Festival (Chukje)

Release Year: 1996
Review: Korean director Im Kwon-taek's film about the funeral of grandmother who is the family head to a large, and a bit dysfunctional, family. The woman's eldest son, a popular writer, is responsible for organizing the traditional funeral festival. The funeral doesn't go off without a hitch, and there are plenty of distractions, fights and family gossip. More than anything, this is about a family coming together and putting their differences aside and just being there for one another. The problem is this just isn't a very rich film. It is too tedious, drawn out and long winded for not saying all that much. This would have made an excellent short, but as a full length film it was too slow. Part of the problem may be cultural. Kown-taek has stated that this film is very much about ancestry, which is something I don't hold as close to me as people do in Korean culture. This is a film steeped in tradition and culture, a culture that I'm not a part of. I can appreciate it as an interesting look into their culture, but much of the meaning is lost on me.

The best part of the film was a continuing intercut story pulled from a children's book that the main character has written about a young girl and her aging grandmother. This sub-story is far more moving, beautiful and emotional than the main plot line and was a welcome reprieve every time a part of it was shown. The main plot had too many dangling plot lines that never went anywhere, and the ultimate closure didn't seem earned. It's not that this is a terrible movie, it was an interesting look into the funeral process, but it certainly wasn't enthralling cinema.
Rating: 2/5