Monday, October 31, 2011

Bong Joon Ho's Influenza

At the San Diego Asian Film Festival there was back-to-back shorts showcase of Bong Joon Ho's Influenza and Park Chan Wook's Night Fishing.

Influenza opens the film by stating that only CCTV's (security cameras) were used to capture the downfall of Mr. Cho and the people around him. with this information in mind, it may convince the audience that every action and consequence was taken place in real life and that these people are actually real. As if the audience was one collective kidnapped victim of Bong Joon Ho, he ties us to our chairs and forces us to witness with our eyes forced wide open the horrific impending act that will unfold within minutes. through Bong's filmic technique and timing, the blurry lines of reality and fiction creates boiling fear within the viewer as they possess the knowledge of the events previously and speculate the reality of these events about to occur.

Without fancy equipment and butt-load of money, Bong was able to create a realistic and concise story of the troubled downfall of Mr. Cho. Switching mediums allowed him to become more creative and have more freedom with his story without jeopardizing his filmic trademarks. even with the differences in equipment the use of the CCTV's one shot told a fascinating story that continuously propelled the development of the character from a homeless bum to a ruthless killer. Bong Joon Ho's short film will leave you petrified, giggling, and paralyzed and with those key descriptions, it is something to definitely check out.