True-story indie films get popular

A scene from “Jiseul”

By Kim Tong-hyung

Korean movies have started the New Year with a bang. ``Miracle in Cell No. 7,’’ ``The Berlin Files’’ and ``New World’’ are setting audience records and putting the Korean film industry on course for even a bigger year than 2012, when it sold a record 200 million tickets.

However, it could be argued that the biggest story of the year comes not from the aforementioned trio but from the sleeper hit, ``Jiseul,’’ an art-house film based on the Jeju massacre of 1948. Less than a month after its release, Jiseul sold more than 50,000 tickets as of Saturday, which qualifies as Titanic-like numbers in the world of small budget, independent movies. Movie industry officials say the 100,000 mark is a reasonable projection.

Jiseul highlights a number of noteworthy true-story films that have been released or are expected in coming months. While movies about real events are nothing new, most of the previous works were period dramas or war-based action flicks high on adrenalin rather than commentary.

What’s interesting about the class of 2013 is that new generation directors are showing a willingness to tackle controversial subjects their predecessors avoided like hand grenades. These movies are aimed at discomforting the audience as much as engaging them as the real events portrayed on screen are still fresh and profound enough to shape the lives of real people.

Jiseul has received critical acclaim, winning the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at January’s Sundance Film Festival in Utah, where it was lauded, particularly for its cinematography.

Despite its scale of human catastrophe and the scars it left on local communities, the Jeju massacre is a largely forgotten event in Korean contemporary history. On April 3, 1948, an armed guerilla uprising was suppressed by the police and military, months before the country’s first democratic republic was established in August of that year.

Up to 30,000 people were killed in fighting between various factions on the island or due to executions, many of them innocent civilians accused of being Communist sympathizers.

The interesting thing about Jiseul is that it takes its historical backgrounds seriously, but not so much that it becomes a drag and prevents the movie from being enjoyable, a testament to the narrative talent of director O Muel. O portrays tragic misunderstandings between local residents and troops, mixing fact and local lore, but also deftly picks up the humor in the situation.

O doesn’t use any frames to provide historical information or portray the clashes between soldiers and civilians. His focus is entirely on the story of villagers fleeing incoming military forces. He clearly has a story to tell, but is also careful to avoid announcing it. He makes no effort to engage viewers who don’t share his passion or background knowledge of Jeju, but that hasn’t prevented his movie from becoming a hit.

Commentary is expected to be more straightforward in ``Binyeom,’’ a documentary on the conflict between the residents of Jeju’s Gangjeong Village and the government efforts to build a naval base there, which opens in local theaters this week.

The plot of ``Norigae,’’ which opens on April 18, revolves around aspiring actresses forced to have sex with members of the power elite. Predictably, it’s loosely based on the story of the late Jang Ja-yeon, the actress who committed suicide in 2009 amid suspicions that her management company forced her to sleep with the heads of media companies, business executives and politicians in exchange for favors.

The movie, ``Another Family,’’ is based on the story of the late Hwang Yu-mi, one of dozens of workers who died after developing cancer and other fatal medical conditions while working on the semiconductor line of Samsung Electronics in past years.