Korea's first silent feature was produced in 1923, and over the next few years, seven Korean film companies would appear. The film, admired for its aesthetic qualities as well as for its hidden political messages, became an inspiration for a wave of young filmmakers who hoped to make films based on principles of realism and resistance to Japanese power. Although a few works extolling Korean nationalism reached audiences in the late 1920s, from 1930 censorship became much more strict, such that melodramas, costume dramas, and pro-Japanese films became more prominent
Film
By 1935 the first sound feature Chunhyang-jeon (based on Korea's most famous folk tale, which has been filmed over a dozen times) was directed by Lee Myung-woo, with the assistance of pioneering sound technician Lee Pil-woo. Nonetheless, local filmmakers found it difficult to raise enough money to produce sound features, and Korean talkies faced much harsher criticism than the silent films which preceded them. It was only two years later, with the runaway commercial success of Lee Gyu-hwan's Drifter (1937) that sound films were established as the norm. In the same year, however, Japan invaded China, and the Korean film industry would come under increasing pressure to shoot films that supported the Japanese military and the war effort. By 1942, Korean-language films were banned outright by the government. An ode to patriotism with strong anti-Japanese sentiments, the film proved to be a hit with audiences. During the Korean War, much of the country's film equipment was destroyed. Foreign aid programs provided South Korea with film technology and equipment, setting the stage for the rebirth of Korean cinema in the late-fifties and sixties. These filmmakers worked during a time when the domestic film industry enjoyed an unprecedented surge in box office receipts. However in 1962, military dictator Park Chung Hee instituted a highly constrictive Motion Picture Law which caused a severe consolidation in the number of film companies, and which strengthened government control over all aspects of the industry. Although accomplished films continued to be made up until the end of the decade, such restrictive policies would ultimately have a severe effect on the industry's creativity.
This film -- the tale of a manipulative housemaid who seduces her master -- transgresses the laws of contemporary cinema to the same extent that its heroine tears apart the Confucian order of her household. As in many of Kim's features, the women in this film possess a great deal of power and become a direct, menacing threat to their male counterparts. Although Kim's work remained largely forgotten for many years, he was "re-discovered" in the 1990s and afforded his rightful place in Korean film history. This film, which combines the social concerns and themes of Italian Neorealism with more expressionist sound design and visuals, expresses the pain and despair brought on by the destruction of the war and Korea's industrial development. Lastly, Shin Sang-ok established himself as a major figure with early works such as A Flower in Hell (1958) and his best-known film The Houseguest and My Mother (1961).
