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66. The Ball Shot by a...
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 Home > Feature> 100 Korean Films |
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The Ball Shot by a Midget (Nanjang-iga sso-a-ollin jag-eun gong) (1981)
 Director : Lee Won-Se
Production Company : Han Jin Enterprises Co., Ltd
Date of Rate : 1981-10-08
Date of Theatrical Release : 1981-10-17
Running Time : 100 min.
Opening Theater : Dae Han Theater
Genre : Social Drama
Staff :
Writer : Cho Se-Hee
Screenplay(Adaptation) : Hong Pa
Producer : Han Gap-Jin
Director of PhotoGraphy : Park Seung-Bae
Gaffer : Lee Eok-Man
Music : Jeong Min-Seob
Art Director : Cho Kyeong-Hwan
Editor : Hyeon Dong-Chun
Cast(Actor/Actress) :
Ahn Seong-Ki, Jeon Yang-Ja, Kim Chu-Ryeon, Keum Bo-Ra
Synopsis
Kim Bul (Kim Bul-yi), who is a midget, lives in a shabby house by the salt fields with his devoted wife (Jeon Yang-ja) and his three children. His eldest son Young-su (Ahn Sung-ki) works on the salt fields; his younger son Young-ho (Lee Hyo-jeong) attends a boxing hall, where he works out his frustration and resentment over his family's poverty; and his daughter Young-hi (Keum Bo-ra) works in a bakery. Although they are poor, Kim and his family love and support one another through their difficult lives. One day, the government sends Kim an eviction notice. As compensation, he receives a ticket to move into an apartment. But the family's meager means makes it impossible for them to make the move and, shedding bitter tears, they decide to sell the ticket to a broker. Real estate speculator Pak Wu-cheol, who has his eye on Young-hi, buys the ticket from them for more than its market value. Determined to get the ticket back by any means, Young-hi follows Wu-cheol and enters his employ. After letting him sleep with her, she steals the ticket from his safe and returns home, only to find that her father has already taken his own life.
Notes
 A movie that deserves to be reevaluated in examining the current of realism in Korean cinema
The Ball Shot by a Midget is adapted from Cho Se-hee's novel of the same title. It is a realist film that authentically depicts the beleaguered lives of the alienated lower classes during the process of Korea's modernization. In The Ball…, the eponymous midget's physical disability is a clear shorthand for the disability of the historical moment in which the movie is set. Just as Kim Bul's disability cannot be overcome for the simple reason that it is an innate condition, his family is unable to escape from the given conditions of their existence. Pushed outside the boundaries, the midget and his family fall further and further down the economic ladder, even losing the one place they can call home. The vulgar capitalist society inflicts deep wounds on their souls. Kim, who gets a job in a bar in an effort to make some money, tastes the utmost humiliation, and his daughter Young-hi voluntarily takes the path to degradation. His son Young-ho vents his frustrations in the boxing ring, but to no avail. In tracing the lives of the alienated as they hit rock bottom, The Ball… eschews biting indictments and incendiary assertions, opting instead to quietly gaze upon their existence for a deeper emotional resonance. The movie uses shots that are picturesque, intricate, and lyrical, with abundant empty spaces, to capture the lives of its characters. Especially memorable is the scene in which the father sits on a high chimney located at the left edge of the screen and flies a paper plane toward the wide open sky at its right. Although The Ball… has not enjoyed much attention thus far, it is certainly worthy of reevaluation in considering the history of realism in Korean cinema. Lee Won-se's film broke the silence of Korea's and the Korean film industry's dark ages in the early 1980s and shone a spotlight on the wounds of society. The daring challenge mounted by The Ball… has yet to receive the recognition it deserves.
Afterword:
Originally, the film was intended to be shot using a screenplay adapted by Cho Se-hee himself, with music composed by then-banned musician Kim Min-ki, and set in a factory district. However, Kim Min-ki's music was declared categorically unusable, and the screenplay was completely picked apart over the course of double censorship (first for the scenario, then for the movie). The industrial setting was changed to salt fields after repeated revisions. The finished film was in tatters owing to the numerous cuts, and the lines were changed over again during ADR.
Director Bio: Lee Won-se (1940- )
Born in 1940. He worked as the assistant to director Kim Soo-yong, and made his directorial debut with the 1971 film, The Lost Season (Ireobeorin gyejeol). He was one of the leaders of the Visual Age along with Ha Kil-jong and Kim Ho-seon. He mostly made family melodramas and anticommunist movies. He was also very interested in the social problems of his times, and this inclination can be seen in such movies as The Ball Shot by a Midget (Nanjang-iga sso-a-ollin jag-eun gong) and Queen Bee (Yeo-wangbeol) (1985), a film about a woman living close to a U.S. military base. His other important works include The World without Mom(Eomma-eobsneun haneul-alae) (1977) and The Last Words from a Comrade in Arms (Jeon-uga namgin hanmadi) (1979).
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