A long coach journey is what Ga-yeong endures every day, commuting from distant Uiseong to Seoul where she diligently attends – and is about to complete – her writing classes at the Screenwriting Arts Institute of Seoul. The bus terminal is the opening set of this 50min featurette written and directed by Kim Hyun-jung.
“Beginners' Class” is screening in Hong Kong Arts Centre onon Friday 30/7 at 7:30 pm
as part of Women Direct. Korean Indies! – Korean Women Independent Film series, under the signature programme of the Hong Kong Arts Centre, Independently Yours
Ga-yeong (Han Hye-ji) is a timid and reserved young woman in her late twenties; far from teenager times, she retains a sort of social “teenagerness” as she struggles to overcome her shy armor and enjoy a bit of friendship and class camaraderie with a light heart. Surely it doesn't help the fact that her movements are limited by the bus timetable and often has to leave in the middle of those occasional moments of wine-down (or soju-down). When one of her classmates, the confident and bold Min-jeong (Kim Haena), asks her to join their study group, Ga-yeong, cannot hide a great emotion behind her blushing and pimply cheeks.
Things seem to get better after joining the group, as she is flattered by Min-jeong's attentions and their blossoming friendship. However, life is more complicated than Ga-yeong can hope; her path to social awakening is a faux -pas-landmine and situations can flip in a blink of an eye. In fact, a little trip to a film festival exacerbates her feelings of frustration and, on the other side, reinforces the bond between Min-jeong and Park Ji-min, the uninhibited and prettiest girl of the class. In full circle, the film ends where it starts, at the coach station, but a different, disenchanted Ga-yeong is looking for her bus home.
The delicate take on a lesbian romance is only one aspect of this slow-burning multifaceted tale of socially inept Ga-yeong, where the title “Beginners' Class” goes beyond the screenwriting course to perfectly describe the protagonist's position on the real-life curriculum. She is an absolute beginner and has lots to learn about friendship, romance and rivalry, and especially about losing gracefully.
The parts of the film set during the course and the stories the pupils are working on are punctuated with innuendos about the protagonists' real life and the film itself, in an amusing meta-loop. Ga-yeong indirectly describes her feelings towards Min-jeong when she reads aloud her script: “Hye-sun thinks that Hee-jung has something which Hye-sun considers missing in herself and desperately desires to have”. When the teacher remarks to Ga-yeong that: “Lesbian stories are a little too ordinary these days”, we can see that directress Kim Hyun-jung – who also wrote the script – has taken the advice seriously and has introduced only an intersectional lesbian theme, making it more interesting and richer without being overpowering.
Moreover, when the pretty and not-so-talented Park Ji-min is criticised for her mono-dimensional characters and told they are too simple and predictable and that she should create “the other side of the characters”, it all sounds like a memento the writer/directress kept well in mind developing Ga-yeong and Min-jeong. They are rich characters and too slippery to be trapped in a stereotype, Ga-yeong especially, whose sweet ineptness makes her a tragic hero, fluctuating between a mistake, an illusion and a crash-land. However, a very subtle sense of humour pervades the story and the characters, we smile and cringe while we reconnect with our own personal beginner class. A great performance, very physical at times, from Han Hye-ji whose petite body language and acne-laden face expresses all the nuances of her uncontrollable feelings.
Charming, intelligent and well written, “Beginners' Class” is undoubtedly influenced by a certain Korean independent cinema, based on good dialogues, sharp wit and soju's alchemy. However, Kim Hyun-jung seems to have a personal touch and a sophisticated understanding of delicate feminine emotions and the ability to smile about their downfalls.
