A modern twist of classic novel ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ Alice In Earnestland finally debuted in local cinema on 13 August, after traveling to multiple festivals.

 

Directed by a first-time feature director and a Korean Academy of Film Arts alumni AHN Gooc-jin with a significantly low budget of KRW 500 million (USD 425,000), Alice is a drama about a poor woman who struggles to pay for her vegetative husband's care.

 

It quickly became a quiet sensation, drawing young audience’s sympathy about the lead character that ends up with no reward given after all her earnest efforts for a better life.

 

AHN told KoBiz about the film, the actress and his future plans.

 

 

I was initially concerned about how the audience would understand the film, but it seems as if they don’t dislike it that much. I am grateful for that. Honestly, festival audience's responses were even more encouraging than the awards. It was exciting to see the audience react the way I had intended, but Alice also gave me tasks to work on at the same time. Basically, I owe so much to LEE Jung-hyun for this film. I was very lucky to have her whose performance covered up the flaws in my direction of Alice, my first low budget feature. Alice would not have become what it is if it were not for the actress, and I feel that I need to further strengthen my directing skills. It is grateful that this film gave me a precious experience and a great learning opportunity, which encourages me to pledge to a better film in the future.

 

 

KIM Hyun-jung, the make-up artist for Alice, is a close friend of PARK. She helped me give him the script, which he liked. PARK then suggested a meeting—I guess he wanted to help because Alice is a low-budget indie. LEE was actually my top priority when I was casting, but my offer was refused at first. But then PARK, who didn’t know that of course, suggested that I should cast LEE for the lead. Though I was a bit pessimistic because she had turned it down once, PARK handed my script to LEE for me and LEE took the role it as if by magic. Later, it turned out that LEE didn’t even have a chance to read my script and that it was her agency that turned down the role. It was truly the “PARK-saved-my-movie” moment. At the same time, however, I had to doubt whether I could handle this amazing actress’ performance. Of course it went well after all, thankfully.

 

 

Unfortunately, I had already started pre-production and casting before I first met PARK and I could not ask him for much advice. Still, I carefully asked him about the flaws in my script at the first meeting, and PARK was nice enough to tell me that the scenario was fine so that Alice would be a convincing movie unless I really messed up the shooting.

 

The lead character was a man, at first. I changed it to a woman at some point and as a result, it improved the scenario quite nicely and accelerated the story development too. I wanted Soo-nam to be blind-yet-lovely and crazy-yet-naïve at the time, so that my audience could feel sympathy to her without agreeing with her. I wish that the audience could look back on our society as they watch how Soo-nam becomes a criminal. The unconditional and tough character of Soo-nam came from the image that I had about my own mother. I tried to imagine how far a mother could go for her family, though probably not as far as murder, as I was designing the character. Soo-nam might as well have been a very difficult character because the film presents Soo-nam at her different ages from teenage through her fifties. I was actually thinking that I would need to change some parts of my scenario as I might fail to cast someone who could handle such a demanding character. With LEE, however, I did not have to. She was definitely the perfect one for the role.

 

 

Yes, I wanted to focus on the intra-class violence. It is actually the core of the story that is even more important than labor value—it was the reason why I started writing the scenario of Alice. Observing all these social issues, the way people react to them, and how they bring in controversies, I think that in Korea, it is always those people in the same class that cross swords with each other. I doubt whether those people really believe that they will jump up to a higher class if they step on others in the same class. If we take a closer look, at the end of those intra-class conflicts, real beneficiaries always escape from potential risks and it is always those people who hurt each other and end up without lift in their social status. I wanted to talk about that metaphorically in Alice.

 

 

 

I believe that how a story is delivered to its audience is just as important as the message itself. By pasquinading the modern society in Alice, I wished that my audience would end up with a bitter laughter. I wanted to ask a question whether or not we have grown so cruel that we are just too used to the absurdities of life and do not realize that they actually deserve laughter. I was looking forward to seeing the audience’s response to my question, and it seems as if I achieved my goal to a certain degree. But I will have to see again later if this way of direction really gave my audience an opportunity to think back on ourselves or just entertained them with a funny touch.

 

 

I wanted this relationship to look like a real-life love that exists in a starved life, instead of something in a fantasy world. Soo-nam lacks certain satisfaction in life, and obsessively believes that her love life with Kyu-jeong will fill in the lack. On the other hand, Kyu-jeong is a naïve person who believes in labor value and pursues happiness by working hard. They are two different species that have different life goals and ways of living.

As Kyu-jeong becomes deaf, he is socially alienated and loses the value in himself that he has believed for life: labor. For him, an apartment of his own means the asset for his children and happiness in the future. That is why he turns suicidal when he sees his happiness going away. Meanwhile, Soo-nam is a practical yet romantic person who works hard but still believes that happiness lies in love, not in labor. If, for Kyu-jeong, the apartment means something for their children, it means happiness for the present for Soo-nam. Soo-nam is a strictly present-driven person who is indefatigable about filling in her lack and achieving her dream love.

It is true that both Soo-nam and Kyu-jeong are extremely self-centered, but I think that it may be the true look of love in our real lives.

 

 

It was me who suggested the title, though honestly, I am not so good at English. I spent much time asking people around me and looking up the dictionary to see if it makes sense at all. Honestly, I have never been so sure about the English title up until today because I learned that “earnestland” is not a widely-used term and that even English natives might find it unfamiliar. Still, I chose it because I thought the unfamiliarity could create a unique, absurd impression as long as the original meaning is transmitted. Now I feel relieved that it was not a bad idea after all.

 

 

 

I want to leave it as “the uncomfortable question” to the audience. Will she be happy after all that? Or will she go back to her testing life to build up her happiness from scratch? I thought that the audience would understand the story in the eyes of the police, not Soo-nam’s, as they will all become emotional and be worried about moralities at some point. In that respect, Soo-nam betrays everyone by leaving like that. But then I wish the audience could ask themselves whether we can all just blame Soo-nam for cherishing her own happiness.

 

 

Now I really want to make a commercial title and I am currently developing a romance drama and a mystery flick. At the same time, however, those experiences that I had while making Alice made me want to try making a realism film too. It is also currently being developed. I have not yet decided which one to go ahead with first.