Film Festival

[Anonymous]

Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War
R for strong graphic sequences of war violence

Getting around the ‘R’ rating is the tricky part. My district allows the rating w/ parental permission. The movie itself is highly informative, showing the impact of this civil war on the Korean population. Too often US movies tend to focus exclusively upon the American

The story is built around the plight of two brothers who are forcibly drafted into the South Korean army in the early days of the Korean War. Their experience then becomes the vehicle that carries the movie along.

Given that the movie was filmed in South Korea, Communism gets short shrift. Refreshingly, the U.S.-friendly dictatorship of Sing Man Rhee’s South Korea also gets honest, rough handling. The lack of freedom, red-scares and general injustice are all represented. So is the strong sense of family typical of Korean culture.

In the end, students will understand that the Korean War was essentially a civil war, being vastly destructive to the Korean society.

Other ideas that can be discussed with your students:
- limiting freedoms during crises/war
- desire for unification amongst Koreans
- seeming impossibility of reunification given the current Communist regime in the north
- US involvement in the form of material & financial support during the war as opposed to simply portraying US soldiers (the South Korean uniforms are all 100% GI issue)
- greater Cold War conflict within which the Korean War occurred

[Anonymous]

I found your information and review of Twilight Samurai very informative. I would like to see the movie. Is it available for rent at traditional movie rental stores?

A movie I viewed last night, Quitting, was extremely interesting and informative. This movie is about a young Chinese man who decides to leave the country for the city to find an acting job/s. He finds acting jobs, and experiences success in this endeavor. At one point, he is able to purchase a large apartment in the city. Unfortunately, he also finds drugs, especially heroin.

The movie begins with his parents relocating to the city in order to help their son recover from his addiction. Throughout the movie, our protagonist experiences ups and downs associated with drug addiction. Ultimately, he struggles with country versus city life, drugs versus abstinance, and a desire to find a place in between all of these.

In the end, our "hero" finds a sort of peace in compromise. It is an exceptional movie if you teach modern world cultures, IB, or health. This movie was especially relevant for me, one of my own brother's experienced almost exactly what this young Chinese man did. In other words, drugs transcend ethnic, linguistic, and economic boundaries.

One very unique component of this video in particular is that this story is true. All of the actors are real people portraying themselves as they are in real life, in the video.

Michele Jones
UCLA Asia Institute

[Anonymous]

A quick review of the Film “Quitting’
by Rocky Parker
★★★/★★★★★

In the East Asia in my Classroom Summer Session 2006, I was afforded the opportunity to watch a contemporary film on drug addiction in China. Personal knowledge of Chinese films for me personally mainly focused on martial arts classics and so the thematic change from kung fu to heroin addiction was a welcomed change. Quitting was released in 2003 and was directed by Yang Zhang.

Although the film was a commercial success and is readily available on DVD,
I was disappointed in the film. I felt the film was not a realistic portrayal of heroin addiction in China as it only shows heroin use by the rich and affluent. The main character in the film is a successful young actor who in order to better understand his characters and ‘expand his mind’ began to experiment with drugs. Ultimately this experimentation, coupled with the actor’s personality, leads to heroin addiction and a troublesome and destructive lifestyle. Although the actors portrayal of the addiction is commendable, Zhang’s setting of an affluent actor residing in a highly westernized apartment in downtown seems unrealistic.

Moreover, the fact that the young actor’s choice in music and art work is reminiscent of the 1960’s seems to be a subtle attempt to link drug addiction to the west.
Interestingly, even though this being a true story, the youth actor’s return to normalcy also seems to be out of place in this dark and depressing film. Still, despite its’ negativity, this is an excellent film for the non-sinologist to get an insight in to Chinese relationship and parental love.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate your review. I see uses for the film in showing everything you mentioned. Also, it demonstrates the sclerotic nature of the samurai class by the mid-1800s. Clearly they are salarymen much like today's businessmen, very few actually being trained in the use of the sword. The wealth gap between some samurai and the farming poor is noexistent. The main character's struggle between duty to clan and justice is illuminating.

