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Korea Herald
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Diving into uncharted waters
Jung Yoon-chul's experimental drama tackles Sewol Ferry disaster's forgotten stories with bare-bones approach The Sewol Ferry disaster of 2014 remains one of Korea's most deeply felt national tragedies. While public attention has long focused on those who were on board, the stories of civilian divers who risked their lives to recover victims' bodies have largely remained in the background. "Sea Tiger," Jung Yoon-chul's ('Marathon,' 'A Man Who Was Superman') first film in eight years, brings those overlooked narratives to the fore through an experimental approach that strips cinema down to its theatrical bones. Adapted from Kim Tak-hwan's novel "Sea of Lies" and based loosely on real-life figures, the film follows diver Kyung-soo (Lee Ji-hoon) as he struggles with lingering trauma from the recovery operation. When the government attempts to hold Kyung-soo's supervisor Chang-dae (Son Sung-ho) responsible for another diver's death through manslaughter charges, the case forces Kyung-soo to relive those harrowing underwater moments while also battling decompression sickness, a potentially fatal condition common among deep-sea divers. Speaking at Monday's press conference at Megabox Coex — where director Jung was notably absent due to a medical emergency — the producer and cast reflected on carrying the emotional weight of the project. 'When I learned about what diver Kim Kwan-hong went through, I kept asking myself: How much of his pain could I really understand?' Lee said. 'I started from the point of 'what if it were me?' If I had been there, experienced those things, how difficult would it have been?' Kim Kwan-hong was a civilian diver who took part in the Sewol ferry rescue and later died from complications linked to decompression sickness after months of recovery efforts. Son spoke about the responsibility he felt portraying the character, explaining how he drew inspiration from real-life diver Gong Woo-young's unwavering moral clarity. 'I wondered what strength allowed this person to readily volunteer to go to the disaster scene,' he said. 'It was probably his life philosophy — the values he upheld throughout his life.' Beyond its loaded themes, the film is sure to confound viewers with its radical art of make-believe. Shot almost entirely on a black-box sound stage with bare walls and minimal props, "Sea Tiger" resembles a stage production filmed on camera. Actors mime swimming across dry floors, speak to unseen victims, and rely entirely on performance and imagination to convey the tension of underwater operations and their raw emotional aftermath. 'Human imagination is infinite and sometimes frightening,' Lee reflected on the film's minimalism. 'The power to believe something non-existent exists — by me seeing it that way, and the audience imagining it together — it's really amazing.' The stripped-down approach wasn't just an artistic choice. Originally conceived as a large-scale commercial production, the project spent years in development before the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an industry-wide funding freeze that made the original vision unworkable. 'What started out as a budget issue ended up becoming a creative strength,' Lee said. 'If we had actually filmed inside the ship, showing children being recovered, we would've had to ask whether audiences could even bear to watch it.' That minimalism at times succeeds in creating genuinely unsettling imagery, especially when Lee's character combs through invisible wreckage using only body language, but other scenes feel awkwardly caught between stage and screen. Extraordinary formal experiments demand extraordinary execution to justify their existence, and "Sea Tiger" doesn't always clear that bar. More often than not, the earnest emotional delivery strikes as overwrought for cinema, more suited to live theater's broader gestures. Producer Yoon Soon-hwan emphasized the team's commitment to handling the subject with sensitivity. 'When we initially pursued this as a commercial film with over 10 billion won in budget, one of our biggest concerns was avoiding so-called 'disaster porn,'' he said. 'But with this stripped-back format, that risk is gone. It gave us a way to tell the story with dignity and restraint.' Reactions from victims' families have been especially meaningful to everyone involved. 'Min-woo's father — father of one of the Sewol Ferry victims from Danwon High School — watched the film in Jeju,' Yoon said. 'He stood up in the theater for the first time to share his thoughts. He said he was deeply grateful.'
Korea Herald
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
'The Noisy Mansion,' a comedic take on Korea's urban nightmare
Rookie director Lee Ru-da tackles anxiety of apartment living with warm humor South Korean cinema has long cast apartments as sites of dread and the uncanny, from the deadly mysteries of "Hide and Seek" (2013) and "Door Lock"(2018) to the apocalyptic imaginations of "Concrete Utopia" (2023). In "The Noisy Mansion," first-time director Lee Ru-da has transformed what could have been formulaic subject matter into something distinctive — part whodunnit, part facetious comedy, about one of South Korea's most pervasive urban afflictions. The film centers on Geo-wool (Kyung Su-jin), an unemployed busybody who investigates the source of mysterious thuds that wake her every morning at 4 a.m. It is a premise that taps into a deeply felt Korean anxiety: the thundering noise from upstairs neighbors that sparks psychological distress and even violent crimes among the nation's densely-packed urban dwellers. "I experienced severe inter-floor noise firsthand," Lee said during a press conference that followed the prerelease screening of the film at Megabox Coex in Seoul on Monday. "The experience was revelatory," Lee shared. "When the noise finally stopped, quality of life improved dramatically. That's when I realized this story would resonate with many people." In a country where more than two-thirds of the population live in apartment buildings, such disputes have escalated well beyond mere annoyance. Extreme cases have led to stabbings, arson and deliberate explosions, some fatal. Lee's approach to the material is, however, unmistakably buoyant. "People might expect a horror film about noise complaints," she says. "But I've always been drawn to more lighthearted mysteries. The contrast actually highlights the issue while keeping viewers engaged." This tonal choice manages to strike a chord. While many recent Korean films drain away reality with forced optimism, "The Noisy Mansion" employs a zippy pace and humor to underscore its social commentary. It also weaves in broader urban concerns — inadequate child care infrastructure, the corrupting influence of property speculation behind reconstruction schemes — with remarkable deftness. That triumph of screenplay stems from Lee's perceptiveness, rare for a debut feature. As her flawed but likable characters join forces against both the noise and its origins, the film renders its ethical vision as crystal-clear and engaging as the propulsive plot — after all, Korea's urban nightmares require communal solutions. Towards the end, the balance between a lighthearted tone and the structure of the whodunnit pays off nicely, allowing the work to channel individual frustrations into a persuasive call for collective action and solidarity. Kyung brings convincing determination to her role as the amateur sleuth. "My personal experiences with injustice shaped my approach to Geo-wool," she said. "Years ago, I stood outside my employer's door with colleagues for weeks after they withheld our pay. That same refusal to back down from wrongdoing drives this character." The ensemble cast includes Ko Kyu-pil as an unemployed accountant, Kim Joo-ryeong as the overbearing but well-meaning representative of the apartment complex and former K-pop idol Choi Yoo-jung making her film debut as a bratty Generation Z civil servant exam candidate. "Transitioning to acting felt natural," Choi said of the experience. "To prepare, I drew from my generation's digital fluency and immersed myself in social media trends. Seeing everything come together on screen for the first time today was incredibly rewarding." While the film will be released Feb. 26, just two days before Bong Joon-ho's "Mickey 17," this David-and-Goliath situation does not intimidate the first-time director. "Sharing theater space with such a momentous work is an honor," Lee said. "While there's obviously a budget disparity, our human-centered approach offers something different but equally valuable. I believe audiences will embrace both."
