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The Weight (film)

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The Weight
Hangul
무게
Revised RomanizationMuge
McCune–ReischauerMuge
Directed byJeon Kyu-hwan
Written byJeon Kyu-hwan
Produced byKim Woo-taek
Choi Min-ae
StarringCho Jae-hyun
Park Ji-a
CinematographyKim Nam-gyun
Edited byKim Mi-yeong
Park Hae-oh
Music byJu Dae-gwan
Distributed byNext Entertainment World
Release dates
Running time
108 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean

The Weight (Korean: 무게; RR: Muge) is a 2012 South Korean film about a hunchback mortician and his transgender stepsister.

It made its world premiere in the Venice Days sidebar of the 69th Venice International Film Festival,[1][2][3] where it won the 2012 Queer Lion, an award for the "best film with a homosexual and queer culture theme."[4] It is the first Korean film to have won the prize.[5][6] It also won a Special Award at the 2013 Fantasporto Orient Express Awards.[7] Jeon Kyu-hwan was awarded Best Director at the 16th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival,[8][9][10] and the Silver Peacock award for best director at the International Film Festival of India.[11] Cho Jae-hyun won Best Actor at the 2013 Fantasia Festival.[12][13][14]

Most of director Jeon Kyu-hwan's previous films, including Berlinale-featured Varanasi and Dance Town, have dealt with the underbelly of society. The Weight is his fifth feature-length film.[15]

Plot

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Jung is the mortician at the morgue who has to heavily rely on medicine for his severe tuberculosis and arthritis. Despite his illness, cleansing and dressing the dead is a noble and even beautiful work to him. Jung is the last living person who silently takes care of the dead. So for him, his life at the morgue is both a reality and a fantasy while the corpses are his models and friends for his paintings, his sole living pleasure.

Born with a hunchback and left at an orphanage, Jung was adopted by a woman who hid him away in the attic only to use him as a child slave for her dress shop. The woman's own child Dong-bae is younger than Jung; she has always wanted to become a woman, loathing her own male body. While Jung feels affection and sympathy for his younger stepsister, he feels burdened by Dong-bae's struggles. Under the weight of life and death carried by the dead bodies that he faces each day coupled with his love-hate relationship with Dong-bae, Jung endures the pain and thirst that he feels like a camel crossing a desolate desert in silence. Then he quietly prepares his biggest, his last gift for his sister.

Cast

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References

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  1. ^ Lee, Claire (25 July 2012). "Korean film invited to Venice's independent section". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  2. ^ Lee, Tae-ho (25 July 2012). ""The Weight" 1st Korean film invited to Venice Days at Venice int'l film fest". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  3. ^ Sunwoo, Carla (26 July 2012). "Venice film fest to screen 'The Weight'". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved 2012-11-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ "Queer Lion 2012 goes to the extreme film The Weight". Venice Days. 7 September 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  5. ^ Lyman, Eric J. (7 September 2012). "Venice 2012: Korean Film 'The Weight' Wins Queer Lion Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  6. ^ Suk, Monica (12 September 2012). "Award-winning Korean film The Weight goes to Busan Int'l Film Festival". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  7. ^ Conran, Pierce (12 March 2013). "Multiple Awards for Korean Films at Fantasporto". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  8. ^ "The awards of the 16th Black Nights Film Festival were announced". 16th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival - News. Archived from the original on 2013-03-14. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  9. ^ Frater, Patrick (28 November 2012). "Jeon wins with Weight". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  10. ^ Conran, Pierce (28 November 2012). "THE WEIGHT Picks Up Best Director at Black Nights Film Festival". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  11. ^ Conran, Pierce (4 December 2012). "JEON Kyu-hwan Triumphs Again". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  12. ^ Conran, Pierce (12 August 2013). "Trio of Awards for Korean Films at Fantasia". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-08-14.
  13. ^ "Cho Jae-hyun Collects Gong at Montreal Film Fest". The Chosun Ilbo. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-13.
  14. ^ Lee, Claire (12 August 2013). "Cho Jae-hyun wins acting prize at Montreal Film Festival". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
  15. ^ Lee, Claire (28 September 2012). "BIFF to heat up Busan". The Korea Herald. Archived from the original on 2012-11-18. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
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