As we have mentioned in our Korean Weird Wave list, recently there has been a slight new trend in Korean cinema, with films that seem to be sci-fi in theory, but essentially function as art-house, social ones, particularly due to the almost complete lack of SFX. “Unidentified” moves in the same direction, through an even more quirky and overall “weird” approach.
Unidentified is screening at Singapore International Film Festival
The story begins briefly in 1993, as S. Korea is starting to democratize. At the same time, UFOs suddenly appear, huge round spaceships hovering over cities across the world. 29 years later, a filmmaker interviews people from all over who (re)connect with people from the past and future in their dreams, while UFO cults, mediums, and the aliens themselves also appear throughout the movie.
Implementing an absurd sense of humor, Jude Chun creates a series of vignettes that seem to be connected through the concept of the aliens, while at the same time highlighting the alienation many people feel and their constant search for a sense of belonging. Foreigners in Korea talk about their experiences in the country, occasionally mentioning the aliens, a young man with dreadlocks eventually joins a cult who worship the aliens through dancing, a young office worker breaks into a session of singing and dancing about his life, and a medium gives absurd advice to the people that come to meet her, including a waitress who was repeatedly slapped by a female customer.
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As such, the whole thing unfolds like a collection of ideas, with the interviews giving their stead to the many short arcs, while musical and music video parts intermingle, occasionally with messages about ecology or whatever other points one could imagine. Through a permeating surrealism and hilarity, the movie moves between a sci-fi mockumentary and an absurdist comedy/drama, with Jude Chun and editor Choi In-chul doing a great job in the succession of the different parts, with the editing actually being part of both the comedy and the whole narrative.
The comments about humanity and the existential problems many face in the “First World” countries, and of survival many face in the rest of the world, are pointedly presented here, through an approach that lingers between the comedy and the drama. At the same time though, the music-dancing segments do tend to last for too long, while the comments are too on-the-nose on occasion, with Chun somewhat losing his sense of measure after a point. The economic 80 minutes of the movie salvage the situation to a point, but definitely not fully. Furthermore, the plethora of characters makes it really hard to empathize with any one, since no one gets enough screen time, with the fact also harming the acting aspect of the movie.
Baek Bae-jin's cinematography on the other hand, is exceptional at points, with the framing in the red medium room and the overall presentation of the UFOs being top notch.
“Unidentified” has its faults, but in the end, the humor and the narrative approach end up in a film definitely worth watching for its originality, particularly if one disregards the “musical” sequences.
