The Short Life (Jalbeun Insaeng) (2006)
Language: Chinese
Duration: 115 minutes

Kyung Lee’s ‘the short life’ is a regular idea shot with a lot of passion. Its a film where a pimp takes advantage of his call girl and even rapes her daughter Soonglee when she is physically ready for it even though she is dumb and half retorted. Other than the amazing performances, the film is good at how it shows that even though the South Korean government is busy in improving its economy to uplift the lives of its people, which is shown by regular radio broadcasts of speeches by its leader, some lives never change. The film is brutal in its writing in how the lives of the mother and daughter are controlled by their respective pimps. While the mother gives up, the daughter survives and manages to live with a hope and a dream of having a family for herself, a real husband and a child. Many times, having a family itself is a great thing. I loved the way Songlee hugs the poster of Robert Redford when she has no one else to share her angst and helplessness with, an extremely poetic moment. There are many symbolic shots in the film like when Soonglee is having sex with her client the director intercuts the shot with an earthworm dragging itself in filth. But I got tired of it and sick of it all by the end as it was too much to endure. The girl seemed to have picked herself up mentally as the film progressed, surprisingly, as the brutality inflicted on her kept increasing. It is a disturbing Film. Both the daughter and the mother beg their pimps not to leave them even though they themselves are at the receiving end. Many relationships in this world are like that too, we tend to hang on to them even though we know it is not good for us. The biggest crime in relationships is to not let go when you must. I remember watching Polanski's Film 'Bitter Moon' in which the lead says that you must let go of love when it is at its peak. If you are greedy and hang on to it, its gonna get worse and all that you are left would be a few memories. In this film, Soonglee finally lets go in a very fitting way and finds her direction, torn cheppals or not.

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