Ppong

The movie begins with an almost comedic approach, which it maintains for quite a while, until it finally reveals the tragic side of the plot. It is the story of a young and attractive woman who is married but lives alone most of the year in a poor village during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The husband is a no good, a gambler and presumably also a womanizer who only comes home from time to time to get fresh clothes and money.

As the wife has hardly any money left to survive, she starts to get paid for sex with the villagers. The business flourishes, even though some of her customers are not only neighbors but also married. This inevitably leads to discord, because in such a small village her source of income is no secret. The wives of these men do not stand by and watch the goings-on for long and the situation escalates.

The first of these extramarital activities are still presented to us with a certain innocent charm and plenty of humour, but soon the young woman does not seem to recognize the dangers of her actions and thus also causes her future difficulties. Although we as viewers have of course long anticipated this and disapprove of her actions, the darker tone of this story and the tragedy of the main character become clear as the film progresses. A pushy, somewhat simple-minded farmhand, who constantly stalks her and is the only one to be rejected, is still a poor sap and funny supporting character at the beginning, but he too becomes increasingly unpleasant and at the same time pitiable, because from his point of view he is right.