Summary
A solid character study about a North Korean refugee who finds an outlet through boxing.
Films about the relationship between North and South Korea have become increasingly prevalent over the last few years. From historical dramas like The Spy Gone North and this year’s Escape from Mogadishu to blockbusters like Ashfall, occasional ire is earned on both sides of the DMZ for perceived misrepresentations. TV’s Crash Landing on You has been praised for its research while also being criticised for its depiction for its softly positive depiction of the North.
Yun Jéro’s FIGHTER (파이터) avoids some of this minefield of issues by focusing less on ideological differences and more on a general feeling of societal disconnection. Unlike Yun’s documentary work, such as Mrs. B, a North Korean Woman (2016) — which depicts a woman who smuggles people between North Korea, China and South Korea — this film introduces us to Jina (Lim Sung-mi) as she emerges from a few months of social rehabilitation training in the South.
Labelled a ‘North Korean refugee,’ Jina is assigned a social worker and given an apartment in Seoul. Although she has some subsidies given to her, Jina wants to to bring her father from China to South Korea, so she needs money. She starts working at a boxing gym and soon becomes fascinated with the tight-knit group of female boxers there. Initially met with some aggression, Jina begins to find a de facto family unit that’s in stark contrast to life outside the ring.
Yun’s script doesn’t dwell on the culture shock of moving from the North, with the tone generally being one of a slow and relentless malaise. There’s two major knocks that Jina takes: her social work begins making inappropriate advances towards her, and there’s still a pall hanging over the relationship with her hitherto estranged mother who left her for South Korea years before. Yet Yun peppers Jina’s world with masses of micro-aggressions, from casual comments about North Koreans to slurs about her social status.
Lim delivers an understated excellence in a the lead role, one where she keeps her cards pretty close to her chest for the majority of the film. There’s a quasi romantic sub-plot, and the relationship with her mother of course, but it isn’t until late in the piece that she finally breaks. “Don’t hold your tears,” her sympathetic boxing coach tells her. “In life, there are times when one needs to cry.”
Not a lot happens in FIGHTER, but that’s kind of the point. There are no major revelations about the nature of Korea’s geopolitical future. This is a personal journey of a single woman and finding the strength to move forward in a new environment. Ending at the same point the film started, on a beach in the near light, both Jina and the audience feel hope for the first time.
FIGHTER played at both the New York Asian Film Festival 2021 and Fantasia Festival 2021.
2020 | South Korea | DIRECTOR: Yun Jéro | WRITERS: Yun Jéro | CAST: Lim Seong-mi, Baek Seo-bin, Oh Kwang-rok | DISTRIBUTOR: NYAFF 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 103 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6-22 August 2021 (NYAFF 2021)
