A Tale.

Like I said before, Korean cinema is a huge influence on myself and this project I'm developing. One film that's inspiring above the rest is a horror film I watched a long time ago, Kim Ji-woon's 'Janghwa, Hongryeon' in english, 'A Tale of Two Sisters'. The film follows the story of a young girl returning to her family following institutionalization in a mental hospital, she returns to her loving younger sister and father, but also the domineering step-mother. It soon starts to appear that not all is what it seems in the idyllic lake-side home and what follows is a beautiful concoction of psychological horror and brutal twists
 The narrative is very loosely adapted from an old Korean fairy tale which tells the tale of a wicked stepmother who will stop at nothing to save her inheritance, even if it means humiliating and murdering her stepdaughters. Like I said, the film is extremely loosely based on this story and there are only a couple of similarities with different outcomes etc.

The fairy tale set up is an interesting thought to me, the wicked stepmother archetype may be a cliche but it is a classic setup, and maybe an opportunity to be a little subversive and turn the tables. In 'Tale', the protagonist Su-mi is at times a brutal match for her nasty stepmother, this is something I'd like to take further in my piece, maybe with the stepmother coming out as a potential victim. These are all things to consider if I'm going to come with a 'satisfying' conclusion to my story. I use the word satisfying lightly because as with most of the films I watched, they will often leave you wanting more, not offering the 100% vacuum-packed closure that we're used to in classic Hollywood.

So how does this relate back to dislocation? Well, returning to life after institutionalization can be considered a great dislocation in both ways (the institutionalization itself and coming home). The psychology of the characters is very dislocated, having distorted views on themselves, others and the events that are transpiring in front of them.