Boy Director (2007) Movie Review

The Korean independent cinema scene continues to thrive with “Boy Director”, written and directed by documentary filmmaker Lee Woo Yeol. Here, he tries his hand at narrative form, whilst still keeping to his realist sensibilities, with a film about film making as seen through the eyes of a child. Originally released back in 2007, and having played the Puchon International Film Festival, it now arrives on DVD, though unfortunately with a box cover which misleadingly seems to suggest it to be a cutesy kids’ comedy.

The plot follows a young lad called Sang Gu (played by Kim Young Chan, who recently starred in “The 11th Mother”) who lives in a rural village in the Taebaek Mountains. One day he learns that a mural painted by his dead father onto a building in the village is to be torn down, and he decides to try and immortalise it on film using an old 8mm camera. Unfortunately, he has no idea how to use the camera, and so he heads off to Seoul to try and learn, leaving behind his friend Min Hee to protect the mural, and promising to try and find her long missing Russian mother in the big city. Of course, things don’t go quite to plan, and Sang Gu ends up meeting a variety of different characters on his travels, including a street smart kid, friendly old ladies and finally a film school run by a couple of down on their luck types who seem like they might need his help more than he needs theirs.

It is unfortunate that from its DVD box art, “Boy Director” looks like a kids’ film, something which does it a considerable disservice. Despite the fact that it does essentially revolve around the antics of a young child, director Lee Woo Yeol never allows any of the anticipated cuteness ever to enter into the proceedings, and he ensures that the film has a resolutely indie feel from start to finish. His background as a documentary film maker serves him very well here, taking a down to earth, low key approach that subtly shows a real passion for the medium. It is here that the conceit of having a child in the lead role works particularly well, allowing the viewer to see the world and film through the eyes of innocence, lending an air of wonder to certain scenes. Visually, the film is appealing, with Lee managing to find an effective middle ground between a documentary and more traditional cinematic style, making good use of the rural and urban scenery without detracting from the overall sense of realism.

Never work with children or animals is an oft quoted old saying, and it is certainly true that, whether aimed at kids or not, any film with a child protagonist invariably succeeds or fails on the strength of their performance. Thankfully, Kim Young Chan is very good in the lead role, being wholly believable and managing to carry the film on his young shoulders, aside from a couple of moments of rather forced seeming tears.

The film plays out almost like a road movie, cataloguing Sang Gu’s encounters with different characters, and although it does rely a little too much on coincidence during the latter stages in his dealings with the ragtag film school, Lee never takes too much of an easy route. Indeed, he stays pleasingly far away from delivering any life lessons, and the film is surprisingly harsh and practical in its own way, with an ending that eschews the kind of sentimental melodrama that might have been expected. As a result, most of its relationships and friendships are affecting and have an air of believability, benefitting from a gentle sense of humour that encourages the viewer to look on the bright side without having to fall back on overt gags.

“Boy Director” is not only one of the very few films to use a child protagonist and child’s point of view effectively, but is entertaining and engaging in its own right. A fine example of Korean independent cinema, although small scale and low budget, it has a big heart and big ideas, and certainly deserves to find a wider audience on DVD.

Lee Woo-yeol (director) / Lee Woo-yeol (screenplay)
CAST: Kim Young-chan, Rhonda Lee Zakutney, Yoon Je-moon, Choi Yeo-jin, Kim Kwan-woo, Kim Sang-ho