Review of Searching for the Elephant

Although I have seen many famous (well-known in North America) Asian films, I was never a big fan of Korean cinema until I saw Searching for the Elephant. This amazing independent film simply shocked me, washing away all the wrong stereotypes I previously had about Korean movies. This is a very realistic story of three young men and the women surrounding them. (No, there is no melodramatic bullshit or hard core revenge stories like many popular Korean films.) This movie is about people like you and me. Yet this multi-layered hybrid-genre gem has much more to offer. Rich in ingenious photography and audacious (almost schizophrenic) cuts, this movie examines that inexplicable emptiness that we all have felt at one time or another in our lives. The sharp, witty dialogues are full of black humor and aphorism, while the pace of storytelling sometimes overwhelms with speed, with numerous sequences that are very clever in execution. (I had to rewind it several times to pick up on certain scenes). The outrageous climax is original and quite thought-provoking. This film reminded me of early Wang Kar-Wai films as well as Last Year at Marienbad by Alain Resnais. I am definitely going to watch this again.