This review may contain spoilers
This is a feminist movie. What kind of image does it conjure up for you?I can tell you that this isn't a story about a confident, "girl crush" woman. Rather, it follows the story of an ordinary woman and the gender based microaggressions she faces.
This movie isn't an easy watch precisely because it's so real (similar to Misaeng). You could only hope that all of those events don't happen to the same person in real life though.
I knew about the general plot before watching the movie but it still really hit me hard. At the start, I thought it was really fast-paced because it just threw you into the movie. But as the movie progressed, I got used to it and was able to connect with it more.
However, I think reading the book would help you understand the movie better. There was a few scenes that didn't feel resolved in the movie, but I think were explored in the book.
I was also confused if Kim Ji Young's behavior was supposed to be more metaphorical or literal. After reading some reviews of the book, I think I understand what it's trying to say. There was one review in particular that said she didn't have a voice in this society so she had to adopt other personas / mimic other people in her life to say something.
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Showing simple normalcy for generations of SK women being gagged&bound by society's endemic sexism
"Kim Ji-young: Born 1982" puts every die-hard Korea fan through their paces: how far does the love for country and culture actually go? The KMovie also does away with any illusion surrounding romanticized and socially idealized yearnings that revolve around the concept of 'in love-engaged-married-happy family'."Kim Ji-young: Born 1982" broke the 2 million mark worldwide as a bestseller (by author Cho Nam-joo). It is also considered the most borrowed book in two consecutive years after publication. The KMovie was also extremely successful. In South Korea, between October 2019 and November 2020 around 3.6 million people went to the movies to watch. In addition, numerous prizes were awarded throughout Asia.
Calmly, unagitatedly and almost objectively distant, the camera focuses on the ordinary life of a typical South Korean woman, wife and mother in her 30s. Actually, she doing quite well. We accompany her in her everyday life between laundry and kindergarten, with her (actually quite attentive, loving) husband, with her in-laws, with her family of origin, with friends, with flashbacks of her childhood and at work, and finally with the therapist. This could all be any live of many a South Korean woman. That's not special at all. It's so cruelly normal that it even hurts. By showing simple normalcy, the story also becomes an outcry for several generations of women gagged and bound by society's endemic sexism.
Gagged and tied up by such a conservative, rigid, discriminatory socialization that is literally burned into flesh, so hardly anybody even considers alternative role models and self-images. There is a lack of role models that give women something like self-love and self-confidence that go beyond identifying with role expectations by family and society. Women somehow grow up as prisoners of those restrictive expectations - in a prison with doors, that technically are not closed, yet in practice barricaded by the mercilessly experienced sexism since early childhood. Accordingly, there is a lack of awareness of human dignity beyond gender roles. For women and men alike. And as we all know, such awareness would be the first path to any change...
In this respect, "Kim Ji-young: Born in 1982" holds up a merciless mirror in a calm, objective and non-judgmental manner, which focuses on the great evil that everyone simply takes for granted. Apparently, around 68 percent of cinemagoers were women. At least, the other 32 percent were men, supposedly.
In one of the last scenes, (which, like all the others in the film, gains its power from the simple, unquestioned und yet unbelievable normality) the underlying emotional muteness is finally allowed to speak up - not loudly and rudely though, but objectively subjectively and, despite all the justified anger, consistently in all modesty calmly, too.
In the face of the spilled coffee, instead of accepting the comments and accusations of her social environment with shame, concern and apologetic words, the FL has her outspoken objections. She eventually stands up for herself... actually, you should think, quite simply, as if it were a matter of course. And yet: downright unheard of. Because: Shameless in the best sense of the word... she no longer lets others shame her for what and who she is. She is slowly but surely developing a somewhat healthy approach to her own self-confidence as a person with self-worth and self-love beyond gender - a person who cannot be reduced by tradition to just a family concerned role concept within a hierarchical society. From this, the FL nurtures a new attitude towards those who traditionally believe they have more value in the social ranking.
Just a comparatively small, handy book; just a two hour movie. The story of Kim Ji-young, born in 1982, has sparked a lot of discussion throughout South Korea. The common, everyday (South Korean) madness shown knows how to touch and quietly infuriate. For me in faraway Germany, too, the KMovie wasn't boring for a minute.
