MIFF NOTES: A Girl at my Door (2013, Dir. July Jung)

Is it wrong of me to admit that I'm prone judging a country's respective homophobia by the treatment of sexuality in its cinematic narratives? It possibly is. But I do. I've got to say, on the back of July Jung's A Girl at my Door, South Korea doesn't stack up too well.

They appear to have reached the "issues" stage. That is to say, they're open to putting gay themes on screen, as long as there is a fair dollop of social chastisement thrown into the mix. In this case the sexuality of policewoman Lee Young-nam (Bae Doona) and her misconstrued relationship with Seon Do-hee (Kim Sae-ron), a young, physically abused girl in the town she's been reassigned to, supplies the sizeable target for confused moralising on both traditional gender roles and same sex attraction.

Though I'm sure there is nothing but good intentions driving the production, neither of these themes is treated with much narrative dignity. If you'll forgive a "spoilerish" comment, the big reveal of Young-nam's past is that she's a great big lesbian. From there, the shunning and cover-ups kick in. Even the fist-happy antagonist is allowed a little piece of moral high ground.

Jung (and I'd hazard South Korean society) is not yet ready to produce (or digest) a queer narrative without heavy handed judgment, narrative suspicion and tangled mixed-messaging. That's not to say that the production isn't a step forward in that country's social progression but, for me, I'd prefer to dodge cinema seeped in such pervading homophobia.

★★☆

Trailer:

Disclaimer: Due to excessive work and excessive film going, MIFF posts are going to be pretty sketchy this year. I'll come back to some of the better ones and write them up proper-like if the mood takes.