Forgot password

 

Coin Locker Girl, a Korean noir with a fresh perspective, will be screened during the Critics’ Week sidebar at the 54th Cannes International Film Festival. Even though the film has a story reminiscent of typical hard-boiled noirs, it expands the spectrum of the genre through its female lead characters. The lead protagonists are the MA family living in Chinatown. A female controller from China simply known as ‘Mother’ engages in the loan sharking business while raising orphans, including Il-young, who were abandoned in coin lockers in a subway station. Under this brutal-hearted mother who kills people without mercy unless they pay their debts, the children become people who can satisfy her little by little, Among them, Ilyoung is her favorite.

 

One day, Il-young visits a debtor, Suk-hyun (PARK Bo-geom), on the order of the mother. There, Il-young meets the bright and warm Suk-hyun who works hard towards his dreams despite the tragedy of being saddled with his father’s debts. He changes something in Ilyoung and she gradually comes to question her life in cold-hearted Chinatown. After noticing this change in Il-young, the mother assigns her a final mission.

 

Coin Locker Girl became a highly anticipated film as it cast KIM Hye-soo and KIM Go-eun as its lead actresses. KIM Hye-soo has shown strong and attractive female images in numerous films such as The Face Reader (2013), The Thieves (2012) and Tazza: The High Rollers (2006), while Eungyo (2012) and Monster launched KIM Go-eun to fame as a new face for the next generation of Korean cinema. The film offers a refreshing and mesmerizing change with its conflicts stemming from its allfemale hard-boiled noir cast, a rarity in Korean cinema. HAN Jun-hee made his presence felt as the writer for the screenplay of The Gifted Hands (2013), a supernatural mystery thriller. Coin Locker Girl marks HAN’s debut as a feature director after already making two short films — Smoking Cigarette in 2005 and Understanding Movies in 2013. HAN steadily delivers his own message through his new and persuasive characters.

 

You penned the screenplay of Coin Locker Girl and directed the film. What made you embark on this story?
I wanted to talk about the value of survival and life. Then I began to write a script under the title of Coin Locker Girl while thinking about two images: ‘children abandoned in coin lockers’ and ‘immigrants living in Chinatown.’

 

The film shows your affection and appreciation of the crime, thriller and hard-boiled genres. Are there any films or directors that influenced you?
I don’t look for films to watch that may help me make better films on purpose. But I was naturally affected by my favorite films. I think that Coin Locker Girl was inspired by The Godfather (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Blood and Bones (2004) directed by SAI Yoichi and recent works by Nicolas Winding Refn, who made Drive (2011) and Only God Forgives (2013).

 

Coin Locker Girl faithfully follows the grammar of its genre. But by using female lead characters, it expands the characters and story. What made you use women as the lead characters and why did you cast KIM Hye-soo and KIM Go-eun?
When I create a character, I approach them not by focusing on their gender but on what kind of a person they are. Il-young has to show a process of sentimental change as she is a woman. As Suk-hyun is a man, I wanted to show a subtle attitude that only men have. The effects that arise out of the collision among the feelings expressed in the story are the critical ignition point of the film. In addition, the reason for casting KIM Hyesoo is that the mother should be played by an actress who can overwhelm everyone merely by standing, without any dialogue or action, since the mother is the absolute ruler and ‘godmother’ of Chinatown. KIM Hye-soo is one of the most dominant performers of this era. She can persuade everybody as an actress. Moreover, if KIM Hye-soo is one of the dominant actors of the era, then I think KIM Go-eun is an actress who can take the lead in the next generation of Korean cinema. As she has shown an unreadable face and emitted an unpredictable energy even since her debut work, I began to write the script with her in mind as a key character, without considering other alternatives.

 

In addition to the mother and Il-young, other members of the MA family play an important role.
The family of Maga Heungeop Co. are not from the same flesh and blood and obviously they are villains. Even though this is an extreme description, they are still not very different from the members of an ordinary family. The ‘mother’ is responsible for the family’s livelihood. Woo-gon is the taciturn eldest son. Il-young is the mother’s favorite daughter. Hong-ju is a sick and innocent son. ‘Song’ is a troublemaker. Chi-do is a son who moved out. Uncle Tak is still immature in his way of thinking. They represent a familiar family in Korea.

 

What do you want to show and what message do you want to get across to audiences via Coin Locker Girl ?
When writing the script, I wanted to make a classic film to express how people live only to live. Then while shooting the film, I wanted to make Coin Locker Girl as a film at the crosssection of heartlessness and warm-heartedness. It is hard to tell what message I want to get across as a film belongs to those who watch it. But a line in the film that is the closest to my intention as a director is: “We were not born as we wanted to be. But we cannot die… so we have to live.”