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--- Outlook ---
'If everyone would act up like that... where would we end up?' - In this sense, the book and the film also led to a horrified outcry within conservative circles in the country. The main actors in the KMovie, for example, had to endure hateful comments for even taking part in it. Just this factual inventory of normal madness of just about every woman in the supposedly modern, innovative South Korea got conservative minds going...
...on the other hand, women affected finally received the balm of cross-class compassion, which for a moment opened up the space for solidary, cross-generational sisterhood. As insignificantly common and simple as Kim Ji-young, born in 1982, may be, the social impact was equally great - the consistently overlooked, completely disregarded reality that has been systematically carried out for countless generations out of principle and tradition, discrimination against (in this specific case) South Korean women.
South Korean society is already shrinking. Earlier than expected. And much faster than expected. No wonder.
Women born in the 1980s by now increasingly began to feel painful about their corsets. A milestone!
Those who were born in the 1990s and 2000s, some among them started to increasingly openly dare to actively shake up the social corset - simply by no longer accepting their 'certain' female role. Another milestone!
However, there is still a long way between shaking up and breaking out or even redefining. Eventually, women can only take this step together with men, who also urgently need to work on their role models, their attitude towards women and a new social self-image. Only then can the shrinking of South Korean society be stopped - a shrinking that, in my eyes, is an expression of a massive imbalance between innovative, turbo-capitalist high-speed in the global fast lane on the one hand, and an ignorant, sexist conservatism on the other, which acts like a lead foot screwed onto the brakes. Nevertheless, growing forces are apparently pushing for an urgently needed, integral, truly progressive transformation of existing values.
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''Kim Ji Young: Born 1982'' is truly an important and meaninful movie. The script is excellently written, the directing is absolutely brilliant. It's definitely a slow-paced movie which I don't mind since I never felt bored. However, I felt like this movie had no climax? There are a lot of emotional and depressing scenes in the movie, but I didn't really feel anything? I guess the problem is in me, maybe I wasn't in the right mood. But overall, the movie is very realistic.
The acting was amazing! Jung Yoo Mi is simply perfect as Kim Ji Young, her performance was mind-blowing! The same goes for Gong Yoo and Kim Mi Kyung. The rest of the cast did a brilliant job, too, such great actors in one movie!
I don't rewatch movies and I don't think this deserves a rewatch, it just won't be the same. I do recommend it though, especially if you're looking for psychological, realistic and slow-paced movie which mainly focuses on feminism. There should be more movies like this one, honestly.
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A feminist story that needs to be told
This is a feminist story, there's no doubt about that. Its starts off easy enough, a mum who had ambitions, settling down as a stay at home mum. We all that person. But that's not all a person is, and she struggles to come to terms with her simple life, we catch glimpses of the different parts of her identity, growing up from a young girl to a careerist, then to a wife, now a mum. We see glimpses of her steps to womanhood and the stifling restrictions set up for what society a woman can be, especially in a conversative Korean environment.This story is relatable for women, seeing the stuggle to juggle many identities at once, to be a good mum, to be respected in the working worlds, to be a loving wife, to be approved by the in laws, these crazy standards and tireless efforts to please everyone, takes a heavy toll. Kim Ji Young is a young mum of young kid who has to put aside her career aspirations aside to care for her child and home. To do that successfully is hard enough, but on top of that, she feels trapped, as that is all her efforts in life can amount to. Her loving husband isn't to blame, who seeks to share the burden after hours of work, or all to her own family who care about her wellbeing, but who have no idea what is wrong with her . It's the never ending cycle of her life as a just a mum that scares her. She becomes unfulfilled by the routine and seeks out freedom by trying to see if she could get a job, to almost taking on a full time role, flipping the gender roles, almost, but to no avail. There is too much to lose. (She can never earn as much as her husband, especially she is the breadwinner)
The people who can't see she is struggling, only her husband, who eventually asks her to get professional help, who is the one who finally tells her mother. This coincides with her really letting out her repressed frustrations at the unfairness of it all, her anger, and coming into terms with her mental health issues and finally being able to say, yes, she is hurt, and she wants help. The men in her life, her father, her brother uncover the ignorance they didn't really notice until her mother, also, seeing Ji Young in pain, let out her pain. The blame can't be put into one person, after all, its society, and its a cycle, that the movie seems to ask, can we really break free from? In the end, this movie at least, allows Kim Ji Young finds her voice and decides to pursue her dream of writing a book, this book, as if giving her some form of control back in her life, and manifest an identity that isn't just tied to being her child's mother. It takes immense courage, loving understanding from others, and her letting go of her past happenings in her life that lets her to start anew.
