A Korean TV Jewel - Dae Jang Geum

I've spent the better part of the past couple of months being entranced by this wildly popular television series from South Korea, which has led to not as many reviews as I normally do. But it has been a well worthwhile diversion; one of a handful of series that I am sorry to see end. Dae Jang Geum, the title character played by Lee Yeong-ae (seen in Lady Vengeance, a much different character), who we follow from birth to her 30's. A kitchen court lady, Lady Yun, of the Chosun king was sentenced to death by her peers, a victim of court politics as she was a witness to a doctoring of food served to the Queen Mother, who fell ill. Jang Geum is her daughter, who endures and survives incredible challenges to enter the palace as a young girl, work in the court kitchen, is exiled, returns as a physician lady, and becomes the highest ranking woman in Chosun history, being the king's physician, scandalous at that time. Running at 54 episodes, I would suffer hand cramps from detailing a full synopsis, but there is a decent one on Wikipedia, which is fairly detailed. This historical drama came out in 2002-2003, and commanded one of the largest viewing audiences of all time in several countries. Apparently the sets formed the basis for a Jang Geum theme park, which I find odd, as you see a lot of the palace and not too much else. What elevates this above the standard drama or soap opera is partly the movie serial qualities -- how Jang Geum gets in and out of trouble is almost laughable, like a political Perils of Pauline -- and the heroine being an idealized person infused with both traditional and modern ideas. She is the one person in the court who is devoted to family and work without using it for personal gain or power, and it is this naivety that gets her into trouble, especially from the evil Lady Choi, once her mother's friend and now a main threat to the harmony of the palace. Towards the end of the series, Jang Geum has accomplished so much, defeating the Lady Choi and other elements in the castle, that she ends up being the physician to the king -- the motivations for which are explained by several of her friends in oddly modern talk for women's rights. She eventually leaves the castle, forced out by the court officials who saw her as an affront to tradition and authority, and marries her sweetheart. At the show's worst it can get repetitive and weepy (gallons of fake tears must have been used), but it never steeps down to the level of tawdry soap opera gunk. Courtly politics has always been a good plot device, from shows as diverse as I Claudius, Dune, Shogun, to Upstairs Downstairs. The pacing is mostly well done, with lots of cliffhangers, but also smartly the resolutions and directional changes are made in the middle of the hour long episode, so things are given a chance to unfold. There are a huge world of characters, most of whom are well developed. High points are the kitchen court lady battles for Head Lady supremacy, with its Iron Chef camera angles and savory food shots; the death of Lady Han, Jang Geum's mentor and friend, the "revenge" on Lady Choi and her family, after which everything becomes an extended epilogue, as Lady Choi was an incredible foil to her. The music got to be annoying, even though they did try to change it several times during the series, and they only served as emotional or dramatic accents. Having done a little bit of research, it is clear that 99% of this historical fiction is just that, fiction, it nevertheless is very entertaining and worth the enormous viewing time. Highest recommendation!

Corporate warfare - Black Test Car

Fantoma continues to reissue the films of Yasuzo Masumura, this time with the splendid film Black Test Car, released in 1962. Hideo Takamatsu stars as Onoda, a corporate official who works for the Tiger automobile company. He is asked to create an espionage division, to find out what car the rival company Yamato is creating, as well as protecting Tiger's assets. Both companies are competing to develop a sports car, Tiger's the Pioneer, and Yamato's Mypet. The opening scene of the movie shows a car wrapped in black fabric performing a test drive, which ends badly with a crash on the test road. It is the Pioneer, and its development has been uneven, as there has been great pressure on every department to make this car work. Yamato has sent agents to find out about the rival car, bribing engineers and threatening contractors into revealing Tiger's secret information of the car. Onoda has two of his best men, Ashahina and Hiraki, set up a task force to find out about what car Yamato is making. They employ tactics that are no better than Yamato's -- kidnapping contractors and bribing company men involved with the car's production. Even worse, Ashahina coerces his girlfriend into being a bar hostess where Yamato's executives hang out, and date the head executive. She and Ashahina are engaged, but his obsessive drive to help out his company, and his increasing immoral acts begin to drive them apart, her being his moral conscience which drives doubt into his soul. The schemes and action on both companies escalate, rivaling yakuza tactics. Yamato's new car looks exactly like the Pioneer, to the Tiger company's dismay. Ashahima learns that the corporate executives on both sides -- including Onoda -- were soldiers in Tojo's army during the war, many of them committing many war crimes, which explains their callousness. Finally, the Pioneer is put into production, trying to come out before the Mypet, and there immediately ensues a price war. Tiger makes the mistake of settling on a price, which Yamato matches, minus an x amount to be determined on the day of its release. Ashahina, in a desperate final attempt to find out the price, bullies his girlfriend into sleeping with the executive to find out what the amount is. She does, at the cost of ending their relationship. The Pioneer sells well early on, but a rigged car crash of one model owned by a corrupt official causes controversy. Yamato conducts a secret campaign against the Pioneer, only to have it backfire as their attempts are exposed, and the company disgraced. Ashahina, finally seeing the amoral ways of his boss and coworkers, leaves the company, and in doing so regains his girlfriend.

This is an excellent film by Masamura, whose place in cinema has increased with each dvd reissue. Voicing the moral conscience against an increasingly corrupt world, Masamura's films explore the mindsets, strategies and relations of people in modern Japanese society. Directors like Juzo Itami must have been influenced by his work. It was filmed in black and white, which lends a kind of noir aspect, as a lot of action was done at night or in claustrophobic interiors. Cinematographers have to take a look at this film; every scene is composed masterfully. If you like films like Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, or Itami's Taxing Woman, this is a must see.