Monday, January 1, 2007
Address Unknown (수취인불명)
"Address Unknown" ("수취인불명") is an early film by my favorite Korean director Kim Ki-duk (김기덕).
In "Address Unknown," Chang-guk is a teenager who is an outcast because his father was an American G.I. who abandoned him and his mom. Despite repeated returned letters marked "address unknown," Chang-guk's mother continues her writing effort to the United States to contact Chang-guk's father. Chang-guk becomes friends with another quiet teenager Jihum, who is constantly bullied by others and in love with a girl Eunok. However, Eunok can't keep the relationship with Jihum because in order to cure her injured right eye, Eunok reluctantly develops a relationship with an American G.I, who is very unhappy with his service in Korea. Misery never ends, and the suffering continues. This film creates a few very impressive characters. None of these characters is happy, but we grow sympathy to them and suffer together with their pain. While most of the Korean actors had very good performance, the American G.I.'s performance was awful. I bet if director Kim Ki-duk had been as well known as right now, he would have had a better actor to play that American G.I. I can't stand that guy. This is a emotionally charged film with very dark subject. My rating: 7 out of 10. |
