[Book Sip] Mr. Pil-su, Who Fell for Korean Movies, Lives in Korea with His Korean Wife

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This is the first essay collection by Pierce Conran, a film and drama producer born in Ireland, raised in Switzerland, and currently living in Korea, deeply immersed in Korean films with his Korean wife. His Korean name is Kim Pil-su. The title carries the meaning that if a loved one comes with a ‘must-have’ condition, it becomes difficult for that person. He fell in love with Korean cinema through director Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Although shocked by its brutality, he grew fond of it as he discovered Korea’s trauma and intent within. He points to ‘social messages’ as a characteristic of Korean films. He says he found the image of a ‘company worker committing suicide by jumping’ in films like The Host and Kim’s Story. He expresses his love for Korean films and dramas from an outsider’s perspective.

No matter how much you know about someone or something, if you keep trying to discover new things, the mystery and passion never fade. The same goes for the greatest films. These films offer new interpretations, new theories, and new feelings no matter how much you analyze, dissect, and discuss them. I wrote my university thesis on director Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder, and even after 15 years, I feel that I could write a completely new thesis just based on the new ideas that come to mind each time I watch it again (I have probably watched it about twenty times). -pp. 23-24

Thanks to a conservative social atmosphere and a government that suppressed free expression, Korean filmmakers have long learned to speak about things indirectly. Therefore, many important films are composed by linking subtexts together. -p. 24

The same was true when watching Korean films. My ‘sudden passion’ for Korean cinema began with Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (at the time, I had just started to take an interest in Japanese films and accidentally chose this one). I was deeply shocked by the brutality in the film, but the images stayed in my mind, and I couldn’t help but watch it again a few weeks later. I still couldn’t quite grasp the trauma of Korea portrayed in the film, but upon rewatching, I sensed the intent. This is how my passion for Korean cinema began like magic. -p. 25

Falling for Korean films was a joy. Regardless of genre, the stories had many layers. I didn’t grow up watching romance films, but I liked Korean romances. Especially films like Il Mare, ...ing, and A Moment to Remember, where lovers part due to time, disability, or illness. Whether right or wrong, at the time I imagined these films as metaphors for the irreversible division of the Korean Peninsula. -p. 27

I felt hypnotized and chilled. I had never thought I could feel this way watching a film. That night, I realized that fear takes many forms. Fear can be the shadow inside the mind and the dark night, or the ghosts of the past and future. Films reflect, confront, and embrace the deepest fears. -p. 32

I first saw director Bong Joon-ho’s The Host on its opening day in Dublin, where most of the audience were Korean expatriates. The scene where the family lies down and cries tangled together at the joint funeral was the moment people laughed the most. A few days later, I went to see the film again with friends, and this time the audience was entirely Irish. No one laughed at that scene. It is fortunate that we can laugh at the absurd aspects of our own culture, but when someone dies, we still wear black clothes and keep solemn expressions. -pp. 70-71

While Western films are filled with alcohol, Korean films (and dramas) are also, in a good way, a drinking party. The staple item for Korean art directors (and a basic ingredient in Hong Sang-soo’s films) is, of course, the green soju bottle. Soju bottles scattered on restaurant and living room floors are like the ‘evergreen tree’ symbol of Korean films and dramas. -pp. 146-147

Writer Jung Seo-kyung’s depiction of women’s solidarity in her works has fundamental and unique characteristics, especially evident in TV dramas. Jung Seo-kyung shows women’s solidarity through actions rather than explanations, embedding it in vivid motifs and symbols. The blue orchid in Little Women is such a symbol. -p. 174

Essential is Difficult | Pierce Conran | Translated by Kim Min-young | Maumsanchaek | 208 pages | 15,000 KRW

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