Memento Mori (Yeogo goedam II, 1999)
Kim Tae-Yong and Min Kyu-Dong
Korea
97 mins, color, Korean (English subtitles)
Review © 2001 Branislav L. Slantchev
Remember when high school was fun? No? Me neither and I did not even go through a trauma
like the girls in MEMENTO MORI.
An exploration into the deep recesses of emerging sexuality, and a frank look at the cruelty sometimes manifested by confused teenagers, MEMENTO MORI masquerades as a horror film for the Korean censors and as a lewd lesbian love story for the American audiences. It is neither although it does feature the staple trappings of both. It is also not a ghost story despite the apparition floating beyond the sensory world of the living or appearing in physical form to startle the perceptive. From the metaphorical beginning, in which two girls sink in water with their legs tied together, to the stylized ending, in which the world seemingly continues unchanged for one of the two main characters, the film is a mosaic of impressions, incidents, and experiences, all depicted without the slightest melodrama or didacticism. The two directors have managed to take the conventional elements of a lesbian love story, fierce social competition of a closed all-girl school environment, and the forbidden liaison between teacher and student, and weave them together into a tapestry that is just as thought-provoking as it is heart-pounding. There are no masked cleaver-wielding psychopaths, or slick upper-class remorseless killers to terrorize the victims. The girls, torn between strange urges and the desire for peer acceptance, act out a confused tragedy, which is all the more plausible because it is so pedestrian.
When Min-ah (Kim Min-sun) finds the diary of the two upper-class girls, Hyo-shin (Park Yeh-jin)
and Shi-eun (Lee Young-jin), she is delighted to peer into the secret world of these two
unusually close friends. Soon, her exploration of the diary begins a series of hallucinogenic
experiences, through which Min-ah becomes gradually aware of the true nature of the bond.
Suddenly, and on her birthday, Hyo-shin kills herself by jumping from the rooftop of a school
building. As her ghost appears to alternatingly lead and thwart Min-ah's desire to uncover
the reason behind this act, the surviving Shi-eun seems oddly apathetic. Drawn closer to the
living through her supernatural remembrance of the dead, Min-ah realizes that she has the
ability to communicate with Shi-eun through telepathy. She finds herself irresistibly attracted
to Shi-eun, until in the very end it is as if Hyo-shin's spirit has possessed the girl in
order to reestablish the lost love relationship with Shi-eun.
I am somewhat shaky on that interpretation, but it seems to me that it makes much sense.
When Shi-eun discovers that Hyo-shin is pregnant with her teacher's child, she distances
herself from her lover. In desperation, Hyo-shin agrees to make the lesbian affair public
but on the day the couple does so in front of the class, Shi-eun deserts her, exposing the
hapless Hyo-shin to physical abuse and ridicule. The only way to restore the relationship
appears to require regaining Shi-eun's trust, which cannot be done until the memory of the
affair persists, which it will, especially with the pregnancy. Hyo-shin then commits suicide,
and her ghosts murders the teacher before entering Min-ah, thus erasing the obstacle and
setting the stage for the new affair.
Whatever the interpretation, one thing is certain. MEMENTO MORI is a memorable film due to the stylish execution by the two directors (their first feature!), the captivating story, and the excellent performances by the cast, all first-timers. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that Park Yeh-jin, who portrayed the aching Hyo-shin, carries much of the film by her superb acting in the relatively few scenes allotted to her. This film needs to be seen. I hope it gets a good DVD release too.
August 22, 2001.