지옥만세 「Jiogmanse」
Release Date: 2023
Duration: 109 mins.
Director: Lim Oh-jeong
Writer: Lim Oh-jeong (Screenplay),
Starring: Oh Woo-ri (Na-mi), Bang Hyo-rin (Sun-woo), Jung Yi-ju (Chae-rin), Park Sung-hoon,
Writer/director Lim Oh-jeong announces herself as a talent to watch with her grim and blackly comic debut feature Hail to Hell. With broken teen protagonists on a quest for vengeance as guides, Lim’s film takes auds through a myriad of unexpected and morally disturbing situations that illustrate various levels of adolescent hell.
Our two protags are loudmouth long-haired Na-mi (Oh Woo-ri) and sullen and smart Sun-woo (Bang Hyo-rin), two high schoolers whose hopes of a happy future have been extinguished by their school’s former Queen Bee, Chae-rin (Jung Yi-ju), who left them behind with a swarm of bullies while she went on to a shiny new life in Seoul.
The two outcasts only have suicide ideation to distract themselves from their dismal days and their efforts are both alarming and grimly amusing as they speculate on methods, experiment with found objects, and goad each other into ending it all with a wry and detached sense of humour.
This alternately dark and light approach to death leads to an off-kilter atmosphere that feels like full-on teen rebellion and it hits its peak when our lead characters decide upon taking vengeance on Chae-rin. Thus, the two embark, box cutter in hand, on a road trip to Seoul where they hope to scar the girl for life and out her past as a bitch of a bully.
As alarming as this sounds, director Lim establishes a mood where there is something exhilarating in the insanity of their ramshackle plot and its haphazard execution, a sensation heighted as the atmosphere, soundscape, and camerawork becomes pop, airy, and energetic. Enjoyably upbeat music, fast editing, and jaunty camera angles announce their arrival in the capital but things come to a screeching halt when they meet their target. The tone changes and becomes increasingly serious when they discover that their old foe has found herself in a fix with a Christian cult and in a crazy competition with others in the congregation to earn redemption through seeking forgiveness from people they have wronged.
Lim’s screenplay strikes a more considered tone as audiences are delivered deliciously difficult moral dilemmas that emerge from the moral morass of the cult and they are centred on whether Chae-rin has changed. This leads to the film establishing a constant and gripping “will-they-won’t-they execute their revenge act” and tension between Na-mi and Sun-woo rises as each flips between pity and fury. Meanwhile audiences chew on revelations and confessions from cult members as the friendly façade is folded away and the ironic bully-like inner workings exposed. As in high school, it seems that survival is based on cunning and manipulation with exploitation from a bigger bully being the only reward.
Reflecting the growing gravity of the situation, Lim switches to using sombre colours and a camera that watches the characters like a hawk as they run through a gauntlet of shocks and betrayals conducted by both adults and kids.
There are some formulaic developments but the film becomes heavier as more social critique is added – parents push their kids to study hard to curry favour with the clergy who are obviously corrupt. Thus, this drama is further elevated with the introduction of characters being exploited, both by class and gender, and it places Na-mi and Sun-woo in pivotal positions as they are able to relate to different members of the congregation and see their own predicaments in a new light.
While the story is solid, the film benefits most from Oh Woo-ri and Bang Hyo-rin who hit their marks perfectly as polar-opposite pals of convenience who are pulled apart by the scenario. Their relationship is always complicated and that is made compelling viewing by the actors and their sparky dialogue which is full of gradations of cynicism, anger, and forgiveness. Oh Woo-ri nails being breathtakingly direct and cocky while Bang balances her out perfectly with the more erudite dialogue and laconic line delivery. When they need to dial it down to show vulnerability and fear, they do it with ease. and hold our empathy It is a pleasure watching both as they navigate the odd situation and by the end of their travails, it is believable that they have grown a little bit more stronger and able to climb out of their personal hells.
Hail to Hell plays on Saturday, July 29th, 21:30, at the Walter Reade Theater, Film at Lincoln Center.