‘Because I Hate Korea: Busan Review

Director: Jang Geun Jae. South Korea. 2023: 107 minutes

Midsummer Fantasia director Jang Kun-jae's latest film explores the frustration of a young South Korean woman on a journey to tell a story. Based on the Jang Kang-Myun novel, this film about the trials and tribulations of Korean General Z deftly explores themes such as romantic involvement, the status of women in Korean society, class tensions, the McGobners, and "education." Warmth and high expectations from parents. Ko Ah-sung's poignant and troubled central performance, 17 years after his teenage debut in Bong Joon-ho's The Anchor , brings dramatic power to an episodic story that straddles the line between ironic national critique and self-deprecating national pride. It seems designed to appeal to the lost, wandering generation it envisions.

Ko Ah-Sung's poignant, concerned central performance adds dramatic weight.

With its provocative, catchy title and uncompromisingly Seoul-centric worldview, it's easy to see why Because I Hate Korea was chosen to open this year's Busan International Film Festival. It is also easy to predict that the disease may not spread beyond the country's borders, although it may affect Japan, a country where Generation Z shares the same concerns.

"Ever tried the morning flight from Inchon to Gangnam?" Sentences like this, uttered by the shy and fiercely independent character Ko Kina in a voiceover monologue, seem intended to resonate with other young Koreans in the same situation. routine of a slave dog for hire to elicit a smile and a sigh of approval. If: I don't actually live in Seoul. Gina hates her anonymous office job, which is all about efficiency and the need to keep an eye on bogus orders.

The best thing Gae Na can say about her boyfriend of seven years, Ji Myung (Kim Woo Kyung), is that he is "kind and modest" but also comes from a wealthier family like her poor mother. Anyone who dreams of moving to a bigger apartment encourages their daughter to make the most of it. Faced with this pressure and the bitter cold of a Korean winter, Kaena gets up and heads to New Zealand's North Island, where she discovers in the larger community of Auckland a strange, distorted image of the country she thought she left behind. Immigrant.

Here, Because I Hate Korea reveals one of its limitations, especially when dealing with hostile locals, including a wooden discussion about the North Korean nuclear threat at a party in Oakland attended by Jenna. Jang Kun-jae's script is made all the more compelling by Gyun's time in New Zealand and brief jumps to life in Korea before he leaves. Either way, she faces male immaturity, male privilege, class snobbery, and the constant pressure to finance her studies as she juggles jobs as a waitress, nanny, and Amazon warehouse worker in her new home.

Her generation seems to always have a sleeping bag in hand (at one point, Gina lives in a converted garage), enter into relationships that involve little physical contact, and are constantly being evaluated, whether it's university exams. . Or a PR score that determines immigration status, or English proficiency on an IELT test that opens doors to academic and economic advancement.

"Because I Hate Korea" features sweet clichés with a beautiful, music-centric soundtrack and a fun character from Jae In (Jo Jung-hyuk); the friendly foreigner who is the only person Gyena can really relate to. Consistently remind. us that this is intended to be a romantic comedy as well as a coming-of-age story and light cultural satire. But the film's greatest strength is the emerging but humble feminist perspective of a young woman who wants to make her own mistakes, not the ones imposed on her by society, parents, employers and peers.

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