The Chaser

Netflix suggested that I would like "The Chaser" (2008). I was definitely in the mood for a twisted Asian film. Last one I watched was "Man Woman & Wall" which unfortunately got only 3 stars from me.

Man Woman & Wall- low budget film about a lonely man who becomes obsessed with listening to his neighbor, a pretty japanese girl, through the wall. He eventually becomes entirely consumed by her life, and slowly tries to bridge the gap between imagined interaction and real interaction. Adding to the twist is that the director switches up actors for real/imagined, switches up sets, and also, the girl has a crazy crazy boyfriend. I liked the concept, and the switching, albeit confusing, was pretty clever. The movie seemed like it didn't go through adequate editing, because it dragged on and on and there were plenty of unnecessary scenes. Reminded me a bit of "Suicide Club"- both films had an interesting plot, but the execution was too languid and monotonous.

The Chaser- however, got a 5 star rating from me. Reminiscent of "Old Boy", but not as stylized. Both films had similar themes of vengeance and the need to execute it becoming so strong that it takes over one's life. The aesthetics and the cinematography was a bit like 'The Host', but instead of being an allegory like 'The Host" and dealing with larger themes of Korean identity, this film was more focused and specific to one incident, it's actually based on a true story of a serial killer who ate his victims (prostitutes)

The Plot: An ex cop turned pimp sees that his girls are disappearing. His favorite, Mi-Jin, disappears, so the pimp goes out hunting for the killer. Following a few tips from other prostitutes (ex. one prostitute mentions a client who became obsessed with her and started sending her bloody photos of dismembered girls), the pimp is able to track down who he thinks is the murderer. He brings the murderer to the police, and he admits to the murders, though the pimp still believes that Mi-Jin may be alive. While detaining him, cops are dispatched to search for the bodies, but they're unable to, and unable to gather any sort of evidence to arrest the murderer. Before he's set free though, the pimp has 12 hours to find Mi-Jin, and find enough evidence to arrest him.

This movie is a 2 hour movie, but it goes by fast. Its pace is not formulaic at all, instead it's frenetic, you never know what's coming, and instead of having a big denouement, or building up to a climax, you get mini ones all throughout the movie so that there's enough tension to hold your attention. I didn't even realize the film was over when it was- it went by so fast.

This film is very disturbing and graphic. It doesn't depict extreme gore, but the violence tends to be more psychological- a bit like Michael Haneke's "Funny Games"- you see the crime about to be committed and the aftermath, leaving the imagination to fill in the blanks. What results is often times more unconstrained terror. The unknown stimulates the subconscious.

I saw similar themes to films like "3-Iron"- this withholding, of being constrained from doing what it is you really want to do. For example, in 3 Iron, the wife is constrained by her abusive husband and unable to speak her mind- he keeps her prisoner, basically. This idea is further explicated through an image of a golf ball that is tied with a rope, so that each time the boy hits it, the ball can't go anywhere. In "The Chaser", I noticed that often, characters were constrained either by time, by accidents, by things they could not control, from doing what they wanted to do, and also, physically by other people (at the beginning of the film, someone is held back by a group of men from beating up a prostitute, and at the end, the pimp is held back from pulverizing the murderer, as well as by the other cops who handcuff him and stick him in the back of their van). This reminds me of the idea of "Han", this collective oppression and injustice and struggle that is a diffuse part of Korean Culture as a result of being constantly invaded in history by neighboring countries. I see this theme in a lot of Korean films (Another one that sticks out in my mind is "Thirst", which is the most obvious about this repression- the Priest becomes a vampire and must counteract all of his urges because they're so much against his cultural beliefs). I saw it when I was visiting Korea, when I looked out my hotel window and saw this beautiful city, but it was so clean and isolated and quiet- restrained (what I saw was similar to the last scene in the film). That's why I feel some of the most violent, visceral and twisted films come from Korea, because it's this sublimation of all this repression.

Lastly, (spoiler alert) I noticed an interesting image.

At the very end, when the pimp tracks down the murderer, the room is entirely dim, with the exception of the fish tank glowing in the middle of the room. We then see that the head of Mi Jin is inside of it, along with her hands. These body parts are especially symbolic because he nailed her on the head when he killed her, but she set herself free previously by rubbing the ropes on her hands against a rock. Her hands represent her own resistance, and her head represents her submission- both put together in a fish tank, it becomes a spectacle. Perhaps this is suggestive of Han as well. In a Freudian light, the water represents the deepest parts of the subconscious, and it could symbolize having these two symbols of resistance and submission deep within the subconscious.

The room may also symbolize the pimp's mind. Everything else in the room except the tank is lit up, symbolizing everything in his mind being overshadowed, and his search for Mi Jin consuming his mind and his life. She's contained within fragile glass, which symbolizes his guilt, and perhaps his inability to truly tackle his guilt head on, because he was the one who sent her on this job and he was the one who couldn't find her before she was killed. So instead of dealing with it, he chooses to reappropriate his guilt by seeking vengeance. When he finally gets his hands on the murderer, they fall over on top of the tank and her head spills out, representing this cathartic moment that he's actually confronting his guilt and remorse.

Anyway, we made popcorn for the movie

Alessia put up some photos:

Me & Ali at Belcourt

Alessia, Me, and Ali at the Crunch event

Work at 5. Bleh!