(Photo Source:  Alma Books)

Salmonella Men on Planet Porno [and other stories] by Yasutaka Tsutsui. Translated by Andrew Driver.

So from my own ramblings around the internet today  it seems that there are two critical concerns in light of Kim Jong-il’s death. The first is the security concerns and political instability that could ensue with the succession of a man as young and inexperienced as Kim Jong-un. Although, being a tyrant is more a learn by doing job, I imagine. By some accounts though he is already a ruthless bastard ready to take the helm of his father. I’m not really sure I’ve got enough information to make my own wild speculative prediction on either the chances that the succession will go smoothly or whether Kim the younger is a madman in the same vein as his father and grandfather or not.

The other, more important, concern has been in regards to the future of the Kim Jong-il looking at things blog. At one point tweeters were more concerned on this than other matters relating to the news of Kim’s death. But fortunately the good news came through that the Kim Jong-un looking at things blog was now up and running. A smooth transition of power. Also good to note that part of Kim Jong-un’s training for the succession has included practice at looking at things – an integral part of his job.

Some of the comments coming out from the international community have focused on the need for peace in a time of uncertainty. Hugo Chavez has sent a message of condolences. Human Rights Watch focused on the legacy of mass atrocities left by Kim Jong-il. Amnesty International hopes that, “the new government will step away from the horrific, failed policies of the past” but says it has reports that purges have already begun.

The BFI is currently featuring a directorspective of Aleksandr Sokurov, a Russian film director. I am pretty much ignorant of Sokurov’s work but he is described as a spiritual voice of Russian film. He is famous for several movies, it seems, including Russian Ark and other films depicting St Petersburg. But what interested me in Sokurov was a tetralogy known as the “Men of Power” series, which he has recently done looking at “three individuals who have wielded extraordinary destructive authority during the 20th Century: Lenin (Taurus), Hitler (Moloch), and Hirohito (Solntse). The fourth film is about Faust, “the mythical forerunner” of these later men. Sokurov won the Golden Lion Award at Venice this year for Faust. But  I was interested in the third of these movies, a movie called The Sun (Solntse) looking at the Emperor Hirohito.

Made in 2004, this movie covers a couple of days around the time when Japan surrenders and the Emperor goes to meet General MacArthur. As the film review by JG Ballad notes:

The Sun resembles a dreamlike newsreel filmed by a secret camera deep in the emperor’s bunker. We see Hirohito waited on by his cringing retainers, who dress and feed him as if he were a handicapped child, which in effect he was. As he waits for them to button his shirt, or murmurs to his marine biology specimens in his private laboratory, he resembles a royal figure rather closer to home: well-meaning, babied by his wife and utterly disengaged from reality

This movie doesn’t really seek to deal with the argument about the extent to which we think Hirohito was a guileless puppet at the mercy of military leaders or whether he was complicit and enthusiastic about the war. He is a rather sympathetic character in that he appears so child-like and human but at the same time he does not appear to be without an understanding of the war and his role. The movie does lean toward  the ‘guileless puppet’ image more so than the other image but mostly it doesn’t bother to delve into that debate.

But the most important part of this film is the depiction of the bombing of Tokyo; Hirohito’s nightmare vision. Julian Graffy describes it as:

…a stunning vision of apocalypse unlike almost anything Sokurov has shot…The emperor imagines Tokyo as an infernal landscape of burning, bombed-out buildings being raided by gross and terrifying creatures of the deep.

It is indeed stunning to see the camera swoop over the burning landscape. Bomber planes fly into the view of the screen and then morph into birds and then sea monsters. Bombs that drop and swim away like fish to cause havoc as the air ripples and turns into an underwater scene. Below the bombs explode in short bursts of flames that merge into an already burning city. As the viewer you feel like you are flying around above watching it all. It was amazing.

Sokurov has done other works looking at Japan, including Oriental Elegy and A Humble Life. Both of which I didn’t get time to see but looked quite interesting and are more documentary, not movies..