This film is an effective answer to the romanticized view of samurais portrayed by The Last Samurai. They were hardly heroes.

[Anonymous]

i was saddened to here of Mako's demise. What I'm concerned the world will never know are the contributions he and other Asain performers made behind the scenes. We still live in a world of limited opportunities for Asian artists. I think of the Jonathan Pryce fiasco in Miss Saigon. We need to either choose to be color blind or we need to open up more roles for performers.[Edit by="ccarter on Aug 8, 3:44:35 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

How accurate is the portrayel of a Geisha? :~

[Anonymous]

I also read the article on the LA times.
I am happy that there is some Asian-American talent on America's Got Talent.
I am always wondering where the Asian pop artists are? Specially after watching some on foreign cable broadcasts . They are around, why not here? It is up to us as teachers to motivate students to explore their talents, specially in a town with so many opportunities. I was recently present at a retreat where a 10 yr. old Filipino boy played the violin incredibly. He has won contests against adults with no problem. It is important to incorporate the important role the arts have played through out history to diffuse ideas, values through plays, music, poetry, sculptures,and today's myriad technology.

[Anonymous]

This afternoon, I had the priviledge of watching the Korean movie, "The Way Home." The movie begins with a young boy being taken to his grandmother's humble home located in the Korean countryside. His mother has fallen on hard times financially, and needs time to look for a job so that she can once again take care of her child.

Of course, her version of "taking care of" seemed to be leaving him to his own devices for much of the time. He is an exceedingly rude child, but it most likely isn't his fault. His mother is not the most devoted parent, and has probably neglected her son.

Throughout the movie, you will learn to really hate the boy. His behavior towards his grandmother is horrible. He speaks so incredibly disrespectfully to her, even going so far as to call her "dummy." At one point, she asks him what he wants to eat. He replies, "Kentucky chicken!" She sets out early one morning, acquires a chicken, and boils it especially for him. He cries when he realizes that it is not fried. But, in the end, he eats it anyway.

By the end of the movie, the boy has changed. Although some people would probably want to the debate the degree to which he has changed. In the end, his mother comes back to get him. He is quiet, sad, and reluctant to leave. But, he must leave. He leaves with his grandmother the precious post cards he was so proud of upon his arrival to her home. Upon the cards, he has written messages which she can then send to him.

I could use this movie several ways. One would be to use it as an introduction to modern Korea. There is so much in this movie which the typical American child could relate to. I could also teach my students to make comparisons in cultures, both Korean and American, city versus rural.

Overall, I thought this movie was poignant, because it crosses cultural barriers with its univeral themes: conflict between generations and conflict between cultures, urban and rural life, poverty and material wealth.

Michele Jones
UCLA Asia Institute

[Anonymous]

After watching a movie called The Way Home, I was struck by how well, we as parents, can really mess up our children. As parents, we want what is best for our children and will give them almost anything to please them. After watching this movie, I realize how this can backfire. The little boy in the film was given whatever he wanted by his mother, such as fast food and electronic toys, while living in the city. He didn't know how to handle things when he was transported from the city to the country to stay with his poor grandmother. He expected to get the same kind of treatment from his grandmother that he got from his mother. If his grandmother could have given it to him, I am sure she would have, and she tried hard to make him happy. He soon found out though that life here would be forever different and a grandmother's love could tame the most unruly beast; the beast that was in him. He was able to think of someone besides himself towards the end of the movie and learned to care about his grandmother. The sad part was however, his mother came back for him after he had come so far on his journey of enlightenment. I am hoping the change in him will last and his grandmother's teachings of love with endure.

