Breathless

Direc ted by: Yang Ik June

Starring: Yang Ik June, Sang Hoon, Kot Bi Ki, Yeon Hue

Synopsis:

Sang Hoon Is a violent brutal man working Loan Collections in Korea. He lives alone and his only friend is Man Sik the manager of the Loan company for which he works. He despises the other collectors, and loathes the late payers whom he threatens intimidates and assaults people all day every day. The money he earns is given to his sister to care for her young son. And any left over is pretty much gambled away.

On his way back from his sisters house he meets Yeon Hue a schoolgirl who lives down the road who and is the sole carer of her father, a Vietnam War Veteran suffering from Dementia and violent outbursts, and her delinquent bullying thief of a brother. She takes exception to his antisocial behaviour and says so.

He smacks her full in the face and when she wakes up, instead of running as fast as she can and calling the cops on the violent maniac who has just knocked her unconscious and is now sat on the kerb watching her, she strikes up a truly bizarre relationship with him. A friendship based at first on a loose threat to report him and then metamorphosing quickly into one based on trust, openness and honesty between two incredibly damaged and hurt human beings.

As the film progresses Yeon Hue and Sang Hoon explore for the first time, the generations and years of violence and anger and fear which rules their lives and traps them, and for the first time start to actually see a way past it.

Review:

In the Korea of Breathless , the residential streets are often deserted but for the players in this piece. They reminded me of the hot summer roads of my school holidays in the seventies, dusty, quiet and hazy. The houses are real with the clutter of washing and toys and newspapers. It’s the quiet that sticks in the mind. For all of Sang Hoon’s vicious bullying attacks on the debtors, and Yeon Hue’s father’s delusional outbursts, the quiet speaks louder.

Moments in the collections office when the younger staff have left for the evening are serene and calm, until of course Sang Hoon feels the pressure of his friend and boss’s gentle concern and starts yelling and carrying on.

Sang Hoon’s nephew also, a subdued quiet little boy who faces his uncle’s inability to show any kind of patience or affection with such quiet that it’s powerful and saddening to watch.

The film begins to follow Sang Hoon and the girl Yeon Hue’s attempts to change, and it’s a pretty rocky road. The return of Sang Hoon’s father from prison where he’s been for nearly two decades for murdering Sang Hoon’s mother and nearly killing his sister ushers in really disturbing scenes of violence as he takes daily revenge for the horrors he witnessed as a child.

His sister really wants him to come in from the bleak self imposed exile in his world of violence and her son is silently desperate for his uncle to take his missing father’s place.

Yeon Hue finds herself to be a strong capable young woman, which is fortunate as her brother spends the film making the transition from sleazy parasite/ prostitute to junior gangster and thug.

She is strong enough to put up with him and her dad, and also to face down Sang Hoon and make him question why he is living the way he is. She is really the catalyst in his attempts to change. She helps him see what life with his sister and nephew could be like. Normal family life. And the changes she sees in him prove to her that she can change the way her life is going.

Of course things would never go that smoothly… There is a lot of story happening here between this small group of people bound together by hurt and hope. The film is long, and it does linger a little too long on some scenes in the final act

The narrative is deeply absorbing, often quite harrowing, and ultimately human in its barest sense.

We interviewed Jang Ik June about his motivation for making this movie, and he said he felt so very strongly about the very serious issue of familial violence and domestic abuse in his home country, and this film holds nothing back as a taboo busting expose.

Verdict:

Obviously it is a very serious subject indeed, and a worthwhile film on the subject is going to be thought provoking. This film stayed with me for a very long while afterwards, It is very well acted and directed, and in conclusion, intelligent powerful and brave.

8 out of 10 (Sulaco)