Chae Min-seo stars as a deeply troubled young woman in VEGETARIAN
THE HIDDEN GEMS OF INDIE CINEMA: VEGETARIAN (CHAESIKJUUIJA) (Lim Woo-seong, 2009)
Tribeca Cinemas
54 Varick St. at Laight St.
Tuesday, June 7, free, 6:30
Series runs every other Tuesday through June 21
212-759-9550
www.subwaycinema.com
www.tribecacinemas.com
Next up in Subway Cinema’s free “Hidden Gems of Indie Cinema” series at Tribeca Cinemas is Lim Woo-seong’s creepy debut, Vegetarian, which caused quite a stir at the Pusan and Sundance Film Festivals last year. Based on a short story by Han Gang, the psychological drama stars Chae Min-seo as Yeong-hye, a young woman whose dreams lead her to suddenly become a fierce vegetarian, alienating her from her husband, Gil Soo (Kim Young-jae), and her family; a scene in which her father, during his birthday party, tries to force meat into her mouth is particularly unnerving. As Yeong-hye teeters on the edge of sanity, she stirs something deep within her brother-in-law, Cho Min-ho (Kim Hyun-sung), an artist mired in a creative funk. The film slips a bit as it gets more luridly disturbing before returning to the more interesting relationship between Yeong-hye and her older sister, Ji-hye (Kim Yeo-jin), who is desperately trying to save her from permanently losing her mind. Evoking both Todd Haynes’s Safe (1995) and Peter Greenaway’s The Pillow Book (1996), writer-director Lim sustains a tense mood with the help of cinematographer Kang Chang-bae and composer Jeong Yong-jin, exploring just how far obsession can go. Vegetarian might not be a diatribe about vegetarianism, but it still is likely to put you off your lunch, so eat carefully either before or afterward. The series concludes June 21 with Jeong Seong-il’s awesome epic, Café Noir.