Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet (2016) User Reviews

Biography of Korean poet

[mrrcott · 6/10 · 13 November 2016]

Film-makers can have a difficult time recreating the past. Although it is possible create historical periods through locations and costume, it is not possible to find actors who can easily recreate the mannerisms of another time. One look at the clothes in the film shows us how different Korea was only 80 years ago. Judging from the film, most people lived in small communities. Most people worked on farms and the careers most aspired to were in medicine and teaching. Korea has, throughout its history, always been a place where education has been given the utmost importance, and in the film much of the scenes take place within classrooms.

Yun Dong-yu was only able to publish one book of poetry during his lifetime; after being imprisoned and experimented on he died at the age of 27. Such a short life is easy to show in under 2-hours but the film doesn't quite manage to explain the inspiration for his poetry or why he was prepared to sacrifice himself for his cousin's political beliefs.

Poetry is not a natural subject for film, unlike a visual art form such as painting. Here, it's worth comparing the film with a truly great film about a Korean historical figure – Painted Fire (2002). The film's black and white, monochrome cinematography is a bold move, but it risks painting everything in a dull tone. We are also denied the chance to see the wonderful colours of the traditional hanbok worn by Yeo-jin; or the sakura of Kyoto.

The performances by handsome actors who are probably too good looking for the poets (have a look at the actual photos at the end) are simply not deep enough to convey the necessary emotion of the subject matter. Ka Neul-hang is especially badly cast as Dong-ju.

Away from the film's focus on the conflict between Japan and Korea, the other battle of the film is the clash between the political ideology of Mong-yoo and the romantic idealism of Dong-ju who believes in the power of poetry to convey ideas. The film emphasizes their relationship as the most important one in their lives and there is no sign that the poet had any romantic life to speak of. He seems to have lived a chaste life based on what we see here. Student life must have been very serious in those days but why the lack of interest in women? The film shies away from female characters, with Kumi (Choi Hui-seo) and Yeo-jin (Sin Yun-ju) being given very limited screen time. This film is very pretty to look at but not much to get excited about. We have watched many films about the Japanese occupation of Korea but unfortunately this was one of the less exciting examples.

Not kind for non-Koreans, but beautifully done for Koreans.

[jj-58141-54161 · 10/10 · 4 August 2019]

I felt sorry for non-Koreans because this movie is not very kind to them. I was born and raised in Korea so I could see a lot of subtle things that director or actors intended, but I can see why that could be so much harder for non-Koreans.

I think most Koreans know Yun's poems, because we learn so many of them in high school. I could recognize most of the poems in the movie as well, so I appreciate the director's effort to give some contexts to those poems. Also I think the actors illustrated emotions in a very sophisticated and restrained way, which is historically rather correct. (Even today, many Koreans cover their face with their hands when they laugh, mostly because it's habit, but historically because it was a bad thing to expose emotions to other people) Most Korean viewers think the actors did amazing job, and many say this movie is the best of Kang Haneul.

Also, just to give some context to another reviewer on this website, women and men weren't even allowed to eat or sit together with men in that era in Korea. So I was actually surprised to see some women who are socially quite active and talented in the movie. I assume most Koreans don't know their existence in Yun's life, so I appreciate that as well. Also in most cases, arrange marriage was the norm in that era so it makes sense that Yun never had a 'girlfriend' of sort. That would've been very weird at that time, and could be dangerous for women's reputation to be in a romantic relationship. Also Yun was pretty Christian as you can see in the film, which also explains why he wasn't in any romantic relationship.

And being a doctor wasn't a prestigious thing historically. Not sure how it was in the era of this movie. But you can see how Yun's father says Yun could save many lives if he became a doctor. So I suppose that was more of a Christian thing. However, teachers were historically very admired.

I usually like action or horror movies so I watched this movie only because my friend told me to. I was pleasantly surprised to see how this movie serves as a good biography of Yun and Song in general. Because I already knew Yun's life and poems vaguely, I could feel and empathize with his life and poems so much more through this movie. This movie resonates with Koreans because of the history, so I don't expect non-Koreans to feel the same. It's definitely so much more emotional for Koreans. In addition, I liked how Song and the actor looked so much alike loll Whoever casted him should be proud.

A movie like a poetry

[iulius-83719 · 10/10 · 4 November 2018]

A poetry doesn't say everything explicitly. If you want to fully feel what a poetry says, you must be ready to sympathize to the poetry. If you are not, just like a person who left his/her review here without any understanding, you would never got why the poetry has been written and what the poetry is saying.

YUN Dong-ju died at 27 and he had never published a collection of poem during his life. However, he is one of the most well-known poet in Korea and has been praised as one of the greatest poet who uses Korean in the most beautiful way. He was ashamed of himself because he lived in barbarous days for Korean and he did not easily accept how he could write a poetry in the dark ages. He regretted he hadn't done more active resistance against Japanese Imperialism as much as SONG Mong-gyu, his cousin. friend, and company, had done.

The movie follows their story. This movie might look like not so much kind as a poem is not. However, if you calm down and listen to the narratives of YUN's poem, you would be able to sympathize to the pain of YUN as an intelligent student of a colonized country, as a person who had competitive spirit against his best friend, and as a poet who was not allowed to write a poem in his mother language.