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Film Screening
Chilsu and Mansu
Directed by Park ,Kwang-su,1988
23 January 2009
Chilsu and Mansu, released in 1988 is a
frequently-cited landmark on Korea's path from
restrictive censorship to a greater freedom of
expression. It is based on a story by Taiwanese
writer Huang Chunming, whose writings were
banned in Korea at the time. The movie focuses on
Chil-su, a smooth-talking billboard painter who
struggles to hold down a job and his evolving
friendship with Man-su, a capable and intelligent
worker who is held back in life because his father is
an "unreformed" Communist sympathizer, serving a
long sentence in a South Korean prison.
After meeting at a small workshop where
movie billboards are drawn and painted, the two
eventually team up to search for temporary work.
Yet society gives them few opportunities, as
economically and personally they struggle to make
ends meet. Finally one hot summer day, they find
themselves atop a building in southern Seoul painting
a beer ad on a huge billboard. Looking down on all
the "well-off, educated, upper class bastards of
Seoul," the two begin screaming out their frustrations to the city below. At this time, some
policemen on the street hear their shouting and
misinterpret their actions, which ultimately leads to
an unexpected and somewhat surreal confrontation
that reflects the dominant tensions of the age. |
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