[Cinementary] Dad, I wanted to be a ballerina 'More'

I'm sorry if I misunderstood the title.

This is a man's story.

No, it's a woman's story.

not.

It's just someone's story.

His name is More.

MORE.

It's a hairy fish.

he is a drag artist

***

      "I'm not from that department..." or "I'm not directly related to the work..." and then I thought it was a bit rude to express my opinion.

It is because even if there is no such thing, if my opinion is established as a proposition, that is enough.

But this time, I'm going to try my best to risk my laziness.

I'm not on either side when it comes to transgender (to be precise, I'm not at the level to say either).

It's just 'I'm okay if there are other people in the world and the fact and existence doesn't cause any inconvenience or harm to me'.

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So I, we, might need this movie.

"More."

The main character, More, is a drag queen (a man who performs female gender characteristics. Hedwig, famous for movies and musicals, 'Gong-gil' played by Lee Joon-gi in the 10 million movie 'The King's Man', and Chun Kaiger's Palme d'Or at Cannes "Pawangbyeolhee" "You will understand it quickly if you think of the role of 'Doo-ji' played by Jang Gook-young in "), a ballerina, a musical actor, and an author who recently published a collection of essays.

Born as a male in Muan, Jeollanam-do in 1978, More (Mo Ji-min) has been a 'quiet-sooni' since childhood.

She did national gymnastics like ballet, so she heard from her middle school teacher, "Jimin, you should do ballet" (you were a waking teacher), then went through the Mokpo High School and majored in ballet at the Korean National University of Arts.

However, in a society that takes two gender divisions for granted, the bullying and violence suffered from childhood continued in the Han Ye-jong, a gathering of future artists.

(If you watch the movie, he's very fine) But More couldn't give up his 'skills' (which he used instead of the word identity).

More started a drag show at the Itaewon club 'Trans' in 2000, and has been performing creative and unique shows for over 20 years since then.

Although it is a drag show, his delicate yet strong muscles are dramatically beautiful at the border between male and female.

By his mid-40s, More worked in drag shows, musicals, commercials,

     But he must have been lonely and he will be lonely now.

His support for him was a family he met by blood and a husband he met through a relationship.

A lifelong farmer, the elderly More's father doesn't say a word throughout the film.

Even if I bring my western husband in the wall, there is nothing to say.

He honestly couldn't believe it.

When such a father said that his son wanted to become a ballerina, he found out that he was in debt and bought a ballet suit worth 1 million won.

However, just by seeing his now weakened father appearing on the screen without a word, the audience can read More's childhood, adolescence and even middle age through the air of silence between the father and son. 

"More" is an independent art film.

And it's a documentary film.

However, as shown in the previous work "Counters" (2017), which depicts a civic organization against anti-Korean protests in Japan, director Lee Il-ha's documentary films are just as fun to watch as a feature film.

  The strength of the original documentary comes from accumulated time.

That is why there are a lot of archive photos and videos in documentaries.

The time accumulated by past photos and videos is richly conceived of the possibility of truth.

For facts tend to be shriveled up with the weathering of time.

So documentary production takes a lot of time.

Conversely, this also acts as a constraint on documentary production.

Creative, i.e. based on fictional imagination, dramatic films end with dozens of shots from crank-in to crank-up, minus the pre-production period, but documentary films are usually not enough for that length and number of shots.

In particular, documentaries that deal with people are usually short-lived, with a production period of several years, sometimes even decades.

Poet Jeong Hyeon-jong sang in a poem called 'Visitor' early on.

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Although ' More' took several years to produce, there is no way that many of the past records of the minority will remain.

The director follows the normal human documentary production method as a skeleton, but uses More's skills to fill a large part of the sequence with symbolic scenes in the form of musicals and music videos.

Image cuts shot in mountains, fields, seas, cities and countryside across the country and the iconic scenes featuring mowers are quite cinematic.

Luck followed.

Legendary drag queen star, John Cameroon Mitchell, who wrote, directed, and starred in the movie "Hedwig" appeared in the film.

The director and More recklessly visited him, who had performed in Korea in 2018, saying, "Let's get even a scene with More caught in the frame." He allowed us to meet at his home, talk and shoot together, and I will never forget what John Cameroon Mitchell said to More at his New York home:

Humans die if they don't eat.

But how dare you compare creativity and imagination to food.

Creativity and imagination are not just good to have, they are like rice.

Mitchell's creativity and imagination aren't all they need to create business and entertainment products.

All humans have creativity and imagination.

But the world has only fed you, and it tends to take away your creativity and imagination.

Crying for creativity every day shows just how creative and lacking in imagination you are.

     The movie "More" is a creative film that can be enjoyed and enjoyed, breaking away from the rigid format that comes to mind when thinking of documentaries.

Also, the songs of Lee Rang, who won the Album of the Year and Best Folk Album at the Korean Popular Music Awards last year, are coming from the right place.

Songs like 'Your Rhythm' (2015), 'Good News Bad News (2016)', and 'Finding Family (2016)'.

I hope you enjoy the lyrics while watching the movie.

Famous songs of the 80s, such as Min Hae-kyung's 'A.D. 2000 (1982)', Han Young-ae's 'Tuning (1992)', and Lee Sang-eun's 'Damdadi (1988)', are also scattered throughout.

The way More dances and acts to these pieces of music goes so well together that it almost feels like the original score was written for the movie.

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     You don't need to see "More" as a 'queer movie'.

It is also necessary to attach a grand modifier of 'growth story'.

Just because it's a documentary doesn't mean it's all true.

I think it's just a matter of looking at what More said.

***

Yes.

It was just that.

Some moments were fun and some moments were sad.

And at some point I realized.

That my field of vision is at least as wide as my fingernails.

"More" will be released on the 23rd.