Chil Su and Man Su

This dramatic, romantic, comical film, Chil Su and Man Su, was a very interesting film. The audience can easily see the modernized aspects of the film. Chil Su and Man Su are both artists, drawing on billboards for living. After Roh Tae Woo was elected president, Korea is slowly transitioning into a democratic society. The 1987 Constitution Act which included the protection for artists, engineers, scientists, etc. was passed when Roh Tae Woo became the president. By choosing the main characters of the film to be artists, this depicts the growing of artistic freedom in Korea. The ‘modern’ Korean society is displayed through several evidences. Chil Su and Ji Na constantly use few English words in between their sentences, the nightlife of the youth, and the industrialized, grown city full of apartment buildings, buses, cars, and people. Despite this stepping forward, Man Su still shows signs of hopelessness. When he is drinking at the street bar one night, he turns off the TV because it was talking about political issues and says, “What is the use of watching?”

The satirical way of portraying the society discontent at that time was funny yet bitter. Both Chil Su and Man Su finally speak up their complaints towards the society, however, they are mistaken for demonstrating for rights and attempt of suicide. How ridiculous is this? Man Su continues to say 'why can't you just leave us alone?'. When they stay silent carrying on their jobs, they are constantly pressured by their economic and society status. When they speak up (and it wasn’t even directly at the people with high status), the society still does not leave them alone. I personally thought that this over-dramatic scene of Chil Su and Man Su being on top of the billboard was rather too long. The film spent too much time on this particular scene and the situations were unrealistic. It was humorous but all the seriousness were gone. And through this long scene, I somewhat knew Man Su was going to jump in the end. However, it did succeed in making me feel exasperated too, as if I was sitting up with Chil Su and Man Su.

On a side thought, why did the director Park Kwang Su freeze the scene of Man Su jumping down? My conclusion is that perhaps the director thought society is optimistic enough to think he did not actually die. I mean, there was rescue team at the bottom waiting with a net. He could have lived with injuries. But who knows? It was interesting how director Park finished the film with an open ending of Man Su's death.