Take off (the mask of haunting past)

Take off is an interesting film directed by Kim Yong-hwa....its is a sports thriller.....(a genre which i like the most). Inside the thrilling sport story we can find the outburst of Korean identity crisis and shadows of colonial past.

The story is about a 5 member group of Ski jumpers, who are motivated to participate the winter Olympics to accomplish their private desires. Eventhough the storyline seems to be apolitical, but the film carries the burden of a haunting past. A past which is buried but never extinguished. In the film the main hero came back to Korea to find out his mother. He hates his mother as she abandoned him in the childhood. He along with his sister were adopted by an American family. Now he wants to know why his mother abandoned him? in this film we can find the ethos of an abandoned generation capitalist Korea.

Who are the Villon of this film? No doubt "Japan" and "USA". The burden of American interference in Korean society is very visible here. It is really not the "communist"(family business....) Korea which hurts South Koreans but it is the colonial past which hurts them the most. Also they are hurt by the American domination.

Why i love Korean Cinema

Korean cinema has a unique place in the history of post modern cinema. Leaving behind many renowned traditional film industries like Japanese cinema, Korean cinema has emerged as the top film industry in Asia. It presents some of the finest film makers of our time - Kim Ki Duk, Park Chan Wook, Lee Chang Dong and Joo ho bong. You can also find miracles like Jang Jun-hwan, who created ever lasting impression through a single cinema - "Save the green planet". It has legends like Im Kwon Taek, Im Sang-soo and Park Kwang-su.

Even though it is not "Perfect Film Industry", its capability to experiment with theme, treatment and form make it far ahead to many other film industries. In this blog i will try to write about the Korean movies which i watched and liked.