Korean Reviews Reviews

Documentary Review: Areum Married (2019) by Areum Parkkang

Autobiographical documentary about an artist dealing with issues like family, career and home within the context of the complexities of modern life.

Making your present life the center of a piece of art you create is, while there may be a few hurdles to overcome, an interesting foundation if well-executed. Especially with regard to an ever-changing world, the private sphere along with your biography shows the individual as the center of certain developments whose source may be out of our reach, but whose repercussions affect us. More interesting may be the idea of emphasizing how the changes in our world influence concepts such as family, home and work, resulting in a variety of lifestyles, which, at this point, has risen to an unclear number. To come back to the premise, art can present these ways of life, these approaches to the complexities of modern life.

Areum Married” is screening at DOKLeipzig

These kinds of thoughts may have been at the center of projects such as “”, the new documentary by South Korean filmmaker and a sequel to “Areum” (2016). Whereas the first documentary dealt with issues like gender images as well as the judgment of others and how we are influenced by it, “Areum Married” finds the director in a very different situation, having married and starting a family along with a new life along with her husband Seongman in Europe. Nevertheless, her formal approach has stayed the same, offering, at times, quite intimate insights into her life, her relationship, as well as the ways to survive financially combined with the fears of finding a balance between fulfilling your dream and having a family.

Although, as mentioned before, the premise of documenting everything about your life may have its merits, a documentary like “Areum Married” also represents how this may be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there is certainly no denying how the dialogue with the camera, or the camera being a constant companion reveals facts of modern life which may be banal at first, but which shed some light to issues like family, home and dreams in life. When Seongman, due to the language barrier, is unable to find a job in France, starts a restaurant in their apartment, an enterprise strongly encouraged by Areum, the audience catches a glimpse of the role of creativity in today's world and the variety of choices one has (although the restaurant, as Areum admits, despite being popular never makes any money).

At its core, we find the relationship of Areum and Seongman, how they cope with the various challenges in their path and how they manage to stay positive through some rather rough times, to be the cornerstone of the whole documentary. However, the level of intimacy present throughout “Areum Married” also has its downsides, celebrating the mundane at some points, while being somewhat exhibitionist at others; for example, when Areum talks about her various complications during pregnancy. It is during these scenes and monologues (on-screen or through voice-over) the attempt to make art or be creative is rather a form of pretentious navel-gazing.

In the end, “Areum Married” is a documentary about the life of the filmmaker dealing with issues like family, relationships and home in the context of the complexities of modern life. While Areum Parkkang's feature certainly has some interesting aspects, many of its more intimate passages will also stretch its viewer's patience, bordering on being exhibitionist and pretentious.

About the author

Rouven Linnarz

Ever since I watched Takeshi Kitano's "Hana-Bi" for the first time (and many times after that) I have been a cinephile. While much can be said about the technical aspects of film, coming from a small town in Germany, I cherish the notion of art showing its audience something which one does normally avoid, neglect or is unable to see for many different reasons. Often the stories told in films have helped me understand, discover and connect to something new which is a concept I would like to convey in the way I talk and write about films. Thus, I try to include some info on the background of each film as well as a short analysis (without spoilers, of course), an approach which should reflect the context of a work of art no matter what genre, director or cast. In the end, I hope to pass on my joy of watching film and talking about it.

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