So I may have taken on more than I can handle. With two 10 hour days at work each week, tutorials and lectures on every other day, and now soccer games every Sunday and training one evening a week about 50 minutes away, life hasn't been more challenging.
Work gets tougher week by week as my manager tightens the leash on me. The further I get through this year, the less sleep I get and the more mistakes I make at work. I have been 'spoken to' at least once every week now that I have started part-time. It's hard every Tuesday and Wednesday morning to want to go to work. Nevertheless, one must work to play, and work to play I must.
The classes this semester at uni have been interesting. I've been finding it quite difficult to get back into the mode of deeper analysis, so much that I can never seem to contribute to class discussions. I'm really enjoying my film studies course at the moment as it's the only class I can sit and contribute to greater detail in. Having noted down all the dates for when assignments are due, I can see that once the fifth week of university begins, which is 3 weeks from now, I will have a far tougher time at juggling work, uni and life.
I am quite upset that I feel like I have been pulled away from my love in film. I haven't had the time to see as many films as I'd like to, and it's the same deal with wanting to make films. When I am free, I am either sleeping or staying fit. When I'm not, I am stuck in this ditch.
Now, I apologise if this post sounds as if it has been written with half a heart. I think my mind is where bed is right now, and I should follow. I hope the next blog post will be more positive than this.
I decided to take part in the Korean Blogathon, in which a week is dedicated to blogs about Korean film, hosted by cineAWESOME. I wrote about the crossing of genres in contemporary Korean cinema.
You'll also find the article here on the Korean Film Festival in Australia's official blog.
Leave a comment!
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It’s late on a Friday night, and I’m feeling up for a movie. I visit my try-hard of a DVD collection for something to keep me company. A couple of giggles to start the weekend? How about a fast-paced action flick to keep me on my toes? Perhaps a deep drama for me to sink my head in for days to come?
It's late on a Friday night, and I can't decide. There are so many feelings I want to fulfill in the next two hours that I begin analysing my emotive preferences. I finally fall on something borrowed - Park Chan-wook's Joint Security Area. Admittedly, the last time I sat down to watch this, I couldn't get past the first 15 minutes of what I felt was a tense, political drama. This time, I manage to get through to the flashbacks present in the film, and I decide within 30 minutes that I love this film.
After searching hard for something to entertain me, I had finally found my answer. What seemed like a dense, political drama eventually turned out to be a heart-warming story of an unlikely friendship between the border guards of the Northern and Southern halves of Korea. The film begins in the present where neutral government officials have come together to investigate a murder that occurred in the demilitarised zone. We soon join Sergeant Lee in a flashback of where it all began - a secret and playful friendship between him and a soldier from the North Korean border guard force, through letters, which later turns into fun, friendly meetings in the North Korean guard post. While the majority of the film feels like a drama especially as it covers the themes of war, political tension and the human condition, the film eventually crosses into the genre of comedy through sarcasm, and playful action as presented through the scenes where the guards are together in harmony.
Here is what is interesting about this. At one end of the spectrum where the 'darker' genres of action, thriller, drama and even horror are present, one would expect little to no presence of the 'lighter' genres such as comedy, which stays on the opposite end of this line.
When you look at Hollywood films, conventionally speaking, a film of the horror genre will stick as closely to the word 'horror' as to not confuse your judgment of the film's genre. While there might be a character in this horror film that makes an ironic statement to reassure us that he will die within the next second (and so it happens), the film remains a horror film and will not cross over to the 'lighter' side. It is the same with anything that is primarily of a genre from the 'lighter' side - a comedy about a group of friends who go to Las Vegas on a 'bachelor's party' cum 'the last night out' never shows any signs of an attempt at crossing the deeper genres of drama, for example. If there were an attempt, it would be the most clichéd and shortest dramatic arc simply to give the film 'an edge'.
Korean Cinema on the other hand, crosses these genres freely and almost excessively. I find this an interesting observation - by crossing genres, a viewer can leave a film feeling confused as to what they have just seen. Upon viewing Kim Yong-hwa's 200 Pound Beauty for the first time, I didn't quite know how to feel about what I had seen. While I had laughed throughout most of the film, I would often stop and wonder, what am I laughing at?
The story is about an unattractively large girl who undergoes intensive plastic surgery so that she can confidently be who she is, and to achieve her dreams of being a pop-singer. The notion of using plastic surgery in order to change one's complete image is often looked down on, and is never encouraged, yet 200 Pound Beauty seems to support this idea to some extent. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film's comedy and hilarious, colourful characters so much that I had forgotten about the slight encouragement of plastic surgery.
Crossing genres can make a film 200x more engaging and entertaining than a single genre film. A cross-genre film opens up to a much wider audience too - for example, Bong Joon-ho's The Host is clearly a monster film with the thriller and action elements it carries, yet the story centralises on the charming, comedic brilliance of Song Kang-ho's character and his slightly kooky, alternative family who must save their youngest sister from the slimy, slithery clutches of the sewer monster.
While some might not like monster films (let's use Cloverfield as an English title) for example due to the content of how a monster is portrayed (or in other words, those who can't stomach the above), centralising the story around a viewer-friendly, weird family makes it easier for some to sit through such horror... Such 'horror'.
