<Village of Haze (Angemaeul)> (1982)

Director : Im Kwon-Taek
Production Company : Hwa Chun Trading Co., Ltd
Date of Rate : 1982-12-30
Date of Theatrical Release : 1983-02-12
Running Time : 91 min.
Opening Theater : Hollywood Theater
Genre : Literary Art

Staff :
Writer : Lee Mun-Yeol
Screenplay(Adaptation) : Song Kil-Han
Producer : Park Jong-Chan
Executive Producer : Kim Jae-Wung, Cho Myeong-Hwa
Director of PhotoGraphy : Jeong Il-Seong
Gaffer : Cha Jeong-Nam
Music : Kim Jeong-Kil
Editor : Kim Chang-Sun
Still Photographer : Baek Young-Ho

Cast(Actor/Actress) :
Jeong Yun-Hee, Ahn Seong-Ki, Lee Ye-Min, Kim Ji-Young, Park Ji-Hun

Synopsis

Su-ok (Jeong Yun-hee) is sent down from Seoul to teach at an elementary school in a remote mountain village. She sees a shabbily-dressed man named Kae-chul (Ahn Sung-ki) at a bus stop near the entrance to the village, and gets a sinister feeling about him. The women of the village, which is composed of people descended from the same ancestors, give Kae-chul food to eat and a place to sleep despite the fact that he is an outsider. When she sees this, Su-ok's curiosity is piqued. Then one day, a local man by the name of Hwa-chun batters Kae-chul, accusing the latter of having adulterous relations with his wife. The village men dismiss the accusation: they claim that Kae-chul cannot commit adultery because he is sexually impotent. Becoming suspicious about the relationship between Kae-chul and the village women, Su-ok has a bar waitress named San-wol verify the fact that Kae-chul is indeed incapable of having sex. Several days later, Su-ok witnesses one of the village women having sex in the corn field, and ponders about the nature of the village itself, where the kind of anonymity that is guaranteed in the city is nonexistent because all of the villagers are related by blood or marriage. Although the men of the village are able to vent their sexual desires by having relations with the mute bar waitress San-wol, no such outlet is available to the women. She realizes that in this closed society where morality and tradition are considered paramount, the only person who can satisfy the women's repressed sexual desires and guarantee anonymity at the same time is Kae-chul. He is, in fact, what makes it possible for the consanguineous village to continue its existence.
Once she confirms her suspicions through one of her colleagues at the elementary school, Su-ok's curiosity is appeased and she begins to lose interest in Kae-chul. She gets word that her fiance Yeong-hun is coming down from Seoul. Su-ok runs to the train station in excitement, but Yeong-hun fails to arrive as one day after the next passes by in futile anticipation. Greatly discouraged, she runs into Kae-chul while taking shelter from the rain in a mill. He gets her to have sex with him virtually by force, but she feels her desire, which had long been frustrated as she waited for Yeong-hun, finding release through Kae-chul. Sometime after, Su-ok leaves the village to get married to Yeong-hun. The new teacher, who comes out to see Su-ok off, catches sight of Kae-chul sitting just outside the village. She receives the same sinister impression from him that Su-ok did. Su-ok considers telling her the secret of Kae-chul's existence, but decides not to and departs.

Notes

"The artisanal appeal of arriving at a large subject through a small tale" (Kim Young-jin)
Based on Lee Mun-yeol's short story "The Island of Anonymity (Ikmyeong-ui seom)," Village of Haze is one of the films that inaugurate director Im Kwon-taek's artistic vision in the 1980s. Despite the short time it took to make, Village of Haze is regarded as a highly sophisticated cinematic text. It received critical acclaim both within and outside Korea, even earning an invitation to the London Film Festival.
Driven by the voice-over narration of schoolteacher Su-ok (Jeong Yun-hee), Village of Haze largely comprises her description, presented from a viewpoint resembling that of an anthropologist, of the characteristics of the consanguineous village in which the film is set. Unlike Lee Mun-yeol's short story, which eschews the treatment of gender differences, Im Kwon-taek adds the character of the mute San-wol to reveal that even in a consanguineous village, the oppressed sex is always the female. In fact, this principle becomes even clearer in the closed-off environment of the village. The village men openly resolve their sexual desires through San-wol, but the women are forced to hide their actions in the panoptic village. The perspective of the female teacher allows for the bold move of verifying Kae-chul's sexual impotency through San-wol.
Giving virtually non-verbal performances throughout the film, Jeong Yun-hee and Ahn Sung-ki form a more outstanding ensemble than can be seen in their other works. Closeup shots of Jeong's expressive face effectively reveal the character's intellectual curiosity and sexual apprehension. Likewise, the contrast between Ahn's keen eyes and inarticulate speech projects an unpleasant and sinister impression.

Director Bio: Im Kwon-taek (1936- )

He began his filmmaking career as prop assistant to the lighting assistant, going through the traditional apprenticeship system of Chungmuro to become a film director. And in 1962, he made his directorial debut with Farewell Tumen River(Dumangang-a Jal Itgeora), an action film that deals with the plight of the Independence Army of Manchuria. He made Weeds(Jabcho), Mismatched Nose (Jjagko), and The Family Pedigree (Jogbo) during the 1970s and with his movies of the 1980s, Kilsodeum(Gilsotteum), Ticket (Tiket), Surrogate Mother (Ssibat-i) and Mandara (Mandala), gradually became recognized for his artistry and craftsmanship. He met Lee Tae-won and began working with Taeheung Film Studios starting with his 1989 film Aje Aje Bara Aje (Aje Aje Bara Aje) and continued to work consistently with the studio from then on. He achieved box office success with his The General's Son (Janggun-ui adeul) series and became a nationally recognized figure with the then unparalleled box office success of Sopyonje(Seopyeonje). He won many national and international awards for his works that dealt with traditional Korean themes and motives and many retrospectives of his works were held abroad. In 2002, he won the prize for best director at the Cannes Film Festival with his work, Chihwaseon(Chihwaseon) and in 2005, won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Berlin Film Festival for his lifetime effort in film