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 here's a great scene in "The Aggressives" when
Soyo (Jeong-myeong Cheon), a young teen whose parents have just
abandoned him to fend for himself with a handful of cash, asks Moggy
(Kang-woo Kim), an older fellow in-line skater if, when they're
older, they'll regret what they're doing now. To which Moggy,
without even having to think about it, replies, "Of course", then
shushes Soyo so they can continue to watch the drive-in movie
they've snuck into.
Such is life for the young skaters of Jae-eun
Jeong's "The Aggressives", about a group of youths who lives to
skate, and skate to live. For its first hour or so, "The
Aggressives" seems to be little more than a series of dreamy
vignettes, following Soyo as he becomes immerse in the outcast world
of in-line skating. (Their biggest hassle? Finding a place to bed
down for the night and getting chased by "The Man" away from their
favorite skating hangout.) Soyo's introduction to skating is Moggy
and his girlfriend Hanju (Yi-jin Jo), a filmmaker with dreams of
selling her extensive collection of boyfriend Moggy's skating
conquests. For Soyo, the life of a skater is more than a mild
diversion -- it is a complete diversion from his crumbling
world.
It is in the film's second half, when a stint
as a movie stuntman by Moggy gets the entire group into hot water,
that "The Aggressives", as well as the characters, are forced out of
their carefree existence. And in the case of the movie, return to a
more traditional narrative. Written and directed by Jae-eun Jeong
("Take Care of My Cat"), "The Aggressives" is a visually rich film
that is shot at times like a documentary. There are sequences where
Jeong dulls out the screen with drab, green colors that strikes the
perfect mood, and makes you wonder what she could do if she ever
wanted to tackle a thriller.
The script by Jeong takes some liberties (for
instance, we never learn how Soyo can afford to keep his parent's
apartment without a job, or how he stays in school), but it also
turns conventions on its head. Of note is the film's stab at a love
triangle, which seems to be built upon, and then headed toward, a
clichéd conclusion. Not so. Like much of the "The Aggressives", the
love triangle takes a most unexpected turn, helped in no small part
by the complex characters. There are no villains in the piece, and
all three members of the would-be love triangle are fleshed out
individuals, and one would be hardpressed to root for either Soyo or
Moggy to get the girl.
You can also easily understand why Hanju is in
love with Moggy (she says it's because of his complete lack of
ambition), and as well it's easy to see why the impressionable Soyo
would fall for Hanju at first sight (she's cute as a button, after
all). The fact that Jeong simply refuses to allow her characters to
do anything that could even be misconstrued as formulaic is a major
feather in the film's cap. After seeing so many predictable movie
romances (especially those in the teen genre), it's shocking to see
a teen film that bucks the trend so effortlessly, convincingly, and
so naturally.
Unfortunately, we don't know nearly enough
about all the characters to care about all of them. The most we ever
learn about the other members of the skating group is that one of
them tried, and humorously failed, to impress his father by showing
him a skating trick. When they're not skating, the gang bunks down
wherever they can, from Soyo's house to Gabpa's park to everywhere
in-between. The script also fails to fully integrate the Gabpa
character into its first half, and as a result, when the character
resurfaces to have a major impact on the rest of the film, the
audience is liable to wonder why such an important character had
stayed in the background for so long.
There's
little doubt that writer/director Jeong knows all about the
conventions of her film's genre, which serves to help her eschew all
expected narrative plotlines. Like the free-spirited skaters, "The
Aggressives" has an effortless trait about it -- its ability to go
with the flow, never allowing formula (or in the world of the
skaters, society) to dictate its (their) progression. The characters
are believable, and as a result, so are their actions. Not to put
too fine a point on it, but you'll be hardpressed to predict
anything about "The Aggressives", from how it starts, how it moves,
to how it ends.
As a purely skater movie, "The Aggressives"
should please real skaters looking for believable action. Mind you,
not that I know what "real skaters" want from their skater movies,
but the film does seem to have a good grasp of what being a societal
outcast is all about. In a trick taken from Jackie Chan, the film
has a 2-minute behind-the-scenes over the closing credits that shows
the actors actually learning skating for the movie. And although I'm
sure there were real skaters working as stuntman in some scenes (and
in fact the movie shoot sequence might just be Jeong's own inside
joke), for the most part you can clearly tell that the actors do
either all, or most of their own skating.
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