At last year's Korean Film Festival in Australia, I got a chance to see Rough Cut, an action film about a gangster who wants to be an actor, and an actor with the ideals of a gangster. Written by Kim Ki-duk and directed by Hun Jang, this is primarily a film of the action genre, with many fast-paced action scenes during a film shoot within the film, and otherwise. The film predominantly covers the themes of gang culture, ultra-violence and corruption in Korean society, which I find quite common in contemporary Korean cinema. However, although the film focuses on these serious themes, to the average viewer there is a surprising amount of comedy present all throughout. The best thing about the use of comedy throughout the film is that it does not distract you from the essence of the story, and that the film really is a violent, action film with a 15 minute bloody, fist battle in mud to an extreme, suggestive rape scene.
I never liked the excessive crossing of genres when I was first introduced to Korean films, but I feel that it has finally grown on me. No longer do I have to worry over two vastly different films in genre. No longer will I have to waste (close to) hours on deciding on whether I feel like a depressing, art-house drama film or a romantic, black comedy - or whether I feel like a laugh or a cry over a movie. Contemporary Korean cinema has proven to us that the crossing of genres is possible, and plausible. And that including comedy in a violent, gangster film is not a clichéd or a lame attempt at 'great entertainment'. It is an experience worthwhile, and although it may seem strange with such an oppositional mixture of genres at times, it ultimately fulfills the requirements of an entertaining film.
Raelene Loong is a Marketing Assistant for KOFFIA, as well as a Video-On-Demand scheduler and independent filmmaker. Her personal film blog is Cutting Squares. Follow her on Twitter @suupatrout.
Well, upon accepting my offer to study at AFTRS, I received a letter in the mail stating I had been accepted into a university course I applied last year - before I started working, and before I applied to AFTRS. I had applied for two different courses at the University of Technology, Sydney - one a Bachelor of Arts in Communication to major in Media Arts and Production, and the other is the same degree but with a major in Information and Media. I was accepted into the Media Arts and Production major and degree.
This came as a HUGE surprise. Firstly, I had completely forgotten about this application and shrugged it off once I started working. Secondly, I simply wasn't expecting to get in! I wasn't even expecting to get into the two AFTRS courses I applied for, which is still a surprise to this day.
At the end of the day, I took the university offer and with a heavy heart, canceled my enrollment in the Graduate Certificate in Screen Culture at AFTRS. I figured it was time I went back to uni to finish what I set out to do 3 years ago, and to feel better about dropping out of university in the first place some year and a half ago. I feel ready, funnily enough. And not the kind of ready I felt when I had just finished school. I feel the kind of ready that gives me the power to take on new adventures and seek new heights. In short, I feel great.
I know I'll go back to AFTRS one fine day when I am done with uni. Besides, I think a post-graduate course will be more useful to me once I've learned to live a little more than I already have.
On a side note, I was lucky enough to keep my job after accepting the offer at uni. Once uni starts, I drop down to part-time and will work half the hours I work FT. The total amount a week being 20 hours, squeezed into two, long 10 hour days a week inbetween my time at uni.
Truth be told, nothing comes easy anymore. Life, a challenge it is!
I found this neat photograph of Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance and lead Michelle Williams on set during the production. It was this room where Dean, played by Ryan Gosling brings his wife Cindy (Michelle Williams) to rekindle their relationship, after it is clear that it's breaking apart at the very seams.
They enter a love hotel, and Dean picks the 'Future Room', a neon-lit, tight space with no windows, including your average tacky rotating bed and faux fur pillows. Nothing is true for the couple any more, and nothing can be reversed. Their relationship is in shambles, as they crawl and beg for freedom - of each other, and freedom of the present. The 'Future Room' does nothing, but take them deeper into the land of no return. Time travel does not exist, and if it did, everything would be right. What destroys us, and where do relationships go to perish? Where does it hurt?
I love visualising stories and ideas from music. Apart from film being a main point for inspiration in my creative work, I find a lot of my ideas stem from music or surrounding sounds. Stories of my past and future selves put to music I hear, or put to not-so-familiar sounds connected to distant memories and felt emotions.
This Broken Social Scene track began playing while I was pretending to work. (I'm at my desk now trying to blog this as discretely as possible)
This track reminds me. I find myself travelling, going back home for the summer holidays in the days when I was still carefree. School. Coming off the plane after an 8 hour flight, it's always the night. I'm stuck in a car for an hour between the airport and home. The highways are empty, shrouded in orange darkness (lit up by street lamps all along the way). The occasional car speeds by, and slows down. There are no traffic lights on this one way highway, everyone is free to go as they like. Having exhausted myself in telling what few stories I have between the last time I spoke to my mum, and now, I watch the sleepy world outside my window (covered with condensation). We start to move like stretched out lights, leaving traces of our existence behind. Time speeds up, but slows down enough to capture this sight. Interweaving highways and roads that lead to anywhere you want. It takes me home.
What does this song remind you of? Where does it take you?
I admit, I have been a terrible host and for that I apologise! I have been busily trying to catch up with life as it has made it through to 2011. Damn it, the sneaky new year went on to start without even telling me. I have been struggling at work, and to see the lightness in film and creativity on most days, so I must ask you to be patient with me till I find some resourceful information or ideas to spread.
I do, however, begin 'school' at AFTRS (I've just enrolled in the Grad Certificate in Screen Culture, picked it over Directing. Explain later) in just over a month's time, which should get me back into my right frame of mind. I'm very much looking forward to it!
In the meanwhile, I shall leave you with this beautiful video - featuring David Hyde Pierce (from Frasier) reading Shakespeare's Sonnet 29. Inspiring, devastating, a beautiful kind of disaster.