While we’re on the topic of film festivals, this year we stumbled across Zipangu: the Japanese Film Festival. Previously I have not been aware of any Japan Film Festivals in London. The schedule is not as long as the LKFF mentioned in the previous post. Also, Zinpangu has some emphasis on experimental stuff which is a little beyond my interest or knowledge of Japanese cinema. In the end we decided to go and see just one film: The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen. This is an old 1938 ghost cat movie (as the title makes clear). Apparently there is a ghost cat sub-genre and there were several ghost cat movies made in Japan during this period. However, most of the them have been lost, which made this movie a rare treat. I had not previously been aware of such a sub-genre but am happy to know it. As the Zipangu web site explains, this movie is:

“A quintessential example-of-the-period “ghost cat” (bakeneko or kaibyō) movie, a substantial supernatural subgenre based in folklore that stretches back at least as far as Shozo Makino’s The Cat of Okazaki (Okazaki no neko, 1914), this was one of at least six such titles released between 1937-40, many of which were written by Kenji Hata, to feature Japan’s first scream queen, Sumiko Suzuki.

Although old, it was a very enjoyable movie, very Japanese with fabulous clothes and street scenes of 1930s Japan. Particularly interesting were the scenes of the Kabuki theatre as I imagine it was like back in the late 1930s.

Due to some schedule clashes I was left with little choice on what to see this year. I was also a bit disappointed with the line up as a whole.  Notably, the LKFF did not include The Crucible. I don’t want to see this movie but it was sup rising that one of the most talked about Korean movies of the year didn’t make the line up. Perhaps they are scheduling a commercial release instead. Also disappointing was the appearance of Scandal Makers in the schedule. This is a cute movie but it was part of last year’s line-up.

In the end we saw two films:

1. Suicide Forecast. Ahead of the LKFF for reasons mentioned above (disappointment at the line up and disappointment that it wasn’t at the Barbican) I was inclined to be in a bad mood for this year’s LKFF. Then I saw Suicide Forecast and everything was forgiven.

Held at the ICA which I enjoyed, although we didn’t get designated seats, this movie was a superbly told tale of modern hardship and need to focus on the positive. The story revolves around an insurance salesman who has sold life insurance to four people with a history of attempted suicide. The company is about to be reviewed for bad practices so the salesman sets out to convince the four people to switch policies. He also needs to ensure they don’t kill themselves and make the company liable to the pay out before he can switch their policies over. In the course of his endeavours we discover the hardships these families face and why these individuals have sought an answer to their problems and that of their loved ones by ending their lives. It was generally a comedy but there were tears as well.

2. Dachimawa Lee. This was part of the Directorspective of Ryoo Seung-wan. It included the actress who starred in Greatest Love, a sitcom style rom-com (sit-rom-com?) on Korean TV when I was in Korea earlier this year. It also starred Ryoo Sueng-bum the Director’s brother and star of Suicide Forecast. This movie had the distinct aroma of a Stephen Chow movie with some 1960s Bond spoof and Sergio Leone spaghetti western tossed in for good measure. It was bizarre, over the top and a bit weird (none of that is a criticism, it was a fairly enjoyable film). Dachimawa Lee is a spy charged with recovering a golden buddha. In the process, of course, an inside job, hidden identities and so on are revealed.

A couple of observations between this time and last time:

1. Traffic has gone CRAZY; I don’t remember it being anywhere near this manic last time I was here.

2. last time I wasn’t pick pocketed but I had the joy of that experience this time – my computer charger was stolen. So someone has a charger but no computer and I have a computer I can’t charge – nobody was a winner in this scenario. Now I have to walk around like a paranoid foreigner with my back pack on my front

3. State Department Store seems to have been refurbished – its nicer looking than I remember

4. Footpaths, or the area beside the roads where people walk, are still hazardous for your ankles, especially in heels

5. Crossing the road at night is the single most dangerous activity I have done in several years

Today I visited the ‘black market’ for the first time. It was massive and it was only thanks to our wonderful Mongolian volunteers that we ever managed to find our way out again and to find the things we were looking to buy. Not a big tourist spot though, I only spotted one other foreigner.

