Hwa-Om-Kyung (1993)

Poor Jang Sun-woo. He was once considered Korean cinema's Bad Boy until Kim Ki-duk came along and sliced the title away from him. And with the box office failing of Resurrection of the Little Match Girl, Jang now needs to resurrect his own career in order to return to his previous influence and to be duly noted for his risk-tasking and creativity. But looking on the bright side -- an ironic phrase when used with Jang -- of financial disaster, Jang did his better work with lesser funds, and such a fiasco as Resurrection might just put Jang back on the level where he works best. No need to pity Jang really. His earlier catalog of films demonstrates a virtuosity that his laurels could rest on alone. And Passage To Buddha only supports past praise.

The Korean title, Hwa-Om-Kyung, is the name of the Buddhist sutra (the Avatamska Sutra) upon which the film is loosely based. Following credits sitting upon a raging fire, the film opens at a crematorium where a child believes he is witnessing the immolation of his father. This child is our main character, Son-je (Oh Tae-kyung -- Happy Ero Christmas, R-Point), who heads out into the world to locate his mother, which he attempts to do through the silent display in public areas of a blanket his mother gave him. Along the way he meets such characters as a local village girl named Iryon, a drunken, meat-eating monk named Boburoon (Lee Ho-jae -- Segimal, Libera Me) who prophesizes that Son-je will live and die on the road, a truck driver who wants to teach him how to meet girls, a blind homeless woman who still professes to love her abusive ex-lover, a prisoner who broke the law by asking for equality, and a doctor of the stars who sees the world's 'quarkiness' as further evidence for Buddhist truths. Many of these people will reemerge at different moments throughout Son-je's journey. This journey, however, takes less than direct directions, as is initiated by a scene of subtle humor where two men point Son-je in completely different directions, resulting in Son-je appearing to be headed astray from his path of prophecy. But just as a Buddhist koan intends to be without an immediate answer, Son-je eventually ends up where he is supposed to be because he eventually realizes he was there all along.

Although completed prior to the immaculate productions we would come to expect from South Korean cinema, Jang does a magnificent job creating a mythical world that still feels anchored to reality. Otherworldly mist fills many scenes, and there is a particularly lovely, yellowish dream sequence with Son-je overjoyed that he's stolen a cow, another example of Jang's humor that keeps me smiling, if not outright laughing. The stealing of this cow leads to Son-je's necessary imprisonment, where he meets one of the teachers along his path, as well as provides him an opportunity to learn the flute for later effect. Oh's portrayal of Son-je is much better than any of the kids in When I Turned Nine and equal to the children in My Teacher, Mr. Kim. Lee's performance as the prototypical un-monk-y monk had me wishing for greater screen time for his character, but we the viewer needed to move on from Baburoon just like Son-je.

Jang intends Son-je to be seen as a man-child, that is, Son-je's body does not grow along with his years, ala the German film The Tin Drum (Volker Schlondorf, 1979). Son-je still appears to be about 9 years old even as Iryon, the local village girl, grows into adulthood. This choice on Jang's part -- we can call Son-je Korean cinema's 'Original Old Boy' -- may result in slightly disturbing scenes for some viewers since women his theoretical age seduce him. (As evidence for how some Americans might react, consider that Oklahoma County Courts declared The Tin Drum child pornography in 1997 and the local district attorney in Oklahoma City sought to arrest anyone who had ever rented the film. Eventually, cooler, Bill-of-Rights-cognizant heads capable of holding ambiguity prevailed and The Tin Drum has been rent-able again in Oklahoma County since May 2001.) Ethically, I am concerned how such scenes are processed for the children performing in them, or ones even more harrowing such as Lee Jung-hyun's role in Jang's A Petal. But Jang appeared to address my concern in the cinema verite of Lies where Jang himself jumps into the frame to comfort one of his actresses who finds herself in an uncontrollable fit of tears. As for the scenes of adult seduction in Passage To Buddha, I am ashamed to admit America's Puritanical roots can even cause me to react disapprovingly initially, but upon further reflection, holding the scenes rather than reacting to them, I realized the scenes were harmless, nothing beyond brief, closed-mouth kissing and a single butt grope shot. The scenes are definitely not meant to titillate, but to present the Buddhist philosophy that the enlightened must retain childlike perceptions of the world.

A Passage To Buddha continues the exploration of men's relationships to their mothers explored in other Buddhist-themed films, all the way from the 1949 classic Hometown of the Heart to 2003's A Little Monk. A friend pointed out how often man/mother dynamics are explored in Korean Buddhist cinema while woman/mother dynamics are nearly absent. Sadly, such disproportionate topic exposition is the result of Korean male domination behind the camera. Still, Jang's presentation of Korean women's lives has always involved a critical view of their placement by the overarching patriarchy rather than a supportive view. Although both often display women suffering throughout their oeuvres, when comparing Im Kwon-taek's portrayals with Jang's, an interesting difference arises -- whereas Im's women stay and take the suffering, Jang's women most often leave. And Iryon's later response to a comment by Son-je is demonstrative of this when she replies "Oh, no, I don't like that." I don't like patriarchal impositions either, which is why Jang's Bad Boy has always served me better than Kim Ki-duk's. But to each his own. And let's hope for an eventual equally declarative 'to each her own.'


Hwa-Om-Kyung aka Passage to Buddha ("Hwaomkyung") Written and directed by Jang Sun-woo. Starring Oh Tae-kyung, Won Mi-kyung, Lee Ho-jae, Lee Hye-young, Kim Hye-seon, Lee Dae-ro, Dokko Young-jae, Shin Hyun-joon. Cinematography by Yoo Young-gil. Produced by Taehung Pictures. 126 min, 35mm, color. Rating received on May 18, 1993. Released on June 26, 1993. Total admissions (Seoul): 65,403. Winner of Alfred Bauer Award at 44th Berlin International Film Festival. Winner of Best Director, Special Jury Prize, Adapted Screenplay Award, and Music Award at 32nd Grand Bell Awards (Korea).