We went 3 weekends ago to PIFF which is on the mainland of South Korea in Busan. Although we've been to Busan airport to take flights for trips to Southeast Asia, we have never visited Busan. This was still on our to-do list while living in Jeju, since Busan is the 2nd biggest city in South Korea.
While there, we experienced:
-seeing 6 incredible (well most were) movies filmed in several different countries.
-staying in the nicest jijabong (bath house) that we've ever experienced because it overlooked the beautiful beach, ocean and Busan bridge
-checking out the biggest fish market in South Korea
-seeing Busan for the first time! (beautiful beach, tons of mountains with houses and buildings in the mountains like LA or Honolulu, good nightlife, great places to shop, pretty bridge over the water that lights up at night, great city with a small town feeling to it)
Here are great descriptions written by Keith in his newsletter of the 6 films we saw.
1) “A Small Town Called Descent,” rating (1) = Jam forks into your eyes, blowout your eardrums to some metal music, and render yourself unconscious with a blunt object to the skull and you might have a chance of being able to watch the 2 most painful hours of “Why did that just happen?” in your life. Littered with grade school dialogue, this movie takes you through an incredibly easy to solve (yet difficult for them) murder mystery that tries to use clever one liners/dialogue like Tarantino movies and sexy editing similar to “Snatch.” Unfortunately for this South African flick, “knock knock jokes” proved to have more intelligence than the dialogue and my “Ghetto Cowboy” music video I made in high school was of higher editing quality (and for those who have seen it, that’s all I need to say). The characters all work for a central agency called “The Scorpions” and have littered pasts that are constantly referred to and have no tie in with the movie whatsoever. It takes them 90 minutes to finally talk to the actual victim of the crime that they know is alive and by doing so, solve the mystery that never was one to begin with. Worst of all, the movie actually had an important message it was trying to deliver about the Xenophobia (fear of foreigners and the consequences of that fear) that is currently plaguing the country and others within Africa, yet the movie was so bad it somehow destroyed the message and led you way off course until the very end where it spoon fed it to you. There was lots of crying in the movie and it was clear that the horrible actors were able to derive such emotion based on the sole fact that they knew their careers were over once this film was made. Combine all of this with crazy overacting (especially the wily priest), choppy/fast/nonsensical editing, and quite possibly the worst soundtrack ever (circus tunes meets classical piano) and you have this movie. I have never laughed so hard in confusion at a movie that was supposed to be so serious and so important (message wise) in all my life. I need to watch more South African movies to reclaim my faith in their quality once again thanks to this movie.
2) “Honey,” rating (6) = This was a movie from Turkey that was about a countryside family of honey farmers in an incredibly rural part of the country. It follows a young boy named Yusef through his everyday life and features the least spoken words of any movie we had ever seen. We were all a bit wary when we read the description that the “film was remarkable due to its “absence” which is its most striking feature.” They weren’t kidding. Often you are just watching a boy staring at water, walking, thinking, or doing nothing for minutes at a time. However, what made up for it was incredibly beautiful editing, cinematography and film making. Every scene was a work of art due to the fact that the movie was situated in the thick woods of the mountains in Turkey. The movie also used really great camera angles and had tons of symbolism that took the place of words. Everything had a purpose (including the silence because Yusef was a very quiet boy) and it couldn’t have been made any better given the choice of having such little dialogue. Personally, I think that the director should make horror movies due to the richness of every scene and the fact that he constantly made you feel like something was going to happen (which nothing ever did) by the way he used camera angles and lighting. However, the story was a little “meh” and sometimes the lack of dialogue got to be too much so we gave it a 6.
