The film, which is the most recent effort from City of Violence director Seung-wan Ryoo, is described as a send-up of South Korean spy and action movies of the 1970s. The seventies saw South Korea's government exert increased control over the country's movie industry and, from what I understand, the
resulting films -- which were sometimes referred to as "policy films" -- typically exhibit an uneasy blend of over-the-top action, wooden acting, and government mandated anti-communist propaganda. Now, all of this makes me very interested in seeing Dachimawa Lee, of course, but, as you may have easily predicted, it makes me even more interested in seeing those earlier films upon which the movie is based.
Hungry to know more, I headed over to the Korean Film Archives' Korean Movie Database, where I was able to find some bare-bones information about promising sounding titles like Secret Agent Sang-yong, 1975's A Spy Remaining Behind, and Golden Operation 70 in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, my first cursory internet searches have yielded no indication that any of these films are available on DVD or VCD. (In fact, the sites I found
that sell Korean films didn't seem to offer anything that could be considered "vintage" titles at all. Damn these forward-looking Asian nations! Why can't they live in the past like we Americans do?) While I continue the hunt, I thought I'd put the word out in case one of you many readers out there who are smarter and more resourceful (or, in this case, more Korean) than I am might have a suggestion as to how I might track some of these films down. Hey, I'd do the same for you.Dachimawa Lee will be featured in the upcoming New York Asian Film Festival, which runs from June 19th through July 5th.
Houston, there IS a cult-movie culture here. I am just too old to be aware of it. Until now. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://greatbong.net/2007/06/20/gunda-the-legend/
See? Love of trashy movies combined with chronic sarcasm is a language that knows no borders.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I feel that evil forces -- some of them disguised as people whose taste I otherwise trust -- are converging to push me in the direction of Kanti Shah's movies. So far I am resisting.
Having been a college boy mumble mumble years ago, it really seems to me that more than anything else people are reacting to the way too over the top dialogues. Bullah - who keeps everything open, the guy who wants you to eat his banana and threatens to rip open your pant - that too from behind. All in rhyming Hindi.
ReplyDeleteOh, jeez. See, you're making it sound so good. Feeling my resistance rapidly fading...
ReplyDelete:) But the point is, the enjoyment is pretty culture-specific. Having 90% of our education in English, college boys need to reclaim their mother tongue by using catch phrases asserting macho control. For previous (and mine) generation, that work was done by Big B and his superb understanding of the nuances of Hindi. Gunda seems to be tapping into that need as well. One more sample that apparently became a college greeting: I will leave your sister loose-woose.
ReplyDeleteGot it. I noticed that the article you linked, while written in English, didn't translate any of the quoted dialog - which indicated to me that there was a certain "poetry" that would be lost in the process.
ReplyDelete