을 것이다. 그리고 오프닝 타이틀에서 배경화면이 누락되어 있는 점과 야외에서 촬영한 일부 장면들은 노출이 과다해서 명부를 낮추는 작업이 필요하다는 의견도 주셨다.

 

<꼬방동네 사람들>의 경우에는 푸른색이 도는 밤에 촬영한 장면들에 대한 조정과, 특히 후반부의 야간 싸움장면 등은 너무 어두워 디테일을 잃지 않는 선에서 밝게 할 필요가 있다는 점, 새벽 장면이 낮 장면으로 바뀌지 않도록 주의를 기울여야 한다는 점, 포커스 아웃된 몇몇 장면은 가능하면 보정이 필요하다는 점 등 색보정 작업시 필요한 내용들을 지적해 주셨다.

 

자문 시사가 끝난 후에 덤으로 당시 영화 촬영시 있었던 흥미로운 에피소드들도 들을 수 있었다. 김수용 감독님은 <산불>을 2주 만에 촬영을 완료했고, 이 영화에 출연한 많은 여배우들 사이에 연기에 대한 경쟁도 대단했다고 한다. 그 가운데 도금봉과 주증녀는 싸우는 장면에선 실제 감정이 실려서 더욱 그럴듯한 장면이 나왔다고 한다. <꼬방동네 사람들>은 서민층의 비관적인 삶에 대한 묘사와 가정윤리를 저해할 우려 때문에 검열에서 “어두운 이미지를 밝게 승화하도록” 개작통보를 받기도 했으며, 작품성을 인정받고 흥행에도 성공을 거두었으나 해외 영화제에 출품하지 못했다고 한다.

 

자문시사가 끝난 후에는 1, 2차 디지털 색보정 작업을 진행할 예정으로 있고, 최종 마스터링 작업을 하기 전에 색재현 작업이 제대로 되었는지 다시 한 번 감독님들을 모시고 확인 시사를 할 예정이다. 내년이면 시네마테크 KOFA를 찾은 관객들은 더욱 좋은 화질로 되살아난 일곱 편의 한국영화를 만날 수 있게 된다. 

Review: The Scent, 20112

I don't believe that the ticket sales of this film exceeded 1 Mil. I am so confused that it is a comedy or a thriller, maybe the director intended both, but I did not laugh out did not feel any suspense.     

The subject is very unique, the title stimulates the curiosity, but that's all. Only the body of the actress, Si-yeun Park is worth the ticket price. 

One interesting epilogue: the director and the supporting actress, the client Soo-jin, falls in love. 

Seon-woo, a suspended detective, is making money from the private investigation of adultery. A client, Soo-jin, asked him to catch a spot of the sex affair. At the hotel,  she is very disappointed and tempted him. When he wakes up, he finds she is dead next him. He rushes to the next room, there is another dead body, Soo-jin's husband. And a women, the same name Soo-jin, stands still frightened. He has to bury the bodies in the night.

Soo-jin is very beautiful and he feels a sort of emotion, sympathy or maybe love. 

Seon-woo is chased by his detective colleagues, and he has to find out what happened that night. The truth is that she was abused by her husband, and she murdered him. She made up all this. Seon-woo clears his false charge thank to her, but she already flees overseas. She send an invitation with an air ticket.

He throws the ticket away, because he has a golden rule: he never commits adultery. He did not sleeps with the two Soo-jins. 

Review: The King of Pigs, 2011

Unusually, there were three animations showing in the theater last year:  Leafie, A Hen into the Wild, Green Days and The King of Pigs. Those are all the excellent animations.

The King of Pigs is a terrible and horrible animation. Many times I had goose bumps while I was watching it. Why? The memory of school was not warm and cozy for the age of 30 - 40s in Korea. The generation went through violence, repression, submission by teachers, classmates or senior students. The King of Pigs deals with the dark side of the school life. There are three kinds of hell for men in Korea: School, Army and Company.   

