Pusan International Film Festival (II)

The crowd outside Lotte Cinema

We do (and will) get the blockbusters here in SoKo generally, although there are some bizarre features that have only just recently gotten here. For instance, the Brett Ratner opus "After the Sunset" was playing in most first-run movie houses when I first arrived, despite the fact that it was released well over a year ago in the U.S.

Power Movie. Power Feeling. Little else needs to be said. "Manderlay", by all accounts, was a Power Movie.

Tough job getting a good shot inside the theater... this was the best I could muster.

The lobby of Lotte Cinema

While I don't have photos to share, I figured I'd drop by and tell you about my second visit to the PIFF this week. Somehow we managed to have Thursday off at my hagwon, allowing me to enjoy the annual festival for one day more than I thought I would. Things started off badly when I woke up from a strenuous night of free alcohol supplied by my bosses. My head felt like I had went through a few rounds with Bob Sapp, my legs were damaged from at least a dozen knee-drops on the dancefloor, and for one reason or another my room contained the equivalent of a few buckets of Haeundae sand scattered on sheets and floors, within backpacks and juice bottles, particles lining my scalp. Also, I had managed to sleep through my alarm clock, so those wicked PIFF crowds had surely already developed; I had little hope of actually seeing a movie this day, but I showered in record time, downed a glass of water, and packed my bag with a granola bar and a banana for lunch.

That Sunday, I had went to Nampodong with Marie to catch a film, but I figured it'd be best if I saw what Haeundae was offering this time around. (If you weren't with me earlier, half of the festival is held in Nampodong, the other half in Haeundae). The standout film playing at the Megabox 10 for me was "Princess Raccoon", the latest movie directed by Seijun Suzuki, the Japanese auteur responsible for the psychedelic noir of "Branded to Kill". After an hour-long subway ride, I got to Haeundae and rushed my ass to the Special Fun Zone (abbreviated as "SFunZ"), a Korean shopping mall / entertainment center.

Holy shit! If not for a broken camera, there'd be some visual glory coming your way to supplement this post. Unlike American shopping malls that occupy several football fields worth of land, the SFZ stretches 10 floors vertically, making for a slightly-different psychological shopping experience. The moment I entered, I realized I was probably going to waste the day there, movie or no movie. No time to tarry, so I darted towards the box office, although I was periodically sidelined by the sight of a Subway and KFC, two American staples that have escaped my grasp so far in SoKo; actually, I have passed a KFC in Nampodong and near Pusan National University, but I could never manage to convince my company to go. Today I was flying solo, so the Colonel's allure was oh so sweet.

I get to the box office only to find out that everything is sold out. Everything. I look at the board where they list sell-outs for all of the participating theaters, and it seems like there isn't a vacancy among them, so my heart sinks a little. I raise it up again by visiting a genuine hot dog shop, one that touts a Chicago-style foot-long adorned with onions, cheese, and chili. Clouds wash away, the world tremors with my newfound hope, and almost immediately upon stepping out of said hot dog shop, some Australian girl comes up to me to tell me that she has an extra ticket to a film and can't find anyone to take it. I pump my fist and accept her gift.

Shit... I had no time to kill, so I took the elevator up to the eighth floor to what I thought was the movie theater. Instead, I ended up on a rooftop penthouse with a bunch of global celebs and hobnobbers. I walked along the roof briefly just because it seemed like I could. Very few highlights up here, aside from a stand where commoners were getting their photos taken with giant guns. If I had the time, I definitely would have gotten a portrait, but I needed to get back in the 'vator and find my theater.

The Megabox 10 was considerably more American in terms of streaking neon and massive LCD monitors displaying the latest trailers than the Lotte Cinema in Haeundae, or at least that's the way I saw it; also, the crowd was nowhere near the horde I witnessed there, but I'd imagine that's because I was there on a weekday. The film I was fortunate enough to see was a Korean documentary called "On the Road II", one of the dullest rock movies I've ever seen. The cameras followed Yoonband, a bland Korean fusion of Coldplay's mom-rock and Creed's self-important religio-dude tunes, as they set out on a European tour with an even worse British act called Steranko.

More than anything else, the documentary showed a clear juxtaposition between Korean and British rock stars. The lead singer for Yoonband could be mistaken for any average Korean man walking the streets of Busan, clearly confident and happy, but extremely meek and polite. Steranko's frontman had a serious Iggy-via-Morrison thing happening, and had a little too much delight in butchering the Korean language, especially in comparing gimchi to the shit from his ass. The supporting cast of Yoonband seemed to wear Homer Simpson t-shirts most of the time they weren't on stage, a style faux-pas that I'm sure would be met with outright contempt from NME and Melody Maker. Where Steranko seemed to thrive on dopey stage theatrics (mostly from the lead singer, of course), Yoonband would never dare smash a guitar. If the film had focused more on the bands as people and less on the music, I would have liked it a lot more, but the Korean audience seemed to enjoy themselves.

After the movie wrapped up, I made my way out of the theater to dine on some KFC for dinner and purchase a box of Dunkin' Donuts before heading home. On the way out, I passed a gorgeous Korean couple that was being trailed by several dudes in well-tailored suits. Given the cacaphonous "oohs" and "ahs" coming from the crowd behind them, I assume they were celebrities of some sort, so I can now brag that I saw some Korean movie stars live and in person. It doesn't quite match being cousins with "Party of Five" star Scott Wolf and having the opportunity to ask him what it was like dating Alyssa Milano, a chance one old acquaintance of mine had, but I think it's at least on the level of discussing the flaws of the Bruce Willis/Jane March erotic thriller "Color of Night" with its director, as another friend of mine did.

All in all, it was a good day.