Beautifully contemplative Korean classic screens this weekend at IFC Center
WHY HAS BODHI-DHARMA LEFT FOR THE EAST? (DHARMAGA TONGJOGURO KAN KKADALGUN?) (Bae Yong-kyun, 1989)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
Sunday, March 20, 11:00 am
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
Up in the wilderness of Mount Chonan, far away from civilization, young orphan Haejin (Huang Hae-Jin) and Kibong (Won-Sop Sin), a refugee from “the world,” learn about the self and the other from aging master Hyegok (Pan-Yong Yi) as they contemplate the Buddhist philosophy of life and death. First-time Korean filmmaker Bae Yong-kyun wrote, directed, photographed, and edited this meditative, moving story over several years during the turbulent mid-to-late 1980s, when student unrest and unhappy workers helped end the Chun Doo Hwan regime. Thus, the freedom the characters are striving for is not only the Zen freedom from attachment and earthly ties but the political freedom from an oppressive leadership. Bae, who is also a painter, imbues the film with beautiful photography and gorgeously framed shots. It might be slow-paced, but it’ll draw you in if you’re willing to free your mind of material concerns. The film won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival and gained international notoriety when Sight and Sound magazine named it in 1992 one of the ten best films ever made; it was also the first Korean film to be released theatrically in the United States.