Just before a performance by children is about to begin in a school, Ji-hee’s mother arrives and starts asking the homeroom teacher questions about her daughter. The responses are positive, but what stays with her is the fact that the teacher told her that she looks young. A friend of hers arrives soon, one of the few men in the audience, whose goal is to take a picture of the girl. However, he definitely does not want to be there and soon leaves, supposedly temporarily, but actually to call another woman on his phone. When Ji-hee stumbles upon him in the bathroom, her teacher thinks he is her father, and he plays the part to the t, encouraging the girl to perform well. After the performance, however, another man appears, whom the girl identifies as her father, with the initial couple getting paid by him.
“On the Backstage” is screening at Busan International Short Film Festival
Although it is not exactly clear from the beginning, what the movie is actually about is people who are hired to pretend they are the families of children, a concept we have actually seen a couple of times in Japanese cinema. The comment that derives from the whole concept is quite evident, with Lee Yong-chool criticizing parents’ tendencies, and the way they neglect their children, occasionally even thinking, that, if they are quite young, they will not realize the difference. The finale, however, shows something completely different, in the high point of the 15-minute movie.
Despite the intriguing comment, the presentation here is quite faulty, to the point that understanding what the two initial grown-ups actually can elude even the most observing viewer. It is not exactly certain if the approach was done in a playful way, to make the audience think, or it was just a bad approach on the side of the director, but the result is definitely confusing, essentially dulling any kind of impact the movie could have.
On the other hand, technically the film is on a rather high level, with Lee Sol’s cinematography in particular capturing the proceedings artfully, with the framing on occasion being intriguing, especially when it mirrors what Ji-hee is watching
As such, “On the Backstage”, despite the quality of the production and the convincing acting, emerges as a lost chance to present a story that is intriguing and a comment that looks interesting.