Director Sang-ho YEON made several short animations, and it is his first long feature animated film. When I looked at the ending credits, I could find familiar names from the independent film industry. It is such an achievement of them! The film was awarded at the Busan film Festival last year and invited from the Cannes this year.

   

The opening starts with the scene; Kyung-min Killed his wife. He becomes bankrupt and all his possessions are attached "lawful seizure". He made a call to Jong-suk, a school friend 15 years ago.

Jong-suk is a ghost biography writer, socially naught, useless and unvisible. A publisher pushes him contemptuously to write it more interesting.

Receiving a call, Jong-suk meets Kyung-min. They begins talking about their school life.

Flashback to the past. Kyung-min and Jong-suk were bullied by classmates, who had rich parents and were even good at school. They were sort of rulers.

However. a savior rescued them, Chul. He beat them up and became a hero of Kyung-min and Jong-suk. Chul said, not to be like a pig, we should be more vicious than they are.

Bullies asked seniors to beat him. Chul took out a knife to stand up. A teacher showed up, and Chul was suspended from school.

Chul planed to suicide himself in front of all students, saying the bullies will not forget about it forever. It was a kind of revenge.

Chul killed himself. However, Kyung-min says Chul asked him to shout before he jumped out. Chul changed his mind, not killing himself and just pretending it. Chul wanted to come back to school and be a normal life. Kyung-min could not shout out, and confessed that he saw a shadow pushing Chul in the back.

The shadow was Jong-suk. Kyung-min kept it secret because Jong-suk did it for themselves. Jong-suk crys out that Chul must have remained as their hero.

Kyung-min kills himself saying here is the hell colder than asphalt.

Review: Eungyo, 2012

Eungyo by Ji-woo JUNG aroused audiences' attention by the exposure of the actress. The ticket sales is over 1.3 million. JUNG's former works are Happy End (1999), Blossom Again (2005), Modern Boy (2008). Happy End and Blossom Again were good but Modern Boy was so so. It is certain he is one of the best directors in Korea.

Eungyo is very much cinematic. I mean, it is melodrama but there are love, tension, betrayal, misunderstanding and murder at the same time. LEE can forgive Jiwoo's theft but not about love. Love and jealousy are the same words.

I wonder how conservative Korean audiences understand the Love scene with a high school girl. Considering Happy End included an exceptional sex scene 10 years ago, JUNG must have thought about commercial success. And as his intention, vulgar marketers royally followed. 

Eungyo, whenever she shows up, the old poet hears a sweet piano melody.

Eungyo, a high school student, climbed to LEE's house over a wall through a ladder and she fell into sleep his arm chair. She said she always wanted to sleep this kind of chair. LEE's apprentice, Jiwoo SEO says she is a neighbor. And she starts a part time job at LEE's house.   

LEE is over 70s and a famous poet, but his heart is all aflutter by Eungyo's innocence and sensuality.    

When he meets Eungyo, he finds a young himself inside. He falls in love with her, and writes a short novel about the love secretly.   

Ji-woo, LEE's apprentice, accidentally finds the novel and publishes it by his name. He is also a bestseller novelist, but actually the novel was written by LEE. The short novel is awarded and LEE becomes to know about it. The relationship is broken. Eungyo reads the novel and she thanks about Jiwoo describes her such beautiful character. 

They get together at LEE's birthday. Eunkyo and Ji-woo come and LEE forgives Ji-woo. The party is over. LEE and Jiwoo are drunk. Eungyo leaves, but she comes back and forwards to Ji-woo. 

LEE hears a strange sound, wakes up, follows it. he witnesses Ji-woo and Eungyo make love.  

LEE breaks Ji-woo's car in the night. The next morning Ji-woo happens to have an accident. Mechanic tells someone intentionally broke it. he is very upsets and drives back to LEE's. And he has a car accident and dies. LEE leaves a voice message to Eungyo. I killed Ji-woo.   

Eungyo reads the novel again, and realizes that not Ji-woo but LEE wrote it.

Eungyo goes to LEE, finds many bottles of wines. She says thank you for writing me so beautiful. LEE says good-bye after she leaves.