[HanCinema's Film Review] "Angel Is Dead"

I'd never heard of "Angel Is Dead" back win 2017 when it was new, allegedly in South Korean theaters. Apparently it did manage to screen at the 27th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, which explains why there's an English subtitled version available to view on Tubi at all. In any case, the film has been trending on HanCinema often enough I was curious what it even was, not that it was hard to guess. "Angel Is Dead" is an erotic melodrama, which is to say there's sex on screen.

Advertisement

Not a lot of sex, mind you, as writer/director No Zin-soo certainly puts in the work to enforce a certain mood even without hardcore nudity. Ga-in (played by Kim Hwa-yeon) is a hostess who's moved out to an obscure, unnamed island where almost all the clients are miserable fishermen. Ga-in becomes obsessed with Do-kyeong (played by Shin Won-ho-I), a young man who just finished his mandatory military service and is only at the island until he can go back to school on the mainland.

The titular Angel is Ga-in's daughter, who died for unspecified reasons and whose death has plunged Ga-in into a deep suicidally masochistic depression. From her very first day at the hostess bar, Ga-in picks fights with the customers. Do-kyeong, not exactly a fan of hostess bars as a concept to begin with, is sympathetic to her position. The romance that ensues is somewhat charming, for awhile, although it doesn't really go anywhere.

That's not a criticism of the film itself- the shallow nature of the relationship between Ga-in and Do-kyeong represents the bulk of the film's conflict. Most tellingly, we learn surprisingly little about Do-kyeong despite his prominent screentime. His interest in photography is hyped up as if it were an important part of his characterization. Ultimately, though, his most relevant foreshadowing comes in the form of a scene where he's pinched by a small crab, resulting in unsettling moments for both of our leads.

Another unsettling moment comes when Do-kyeong's father enters the film. Do-kyeong and his father have a strained relationship which is not improved by the evolving Ga-in situation. But the darkest irony comes at the climax, when we finally learn just why it is that Do-kyeong is convinced that his father killed his mother. It's very much a moment of not knowing whether to laugh or cry- the implication seems to be that even as a sexually mature adult, Do-kyeong can't look back at his memory and come up with any interpretation aside from a literal one.

In a way it's to the credit of "Angel Is Dead" that Ga-in and Do-kyeong's father are the main sympathetic characters despite their indisputedly committing the cruelest acts on-screen. They're sad, pitiful, lonely people in part because Do-kyeong is so emotionally distant from them. Of course, at the end of the day "Angel Is Dead" is still just an erotic melodrama. The ambiguity is meant to be titillating more than it is soulful, although this is an appropriate enough irony for how the film's characters deal with trauma.

Written by William Schwartz

___________

"Angel Is Dead" is directed by No Zin-soo, and features Kim Hwa-yeon, Shin Won-ho-I, Yoon Ye-hee, Lee Kwang-ho. Release date in Korea: 2017/01/25.