Sex in Shorts at the VC FilmFest 2000

05.20 - Posted by Editor

Sex in Shorts at the VC FilmFest 2000

By Stephen Bai   5.20.00 -- Two shorts at the VC FilmFest 2000 took on the subject of sexual attraction in very different but stylistically imaginative ways. Links VC FilmFest   Post your comments on the Message Boards!     "A Nursery Tale" details a couple days in the life of Jinho, a shy, sexually repressed young Seoul man who leads an unimaginary life but has an overactive inner one, with a libido to match.     We're introduced to the anti-hero in his bedroom, which is decorated to the hilt with images of his obsession. Through the use of sound and offscreen space, we're reminded of a certain shower scene from "American Beauty." During the course of the day, Jieho (played with ebullient nervousness by director Jieho Lee, sporting an Ed Grimsley haircut) has a chance encounter with the Devil, who comes in the form of a Seoul sophisticate femme fatale (Korean star Haejoon Lee) and who offers him a hotel love fest with a harem of his choosing the following midnight. As we follow Jinho over the course of the next day on his spree, the audience is teased and titillated to the point of climax only to be left with thwarted sexual gratification and much to think about.     The film was adapted from a Vladimir Nabokov short story of the same title and it's an extremely taut and entertaining half hour, capturing the spirit and recurrent themes of Nabokov and not losing anything in the translation, either to film or by resetting the tale in modern day Seoul. You'd be hard pressed, in fact, to find a more testosterone producing environment than Hannam Dong on a saturday night.     Though originally adapted by Lee to take place in New York, the choice to set it in Korea came at the suggestion of none other than Martin Scorsese.   "The Queen's Cantonese," shot on video and set in Vancouver, Canada, is a three part mock instructional video on how to speak Cantonese. The female host of the program, straight-faced and irrepressibly perky, leads us through several segments which teach one "easy to use" phrases, which humorously, are all handy only for navigating the single gay asian scene in Vancouver. examples include: "I like white men because they're well hung" and "I prefer Asian men, they're not as dirty."     The "language program" also uses dramatizations which feature a few recurrent characters in everyday situations: meeting at bars, in the streets and inviting one another to bath houses and each others homes for the evening. What sets the series apart from being a one-note gag is the quality of the writing in these dramatizations which illuminate Asian/white dynamics in the gay community and which actually engagingly tell the story of a budding love between two young Asian men. shot in interior locations. Immaculately production designed, the look reminded me of the clean visuals and controlled pacing of the minimalist 80's film "Mishima."     Writer/director Wayne Yung also makes good use of overhead shots, graphics and music in the end credits, leaving one pondering what he'd do with the satirical possibilities of Tony Robbins and Juicers.   Back to top