The inherent characteristic of East Asians of not being able to communicate their feelings and its presentation on cinema has always been a topic for discussion for Westerners, most of whom find it difficult to fathom this reluctance. Oh Jeong-seon directs a film that touches on the subject, but eventually takes a whole different direction by making it quite more complicated.
In-young's Camcorder is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
In-young and Jeong-eun are two best friends who are about to go camping for their last winter trip together just before their senior year in college. Just before the trip, In-young digs out her camcorder, which she proceeds on testing on herself and her mother, before she uses it to record her upcoming trip. The excursion of the two girls begins, and In-young shoots constantly, both the landscape and Jeong-eun, who seems somewhat annoyed. A bit later, it is In-young's time to feel annoyed, as her friend keeps texting a boy in her phone. As it is soon revealed that the texting had a completely different purpose, and after Jeong-eun throws an unexpected dance in their tent, their trip takes a sudden and rather unexpected term.
Oh Jeong-seon directs a short that implements a very “tame” but also quite realistic narrative, which allows her and essentially the viewer, though, to focus on the four central elements of the movie. The first one is the built-up towards the key moment, which Oh presents excellently, through a subtle approach that also functions as a comment on the reluctance I mentioned in the prologue, but also intensifies the actual moment, which is the second central element. The reluctance and the delay that dominate this scene are excellently portrayed, with the two actresses, Im Yeong-ju and Joo Ga-young finding the apogee of their performance here, while highlighting their excellent chemistry.
The third element comes a bit after the trip, when the interaction between In-young and her mother gives the former a chance to come clear, but she remains reluctant, as her mother exhibits a behaviour that implies that she will probably not understand. Lastly, the “aftermath” of the trip is the last key element, with a fateful meeting that actually emits a sense of agony about what is going to happen.
The cinematography of the film also follows the realistic path of the narrative, without any exaltation, while the editing allows the short to move relatively fast for its indie premises, a tactic that also adds to the entertainment it offers. In general, the production is on a very high level, as exhibited by the overall quality of the visuals.
“In-young's Camcorder” is a simple but beautiful film that communicates its comments about relationships in eloquent and entertaining fashion.
