Another Whirlwind (...) Week of the Busan International Film Festival Begins - Written by Marc Smith

Another Whirlwind (...) Week of the Busan International Film Festival Begins

Written by Marc Smith

You may have been forgiven for thinking the 21st Annual BIFF might pass by a little under the radar following the landmark festival last year. Well, Mother Nature had other plans. Typhoon Chaba rocked the seaside city on Tuesday, causing severe damage and flooding. BIFF's usual 'beach village' was battered and many wondered if the festival would go ahead as planned.

Photo by Cody Kimball

The intense weather however did little to hold off the party and, while much of the construction is still ongoing, the 'BIFF buzz' is definitely in full storm. (... no.) The workers I stopped to talk to are optimistic everything will be ready for the weekend and there was a real community spirit - not just at the festival - but around the rest of the city to overcome the disaster. 

I was fortunate enough to attend the packed-out opening ceremony. The red carpet managed to invoke my first 'over-the-top fan boy' moment of the festival when Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai) made the walk. I didn't bounce up and down clapping my hands, I swear... Fine. His presence certainly blew me away. (... stop it.) This marks his return after hosting the 19th Busan International Film Festival. I'll be catching his performance in Rage next weekend.

Right, enough gushing, time to talk shop. The film selected to open this years festival was A Quiet Dream, directed by Zhang Lu (Grain in Ear, Gyeongju). AQD followed the story of three men (양익준, 박정범, 윤종빈)  in their attempts to woo their local bartender (한예리) . What follows is a roller-coaster character drama that is sincerely gripping at its highest but a little convoluted at its lowest. Zhang Lu is known for his tendency to mix reality with fantasy and perhaps for this film the clue is in the title. The movie jumps from gritty reality to  a dream-like state where characters disappear or exhibit very odd behaviour - here's to you strange, armed bar patron! These leaps make the movie difficult to follow at times, personified by the Korean gentleman sat behind me that declared "what the..." in English as the title credits rolled. Even though the story seemed lost at times, the quality of the characters carried the film through, leading to an enjoyable experience that I will sit down and watch again. 

As for upcoming movies over the next week and a half, I'm terribly excited for Derailed, directed by Lee Seong-tae and starring 마동석 "Don Lee" and 최민호 "Minho Choi." Don Lee is fresh from his crowd-pleasing performance in Train to Busan (부산행) and I for one can't wait to see more of him. It is Lee Seong-Tae's first feature film but his catalogue of short films show a quality I am hopeful will shine through. 

You can take a bite (seriously, the typhoon puns weren't awful enough?) out of my non-spoiler review of Train to Busan right here.

Photo by Marc Smith