The dominant theme for Korean cinema in 2017 found the country’s filmmakers speaking out in powerful political tales, yet a smaller contingent of citizens that have suffered even starker marginalization have also come to the fore in recent months. The successive releases of several films detailing the socially disadvantaged in the country, such as The Preparation, Agagil (Journey to my boy) and Keys to the Heart, speak to a cinema that has been seeking to give a voice to those who struggle to be heard.

Korean films, particularly those coming out of the indie sector, have long focused on the struggles of minorities, often from the lowest financial rungs of society, yet those who’s struggles are the greatest haven’t always seen themselves reflected on the screen. However, whenever stories about characters with handicaps do make it to theaters, they’ve often been met with great critical or commercial acclaim: from LEE Chang-dong’s Venice Film Festival-invited Oasis (2002) to LEE Hwan-kyung’s hit Miracle in Cell No.7 (2013), the seventh most successful film of all time.

If Korean audiences seem especially receptive to tales of social inequality, it likely has much to do with how viewers identify with characters who struggle or have been oppressed through no fault of their own. Add on top of that recurring themes of maternal love and self-sacrifice, and the ground-work is sometimes laid for a breakout hit.

As a nation, Korea has struggled under the thumb of several invaders as well as oppressive political regimes at home. The inability to speak out has frequently been symbolized by mute characters in cinema, often in the works of KIM Ki-duk (such as 2000’s The Isle) but perhaps the most impactful story in this vein was the 2011 hit Silenced, which chronicled a real story of abuse that took place at a school for the hearing-impaired.

From director HWANG Dong-hyuk (also responsible for 2014’s Miss Granny and last year’s The Fortress) and based on a bestseller by GONG Ji-young, the film detailed the sordid case of sexual abuse of underage, hearing-impaired students at the hands of teachers and administrators at the Gwangju Inhwa School. A public outcry following the film’s release reopened investigations into the incidents which had previously only resulted in a handful of light sentences. The school was quickly shut down while the ‘Dogani Bill’ (referring to the film’s Korean title) was passed into law to strengthen the rights of underage victims of sexual abuse.

Abused by those in power and ignored by those who could make a difference, for many viewers, the young victims of the film may have echoed the circumstances of Korean citizens in the past, whether suffering under Japanese colonial rule in the early 20th century or from authoritarianism and corruption from local governments in subsequent decades.

Miracle in Cell No.7, a surprise smash with over 12.8 million viewers, involves a middle-aged father with the mental capacity of a child who is wrongly imprisoned for murder, yet in a fantastical situation his young daughter is smuggled into the prison to live with him, hidden from view from the jail’s guards.

LEE Hwan-kyung’s high-concept comedy-drama is a treacly affair that revolves around themes of family and sacrifice. In what may be a subliminal message, the film’s narrative also echoes the innumerable families that were broken apart by the division of the peninsula during the Korean War. As the father (played by RYU Seung-ryong) is forced to leave his daughter and spend the rest of his life in a rigidly controlled and harsh environment, the story then offers a fantastical dream scenario of an unlikely family reunification.

One of the most common frameworks for stories of the socially disadvantaged is having a self-sacrificing mother care for her child with a disability. Among these is the enormously popular Marathon (2005), the debut of director CHUNG Yoon-chul which pushed a young CHO Seung-woo to the A-list. In the film, CHO plays a real life of athlete with autism who was pushed by his mother to embrace his love of running and become a marathon runner. The film drew a large amount of attention to autism in Korea, where at the time the condition wasn’t well known.

15 months later, a similar film also found favor at the box office when KWON Soo-kyung’s Barefoot Ki-bong (2006) was released. SHIN Hyun-joon played a mentally-challenged man who begins to train for a half-marathon to help his mother after accidentally winning a race.

Last year, on November 9th, the spirit of Marathon found its way back on screens in The Preparation, the debut film of director CHO Young-jun. In it, busy character actor KIM Sung-kyun (Nameless Gangster : Rules of the Time, 2012) plays a man with the mental capacity of a child who is cared for by his mother, played by veteran actress KO Doo-shim (My Mother, The Mermaid, 2004). When she is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she devotes herself to teaching her son how to fend for himself when she is gone.

Following an opening where KO’s character envisions a terrible solution to a problem she feels is insurmountable, she gradually begins to trust her own abilities and those of her son in a heart-warming tale of fortitude and family sacrifice.

In the independent sector, depictions of characters with physical and mental disabilities are far broader, though many of them explore similar emotional tangents in their family dynamics. However several tales documenting romantic relationship between characters with disabilities have also emerged, which until now have not been seen in commercial titles. 

The most famous example is LEE Chang-dong’s third film Oasis. In it, SUL Kyung-gu plays a man with an intellectual disability who attempts to embark on a romance with a young woman with cerebral palsy. Playing the woman was MOON So-ri, who earned the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice International Film Festival, where the film also earned a Special Director's Award.

A similar story emerges in the low-budget film Dirty Romance (2017) by LEE Sang-woo, which debuted at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. Director LEE, who has spent his career focusing on the disenfranchised, focuses on a young mentally challenged man who falls in love with a woman suffering from cerebral palsy who lives in squalor with a brother that goes to disturbing extremes to care for her.

In the documentary realm it is director YI Seung-jun who stands out with his work Planet of Snail (2012) which drew wide acclaim after screening at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film documents the married life of a deaf and blind man and a woman with a spinal deformity.

Last November, Red Vacance Black Wedding 2 (2013) director CHOI Nak-kwon added to the sub-genre with the emotional drama Agagil (Journey to My Boy). KIM Eun-joo and SEO Seong-kwang play a married deaf couple who struggle to raise their son, who has difficulty in relating to his parents. Emphasizing their ostracism from society, the young boy, who stays with his grandmother, is em-barrassed by his family and refuses to return to them.

 

Carrying on the tradition of the aforementioned films will be 2018’s first commercial release Keys to the Heart, another tale of a family coming together. Featuring superstar LEE Byung-hun (Inside Men, 2015) and rising actor PARK Jung-min (DONGJU; The Portrait of A Poet, 2016), the film follows a washed-up boxer who tries to develop a closer relationship with his brother, a gifted pianist with an intellectual disability. From debut director JU Seoung-hwan, previously a scribe on period action hit The Fatal Encounter (2014), Keys to the Heart is the latest from blockbuster production house JK Films (Haeundae, 2009; Ode to My Father, 2014) and will be released by CJ Entertainment on January 17.