TLDR: The cast is great, and its a simple story, that just needs to be simply told. I'll like to read the book to compare it with.
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The first scenes will hit you like a trainwreck on how close it is to women's daily lives (whether they're raising a family or treading their career) in general. A lot of the main character's problems are those we (women) have encountered one way or the other. The unfairness of what she has to go through is relatable and raw, you'll just end up crying because it's true, or because you've experienced it as well.
Jung Yumi and Gong Yoo's acting in this movie is definitely worth the praise. How they communicated their characters have you convinced they have experienced it themselves, or are currently going through similar troubles in life. Delicate scenes in the movie dealing with heavy emotions were also on point and have you feeling the right connection to their characters. Succinct and crisp dialogues between them make you hooked but sufficiently satisfied because it was the right words for each interaction they had as a couple.
This is definitely a movie you must watch for the sake of being reminded about how heavy we should take gender equality in society. It offers insight into the emotions a wife, a mother, a student, a worker would have during the times they're forced to grow up, and situations they cannot control because of the lack of respect for them in their family and in public.
Pack some tissues while you're at it. You'll need it while watching this.
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Superb
I loved the book and I loved the movie. It's a difficult topic but it's high time we had more novels and books to address gender inequality issues and raise social conscience. We should stop acting as if it's ok for women to carry all the housework and kids upbringing burden. The movie is executed in such a delicate manner. It's absolutely beautiful. Acting is outstanding. Absolutely all actors are superb. Great decision on the team. The only thing I am not absolutely sure,is the ending. It's differs from the novel and I find it might be too optimistic, it doesn't really stand up to the realistic tone of the rest of the movie. On the other hand, I did enjoy this subtle happy ending and I felt they deserved it.Was this review helpful to you?
A realistic movie
It's not a feminist movie, it's a realistic one. It depicts the hard life of women and how our capitalist and misogynistic's society treat them.How women have to bear the burden of their entire family. And how motherhood and marriage are a trap.
But this movie show also how men are useless, how they do not react even when their loved ones are hurt/sick. How men do not react at work when they see sexual harassment, sexual violence.
It was painful to watch because it was so realistic, in every scene, in every dialogue, Kim Ji Young has to be the strongest one, her mother, her sister too. And the men in her family? Useless.
If you want to get married and have kids, watch this movie before.
If you're a empathetic man, watch this movie, you'll learn things.
I'm glad i have watched it.
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Book vs. Film
As the saying goes: the book was better. Not to say the movie is bad, quite the contrary, I did enjoy it, but it didn't introduce Jiyoung's story as well to me as the book did.The book is divided into sections, showing Jiyoung's life as she grows up, her childhood, her teen years, her adult life in college than working and finally her marriage as we see her mental health deteriorate due to the years of misogyny she - and every woman living in korea - suffered.
The movie on the other hand, spends most of it's time on married Jiyoung and her life as a housewife and mother, showing a handful of scenes of her life growing up, which to me took away the build up the book did so well and excluded really relevant and important scenes from her early years which showed not only her but her family dynamic as well, instead what they did was include scenes that TELL the audience "this is why Jiyoung is unwell", which didn't work for me.
I can't help but feel like that happened because they casted big names to play Jiyoung and her husband, so they didn't want to spend most of the movie on other actors that would play young Jiyoung and when her husband wasn't present in her life which would be most of the story, and the reason why I get that feeling is because they introduced scenes from the husband's point of view that don't exist in the book, and these scenes don't need to exist because the topics discussed in them - sexual assault and sexual harassment in the work place - are present in Jiyoung's life, we see them through her as she directly suffers from them, so they're more impactful.
