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The
South Korean filmmakers set out to make a statement, an
allegorical poem on film to warn about destruction of the
environment -- but 825 nude actors have stolen the show.
The producers of the art film "Mago", which will debut across
South Korea this month, are both cringing at and revelling in
the publicity their film has received because of its depiction
of frolicking nude bodies that get covered with mud and
pollution.
The film, with a sombre and
strident soundtrack, is anything but erotic as it draws on a
Korean creation myth to depict man's fall from paradise to
corrupted modern life. |
Nude actors appear in an undated
promotional picture from the South Korean film 'Mago'. Eight
hundred and twenty-five nude amateur actors performed in this
movie. |
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But the use of 825 nude amateur actors -- including 100 young
women recruited from Seoul college campuses -- has drawn all the
headlines in the run-up to the low-budget movie's May 24 debut
in a country where film nudity is relatively rare.
"825 college co-eds and others all nude: shocking ... shocking",
screamed a giant headline in yellow type in the tabloid-style
Sport Chosun daily.
The bodies do most of the talking in an 80-minute film with only
several lines of dialogue amid its poetic monologues, but the
makers say the media have missed the point.
"This story compares life in the paradise in Korea's mythical
version of Genesis with the destruction-orientated modern life,"
said Mago's scriptwriter, 41-year-old poet Jang Kyung-ki.
"The goal was to describe the pure life in paradise in the
beginning of the world with pure bodies," he said in a recent
interview.
TOUGH SELL TO CENSORS, PARENTS
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Producer Kang Byung-soo says
the publicity may help promote his obscure art film, but
it disappoints him.
"I am not happy with domestic media talking about nude
this and nude that," said Kang, 53, president of the
Seoul-based RMJC production company.
"To show life in the beginning
of the world, they acted in the nude, not with any commercial
purpose. I would not have produced this movie just to capitalise
on the nudity," he said. |
It took a lot of persuasion before the 2.7 billion won movie won
censorship approval, he said.
"The authorities normally ban a movie with lots of nude scenes,
but they allowed us to run our movie, with the rating of 'over
18', after many meetings and previews," Kang said.
Actress Choi Young-hee, a college student, said it took similar
efforts at persuasion to win over her parents and friends on the
idea of appearing nude on screen.
"My parents and friends were surprised and did not like it,"
said the 22-year-old Choi. "After learning the theme of the
movie they came to understand the situation," she said.
Director Kang Hyun-il, 46, said the complex multimedia project
used six cameras: a 35mm film camera, three digital cameras to
make a DVD, a three-dimensional camera, and a still camera.
"Actors had to perform the same scene again and again to make
all cameramen happy," said Kang, who is not related to the
producer Kang Byung-soo.
"Is the movie obscenity or art? It depends on the artist's
conscience," the director said of the notoriety.
"I am not worried. Movie-goers will be drawn to the movie out of
curiosity, but they will understand the movie is real art." |
