Green Fish

Lee Chang-Dong's movie have common themes I have noticed as I move backwards through his oeuvre. Male protagonists romance story tied up in a class system or one hierarchical social structure or another. Its about the indignation and class struggle, being mislead by the bright lights, whether it be women fame or fortune. The good are seldom rewarded and success is not won by having principles. Its more like a 'dogme 95' movie than a hollywood affair. Its not overly violent and the overall tone is kinda light considering the bleak outcome of the story, conveying the absurdity of life rather than looking at it in a nihilistic way. City scapes contrast with rural city outskirts as do the inhabitants; this again puts it in similar ground to his latest movie Burning, which has alot in common with this one in many thematic ways. I would say that his fim making skills have grown and Burning was better, the cinematography for one thing is superior in the latter.

If you're looking for a good story that'll leave you awe-stricken or at least satisfied, then you've chosen the wrong film. How a man in his mid twenties can be naive on the par with a 14 or 15 year old just isn't plausible in the real world, especially in the late 90s, unless he is retarded. And the lead character is not retarded. Another idiocy of the film is that the lead who is, and looks obviously to be, in his mid 30s is playing a naive, almost moronic 24 year old. The film is hogwash, and I was annoyed after wasting almost 2 hours watching it.

Lee Chang-dong's debut film reflects a changing Korea, one where apartment high rises have sprung up in the outskirts of Seoul while a young man has been away for his compulsory military service. He's as powerless to stop it as he is to stop the assault of woman on the train he comes in on, and that's one of the themes here, powerlessness coming along with the loss of innocence in a Korea that dehumanizes as it modernizes. He can't get a decent job and he can't stop his family from devolving into chaos, with one brother drinking too much. He's soon sucked in to a gang with a rigid power structure, more than once having to just stand there and take physical punishment, though we see that even "big brother" has a "big brother," making one wonder where the hierarchy ends. The film is well made and almost certainly more meaningful to Koreans in the late 90's, but to me it was dreary and uninspiring, with too much emphasis on the gangster element, even if it was nice to see Song Kang-ho in just his second film. I could have done without the chicken beheading though.

I purchased this movie after reading some of the very positive reviews found on this site but what a disappointment it was. It is not that the film is terribly bad, it's simply one of the many stories focused on innocent people entering the gangster world and their struggle to remain true to themselves and what they stand for in life.

GREEN FISH, just simply is not very unique or particularly moving. Yes, there are a few subplots and themes that make you want to follow the story and promise it to be an interesting one, but somehow, I feel the narrative does not gather the strength that it could have achieved to make it a remarkable story. At this stage and age it is very difficult to exploit the exploited, and a simple change of setting does not work miracles. If there is something that works well for the film, it must be the character insight, however, this does not make up for all of its weaknesses. In all, not a bad movie but I would not really recommend it as enthusiastically as others have done. Korean cinema has much higher quality representatives than this one.

For a debut movie, then Chang-Dong Lee really hit it right on the head with "Green Fish". This movie was really beautiful and captivating.

The story is interesting and picks you up right from the very beginning and takes you on a very emotional ride through hope, love, frustration, anger, remorse and pity. The story is about Mak Dong who has been released from the army, returning back to his home village, finding it a completely new place, no longer a village, but now a bustling town. Struggling to find his place in a different environment, Mak Dong happens to fall upon a chance to work for Bae Tse-Yong, who isn't particularly running business according to the law.

Chang-Dong Lee is really a great storyteller, and he is great at portraying people that aren't exactly "normal". His characters in his movies are very vibrant and full of personality and life, despite them having been dealt a bad hand from life. And if you enjoyed "Green Fish", then you definitely need to watch "Oasis" as well.

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of amazingly beautiful movies that come out of Asia. "Green Fish" will stay with you for a long time after you have seen it. And it had the most memorable death scene in a movie that I have seen since Willem Dafoe's death scene in "Platoon".

"Green Fish" is really a brutally honest movie that plays high on emotion and empathy. I enjoyed this movie quite a lot and highly recommend you to watch it if you like Asian cinema.