"박하박하사탕" tells a desperate and memorable story. Lee Chang-dong analyzes the cruelty of life with plain images and a relaxing rhythm, showing amazing talent and confidence. The film's satire on the function of religious enlightenment shows no trace, and is so subtle.
The film adopts a very unique flashback technique in the narrative. The director Lee Chang-dong, who once worked for the writer, chooses such a flashback again and again is undoubtedly quite cruel. It makes people lament the unpredictable fate and lament that human beings are being enlightened. At the same time, I learned cruelty, selfishness, numbness and despair.
The film uses almost cruel realism and peculiar narrative methods to reflect the process of telling the modern history of South Korea, showing the distortion of human nature by social high pressure, and it is full of bitterness in its freshness. It is unique among many Korean movies full of strong commercial atmosphere.
"박하박하사탕" filmed by Lee Chang-dong, the film style that pays more attention to human nature and society. Compressing the turbulence of 20 years in South Korea into Kim Yong-ho's life course, seven flashbacks show the traces of his gradual demise. From young soldiers, violent police officers, to company bosses, marriage breakdowns, and career failures, every life fluctuation is closely related to the great changes in South Korea. The Gwangju incident, student movement, and financial turmoil are all deep punctuations in Korean memories.
