Living in the world behind the
61st Venice Film Festival, Kim Kidd’s "Empty Room" "Won the Silver Lion Award for Best Director. When he received the award, he greeted reporters from all over the world with his left hand, like a male protagonist in a movie, with an eye drawn in his palm. Some people say that the action of Director Kim means: Korean movies see the world with the third eye. And I guess, it’s not a third eye, it’s just an ordinary eye, maybe the director is just conveying a meaning in the movie: look at the world behind it.
The human gaze—from the far left of the left eye to the far right of the right eye—is a 180-degree range. It seems that our lives will be destined to be divided into two-the visible is called the "world in front of you", and the invisible is called the "world behind". Perhaps it is because there is always an inexplicable sense of fear about the invisible, so most people choose to live in the world in front of them. No matter how bad the world is, after all, in the visible range, everything is not easy to lose control. I don't know if this is the reason. Director Kim asked Tae-shik (the hero in "Empty Room") to take us into the world that is always in an unknown state.
This is a movie that wanders between two worlds. And Tae-Sok is a person living in the world behind him, and he can't imagine what happened to him in the world before him, or he was born there. At the beginning of the movie, as Tae-Sok opened the empty house for the first time, we also saw the world behind it for the first time—the messy children’s room had broken toy guns, and the telephone recorder in the living room was when the owner was traveling. A blessing for family and friends. Only then did I realize that the world behind it did not have the fear that I had imagined. Afterwards, Tai Shi bathed, washed clothes, ate food, repaired toy guns, watched TV, and rested. Apart from a little loneliness, he felt that his life was not different from ours. Until the master returns, Tae-shik will leave after restoring everything. The movie is from the world behind and back to the world in front of you: the hostess and hostess who have returned have a look of dissatisfaction. The husband feels that he has met his wife’s travel requirements but still can’t see the good face of his wife, but the wife keeps complaining about it. A terrible trip...A sharp contrast appeared: the same room, compared with the irritability in the house after the owner came back, the empty room without the owner looks much warmer, or in fact, this is the difference between the two worlds . It turns out that the world behind it is quiet, peaceful and comfortable.
The movie continues. In the depths of the beautiful courtyard, Tae-seok meets Sunhwa, who was bruised by her husband's abuse. I don't know if it is because of love. He saves Sunhwa and takes her away from the cruelty. And Shanhua also followed him to leave the world in front of him and come to live in the world behind. In fact, Tae-shik understands: Only here can Shanhua's pain be healed.
The movie still walks between the two worlds, but I don’t really want to face the world in front of me described in the movie—because there is only the perverted behavior of the beast-like husband in this world, the one of the seemingly "sweet" lover Suspicion between the time, the hypocrisy of abandoning the old man’s son, and the betrayal of the lustful police. In contrast, Tai Shi and Shan Hua living in another world are happy. Here, they rely on each other in love, Shan Hua healed the pain of body and soul, and Tai Shi is no longer surrounded by loneliness. . But the two worlds are always connected, no matter how beautiful and warm, the world behind it is not an isolated paradise. The hypocritical son sent Tae Shik to prison, and Shan Hua was forced to return to the hellish house. The movie is here, revealing the taste of "despair".
But the film immediately blocked the unpleasant taste and let "hope" spread. After all, if a person's heart is warm, it will not become cold due to the cruel reality. Shanhua, who has returned to "hell", believes that Tae-shik will definitely come back. She is no longer the weak woman who was tortured at the beginning. She lived firmly in that house, and began to face her devilish husband alone and bravely, and then waited silently. And Tai Shi in the prison finally found a way to live with his lover. Since there is no place for them to live in the world in front of him, he will leave completely and live in the world behind him. Then, the eye drawn in the palm of the hand appeared in the movie. It is not the "third eye", but just an ordinary eye-an eye that cannot see the world behind it.
Tae-shi returned, but only Shanhua, who had lived in the world behind him, could contrast him. When the stupid husband believed Sunhwa's "I love you" as true, but Sunhwa kissed Tae-shik in the world behind him, we saw the complete victory of their love. At the end, the husband went out, and the music played by Tae-seok for Shanhua for the first time was heard in the room. Shanhua knew that at this moment, Tai Shi was in the world behind him. She opened her arms, pushed her lover to the wall, and then turned around. This is the last shot of the movie and the only moment when the world before and the world behind are fully integrated. In this complete world, there is only a pair of lovers who are in love-the picture is so beautiful.
This is a beautiful and ideal movie. It's beautiful because the film can give people a warm feeling. The ideal is because we can never live in the world behind like Tae-Sok. But I think, at least when we lock the door and leave, leaving only the empty room behind, we can often look back-to see the world behind it. Because there, there will be the warmth that was discarded by us silently waiting.
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