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 yung-soo
Lim's "Diary of June" enters a Korean
market already well treaded by films about
formerly docile women on the road to bloody, and
sometimes shocking vengeance. Counting among this
suddenly popular subgenre is Park Chan Wook's
much-hyped "Sympathy
for Lady Vengeance" and the not-so-hyped
"Princess
Aurora" with Jeong-hwa Eom. Sharing more
in common with "Aurora" (in fact, the
two films share a lot in common), Lim's "Diary of June" (which also goes by
the spoilerific title "Bystanders") is
about a vengeful mother (played by
"Lost's" Yoon-jin Kim) seeking to wreak
death upon the school bullies who made her son's
life a living hell, eventually leading to the
boy's suicide.
The film begins with young
Detective Dong-wook (Eric Moon) and his senior,
Tomboy partner Ja-young (Eun-Kyung) investigating
the suicide of a student. Ja-young isn't convinced
the boy's death is a suicide, and when a red
capsule shows up in the boy's stomach, with a torn
piece of someone's diary stuffed inside, her
suspicion is bear out. Linking this new victim to
an earlier murder victim that went to the same middle
school, the Detectives stumble across serial
killer Yun-hee (Yoon-jin Kim), although uncovering
her identity proves to be easier than locating
her, even though, as it turns out, the killer and
Ja-young were once best friends back in middle
school before a tragic incident separated them.
It bears repeating that
"Diary of June's" central serial killer
plot is almost identical to that of Eun-jin Bang's
"Princess Aurora", sharing not only a
grieving mother as serial killer gimmick, but also
giving the killer a past relationship with the
lead cop that makes the investigation emotionally
difficult for the cop. Of the two films, "Princess
Aurora" is easily the more violent and
visceral, not to mention being much more daring in
content. But whereas "Aurora" makes a couple of half-hearted stabs at
social commentary, "Diary of June" is
clearly a movie with something to say (or believe
it is), focusing much of its passion on the
terrifying subject of school bullying and the
adult indifference that permits it.
To this end, "Diary of
June" works as an indictment on society, as
well as a personal drama about a single cop
struggling to raise her sister's son. Star
Eun-Kyung Shin ("My
Wife is a Gangster") mugs perhaps just a
bit too much as a carefree cop who does what she
wants when she wants, which includes making fun of
her boss and dressing like a 25-year old hip-hop
chick. Her slacker partner is played by Eric Moon,
who I would say doesn't have the cop look down,
but then again, neither does anyone else in the
film. The film's most heartfelt moments all
involve Ja-young's ineffectual relationship with
her young nephew, who as coincidence would have it
also goes to the same school as Yun-hee's late
son.
Unfortunately, "Diary of
June" suffers from a script that takes great
liberties with logic and rational plotting when it
comes to its thriller elements. Most notably, the cops stumble
across major revelations by strokes of fabulous
luck rather than investigative skill; Yun-hee's string of
murders are more like the work of a seasoned
ninja, judging by her ability to appear, kill, and
disappear at will; and the film's major plot
points take place with such random abandon that
one has to wonder if writer/director Kyung-soo Lim
just made them up as he went, or if he simply
can't grasp that A leads to B which results in C.
There's also a lengthy epilogue that keeps going
for an additional 10 minutes, long after even the
dullest audience member will have guessed the big
"twist".
Fortunately "Diary of
June" does other things well to compensate
for its lack of sophistication with thriller
plotting. Ja-young's constantly clashing
relationship with her nephew is a strong aspect of
the film, as well as the topic of school bullying.
The film takes a hard look at the subject, showing
it in sometimes gruesome details. In order to
drive home the idea that Yun-hee's son could be
anyone's son, Lim hides the boy's face for almost
the entire length of the film, showing it only
once in a still shot at the very end. It works,
and parents everywhere should be running home from
"Diary of June" to grill their sons and
daughters about their school.
It's hard to put a finger on
what holds "Diary of June" back from
being a highly recommended film. The familiar
storyline may have something to do with it, as Korea
seems female serial killer crazy at the moment.
Perhaps it's the film's cop elements, which are
poorly put together, with a number of major plot
contrivances designed simply to draw out the film
to the conclusion Lim envisioned. (The inept car
chase and subsequent church confrontation between the
two female leads is the proverbial straw that
breaks the camel's back.) Fortunately I still have
a soft spot for Eun-Kyung Shin, and one can't
fault the film for actually saying something when
so many movies say nothing at all. It's just too
bad more care wasn't taken with the plotting of
the thriller element. |
