From the Shadow to the Sunny Side, from the Margin to the Center
Korean cinema has a sub-genre called “ero-mul” (meaning erotic films). The main focus of the films in this sub-genre is the description of sex and sexuality. This genre has been criticized for its obscenity and so called “cheapness,” but it has never disappeared and always come back to the stage.
Recently, its status has changed, too. It has become a new business and profit model in the Korean film market, where derived copyrights such as VOD have become increasingly important, and many of the film market players are paying attention to this new model. The content itself is also going through a change: this genre blends with mainstream cinema genres rather than staying marginalized.
For example,
The Treacherous (2015) by
MIN Kyu-dong is noteworthy. This film features Yeonsangun, one of the most vicious tyrants of the Joseon Dynasty. It centers around a historical event where as many as 10,000 women nationwide were called upon to be sexual objects for the king. This film strategically combines traditional historical drama with the sexual content of a typical ero-mul.
“This special section is initiated by strong support from BiFan, in the hope that these films may become a new engine for Korean cinema with diverse generic attempts across genres, rather than stay marginalized and criticized for its so called obscenity,” says the film committee.
Playboy BONG: A mirror of Korean "Ero-mul"
Of the three,
Playboy BONG is probably the most notable. The director is BONG (BONG Man-dae) himself. BONG Man-dae, born in 1970, used to be called the grand master of Korean ero-mul. In the past when the video rental market was strong, he was one of the major “ero-video” directors. As his film skills earned him a good reputation, he finally entered mainstream Korean cinema. At long last he made an ero feature film for theaters (as opposed for video rental shops) in 2003, called
The Sweet Sex and Love, followed by a few more films in the same genre.
Now he has expanded his scope beyond ero films and directed a horror film as well. Recently he made an ero-mul called
Rice Cake Train (which is a parody of
Snowpiercer, which sounds similar to Rice Cake Train in Korean pronunciation) and introduced it on the internet as a part of a bigger series, which generated significant attention.
The story of
Playboy BONG is as follows: a director by the name of
YIM Pil-sung (a real director who made
Antarctic Journal,
Hansel and Gretel, and
Scarlet Innocence) is directing an erotic horror film called
Craze at the Beach. However, the producer thinks poorly of YIM’s sex scenes and hires BONG. Now the actors have to be in unplanned sex scenes and BONG goes through clashes with other film members. This film is a light hearted, creative and self-reflecting parody, employing using BONG’s own fodder.
My Secret Partner, Ownerless Flower Uhwudong: Blend of genres
My Secret Partner and Ownerless Flower Uhwudong shows yet a different strategy for ero-mul to survive in the mainstream cinema. My Secret Partner features two main characters, a script writer and a chef, respectively. To increase thier creative sensitivity for films and food, they each take a much younger lover and indulge in eccentric sex. Thus, it is a strong attempt at blending ero-mul with the romantic comedy genre.
On the other hand,
Ownerless Flower Uhwudong features the famous sex scandal of a real woman in Joseon era by the name of Uhwudong. This scandal was already made into a film by
LEE Jang-ho in 1985. Like
The Treacherous, it is an attempt to blend ero-mul with the traditional historical drama genre.
The reason why BiFan included some of the recent ero-mul or ero-related films in the special section of Korean independent genre is probably to stimulate interest in and to boost development of sub-genres in Korean cinema. It is yet too early to find a completely successful case in the domestic film market, but if you move your scope to world cinema, there have been successful results. In the area of roman-porno in Japanese cinema came so many important films and directors. Let us see if Korean ero-mul can make such fruitful result as well.
Korean cinema has a sub-genre called “ero-mul” (meaning erotic films). The main focus of the films in this sub-genre is the description of sex and sexuality. This genre has been criticized for its obscenity and so called “cheapness,” but it has never disappeared and always come back to the stage.Recently, its status has changed, too. It has become a new business and profit model in the Korean film market, where derived copyrights such as VOD have become increasingly important, and many of the film market players are paying attention to this new model. The content itself is also going through a change: this genre blends with mainstream cinema genres rather than staying marginalized.For example, The Treacherous (2015) by MIN Kyu-dong is noteworthy. This film features Yeonsangun, one of the most vicious tyrants of the Joseon Dynasty. It centers around a historical event where as many as 10,000 women nationwide were called upon to be sexual objects for the king. This film strategically combines traditional historical drama with the sexual content of a typical ero-mul.Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival has also acknowledged such a trend. This year, a special section called Korean Independent Cinema Strikes! pays attention to ero-mul and their directors. This is an assembly of some ero films from the last few years. Especially Playboy BONG by BONG Mae-dae, My Secret Partner by PARK Heon-soo, and Ownerless Flower Uhwudong by LEE Soo-sung are noteworthy.“This special section is initiated by strong support from BiFan, in the hope that these films may become a new engine for Korean cinema with diverse generic attempts across genres, rather than stay marginalized and criticized for its so called obscenity,” says the film committee.Playboy BONG: A mirror of Korean "Ero-mul"
My Secret Partner and Ownerless Flower Uhwudong shows yet a different strategy for ero-mul to survive in the mainstream cinema. My Secret Partner features two main characters, a script writer and a chef, respectively. To increase thier creative sensitivity for films and food, they each take a much younger lover and indulge in eccentric sex. Thus, it is a strong attempt at blending ero-mul with the romantic comedy genre.On the other hand, Ownerless Flower Uhwudong features the famous sex scandal of a real woman in Joseon era by the name of Uhwudong. This scandal was already made into a film by LEE Jang-ho in 1985. Like The Treacherous, it is an attempt to blend ero-mul with the traditional historical drama genre.The reason why BiFan included some of the recent ero-mul or ero-related films in the special section of Korean independent genre is probably to stimulate interest in and to boost development of sub-genres in Korean cinema. It is yet too early to find a completely successful case in the domestic film market, but if you move your scope to world cinema, there have been successful results. In the area of roman-porno in Japanese cinema came so many important films and directors. Let us see if Korean ero-mul can make such fruitful result as well.
