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[HanCinema's Film Review] "Potato" + Full Movie

Melodrama has always been the main nucleus of Korean cinema, with the audience's appeal for sentimentalism being the main driving force for the creation of so many movies in the category. This, however, does not mean that these movies are not of quality, since a number of times, melodrama has been used as the main medium of rather realistic and pointed comments. "Potato" is one of those films, focusing on the blights of women during the Japanese Occupation era in Korea.

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Adapted from the 1921 novella "Gamja" by Kim Dong, the story focuses on Bok-nyeon, a 20-year-old, very beautiful young woman, who had the bad luck of marrying Jang, a poor, middle-aged aristocrat, who thinks his genealogy places him above all the people surrounding them, to the point that he denies doing even the simplest job. As such, all the burdens, both metaphorically and literally as one of the initial scenes eloquently shows, fall on her shoulders. In order to make some money for both of them, and with the help of some local women from the village they end up in, she first starts begging, but eventually manages to find a job picking caterpillars in the forest. The director of the work, however, is a relentless womanizer, who has picked the women to work there based on their looks, frequently bringing some of them to have sex with him. Bok-nyeon's turn inevitably comes, while the many hardships she has to face eventually make her quite harsh, even resorting to using her body to survive. This, however, brings her to clash with the other women, while her husband continues to be the lazy, demanding, useless buffoon he always was.

Before we dwell in the main comments of the movie, it is also noteworthy to mention a voyeuristic/sensual element that appears throughout the movie, starting with the initial scene where Bok-nyeon is bathing half naked, and continuing with a number of groping and sex scenes, which are though, implied and not exactly depicted. Considering the nature of the movie and censorship of the time, this is a rather unusual element that adds, however, much entertainment to the movie, while also benefiting the most by the impressive looks of Yoon Jung-hee as Bok-nyeon.

Apart from this aspect, the main focus here is on presenting how harsh the life of women at the time was, with the protagonist's circumstances being the main medium of this approach. In that fashion, Bok-nyeon was married-off to her useless husband by her father, and now has to cater to his every need, including sex, since he refuses even the simplest work, due to his aristocratic lineage. This last aspect could also be perceived as a comment regarding the particular class. While she goes to one odd/backbreaking job after the other, her efforts seem to be to no avail since he refuses to produce any kind of income. That the rest of the women in the area find themselves in similar positions, inevitably leads to antagonism between them, with the violence essentially being unavoidable. Furthermore, and as exhibited in the character of the Director, men were essentially allowed to do whatever they wanted with women at the time, all of which are treated as objects.

All these circumstances change Bok-nyeon, who becomes more cruel and shameless as time passes, but still is exploited by the men in her life, while not being able to abandon her useless husband. The appearance of the Chinese man makes things even worse, while also highlighting that even poor immigrants were above women at the time, if they were men.

As such, and as the women in the village make her a pariah, her fate is almost predetermined, with the only recognition in her life coming posthumously, in a somewhat ironic, quite melodramatic last scene.

Yoon Jung-hee, just like her character, carries the film on her shoulders by giving an astonishing performance, particularly due to the sexuality she emits at all times, and the many ways she transforms throughout the story. Particularly the moments she becomes violent are a true wonder to watch, in an overall great effort. Heo Jang-kang as Jang plays the truly despicable man, with no redeeming qualities at all quite convincingly, in a performance that ends up being comedic a number of times. The same applies more or less to Park Nou-sik's effort as Director, with him having a work on one hand, but being something very close to a rapist on the other.

Jang Seok-jun's cinematography is also on a very high level, in the ways he captures the voyeuristic aspect of the movie, the bucolic setting of the woods and the rundown village most of the story takes place in. Kim Hee-su's editing results in a relatively fast pace that suits the style of narrative nicely, while at 81 minutes, the movie definitely does not overextend its welcome.

"Potato" is an excellent movie in all aspects, one of those that shows that melodrama can be much more than forced sentimentalism.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"Potato" is directed by Kim Seungok, and features Yoon Jung-hee, Heo Jang-kang, Park Nou-sik, Do Kum-bong, Ju Jeung-ryu, Jeon Gye-hyeon. Release date in Korea: 1968/11/15.

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