Genau rechtzeitig #이창동 #LeeChangDong

#PeppermintCandy chronicles key events in the life of Kim Young-ho. It opens with Kim stumbling into his school reunion outing near an idyllic creek under the railroad tracks. After making a scene, he throws himself in front of an oncoming train. Tracing backward into 20 years, it shows the dehumanizing effect that the systematic violence has on a person. It's hard to believe that Kim was once a young man who liked looking at wild flowers and wanted to be a photographer. The Gwangju Masssacre in 1980 in which thousands of pro-democracy students lost their lives by the military regime, deeply scarred a generation of Koreans. Peppermint Candy deals with it in personal storytelling that is amazingly effective. Its cumulative power in making us sympathize w/ this deeply detestable person is quite something. #LeeChangdong is a gifted writer/director whose use of 'time traveling' device is much more elegant & resonant here than the likes of Memento and Irreversible. #koreancinema

#LeeChangdong ‘s emphasis is on the society's deep chasm between haves & have-nots, city vs countryside, living under the shadow of capitalism & perpetual threat of war are all very Korean. Burning is a slow-burn thriller that’s utterly captivating from beginning to end. It's the economic emasculation that brings inevitable violence at the end. Layered with hefty metaphors and symbolism, yet the film is surprisingly subtle and never loses its magnetism. #koreancinema #harukimurakami #adaptation