Black Republic

Colour, 35mm
Korea, 1990, 100 min
Section: New Korean Cinema

Synopsis

A young man with the assumed name of Kim Ki Young arrives in an old mining town covered in blackish-grey dust lying far from civilisation; he is being hounded for his part in the political unrest of the 1980s. He finds work at the local briquette factory and gradually gets to know the inhabitants of this godforsaken place. The town bully is the ill-tempered drunk Lee Sung Chol, son of the mine owner, who imagines he can run roughshod over all the employees. He also terrorises his attractive gal, Song Young Sook, who works as a waitress at a small tea room. Long ago she lost her illusions about the future, but when she meets the gentle and cultivated Kim, undiscovered emotions begin to surface within her. The lonely young man would also like to begin again in a new direction and it seems that their tender ties of love are a good starting point for both of them. But the insolent Lee Sung Chol has no intention of giving up the beautiful girl so easily and he harshly attacks her in Kim’s presence. Song Young Sook has made up her mind to leave with Kim, but shaking off the past is more difficult than either of them thinks.

About the director

Park Kwang Soo (b. 1955) studied sculpture at National University in Seoul and film at ESEC in Paris. Filmography: Chilsu and Mansu (1988), Black Republic (1990), Berlin Report (1991), To the Starry Island (1994), A Single Spark (1995).