French filmmaker, festival programmer in Busan International Short Film Festival and guest professor of film editing at Dongseo University Sebastien Simon, shot a short film in Busan in 2016 with Forest Ian Etsler, implementing an experimental surrealistic approach that focuses much on music.
“The Troubled Troubadour” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
The film begins with an old Japanese man peeing at the sea, declaring that he has now peed in every ocean in the world, essentially highlighting that what will follow is an odyssey of sorts. The next scenes introduces the companion of the old man, a driver who pushes a canoe along the railways, moving his “boss” forward, while the old man plays his music. As they move through a mountainous forest, they are ambushed by a group of Korean kids in wooden masks (in a scene that is reminiscent of Star Wars in a way) who force them to go with them higher in the mountains to their queen, believing the old man is the Mountain God. The princess is living inside a hut the protagonist enters, before he starts playing music while the queen sings. In the meantime, the background of the hut changes to something beautifully surrealistic and a rapport is established between the two.
A bit later on, the two travelers reach a cave, where the old man enters alone. In there, he meets his daughter, foreign musicians and a Japanese company man who looks down on musicians. Eventually the trip leads to Busan, where another type of company man wearing a Joseon hat interacts with the protagonist.
Etsler and Simon direct a 20-minute movie that functions as a tour guide to the area surrounding Busan, with DP Choi Seong-ho presenting a series of rather appealing, mostly bucolic images of the sea and the forest. The playful, fairy-tale like surrealism, starting with the concept of the canoe rowing on railways and continuing the odyssey-like episodes also add to the entertainment the film offers, in a style that is quite amusing to watch, also due to the rather appealing, if somewhat outworld music. This amusement also derives from the acting, with Hachi Kasuga's absurd ways in the role of the Troubadour and Tetsu Kono's stoic reactions as his driver working excellently through their antithesis.
Regarding the context, the film seems to function as a metaphor for the lives of musicians, who live a life of constantly moving to the place of the next concert, meeting various people from all over the world, but frequently neglecting their family and still being looked down by corporate people who consider all artists lazy. The rower seems to mirror their producers and assistants (the crew if you prefer), who are always by their side helping, occasionally having to deal with their eccentricity but still remaining loyal. The last man seems to be a metaphor for the music labels people, although his purpose is not that clear.
“The Troubled Troubadour” is a very smartly shot film, particularly in the way it presents its comments, while not neglecting focusing on beauty, with the combination of images and music helping the most in that regard.