3) “And on the Third Day,” rating (7) = This was a movie from Israel that focused on the theme of “everyone is connected in some way or another” and that the typical life of an Israeli is complex and constantly under fire. It followed a bunch of characters that would occasionally meet/run into each other who also led completely different lives. It was entertaining, but also a little random and extreme in terms of its portrayal of every day citizens (many in the film have unusual fetishes/oddities). It would have gotten an 8 from us but it ends so abruptly that it inevitably makes you angry. It’s supposed to represent that whole idea of this being a snapshot of a never-ending story, but it literally stops during the best part of the movie!! Not cool. Also, a few too many bait n’ tackle shots from random men…Movie, you lose a point.
4) “Portraits in a Sea of Lies,” rating (8) = This was a movie from Columbia that was about a young woman and her cousin embarking on a cross country trip through a present day military dominated and oppressed country to claim land that was given to them through the death of their grandfather. The girl has endured a traumatic past and constantly has flashbacks displaying the horrible things the military did to her and her family as she travels and reminded of such events. The cousin is the complete opposite and is a “happy go lucky” spirit who thinks nothing of anything bad and lives every day without thought of the past or future. The movie is remarkably funny despite its serious message and the director highlights the importance of this movie through a closing statement describing the fact that 1/10 Columbian citizens are forced from their homes by the military and 4 ½ million people have either lost their home or have been killed by guerilla violence/warfare. It’s an eye opening movie about the current conditions in Columbia and the perspective/spirit you need to live a happy life if you are calling it home.
5) “Fratricide,” rating (8) = This is a movie that brings the harsh reality of being a minority in a country you are not welcomed to live in. The movie follows a 2 Kurdish boys and their brother who are trying to make ends meet in Turkey and send money to their families in order to help them survive. One family member is a pimp who is disgraced by his brother for his choice in career and the other family member along with his friend are in a half-way house for boys with no home/jobs. The movie does an excellent job describing the hardships of being Kurdish in Turkey and also talks about the loss of humanity the characters experience as they sacrifice their lives for the sake of their families and money. My favorite dialogue in the movie was when the little boy described how the attainment/introduction/seeking of money led to the death of the individual. This was one of 10 films featured at the festival about the hardships the Kurdish people are currently and it was brought as a centering world issue to the film festival through the advertising of these movies throughout the weekend (the reason why I loved this festival so much since every movie we saw exposed some problem that needed to be fixed in a country).
6) “Incendies,” rating (9/10) = This was hands down the best movie we saw and most likely the best film at the festival as a whole. We felt incredibly lucky to have had the chance to see it and I would be completely shocked if it didn’t win 1 or all of the awards at the festival. It is one of the better drama’s I have ever seen and something everyone will enjoy if they can get past how brutal it is. I believe it was a Canadian film from Quebec or Montreal since the actors spoke French. Also, the editing, story, music, cinematography, directing, acting, and anything else you could imagine were perfect. I won’t say much since I want it to be a complete surprise to you, but the overall story is about a brother and sister who are asked to find their unknown father and brother in the middle east through their mother’s request in a will after she dies. The movie is like 2 separate films put together, in that you watch what the mother actually went through in the past 1st and then see the kids discover the truth together in the subsequent scene during the present day. It’s insanely brutal, uses actual historical events/news in the Middle East to tell the story, and continues to twist and get better throughout the movie. We are all still blown away by what we saw and it’s a great eye opener to the never ending war between religious indifferences, ignorance, and atrocities caused by a refusal to understand one another. Laced with so many messages, it really is that powerful.
As you can see, the film festival was an amazing experience. The films had deep meaning and wonderful camera angels, shots and scenery of Turkey and the middle east. We enjoyed taking the trip with our Jeju friend, Angela, who we discussed the films
with between movies. We also met a Korean friend, Minx, while in one of the theaters who is from Busan. She was incredibly nice and not only took us out for coffee after the film we all saw to discuss it, but also helped us get a jijabong for the night (a beautiful one overlooking the beach, ocean and bridge), and met up with us the next day, and also sent us stickers in the mail to Jeju of pictures from the trip. What a kind and friendly person! We hope she takes a trip to visit us in Jeju this year so we can meet up once again and show her around our island.
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