The Far East gives the scene to Korean films, here is the first direction by Cho Eun-ji: “What a difficulty at the beginning on the set”

“Perhaps Love” is one of the three works of the Asian country in competition at the Feff

UDINE. Korean cinema, popular today all over the world, is able to explore feelings with a now recognizable and subtle grace. Especially in the staging of the connections between people, of interiority.

In fact, relationships are at the center of three films that have come to the Far East Film Festival from this country: Fanatic by Oh Seyeon, Perhaps Love by Cho Eun-ji and The Apartment with Two Women. And these are also three works created from a female gaze, in which the directors are often also authors.

This is the case, for example, of Oh Seyeon, who brings to the screen a story born of his personal experience. In Fanatic, black comedy and documentary, she collects the testimonies of those who, like her, idolized a star until she saw him collapse, destroy himself, even end up in prison. Spasmodic love which then becomes hatred, shame, even mourning.

Her project, initially fueled only by anger, then turned out to be a sort of comical and useful group therapy, in which the knowledge of the experiences of other fans brought her greater awareness. So much so that, talking about it, she said with conviction: “From now on I don’t think it will be possible for me to become obsessed with a celebrity anymore.”

Staying within the tones of the comedy, but in a more romantic key, we find Perhaps Love by Cho Eun-ji. The director, with a great career as an actress behind her, for her first feature film has chosen an intertwining populated by varied personalities with which to highlight human weaknesses. Recounting the work behind the scenes, she expressed her difficulty in initially communicating with the cast: “Knowing what it feels like on the other side, I saw when the actors tried to open up but couldn’t quite”.

On the other hand, Kim Se-in’s film: The Apartment with two women is of a completely different nature. There is talk of a complicated relationship between mother and daughter, of a hatred expressed in different ways but voracious on both sides.

To give shape to the figure of the mother, the director was inspired by the speeches she had listened to as a child at the spa, while to create the intensity of the bond she focused on the details: “I wanted to show the apartment well, as if it were the third character in history ».

The result is a claustrophobic, powerful work, where contrasts collide.