It's exactly stories such as this which made the years between 1998 and 2004 so fascinating: crap was served pretty often in those days as well, but you always felt that there were film lovers behind the camera who struggled and fought to support quality cinema in one of the most vibrant cinematic environments the film world had ever experienced. It was a balancing game between the commercial and artistic, with production companies generally scoring big with "project" films, and then reinvesting the profits back into the market, more often than not to fund smaller, more creative works outside the mainstream radar. That mentality and vision is what is lacking in today's Chungmuro, now only a shadow of its former self.
Projects surpassing the 1 billion won mark (in pure production costs) are often either shelved or forced to significantly alter their DNA, and even when success stories like 과속 스캔들 (Scandal Makers) grace the industry, the profits are rarely reinvested back into new productions, but more likely assimilated by their investment companies for other ventures, with the reticent investment landscape and even scarcer "cash flow" forcing everyone to favor low risk/low profit projects. It certainly is better than squandering money making bombastic blockbusters, but once you take risk out of the equation, then diversity and quality will soon fly out of the window as well. Today's Chungmuro has forgotten how to play, and has started to welcome non-film people to the fray, to maximize profits despite the low risk. Which is why, so to speak, Kim Gwang-Soo has a new job, other than that of interfering with drama productions to push his Mnet Media pupils.
Kim, a sort of Choi Wan-Gyu of the film business (set aside his media empire), was the man behind one of last year's most surprising successes, the high school slasher 고死 (Death Bell). It cost very little, was shot really fast, and made quite good money because of two simple factors: it basically pushed all the visceral buttons of its target audience with complete disregard for logic or cinematic art, and essentially packaged a 90 minute music video with some cheap thrills to make the teenagers' summer a little less hot. Critics detested it, but Kim clearly didn't care, as (and this is our second factor) he pestered TV for weeks with his behind the scenes influence, sending starlets Nam Gyu-Ri and/or Jung Yoon-Hee on every sort of broadcasting venue which could push their film, even if the show itself had nothing to do with cinema. It's this kind of media "terrorism" that once again highlighted marketing for his latest venture, the melodrama 슬픔보다 더 슬픈 이야기 (More Than Blue).
Take, for instance, his "booking" two consecutive weeks of popular variety show 황금어장 (Golden Fishery) by featuring Kwon Sang-Woo and even director Won Tae-Yeon, guests of Kang Ho-Dong's irreverent talk show. That's not the kind of feat any film producer can pull, not even the most powerful ones. And because it's a Kim Gwang-Soo production, you get Jung Joon-Ho, Lee Seung-Cheol and Nam Gyu-Ri in largely useless cameos, and the star cast working at a fraction of the usual cost. But that's the point. It makes people talk, and buzz (positive or negative as it may be) always translates into asses in the seats. So, yes. More Than Blue follows this new trend of reaping good profits out of measly budgets through project films, as it only cost 2.5 billion including marketing. With Kwon Sang-Woo's popularity in Japan still bringing in solid revenue (suspected to be around 3-4 million dollars, but there's always press propaganda involved, so the figures are muddy), all this film needed to break even was a rather measly 650,000 tickets, feat which the melodrama managed to achieve without much of a struggle.
You'd think this would be 2009's equivalent of Death Bell, dispassionate commercial tripe packaged with shallow glitz and served still hot to an undemanding audience, and in many ways you would be right. But, shockingly enough, More Than Blue also shows a modicum of cinematic soul and a little more brains than Kim's projects have prepared us to expect. Perhaps the merit goes to debuting director Won Tae-Yeon, one of Korea's most successful poets (over 5 million copies sold), a sort of Jo Byung-Hwa of the 2000s, equally loved by his readers for his simplicity, and scorned by his peers for, well, the same thing. More than his past as a poet, what brought him behind the camera was his having directed a few music videos, conforming to Kim Gwang-Soo's modus operandi of always using MV directors for his films -- because they'll ask for less money, they have very little artistic integrity to protect against the producer's whims, and they'll bring that superficial "bling" which Kim's projects require. Yet, his prose seemed to survive the project film treatment, and even makes the proceedings a little more charming.
