Downfall (1997)

This is a legitimately tragic film.

I don't think I've ever seen the dangers of the red light district and sex work portrayed in such a vivid way before. In this film, the depressing events that unfold are portrayed bluntly and directly not to justify them, but to draw attention to the fact that for the people in situations like Young-eun's, the suffering becomes regular. Everyday. Mundane, even, so much so that you have no choice but to get used to it. Because you will never be able to escape it, anyway.

I see some people say that the pacing feels stilted but honestly I enjoyed it. I didn't have to try to get absorbed in the film (I just wish I'd found a version with better subtitles), and I actually think that the jumps in time help underscore the eventually mundane nature of Young-eun's difficult life.

The acting is solid and the soundtrack, though not necessarily "memorable," is actually very good. Cinematography is normal but it does some interesting things at certain points; as a whole though I wouldn't say I was super concerned about it. I prefer to think of this film in a "bigger picture" sort of way.

I was stunned when I first saw how the red light district was portrayed. I somehow never imagined that a red light district could look like it did in the film: lines and lines of brothels all crowded together with women spilling out from doorways, trying desperately to entice men inside. So many women, and all painted and dolled up and scared. So many that cars can barely pass through. It hurt to watch.

Some other tragic elements of the film: Young-eun's song. Eun-yeong's friend and the reality of HIV and AIDS. Women being blamed for penniless customers. The fact that so many workers become accustomed to the harassment. Gil-young and Young-eun missing each other by a hair every time. Young-eun, a ghost of the present moment and her obfuscated past. The woman desperate for work and tearing at her clothes in the streets. Eun-yeong becoming like the people who were the bane of her existence, only to be torn down again. The fact that there seems to be no love for a sex worker.

Eun-yeong's unnie.

The film approaches its message from various angles throughout. Dark humor, direct and melancholic emotional appeal, uncomfortably long sex scenes, and more shocking moments all serve to emphasize the bleakness of the existence Young-eun has been condemned to until her death. At first she is desirable; then, with age, she loses her appeal in the eyes of her potential customers and has to come to terms with the fact that even here, when she is at her lowest, she has an expiration date.

I don't know if I'm doing it well but I really want to emphasize how truly bleak and tragic this film is. It breaks my heart and I expect I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.

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