[Anonymous]

I was deeply moved by the movie, "The Way Home" and would certainly show it to my students. The harshness of country life in comparison to the conveniences of city life would be only one of the many topics for discussion. After viewing the movie, I would probably
have students form a socratic seminar to analyze the characters and their motivations. The unconditional love that this grandmother expresses is amazingly believable. Unlike the total humiliation that the father tolerates in "Quitting," which I personally find unlikely and a sign of weakness, the strength of character that this grandmother possesses is remarkable and highly believable. I wouldn't consider the journey "delightful" or the performances "charming" or "humorous" as stated in the movie synopsis, but it certainly is powerful and memorable. Oh the simple things we take for granted: electricity, batteries, soft pillows, TVs in every room, refrigeration, and yes-- most especially indoor plumbing! This grandmother should be cannonized just for her attempts to provide KFC alone! I know what it takes to catch, defeather and clean a chicken and it is one arduous task!

I found a pricelist on Paramount.com: 19.99 for DVD and 95. for video which I think is strangely overpriced.[Edit by="bdiaz on Aug 9, 11:36:32 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Despite my calls for corporal punishment directed at the boy, the movie The Way Home did move me, but in ways that may differ from most. I saw in the mother a woman who gave things, not love, and in the grandmother I saw a woman who gave love, and things when she could give them. I think my insights as a parent are probably nearly universal, and the movie caught it, too. We don't give children what we want them to have. We give our children who we actually are. If we are shallow and self-centered, trading things for time, then we imprint selfishness on our children. If we show love, children learn love. The one proviso being that indulgence is not love. Sometimes denying our children things that will ultimately harm them is more loving than stuffing them full of choco-pies.

Anyway, the movie is touching. I think most teenagers will 'get' the movie, perhaps even identifying selfish behaviours in themselves along the way. If it causes a student or two to hug their parents, there is success in that.

As for academic use, there is the stark difference betweeen the techno-savvy urban Koreans and the rural roots of the culture. The contrast is enormous. Perhaps a message is a warning to Koreans that, in their head-long pursuit of economic development, a vital part of Korea's soul is being sacrificed. THe countryside is so old and slow, yet good and wholesome. It seems forgotten by urban Korea, lost in the recesses of the mountains.

[Anonymous]

As a person born and partially raised in Korea, it was interesting to see my seminar colleagues' reaction to this movie. Since I consider myself rather “Americanized”, it was quite a realization to discover deeply embedded Confucian values in me. While most of my colleagues at the seminar antagonized the boy and wanted to have him spanked, I found myself putting all the blame on the mother of the child. The boy is young and behaves the way he does due to lack of proper upbringing. His mother failed to educate him and instill proper values and manners in him. Not only does she not educate her son properly, she is a very irresponsible daughter to her mother. She has her mother completely abandoned and obviously does not even maintain contact with her unless a need for it arises. She needs to be struck by a lightening.

Unlike the US and many Western countries, there is no social security program in place in Korea to take care of the elderly. Sons and daughters (especially the oldest son) are expected to take care of the parents. There is a growing concern about traditional values being replaced by self-centeredness and materialism, as more and more young people in Korea start to consider elderly parent care burdensome in their modern day life. I think this movie reflects that concern.

[Anonymous]

The Way Home is an emotional film. After reading my classmates' feelings about it, I thought I'd give a slightly different interpretation. When I was growing up in middle class San Diego in the 50's I was very fortunate to spend summer breaks with both sets of grandparents. My Dad's family still had a farm in Missouri where I milked cows, fed pigs, got lost in corn stalks and took eggs out of the chicken coops. It was a chance to see what rural life had been like not only in America, but in most countries for most of man's existence.
My Mom's family had an old house in Texas, near oil fields. The Church was in their front yard, the town was already losing people 40 years ago. Now the house is gone, the Church is a ruin and the town is basically non existient. Both of these homes had out houses and few conveniences and were not close to neighbors.
Fast forward to my daughter who is now 25. She has never been to a farm or been around animals, except a few horse back riding lessons in a controlled stable area. Her life in middle class Mission Viejo was modern and easy. She does not remember because she was only an infant, but she met her great grandmother in Jamaica, who was 90, I think. My mother in law's mother lived in a one room hut with a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Most of her family had left the island in the 60's, although my mother in law never did adjust to life in the US.
The Way Home kept reminding me of my childhood and my daughter's childhood. I contemplated how my deceased father rode his pony to school, after doing the farm chores and how his favorite sister died of diptheria in the 20's. How my Mom has never forgotten the poverty of the depression. How fortunate I am to live in California with all the conveniences and luxuries I need. How much I miss my daughter who lives so far away in Australia and that she does not interact with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. How she may bring up children in Zimbabwe or Botswana where her intended wants to settle in his homeland. He attended boarding school and plans to bring up kids the same way.
The relationships of the little boy, his mother and grandmother in this tender film made me think about my own family and how fragile we are all, how important it is to be loving and kind to all we meet, and how critical it is for us, the teachers, to be role models of kindness and generosity to our students, who may have mothers like the child in the film. and who may not know grandparents or neighbors like the village people in Korea.
Cathy, Chaparral High, Temecula

