[HanCinema's Film Review] "A Dwarf Launches a Little Ball" + Full Movie

"A Dwarf Launches a Little Ball" is based on the homonymous short novel by Cho Se-hui, one of the most important literary works of the 70s and 80s. The story was written during a period when the government actively censored popular culture and any notion that could be associated with communism, and the themes presented, such as the conditions of labor workers and their movement in the 70s found much appeal among the youths of the time, which made it a best-seller in the country. Furthermore, its impact continued in the next decade, when the student movement used this text as a sort of manifesto. It was eventually adapted into a movie, which went exceptionally well in the box office, while receiving nomination in all categories at the Grand Bell Awards, where it was also considered as the favorite for Best Movie. However, the day of the awards ceremony, it was removed from eligibility due to pressure from the new military government, leaving the director and cast stupefied.

Advertisement

Park Woo-cheol is a dwarf who has just returned to Happy Village, after the circus he has been working in as a trumpet player, has ceased its function. The area is actually directly attached to a salt factory, with a number of families who worked at it in the past, having bought land around it, and built houses there, with Park having spent his whole life trying to finish his own. Along with him, the older son of the family, Yeong-soo, also returns, after failing to get a university degree, which would allow him to evade his fate of becoming a worker in the factory. A disappointed Yeong-soo is reacquainted with his old childhood sweetheart, Myeong-hee, who now works as a hostess at a local bar. She was the one that he had promised to become a scientist and take her away, while she also had made her own promise, of not sleeping with anyone else until he returned. Their reunification however, is filled with sadness and despair, and the young man does not seem to be as eager as in the past to pursue this relationship. Meanwhile, his sister, Yeong-hee, is working at a candy factory, and his little brother, who is quite short-tempered, at a local boxing gym.

The whole of the family is keen on not letting their father continue working as he did his whole life, with the three siblings being willing to support the family. Him, however, does not feel comfortable sitting idle and drinking all day, as one of his former colleagues and neighbor, and eventually, finds a job as a crier for a local bar, one that, once again in his life, ends up being quite degrading for him. As the bullying the whole family received for Woo-cheol's situation in the past has left them traumatised, the patriarch finds himself falling into despair, while even worse, a contractor is forcing everyone in the area to sell their land and houses for a meager compensation. The family members are pondering what to do with the whole thing, and eventually the daughter decides to take things in her own hands. Tragedy, however, lurks in every corner.

Lee Won-se directs one of these hard-core melodramas, where nothing ever seems to be going well for anyone involved, Koreans seem to love so much. In that fashion, every character in the film is a tragic figure for their own reasons, for most of which, however, are not directly to blame. The father's dwarfism, and the racism the whole family had to face since the three siblings were kids, is the main source of this aspect, which extends though, to a sociopolitical comment, highlighting the differences between the haves and the have-nots. That all of them struggle to get away from the fate of the poor but fail miserably is one of the main driving forces of the narrative, with this element and the way Lee uses melodramatic tactics to present his comments being the most impressive traits of the film, with the overall context resulting in a rather harsh critique against capitalism and the way it marginalizes people.

Furthermore, Lee Won-se seems to state the socioeconomic environment the protagonists inhabit is one where love and romance has no place, a comment that is mostly presented through the two young female characters, and the way they both end up considering sex as their only useful attribute. That they both fail in the most tragic way, even when they use it, adds even more to this overall remark, also intensifying the critique and the melodramatic premises of the movie.

As usual, Ahn Sung-ki gives a great performance, this time in the role of Yeong-soo, whose despair for his failure to accomplish his dreams is ruining him steadily, poisoning every chance of happiness he ever had. His relationship with his father is also excellently portrayed, with the scenes with Kim Choo-ryeon in the role being among the most memorable here, particularly after the latter starts losing his grip on reality

These scenes are also among the most beautiful in the movie, especially the one on the boat, highlighting the overall excellent job of DP Park Seung-bae-I in presenting the rural area in a style that looks appealingly dystopian. The sequences of the molten steel in the factory and the demolition one are also quite impressive, in an overall great job in the visual department. Hyeon Dong-chun's editing implements a rather fast pace that suits the episodic narrative nicely.

Some transitions here and there could have been handled better, and the story on occasion seems a bit far-fetched. These, however, are but minor flaws, and the movie as a whole emerges as a great one, with its rich commentary being quite timely even nowadays, as much as the artfulness is still evident.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

___________

"A Dwarf Launches a Little Ball" is directed by Lee Won-se, and features Jeon Yang-ja, Ahn Sung-ki, Kim Choo-ryeon, Geum Bo-ra, Jeon Young-sun, Lee Hyo-jung. Release date in Korea: 1981/10/17.