Errata is a web journal written by Robert Davis who has neither spent a night in a ghost town nor pulled a turnip from the earth. He doesn't even know if turnips grow in the ground. Perhaps on trees, like candy corn. Therefore, Errata is a non-commercial project.

Observation #1: It may be appropriate, when leaving a movie theater, to say "mysterious."

Observation #2: It may be appropriate, when leaving a movie theater, to say "mysterious" at the top of your lungs. Bring your eyebrows together before you say it. Effective!

Observation #3: Same for books. Even at libraries.

There is a prize for people who correctly guess the thing about Metropolis, Nevada.

Except where the text specifically states otherwise, Errata's vagaries are indicated vaguely and its authors are indistinct in the traditional way of the Internet, except where the authors lay claim to their work. In some cases Robert Davis lays claim to work that is not his own but has been abandoned like so many ghost towns. Except where held presently, fistfuls of dirt are suspended via dispersal, or dispersed via suspension (in the air), and thus their dissolution is their transcendence, or their transcendence is their dissolution. And yet our eyes tear, and our vision is impaired, demonstrating for the umpteenth time that one entity's gain is another's fit of sneezes. Except where indicated, storms shall outlive the clay upon which they rain, unless storms are improperly delimited by their clouds, which dissolve, rather than by their inevitable return. Thus the clay loses, unless the clay is said to own the storm, to use it to make itself heavy, to make itself cling to white garments, refuse dispersal, cake upon the facades of abandoned buildings, and sit like Man [sic] upon the earth where it is pelted by a storm that it owns. In which case the clay still loses, if you ask us.

Some of the above is legally binding and should be considered a mental contract between Errata and those upon whom it acts. The bit about the prize should be considered an overstatement insofar as prizes differ from dirt and prize dispersal differs from dirt dispersal. Please recall that ownership is a weight and, therefore, hope that you do not win the prize.

One day Errata or its representatives will call upon you for a favor. It is expected that you will hop-to without delay.

You may contact Robert Davis by email unless it's about the rock that was thrown in anger. The rock is more properly called a clod. Why do you continue to raise the topic?

1 May 2003

Oasis

2002, South Korea

director: Lee Chang-Dong

Throughout its 132 minutes, Oasis moves imperceptibly between lightly comic scenes and ugly, uncomfortable episodes, never for a moment betraying its characters. Gong-Ju has cerebral palsy, and Jong-Du (played perfectly by Sol Kyung-gu) can't hold down a job or stay out of jail. Both are reluctantly tolerated at best or despised at worst by the people around them who would be much happier if the two would simply disappear. But confounding their families, and perhaps many people in the audience, they find a bond with each other. Writer and director Lee Chang-Dong resists portraying them as precious and their family members as demons. He shows us with care and precision why Jong-Du and Gong-Ju are difficult to interact with, why they are a burden on society. Gong-Ju's brother and his wife want to protect her while going about their normal lives, but this desire to protect is one of the prime sources of tragedy; from the point of view of the marginalized people it's aimed at, it's indistinguishable from the desire to shun. Both approaches demonstrate a lack of understanding so profound that its existence never crosses the brow of Gong-Ju's brother.

Gong-Ju seems surrounded by a wall that blocks any meaningful communication, and Lee takes us within that wall with surprising bursts of visual poetry. A sequence involving a bird flying around an apartment might be the most beautiful use of special effects to convey a character's thoughts — or even one of the most effective character introductions — that I've ever seen. The motif is later repeated twice, the image fractured more each time, until in the movie's final shot the bird is no longer "clean", white, and elegant but reduced to dust particles in the air. The climax in the tree goes on a bit long, and I was initially unsure about the decision to include fantasies that involve Gong-Ju functioning as someone without a disability, since they draw attention to her physical condition and to the actress playing the role (Moon So-ri), but her fantasies are integrated so seamlessly with the realistic narrative and contribute so greatly to our understanding of her that I've started to come around. Oasis would make a great double feature with The Son, the recent movie by the Dardenne brothers. It might make for an intense afternoon, but the time would be well-spent. Oasis walks closer to sentimentality, but both movies seem psychically attuned to their characters and demonstrate the importance of communication and understanding in solving complex social issues.

Posted by davis | Link

Other Recent Posts

Other Recent Episodes

Favorite Films