Stripped down to its narrative barebones, More Than Blue could be summed up as the quintessential 90s melodrama: a man on the brink of demise (don't worry, it'll only be a spoiler for a couple of minutes) musters all his energy and efforts to find a decent man for the woman he loves, the woman who shared joys and sorrow with him throughout their entire life. Except he doesn't realize that she... well, that'd be a spoiler you could start worrying about. What is interesting here is not the trite plot and slightly "precious" characterization, but the way in which these characters are presented. Were this a project film from, say, 2002 or 2003, you'd get someone like Song Hye-Gyo or Kim Hee-Sun as the leading lady, torrents of tears, over the top ballads, and a feisty contender for Kwon Sang-Woo's belle. But no, Lee Beom-Soo's character is handled almost documentary-style. The director highlights his maturity, his financial stability, and the fact he could be quite a decent husband for Lee Bo-Young's "Cream" (one of the colorful nicknames our protagonists are forced to sport, just like Kwon Sang-Woo's "K"). But the fact his moments with her always feel slightly forced and arranged smoothly conveys the underlying motive of the film. It's so smooth that it hints at the big revelation a mile away, but Won doesn't seem to care. And really, it won't really bother you that much, either. Because, strangely enough, this film is more concerned with atmosphere and chemistry than the same old narrative underpinnings spurting out of the melodrama cauldron.
For instance, you get plenty of simple scenes featuring the two leads eating or spending time together, without any glamorous visuals suggesting particular states of mind, or industrial quantities of tear gas thrown at the viewer. They almost seem to suggest how routine (both on positive and negative terms) Cream and K's union has become, and somehow manage to convey the complexities of their relationship without any over the top dialogue. Depending on the situation, K could be Cream's older brother, a father, her very best friend and even her lover, and Won's handling of these often subtle moments is something you don't see too often in this kind of genre. It's actually quite charming, often erasing the bitter taste left by dialogue that is a little too in love with its lyricism. The merit certainly goes to Won's talent for capturing atmosphere, but also to the excellent crew, highlighted by one of Korea's best DPs, Lee Mo-Gae of 놈놈놈 (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) and 장화, 홍련 (A Tale of Two Sisters), along with art director Jo Geun-Hyeon of 형사: Duelist, 음란서생 (Forbidden Quest) and the badass TV sageuk 8일 (Eight Days). Lee brings realism to what is a largely unrealistic story, using composition which exalts the mundane and tones down the histrionics (something which would make some melodramas on TV a lot more palatable), pretty much the same exact thing Jo does with his mise en scene.
And it's easy to fall for the charms of a film like this, when it's aided by a competent cast. Kwon is refreshingly muted, almost awkwardly masking his generally explosive physicality and screen presence, but at the same time adding a layer of complexity to his acting that he has rarely been given the chance to display (then again, if he only could choose projects that suited his raw talent, he'd get a few more chances). It's such a cliched premise, so 1990s that you'd expect him to essay it à la late 90s trendy drama, but you often find a breathing human being beneath all the melodramatic innuendo that the story pushes. Also, although much less noticeable, More Than Blue highlights the very slow but gradual improvement of Lee Bo-Young. She still isn't able to mask all her technique within layers of realism (almost everything involving emotional spurts is too punctuated and often out of place), but she has improved tremendously in dealing with the quieter moments, where facial expression counts a lot more than delivery, particularly in the "big revelation" scene. As praising Lee Beom-Soo has become almost tiresome (he's predictably gold, adding complexity to a character that doesn't exactly brims with personality), I'd rather single out Jung Ae-Yeon, quite an underrated performer, giving what is arguably the best performance of her career.
More Than Blue is certainly not what you would usually classify as a good film, as it might sometimes feel like a 2 hour music video with some 90s-style corny dialogue as icing on the cake. But it manages to do something even superior melodramas have a hard time accomplishing, and that is making the preposterous feel real. I'd rather see producers risk a bit more, and if not the treasure trove of 2003 at least go back to an healthy mix of commercial and artistic. But until that day comes, little projects films that manage to recoup their investment without becoming insulting commercial tripe is something Chungmuro could certainly use. Even if that is coming from the greasy hands of a media mogul like Kim Gwang-Soo. Not exactly an happy ending, but I'll take that over the sadness which for years had been beclouding this forsaken industry....
RATING: 6.5
슬픔보다 더 슬픈 이야기 (More Than Blue)
Director: 원태연 (Won Tae-Yeon)
Screenplay: 원태연 (Won Tae-Yeon), 최은하 (Choi Eun-Ha)
Produced By: Core Contents Media
Int'l Sales: Showbox/Mediaplex
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Box Office: #48 724,357 Nationwide Admissions - 4.7 Billion Won
Release: 3/11/2009 (15 and Over)
CAST: 권상우 (Kwon Sang-Woo), 이보영 (Lee Bo-Young), 이범수 (Lee Beom-Soo), 정애연 (Jung Ae-Yeon), 이한위 (Lee Han-Wi), 정준호 (Jung Joon-Ho), 이승철 (Lee Seung-Cheol)