[Anonymous]

Using Clay's suggestion of clips, I think I might use the Quitting during the Opium Wars unit next semester. The whole issue of addiction and the pain it casues families, is, of course, universal. My father died in my arms from lung cancer, after a lifetime of smoking. I am sure we all have stories of sorrow because loved ones have been killed by drunk drivers, and worse. When I tell my high school students that my friend's nephew brutally killed his own mother and aunt while on meth, they are saddened and stunned. I hope they never get near drugs or think one little experiment could never cause harm.
I hope teachers remember to relate information and first hand stories to kids to help them have the courage to say no. The Quitting certainly validated my efforts as an educator to always be a role model and to use any opportunity to voice what is healthy and safe to our kids, who, like the protanganist, may not always have a clear mantra to help them make the right decision.
Cathy, Chaparral High, Temecula

[Anonymous]

I enjoy the fantasy style asian movies. So when my husband said "do you want to watch the most expensive Korean movie ever made...its a fantasy sword play..." I agreed. (Now there is one more movie more expensive...Joint Security Area). Well my husband is also a huge comic book reader so no wonder... this movie Bichunmoo is based on a comic book. For those of you who like action this movie has what is called wire-fu.
The main character is Jinha who apparently is poor but knows a special type of fighting called the Binchun Secret Arts. Through out the whole movie and in the flashbacks of his family history he is chased and attacked to get these secrets. He falls in love with a girl who looks like the beautiful women he has a picture of in a scroll (which turns out to be a picture of his mother). This girl over time grows into a women and is the daughter of a rich and powerful Mongol general. She ends up moving with her father away from Jinha. In the meantime his uncle is attacked in an awsome scene by masked attackers trying to get the Binchun Secrets. Since time is running out for his uncle to teach him the secrets before they get attacked again they travel themselves. As they pass The House of Yu his uncle reveals that he is not really his uncle but his father's master swordsman. He tells him his parents were not Han or Mongol,but Koryo (from ancient Korea). Their home was attacked by (I think) Mongols tryng to get the Binchun Arts Secrets, and he, Jinha,was the only surviving heir of these secrets. Once he learned them he had to seek revenge for his parents.
I was a little curious about the history of Mongols and Koryo. It seems in my research it took Kublai Khan's armies a decade to defeat them, and as their reputation goes... destroyed many temples and treasures of Koryo.
By the time he reaches where Sullie is now living it has been 6 months and someone else has asked for her hand in marriage. Jinha befriends this person before realizing it is now his competition. Sullies father has Jinha killed when he learns his daughter would rather marry him than the other man. Therefore she marries the other man and soon has a child. Well we find out later why she agreed to marry him so fast... It turns out to be Jinha's child. This is kept a secret for most of the movie including from Jinha who didn't really end up dying.. when he finally returns years later. I don't want to ruin the story between this and the ending, but I of course cried at the end when Jinha and Sullies husband have a duel over her with some interesting twists.
From word of mouth I understand alot of people like the unique way people died in the fight scenes...but thought the acting was lax. I enjoyed it but did have to rewind more than once to re read subtitles and understand what was going on. I don't know how it could be used in the classroom...I just watched it because I enjoy asian cinema.

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