A Single Spark and A Petal underscore the fact that, for the first time in Korea's cinematic history, virtually no subject is politically off-limits. British film critic Tony Rayns, a guest at the Pusan festival, thinks not. Korean audiences have had their fill of films about the 1970s and 1980s. Now they want to see movies about contemporary life. The question is whether the so-called New Wave directors can move on to new subject matter.
Some filmmakers are already there.
Three Women on the Road, directed by and featuring Oh Byung Chul, examines sexual relations in changing times. The story follows three talented young female friends through their various disillusionments with men, one of them resulting in suicide. Avoiding the temptation to point accusing fingers, Three Women seeks to demonstrate that Korean women will never be content in love until they and their menfolk develop a more balanced relationship. If most of the new films endeavor to give a marketable luster to heavy subjects, The Gingko Bed strives to inject weight into what is little more than an entertaining piece of fluff. But The Gingko Bed was a rock-solid No. 1 at the box office last year.