|
Korean comedy launches Asian quest at Berlin film fest
2007-02-10
The first in a choice crop of Asian movies joined the race at the Berlin Film Festival as South Korean star director Park Chan-Wook screened his sci-fi romantic comedy, "I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK". The picture, which marks a departure from Park's usual shoot-em-up style, was vying against "The Good German," a romantic thriller starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett, on the second day of the star-studded event. Park, who took home the Jury's Grand Prix in Cannes in 2004 for his blood-soaked tale of vengeance "Oldboy," said he wanted to make a film his daughter could watch with "I'm a Cyborg" (Sai Bo Gu Ji Man Gwen Chan A). "In my earlier films, for the anger and rage to be generated the main character had to lose the person he loved," Park told reporters. "In this film, love exists for its own sake." Starring Lim Soo-Jung and the pan-Asian pop star Rain (Jung Ji-Hoon), the picture is set in a mental asylum where the staff are as lost as the patients. Lim plays a deluded young woman who believes she is a cyborg. She refuses to eat and relies on licking batteries for sustenance. As she wastes away, she captures the attention of Jung's "anti-social" patient, who falls for her and dreams up a plan to save her. Park said he had first seen Rain perform at an awards show and was enthralled. "I thought if I ever write a part for a young guy again, I'm going to find him and cast him," he said of Jung. Jung said his debut turn as an actor had been a thrill and that he would jump at the chance to make another film. "A lot of people were surprised I took this role because it was pretty loony. But I read the script and thought the end was so moving. I thought yes, that is love," he said. "I wanted to get rid of my old image and be reborn through this character." Park said he had steered clear of Nurse Ratched-like sadism as seen in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" when writing the parts of the asylum staff. "I didn't want to show them as torturers, that's been done," he said. "They want to help but they have their limits. That is an important theme in this film." "I'm a Cyborg" has already been sold in markets including France, Hong Kong, India and Greece. But reporters at press screenings in Berlin walked out in droves, turned off by the meandering story and quirky neuroses of the lead characters. Park acknowledged the film might not be a blockbuster but said he hoped Western audiences would turn their attention to Asian movies that do not trade in violence. "It seems that films with violence just tease people's imagination more but I hope Europe will take notice of other films," he said. "I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK" is one of 22 hopefuls for the festival's Golden Bear for best picture, to be awarded February 17, and the first of four Asian entries in the competition. "Ping Guo" (Lost in Beijing) attracted early attention after falling victim to Chinese censors, who reportedly hacked out scenes they deemed unflattering to the capital city. The film stars Hong Kong heartthrob Tony Leung ("The Lover") and offers a glimpse at the fears and hopes of the city's residents. Also from China, "Tu Ya De Hun Shi" (Tuya's Marriage) tells the story of a woman who must choose between love and her family's survival in the Inner Mongolian steppe. And South Korean director Zhang Lu will bring "Hyazgar" (Desert Dream), about a farmer, a North Korean refugee and a soldier trapped in a drought-threatened village in the border region between China and Mongolia. The Berlinale, which ranks among the top three European film festivals, kicked off Thursday with the world premiere of "La Vie en Rose," a biopic on the tragic life of France's beloved chanteuse Edith Piaf.
| 