The only thing these scenes added to the narrative was to show the difficulties women face in korean society and to show Jiyoung's mental health issues from the perspective of the husband, but both of them are already done well in the book without taking away her point of view, or they were done in a way that complimented her story in a better way, so to me it really felt like "oh we have to give Gong Yoo more scenes, it's Gong Yoo!".
As for the endings: I do prefer the open ending of the book, a sort of Twilight Zone ending, with no hope to it, because we end up with the feeling that this isn't a situation that can be resolved, because misogyny will always be present, hurting women everywhere little by little, taking away from our soul, or even that this situation is exclusive to Jiyoung, she is just one of many women who broke under our patriarchal society. So while the hopeful/happy ending of the film was a nice watch, it wasn't as impactful to me.
So basically if I hadn't read the book before watching the movie I would've enjoyed much more, because it is a good movie that showcases well the misogyny korean women face on a daily basis, while also, just like the book, remaining true to the experiences women everywhere face. BUT....... the book was better ;)
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Oh to be a women
I wish I didnt relate to this movie.... I think I can say it for most women, but we women have been through at least one of the scenes the main character had to go through. From her father only considering the health of his son, to the boy trying to grab her on the bus and her dad blaming HER. I love how the mom stood up for her when needed, and unlike some mothers (like mine) remind her of the "societal, traditional and cultural norms that women are expected to endure).Biggest fear like shown in the movie: husband "convincing" his wife to have a kid, but not participating in the child-rearing and doing the bare minimum, until the FL develops postpartum.
Please read the book, it is amazing
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Good but not for all categories
It is feminist act purelyGood one
But as a man maybe it is hard for me to be engaged in emotions of main female role
this movie concentrate on the difficulties woman may face from maybe discrimination of gender in family the look of society for females as a lower grade than men and and the difficulty to be obligated sometimes to give up ur career to raise ur babies and many other obstacles women face
I can recommend this for females and specially mature ones not for male .
But i liked it
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Untuk pertama kalinya gua nonton film superhero sampai nangis.
Berkisah tentang wanita yang bernama Kim Ji-Young yang merasa berat dengan kesehariannya sebagai ibu rumah tangga. Tak cuma itu, dia juga merasa tertekan di lingkungan keluarga dan tempat kerjanya.Diangkat dari novel dengan judul yang sama. Film dan novel nya pun banyak menuai kecaman atau bisa dibilang kontroversial karena terlalu menyuarakan feminisme di negara patriarki yang sangat kental. Sebenernya konflik utama di film ini tak hanya terjadi di sana, tetapi hampir diseluruh dunia khususnya di Asia. Makanya banyak banget pro, dan kontra ini film.
Plotnya sederhana namun cerita di film ini sangat emosional menurut gua, bagaimana tidak, sepanjang film kita di perlihatkan bagaimana beratnya hidup sebagai seorang ibu rumah tangga.Menurut gua cerita yang dihadirkan di film ini sangat nyata dan apa adanya. Tidak terkesan dilebih-lebihkan apalagi sampai ke tahap lebay. Drama di film ini juga sangat ngena menurut gua pribadi, walaupun gua cowok, tapi gua bisa merasakan gimana beratnya hidup seorang wanita khususnya seorang ibu. Sebagai tambahan karakter Ji Young di film ini mengalami postpartum depression (depresi setelah melahirkan) dan dissociative identity disorder (kepribadian ganda) yang dinampakkan di sepanjang film, tetapi Ji Young sendiri tidak menyadari hal itu.
Jung Yu-Mi sebagai Kim Ji-Young tampil sangat "nyata", mulai dari memainkan mimik wajah sampai dia nangis menurut gua itu "nyata" dan ngena di gua sendiri. Film ini tidak dikhususkan untuk perempuan saja, tapi laki-laki sangat boleh nonton film ini. Gong Yoo sebagai suami juga bagus menurut gua, heran sama yang bilang karakter nya tidak realistis, malah menurut gua ini pas. Gua suka banget sama film ini.
Akhir kata, film ini sangat gua rekomendasikan untuk kalian semua apalagi bagi pecinta drama. Jangan lupa bawa tisu :)
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