[HanCinema's Film Review] "Paju"

Joong-Sik (played by Lee Sun-kyun) is a terribly unlucky guy. Both his personal life and political struggles have this startling quixotic dimension about them. However, whereas Don Quixote just looked like an idiot jousting at windmills, Joong-Sik's windmills explode. And Joong-Sik never really stops to think why this happened and how it might be avoided in the future- he's more interested in coming up with a coherent explanation.

Advertisement

There's a certain irony in that- of all the terms I could use to describe "Paju", coherent explanation is definitely not one of them. This film simply delights in obscuring its own message and being as difficult to understand as possible. The narrative takes place over a large number of years, and the story constantly jumps into different time periods. Figuring who, when, and where everybody is in this story physically is difficult enough- metaphors are another matter entirely.

A moment comes up in this movie that made me sure that the overarching theme which connects all these time periods is inadvertent, uncontrollable destruction. Whether it be at the hands of the the government, lust, or fate, lurking around every corner is the bogeyman that will derail life at the slightest excuse. And this worked, sort of, until I considered other questions. Like, where were any of these people even going in the first place?

"Paju" is a film that clearly, definitely wants to say something, but it's stifled in this effort by characters who aren't particularly dynamic, nor do they have much to say or do. Debatedly, this is part of the point of the film, its charm. But honestly, it just made feel rather bored. If these characters can't even represent themselves, well, then what else is there? So many metaphors, so many possibilities, yet so little time spent on clarifications to actually make the film engaging.

About the only running thread I can definitely identify is the underlying nature of sexual tension between Joong-Sik and the women in his life. And there are some kind of interesting moments buried here. The man suffers from a clear failure to communicate, and the poor responses from his partners do little to help solve this particular dilemma. So it's his own fault...maybe? Except nothing is really his fault it just seems to be the hand of fate and maybe he's aggravating it by himself engaging in the circle of poor action and reaction.

Yeah, that paragraph didn't fill me with a whole lot of confidence either. It's conceivable that there is some deeper layer within the film that will really appeal to someone who likes looking for deeper film analysis. But for me personally, trying to figure out anything that goes on in here is so exhausting that it's not really worth the effort. There are other films that can provide inept relationships, inevitable destructiveness, and exploding windmills that are a lot more satisfying to actually watch and with themes much easier to piece together from scratch. "Paju" is a challenging film- but in my mind the challenge is an unwelcome one.

Review by William Schwartz

"Paju" is directed by Park Chan-ok and features Lee Sun-kyun and Seo Woo.

 

Available on DVD from YESASIA