nathansnook

Rage

“𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦. 𝘐𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘷𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘯𝘨…𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘧𝘶𝘭? 𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦…𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘐 𝘢𝘮. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.” At what point does helplessness become rage? What is the tipping point? Is it the act of no act at all? Absence of action? Or do we really help one another by just our mere existences? How far does my presence move the motions of others? Brash and ambitious in its multi-narrative storytelling, it’s hard to balance such a story by making sure each character matters, and 이상일 does an impressive job within his time limit. Though I think it gets a bit messy in pointing fingers in the end, 상일 directs attention away from loose threads and plot structure to the intensity of emotions. Melodrama wins in the end here, and you’re left with something not close to catharsis, but something akin to empathy and sense of relief. But not catharsis. I think catharsis offers the sense of a clean slate, an opening for hope, but these characters still remain hopeless in the wake of their release of feelings. A release that leads into rage, the climax of it, and then to the very uptick sweep of feelings before everything comes down. And I think that’s the great magic of the film. That it stays a beat right after its climax, to settle, and linger as much as possible in emotions, as fleeting as they exist to us in reality. To get to the very effect of rage, and rage alone.