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Talk Board | doona.net
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Variety review piece on Doheeya! |
2014-05-21 22:30
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Here is a quite excellent (in my opinion) review piece by Variety.
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Mesmerizing performances by Bae Doo-na and Kim Sae-ron power this wrenching drama.
Maggie Lee
@maggiesama
A female police chief¡¯s attempt to protect a teenage girl from domestic abuse fuels a layered expose of violence and bigotry in provincial Korean society in the wrenching drama ¡°A Girl at My Door.¡± Tyro helmer-scribe July Jung¡¯s studied film language sometimes devolves into overheated scenes of psychosis, but the pic is ultimately held together by the mesmerizing presence of Bae Doo-na in the title role and an equally bracing performance by teen thesp Kim Sae-ron. With starry leads, a sensational subject and the pedigree of Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong as producer, the film should come a-knocking at festivals and enjoy considerable success in niche arthouse release.
¡°A Girl at My Door¡± bears more than a passing resemblance to Lee¡¯s ¡°Poetry¡± in its suggestive evocation of the hidden sins in a close-knit, backward community, but its distinctly feminine angle on female relationships engages on a direct, emotional level. While this is not the first time Korean helmers have depicted their society as a hotbed of neurosis and inebriation, Jung leavens it all with a tinge of irony, as when Bae¡¯s policewoman guzzles soju stored in one-liter bottles.
Seoul police officer Lee Young-nam (Bae, ¡°Cloud Atlas,¡± ¡°Air Doll¡±) arrives in a remote fishing town to take up the post of precinct chief. There, the sight of Do-hee (Kim) immediately catches her eye: A scrawny waif with disheveled hair and soiled clothing, Do-hee roams the fields like a specter out of a horror film.
It doesn¡¯t take long for the newcomer to notice that Do-hee is a resident scapegoat whom locals scorn rather than pity. No sooner has Young-nam stopped the girl¡¯s classmates from bullying her than she catches the girl¡¯s drunken stepfather, Park Yong-ha (Song Sae-byuk), beating the living daylights out of her, while her grandmother watches approvingly in between gulps of Makoli wine. However, when Young-nam forcibly overcomes Yong-ha, she¡¯s seen as a meddler by her smirking subordinates and the oafish townsfolk. With the migration of young people to the city, the town¡¯s meager livelihood is precariously sustained by foreign workers hired and supervised by Yong-ha, who behaves like a local honcho.
Do-hee suffers more severe battering after Grandma falls to her death in the sea, so Young-nam has no choice but to temporarily take her in. The 14-year-old blooms into a pubescent beauty during their time living together, and her devotion to her protector and only friend exceeds mere childish admiration, insinuatingly underscored by d.p. Kim Hyun-seok¡¯s lushly lit closeups of the femmes bathing or hugging each other.
Their dynamic becomes even more intriguing as Young-nam¡¯s past comes to light, and she, too, emerges as a victim of persecution. In a flashback that explains how she got transferred to the sticks, she is rebuked and humiliated for unexplained ¡°misconduct,¡± yet in contrast with her usually tough, self-assured stance, she proves mortified and apologetic. Her discrimination provides a wider social context for later plot developments when the town gangs up on her, and complements a subplot involving the exploitation of foreign workers.
The film¡¯s depiction of an outsider confronting the blatant sexism of a rural community, and trying to make sense of a fellow femme¡¯s docile tolerance of abuse, recalls Jang Cheol-su¡¯s feminist revenge slasher ¡°Bedeviled.¡± However, Jung¡¯s yarn proves more artful and complex than that. Rather than resorting to another bloodbath in order to raise dramatic stakes, the script allows Do-hee to turn the tables with more insidious methods that also underscore a darker side to her nature.
In what is arguably her first role as a mature woman, Bae is both towering and frail as she switches convincingly from authoritative to maternal to defensive. After making a strong mark as the soulful lead of ¡°A Brand New Life¡± (also produced by Lee) and ¡°Man From Nowhere,¡± Kim is electrifying as the unpredictable girl-woman whose helplessness can morph into manipulation or hysteria in a heartbeat. By contrast, Yong-ha remains a one-note character no matter how much Song (¡°Mother¡±) dials up his fury. In fact, there¡¯s too little variation in the way he goes mental, and it occurs too frequently, compromising Jung¡¯s restraint elsewhere.
While tighter editing could clear up some minor plot confusion, tech credits are just right. The Korean title means ¡°Hey Do-hee.¡±
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