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[HanCinema's Film Review] "Blazing Sun" + Full Movie

As the intro to the movie informs, the film is based on a short story by Kim Yu-jung, who is considered the first author to incorporate indigenous humor in Korean literature. Hah Myung-joong (Ha Gil-jong's brother)'s aim with this adaptation is both to stay true to the spirit of the exceptional writer and to reflect his words that, "we are the great Korean people". Truth be told, however, and despite this intro, the film is a completely different animal.

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The story takes place in the 1930s when Korea was under Japanese occupation, and its inhabitants, particularly the poor who dealt with manual labor, found their means of survival gradually disappearing. It is in this setting that Choon-ho and his wife Soon-i, a simpleton who is desperately in love with him, roam the country trying to find a place to live. Choon-ho mistreats his wife any chance he gets, giving her the hardest work to do and frequently beating her. She, however, does not even think of abandoning him. Eventually, they settle into a miner's village, with Sun-ie doing all kinds of breaking back jobs to support the two of them, while Choon-ho spends most of his time in the company of a barmaid, Hyang-sim, whom all the men in the area seem to lust for. In the meantime, Mr Lee, a local "leader" due to his wealth and connection with the Japanese is dominating over the villagers, while exploiting every female in his vicinity. Hyang-sim, who seems to like Choon-ho, promises him that she will help him get a job with Mr. Lee. He, however, has his eyes on Soon-i...

To begin with, there is nothing humorous in "Blazing Sun" a film where violence, rape, misery, and intense melodrama seem to permeate every scene, while essentially all characters in the movie end up being damned one way or the other. Nevertheless, through this rather intense approach, Hah Myung-joon manages to make a number of social, historical, economical, and philosophical comments. For starters, the ruin to the local economy, and the subsequent rise of corruption that Japanese Occupation brought permeates the story, essentially presented as the main source of the blights every character in the movie faces, and also the reason leading them to leave the country, with Manchuria being the only destination for them.

The place of women in the intensely patriarchal Korean society is another main comment here, with Soon-i and Hyang-sim being completely dependent on men, who exploit them every way they can, even if the latter is briefly presented as a kind of femme fatale. The fact that both get raped throughout the story, and even more so that Choon-ho violates Hyang-sim in a deed that makes her want him though, also moves into the same direction, in a concept that would definitely raise intense protests nowadays. Surprisingly though, and due to her will to have a child with him, Soon-i also rapes her husband in one occasion, in an element that could perhaps be what the term "indigenous humor" refers to. At the same time, and despite their good or bad intentions, all characters receive intense punishment, either due to their mistakes or other people's mistakes, or even fate, with the last factor again pointing to the hellish setting the Japanese transformed the country into.

Revenge also becomes a factor in the story, in again a surprising turnout for one of the dominant characters in the movie, but most of the time, the script shows people whose situation becomes worse and worse, in distinct melodramatic fashion, with the women, however, usually having the lion's share. The impact of the melodrama is so severe that, despite its hyperbolic nature, it remarkably enhances the movie. This is especially true because the in-depth analysis of the characters evokes empathy, ultimately intensifying the emotional impact of their fate. At the same time, though, there are moments where the sense of measure is lost, particularly in the second part of the film, after the events that essentially destroy the mining village.

Hah Myung-joong, who also stars as Choon-ho, embodies almost all the aforementioned elements in the best fashion, with him being both a perpetrator and a victim, although his eventual decisions deem him a truly despicable man, particularly for his treatment of his wife. Cho Yong-won as Soon-i is also convincing as a true victim, a woman that is willing to do everything for her husband while getting not just nothing in return, but actually scorn and intense physical punishment. Lee Hye-young-I as Hyang-sim is quite convincing as both a femme fatale and a victim, while her ending could be described as tragically ironic, if only it was not so severe.

DP Chung Kwang-suk captures the era with artistry and realism, creating a setting that looks idyllic in the beginning, but ends up being truly hellish. The voyeuristic scenes, and the many erotic sequences is where his work finds its apogee, while the bleakness of the coloring also fits the general aesthetics of the story. Hyeon Dong-chun's editing results in a relatively fast pace that works nicely for the episodic nature of the narrative, although the flashbacks could have been handled a bit better, and the ending could have been a bit briefer. Lastly, the use of music is quite appealing throughout, but the same definitely does not apply to the plethora of slow-motion scenes that become annoying after a fashion.

"Blazing Sun" is like a road trip to misery through the presentation of characters that seem damned from beginning to end. The impact of the story, the rich context, and the well-presented characters result in a film that, despite its intensely melodramatic nature, retains interest from beginning to end.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"Blazing Sun" is directed by Hah Myung-joong, and features Hah Myung-joong, Cho Yong-won, Lee Hye-young-I, Park Jong-seol, Choi Joo-bong, Lee In-ok. Release date in Korea: 1985/08/01.

 

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