Korean film ‘Missing,’ is a dark film by women about women
SEOUL: Missing, which has just started screening across South Korea, is a dystopic movie about female kinship which blurs the line between protagonist and villain.
Directed by Lee Eon-hee and starring Gong Hyo-jin and Uhm Ji-won as leads, the film tells the story of a struggling divorcee who discovers her infant daughter and Chinese nanny have gone missing.
But it is not a traditional story about a mother who pines for her lost child, according to Uhm.
“It doesn’t follow a path to some kind of exciting maternal climax,” the actress told reporters on Thursday in a group interview. “It’s a film that starts with motherhood and ends with womanhood.”
Added Gong: “Most of the male staff felt the film was about motherhood. They had concluded that (the main character) was a mother before being a woman. But most of the female staff felt differently. We felt it was a film about women.”
Tension had brimmed on set, Gong described. “We had to fight, in a fun way, for (our convictions), to persuade others to see our viewpoint.”
The male domination of the film industry has “gone on for so long,” she added. “It’s not that there aren’t enough actresses, and it’s not that there aren’t enough (female- centric) scripts. The movies being made now are a direct response to what the audience wants. It’s a negative cycle.”
“There are so many ‘ bromance’ stories out there,” actress Uhm said in a separate interview, describing Missing as a “womance.”
“Why don’t people realise that chemistry can exist between women as well?”
Director Lee Eon-hee was interested in portraying the reality of Korean women, how circumstances change in different stages of their lives and “the inner conflict (women) undergo between each transitional period,” she told reporters after the film’s press screening last Friday.
In the film, Uhm plays divorcee single mother Ji- seon, who struggles to make a living while caring for her daughter Da- eun. One thing she is grateful for in her life is the Chinese nanny Han-mae, played by Gong, whom Ji- seon relies on to watch over her child when she is at work.
One day, Ji- seon returns home to discover that both the nanny and her 13-month- old girl have gone missing. After an investigation that involves questioning strange men in her neighbourhood and uncovering lie after lie, she comes face-toface with her kidnapper nanny. What unravels, however, is not the typical conclusion of revenge or tragedy.
“It’s about two women who are both going through life alone in a difficult world,” who share experiences through a common factor — the child — said Gong.