Address Unknown (2001 film)

Address Unknown is a 2001 South Korean film directed by Kim Ki-duk. It was the opening film of the 2001 Venice Film Festival. The film is based on real-life stories from the director's life, and those known to him.

Plot

The residents living in the South Korean countryside around a U.S. military base are affected by its presence. These include an unstable, near psychotic American soldier who survives on a diet of LSD and rage, Eun-ok, a girl with one defective eye, Jihum a lonesome boy and Chang-guk, who lives in an old abandoned U.S. Air Force bus with his mother. She has taught Chang-guk English in an attempt to prepare him for their new life in the United States, reunited with his father whom she mails regularly, although the letters are always returned "address unknown".

Cast

Dong-kun Yang - Chang-Guk
Young-min Kim - Ji-Hum
Ban Min-Jung - Eun-Ok
Jae Hyun Cho - Dog-Eye
Pang Eun-Jin - Chang-Guk's Mother
Myung Kye-Nam - Ji-Hum's Father
Jim Morse - Military Police
James Wade - Military Police

Reception

The film was generally well received. Kim Ki-duk's direction throughout is excellent. His visuals capture the unremitting empty desolation of the village's surroundings. With Seo Jeong-min's cinematography, the picture looks grimy and cold, like it's been dragged across the damp, dirty ground before being processed. There's very little in the way of the pretty or picturesque, the colour palette exuding a subdued and murky feel. Also, he maintains the heavy sense of metaphor within the piece. So often do scenes go on behind closed doors, or are obscured by plastic sheeting, branches or chain-link fences. Much of it also unfolds at a distance. These characters are trapped in this place, beyond the help of others, whether they know it or not.