Aimee has trouble showing her true feelings in So Yong Kim drama IN BETWEEN DAYS
IN BETWEEN DAYS (So Yong Kim, 2006)
Wednesday, December 9, 6:50, 9:30
www.soandbrad.com/inbetweendays
THE EXPLODING GIRL (Bradley Rust Gray, 2009)
Thursday, December 10, 6:50, 9:30
www.soandbrad.com/theexplodinggirl
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
December 8-17
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
In 1985, the Cure released a song called “Inbetween Days” that included the line “And I know I was wrong / when I said it was true / that it couldn’t be me and be her / inbetween without you.” On the flip side of the single, “The Exploding Boy,” Robert Smith sang, “I knew if I turned / I’d turn away from you / and I couldn’t look back.” In 2006, South Korean native So Yong Kim made IN BETWEEN DAYS, the tender story of Aimee (Jiseon Kim), a young Korean immigrant on the cusp of her burgeoning sexuality who spends most of her time with her best friend, Tran (Taegu Andy Kang), who is ready for more as well. But as Tran starts hanging out with more Americanized Korean girls, Aimee seems unwilling and unready to share her true feelings, complicating their relationship. IN BETWEEN DAYS is a gentle, touching coming-of-age film that So Yong Kim made with her husband, Bradley Rust Gray, who served as producer, cowriter, 16mm cinematographer, camera assistant, and editing supervisor. Three years later, Gray made what he calls the flip side to IN BETWEEN DAYS, the gentle, touching coming-of-age drama THE EXPLODING GIRL, with Kim serving as one of the film’s producers and editing it with her husband. In THE EXPLODING GIRL, Zoe Kazan stars as Ivy, a young woman who comes home from college break ready to spend time with her best friend, Al (Mark Rendall). While Ivy attempts to see her new boyfriend, Greg, her relationship with Al threatens to unravel as she is unwilling to face her real feelings. Both films are beautifully paced slices of life shot in a cinema verité style that adds to their believability and charm.
Ivy has trouble showing her true feelings in Bradley Rust Gray drama THE EXPLODING GIRL
True companion pieces, IN BETWEEN DAYS and THE EXPLODING GIRL were made by married collaborators Bradley Rust Gray and So Yong Kim, who live in Prospect Heights with their young daughter. The couple’s work is being celebrated by Brooklyn’s BAMcinématek in a mini-festival that includes two films each by Gray (2003’s SALT and 2009’s THE EXPLODING GIRL) and Kim (2006’s IN BETWEEN DAYS and 2008’s TREELESS MOUNTAIN), along with three very cool films they cite as major influences: ROSETTA (Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne, 1999), REBELS OF THE NEON GOD (Tsai Ming-liang, 1992), and HAPPY TOGETHER (Wong Kar-wai, 1997). Gray will participate in Q&As following the 6:50 screenings of SALT on December 8 and THE EXPLODING GIRL on December 10, while Kim will do the same after the 6:50 showings of IN BETWEEN DAYS on December 9 and TREELESS MOUNTAIN on December 11. Don’t miss this terrific opportunity to meet two of indie cinema’s – and Brooklyn’s – best.
So Yong Kim drama is part of Next Director festival at BAM
TREELESS MOUNTAIN (So Yong Kim, 2008)
Friday, December 11, 4:30, 6:50, 9:40
www.soandbrad.com/treelessmountain
When their mother (Soo Ah Lee) goes off to track down their father, who has appeared to abandon the family, six-year-old Jin (Hee Yeon Kim) and five-year-old Bin (Song Hee Kim) are sent to live with Big Aunt (Mi Hyang Kim), who likes to drink, sleep late, and not pay much attention to the two young girls. Jin and Bin are often forced to fend for themselves, wandering the streets in search of something to eat and something to do, since neither their mother nor Big Aunt has arranged for them to go to school. They become friends with the boy next door, whose mother is kind to them, but otherwise they are lost in this new environment. Their mother told them she would return when they fill a pink plastic piggybank, so they collect coins however they can, including selling barbecued grasshopper on a stick to local children. But the girls soon learn at far too young an age that they can’t always rely on grown-ups. Inspired by events in her own life, South Korean-born writer-director So Yong Kim follows up her critically acclaimed IN BETWEEN DAYS with the moving TREELESS MOUNTAIN, a beautifully rendered story of childhood and responsibility, starring two first-time actresses, Hee Yeon, who was discovered in her school cafeteria in Seoul City, and Song Hee, who was found at an orphanage on the outskirts of Seoul. Although the girls met only a week before shooting, they give marvelously bittersweet performances as very close sisters battling through a heartbreaking situation that is not necessarily their mother’s and aunt’s fault but more emblematic of changes in modern society. Reminiscent of Hirozu Kore-eda’s NOBODY KNOWS, which also deals with children struggling to survive without proper adult supervision, TREELESS MOUNTAIN, which was shot with a skeleton crew of just twelve people (including Kim’s husband, Bradley Rust Gray, who is one of the film’s producers and edited it with her) , is a small gem.