My Sister is a Tomboy
Director: Han Hyeong -mo
Year: 1961
Rating: 5.0
Country: Korea
AKA - My Sister
is a Hussy
Watched from the Korean Classical Film
Archive on YouTube
This 1961 Korean comedy drama film is an
interesting look backwards at the expected societal relationship of men and
women. I wonder if at the time of its release it was considered progressive
in its attitudes towards women or very traditional. I expect the latter though
it disguises itself for much of the film. It has two plot lines that we have
seen before - the younger sister who isn't allowed to marry until her elder
sister has been wedded and a version of The Taming of the Shrew.
The theme of The Taming of the Shrew is
by its nature very misogynistic and regressive but since Shakespeare various
interpretations of the main theme - a man taming a woman who lives outside
the boundaries of expected behavior and forces her to accept her traditional
role which she happily accepts finally - has been put on and accepted. That
to a large degree describes this film and it grates on our modern sensibilities
even if you are male I would think - and I wonder how women reacted to it
back then. The men come across here as basically dicks but probably not so
much in 1961 and you still come across this male behavior in Korean films
today.
Sun-ae (Moon Jung-suk) is an independent
woman in her late-20's who has no intention of marrying. "Even thinking about
them makes me sick". Her father runs a dojo and has taught her judo which
she loves. If this wasn't 1961, one might suspect that her sexual interests
lay elsewhere but of course there were no lesbians in Korean in 1961. She
and her younger very docile traditional sister Seon-hui (Um Aing-ran) are
out walking when they are accosted by two wannabe lotharios and when they
won't leave them alone Sun-ae uses her judo skills and knocks them silly.
Seon-hui is in love with Mr. Noh but her
father won't allow them to get married till Sun-ae does and he tells his
daughter that he will be ashamed to meet his dead wife in heaven if she isn't
married. Talk about a guilt trip! The father arranges a number of men to
visit credentials in hand but Sun-ae humorously rejects one suitor after
another who have come to court her. So Mr. Noh talks his friend Nah Ju-o
(Kim Jin-kyu) to try and help him out by dating Sun-ae. Turns out that he
had already had a run in with her sharp tongue but he sees it as a challenge
and creepily after forcing her to kiss him in a waterfall, all four of them
get married (with male guests on one side and females on the other). But
she isn't tamed yet - that takes some slapping which she objects to, a royal
beating by her father and a thief to accomplish. And then she is a good Stepford
wife in traditional clothing saying good bye to her husband with a peck on
the cheek. No doubt this was considered a happy ending back then but now
you sort of cringe.
Taking the sexual politics and patriarchy
out of the film - I mean how much different is it from many Hollywood films
from long ago - well I don't recall many when the father beat the crap out
of his daughter to get her in line - it is a sweet film - some funny moments
and good performances. Both actresses are very well-known. Moon Jung-suk
was already a star and Um Aing-ran was on the verge of becoming a popular
star and married a huge star, Shin Seong-il.
The film was shot in Cinemascope but you
can't imagine why they would bother as most of it takes place indoors.
