Ha Myung-mi shot the short film “Pulley by Steven Kwang” (2016), which was invited to the 20th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, and became the first Korean film to be featured on the American horror channel ALTER. In 2019, she established a production company, Whenever Studio, and produced the movie “Everglow” (2021). “Her Hobby” is her first feature film and is based on the homonymous mystery novel by Seo Miae.
“Her Hobby” is screening at Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival
The movie begins as Jeong-in returns to her hometown, Pak-ha village, from the city, in the middle of the night, evidently carrying some sort of trauma. She does not find solace there either though, as the locals, headed by the Village Head and the Women's Group Chief never stop pinning her down, both for her mistakes in the fields and essentially for having left the village. When another woman from the city, Hye-jung moves to the same location, she experiences the same impolite, to the point of offensive, behavior, but she has none of it, even including the rather creepy attitude of the village's sole deliveryman. Her reaction attracts Jeong-in and the two soon become quite close friends, opening up about the past and the reasons that brought them to the village. When Jeong-in finds a large sum of money her grandmother left for her in her house, things change for the worse, with the reappearance of her husband, Kwang-jae bringing things to a boiling point. The two women decide to strike back.
Ha Myumg-mi directs a movie that is essentially split into two parts, with the appearance of Kwang-jae providing the dichotomy. Up to that point, the film moves in family/social drama path, focusing on the way the prejudice, exploitation and in general despicable behavior of the locals, also including a proper stalker in the face of the delivery man, bring Jeong-in and Hye-jung together. Reluctantly at first, particularly from the latter's viewpoint, but eventually in the most open fashion, as the two open up essentially for everything issue they had in their lives, which are what led them to Pak-ha. One could say that the way Ha presents their relationship she is building it up to be a Sapphic one, but that does never actually materialize, in an approach that, in the end, benefits the story.
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This part also highlights one of the main comments here, of how the institutionalization of the small, closed societies ends up making the people who inhabit them corrupt, hateful introverts, in a rather pragmatic approach that goes beyond the usual false romanticization of the bucolic setting frequently appearing in cinemas.
The appearance of the husband, however, his immediate realization of the despicable role of the Village Head and the Women's Group Chief and his even worse actions provide the final straw for both women and particularly Jeong-in, with the movie transforming into a thriller with moments of intense violence, although Ha keeps the particular aspect restrained and the movie never reaches the borders of a slasher for example. This last part is probably the most intriguing in the movie, both because it is surprising, but also because Ha has built all the protagonists in a different light up to that point, albeit the locals in a way that definitely justifies Jeong-in's actions.
Both the first part and the transition, are not exactly handled well, with the former becoming somewhat repetitious, without seemingly going somewhere in particular, although the discovery of the money does change the whole thing a bit, and the latter being too sudden in its presentation and essentially disconnected from the rest of the narrative. These issues can also be attributed to Lee Yeon-jung's editing, which, although retains a steady pace, does not work that well nor in the transitions neither on the first part, which could definitely have been trimmed a bit.
On the other hand, the last part is so intriguing and satisfying, even if the gun action in particular could have been handled a bit better, that it makes you forget all the other issues of the film. Both the editing and the cinematography find their apogee here, with the flashbacks and the peaking scenes being excellently portrayed. The same actually applies to Jung Yi-seo's transformation as Jeong-in and Kim Hye-na's as Hye-jung, whose acting in general is on a very high level. Lastly, Song Hye-ryeong's cinematography captures both the beauties of the idyllic setting during the days and the intense events that take place during the night with gusto.
“Her Hobby” has its issues particularly in the first part, but the second one definitely compensates, in an element that makes one wonder if Ha Myung-min should shoot a violent crime thriller next.
