After the buzz over “House of Hummingbird” (Kim Bo-ra) in the 2019-20 festival run, live-action MFA selections within the Asian American diaspora have increasingly drawn my attention. Though this year's SXSW surprisingly programmed few productions filmed in Asia, Hannah Bang's own thesis film “Soak” answers the lack. The only live-action short filmed in S. Korea received a muted premiere this year; the 16-minute video is playable on-demand throughout the duration of the festival. However, its presence as one of three Asian entries (in addition to “Are You Still There?” and “The Criminals”) in the Narrative Short Competition is not unnoticed. It is only a shame, then, that “Soak” – which is so ambitious for its presence and weight – should falter to poor cinematography.
“Soak” revolves around sixteen-year old Tak Yeon-soo (Lee Do-eun), who clandestinely meets her runaway mother (Ki Chae-won) at a Chungnam bathhouse. Why her mother has run away, no one can say; however, she clearly has no intent of return. Though her mother works demeaning jobs, sleeps at a love motel, and can barely scrape together enough change to buy bread, she is also clearly beginning to build a life outside of her daughter and husband. After learning the truth about her mother, Yeon-soo must reckon with a frightening choice that may bring her back home.
The story is by no means innovative (though it is certainly scandalous), but the camerawork has its merits. The color tones for each scene are scrupulously selected. Much like the title, the film “soaks” the viewer in hazy ochres in one scene, only to cruelly cut the next in bone-chilling blues. Bang cleverly evokes the bitter bite of leaving a warm home, sending — even in sunny California! — the slightest sensation of a wintry breeze. This play between warm and cool tones comment upon Yeon-soo's own post-bath clarity, as she comes to her own realization of the cold, hard truth.
For all her refined photography, however, Bang is still clearly an amateur. Though she tries to dress the scenes in bokeh and fuzzy lights, her camera crew struggles with capturing the shallow depth of field. In fact, there are even moments when the camera lens itself seems to be clouded over from steam. This is most evident when Yeon-soo and her mother walk down towards the love motel, and when Yeon-soo later checks her phone outside. Bright lights stretch into thin waterlines, and the pull focus visibly struggles. There are even moments when some of her slow pans — which feel so artificially smooth — indicate a heavy hand correcting a shaky filmographer in post-production. While this may look like another deliberate maneuver, the inconsistency between her different cameras' establishing shots reveals that it is a clear technological fumble.
Bang's script also over-reaches in its sudden abruptness. While the narrative certainly gets told — and Lee Do-eun fantastically portrays the complexities of the teen mind — Bang starts and stops each scene with a sudden sonar abruptness. One could postulate that this is also part of her technique to “unsoak” the audience, but the lack of continuity between each shots' ambient sound and Yeon-soo's own change of mind leaves more gaps than it does story.
Nonetheless, “Soak” is still a wonderfully atmospheric short that successfully spins a moral crisis in only sixteen minutes. With a better camera crew and closer editing eye, perhaps Bang could achieve new heights in her next work.
“Soak” is produced by QK Pictures. PR is currently managed by London Flair PR. It is now available to view on-demand on the SXSW website until 21 March 2021.