1. Gyeongbuk Palace

Gyeongbuk palace was the first Korean palace I ever visited when I was a student on my first trip overseas in 1995. If you read some of the signs around Gyeongbuk you can notice that 1995 was the year that they began restoring a lot of the palace. That work has now long been completed. Gyeongbuk is now a picturesque mixture of palace buildings and park areas. And right next door is the impressive Folk Museum. Its always a pleasure to take a stroll around Gyeongbuk Palace and great value at just 3,000 per adult.

2. Grass and flowers

Cheongyecheon is perhaps the most well-known of the new greenery in Seoul but that is really a small part of the picture, and not the best part. The best part is the small squares of grass and flowers that are dotted around at intersections and outside buildings. I went for a jog along the Hangang and was very impressed about how green and pretty it has become. This is a wonderful change as it alters the whole atmosphere of the city and makes it feel much more pleasant. A few flowers can have a powerful effect.

3. Changing view points and changing ways

Mabye it’s the area in which I work, but many of the people I’ve run into while I’ve been here are quite well-travelled. In some cases, much better than me. There has been much less peer-pressured drinking and even a few occasions where I felt we could’ve had one more and still been home at a reasonable hour. During my visit there has been much greater scope for accepting or rejecting a drink or eating different foods and less obsequious bowing to higher ups. Like I said, maybe this change is just in the area I work, but its still a positive. And today I read that schools are getting ready to move to a complete 5 day week – things are certainly easing up in Korea.

4. Koreans got fat

The number of Korean fatties waddling around has been a big surprise during this trip. In the past there appeared to be few overweight Koreans. And it always felt like Koreans were a little smug about how slim they all were. Especially in the face of consistent international news stories about how fat many individuals in the Western world had become.  But I guess they aren’t so smug anymore. Turns out the will power of some Koreans to turn down fatty foods and that extra donut is on a par with individuals in the Western world who are also losing the battle to avoid temptation.

5. Great coffee and café Bene

Coffee and coffee shops in Korea just keeps getting better and better. First came Rosebud and now Café Bene. There are many places in Seoul to grab a great cup of coffee and loads of trendy cafes to enjoy a cuppa along with a delicious treat. Some places even have smoking areas to enjoy a coffee and a cigarette. Although I quit smoking I remember how much I enjoyed the combination of sitting in a café enjoying a coffee and cigarette.

6. Donuts (and now waffles)

I’m not convinced this donut obsession is a good thing. I find it a bit tacky. However, I have personally succumbed to the waffle temptation a couple of times. I think waffles have a bit more class. That’s obviously a subjective opinion. And I’m worried that waffles are going the same way as the donut and will soon be too omnipresent and will become tacky.

7. JimJjilbang

Getting a scrub remains one of the highlights of Korea. And the jimjjilbang’s are a great way to spend time. The idea of having a place to just hang out and relax, have a sauna, watch TV or whatever is a great idea.

8. Awful beer and expensive imports

Unlike the coffee, beer in this country is still crap. Imported beer is now much easier to find but are way, way, way too expensive. Craftworks taphouse does a good beer (all of them are good actually) but has terrible service. It’s a shame that after all these years this place appears to be the only one breaking into a much needed niche market.

9. Great food, cheap prices

Some things don’t change – you can still find good food at cheap prices served with great side dishes. The best part being that for a three month sojourn, I don’t need to worry about cooking or buying ingredients for cooking while I’m here. I can eat heathly delicious meals at prices that make grocery shopping unnecessary (especially considering the time and waste that cooking myself would involve).

10. Loads of non-Koreans

Since I’ve been away, I’ve often read in on-line papers that the population of non-Koreans has increased dramatically over the past years. And you can really notice it. Not just the obvious Western white people who stand out but also people of South Asian and Southeast Asian appearance. There are loads of non-Korean looking people not only at the usual places like downtown, Itaewon and Hongik but also in quieter areas there always seems to be a few non-Koreans wandering about.  Its not a multi-cultural society by any stretch but its certainly different to what it was.

I should also note that there were some things that I didn’t get time for during this trip. That includes travelling outside of Seoul and testing out the fast trains. I also didn’t get time to do any mountain climbing, a favourite pastime of mine when I was living here. I guess those things will have to wait until next time (whenever that may be).