Influenza (2004)
Directed by: Joon-ho
Bong.
Starring: Yoon Jae-moon (Cho
Hyuk-rae), Koo Soo-hee (Female Accomplice).
In 2004,
Bong Joon-ho took part in an omnibus film about filmmakers producing digital
shorts. Bong’s contribution – the 27-minute Influenza – is an odd film, and
plays like exactly what it was – a talented filmmaker experimenting with a
digital format, placing limitations on his style. It’s not a great film – but
it’s an interesting one.
The
concept of the film is that is traces the descent of Cho (Yoon Jae-moon) from a
struggling salesman to a career criminal – as captured by Seoul’s vast network
of CCTV cameras around the city. Even within this limited framework, Bong finds
ways to make each sequence feel unique and distinct. Some of the scenes play
without sound, some you can hear what is being said, some are in black and
white, some color and in the most striking sequence, set in a parking garage,
the camera slowly pans back and forth taking in the entire garage. If the rest
of the sequences must have been fairly easy to block and shoot, this one must
have been incredibly complex to ensure the camera is capturing what Bong wants
at every moment.
When we
first see Cho, he is practicing his sales pitch – he is selling “miracle glue”
that is clearly not much of a miracle. He glues a can to a belt, and tells his
imaginary audience that the seal will never be broken – although we see that
seal broken again and again throughout his demonstration – before he is
eventually dragged out of the bathroom by security.
From
there, we see as him fall into a life of crime – with an escalating series of
robberies. He scams an old woman at an ATM machine for example. He eventually
gets a female accomplice – who is there when the robbery in the parking garage
gets violent. The ending is once again at another ATM – this time, ending badly
in many ways – and shows a dry run for Bong in terms of mob mentality, that we
will see in his other films.
Influenza
isn’t a particularly deep film – whatever happens to Cho to make him fall down
that far isn’t really seen – he goes from would be salesman to criminal,
quickly. He isn’t a deep character – and no one else really registers at all,
except his nagging female accomplice. What it seems to be is Bong experimenting
with style – experimenting with what he can do with a CCTV camera to capture
this descent, and how many variations he can use. It does fit into his other
films – his sympathy for the poor, his portrait of mob mentality, and others.
But it feels like Bong experimenting. It’s fun to watch him experiment though.
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