KAFFNY ’13: Seeking Haven

North Korean defector Kim Young-soon is a beautiful woman.  The same is probably true of her sister, Mi-hee, but viewers cannot tell for certain.  That is because her face is kept scrupulously obscured to protect her from potential reprisals in North Korea.  Unfortunately, it might be too late for her already, but her sister will still doggedly pursue any means possible to bring her over the border in Hein S. Seok’s documentary, Seeking Haven, which screens on the opening night of the 2013 Korean American Film Festival in New York.

When we first meet the Kim sisters, they are living in an underground shelter for defectors in China.  They are relatively happy times, because the sisters are together and have sufficient food to survive.  However, they live in the constant fear of exposure and repatriation to North Korea.  Eventually, Kim Young-soon sets off on the arduous journey to lasting freedom, overland through China and Laos to Thailand, where North Korean defectors are formally recognized as legitimate political asylum seekers.

It is a hard trek, involving several narrow escapes from various border patrols, dramatically captured by Seok’s cameras.  Unfortunately, when Kim finally arrives in South Korea via the Bangkok embassy, she learns the Chinese authorities raided her former safe house and deported her sister back to the DPRK.  For the rest of the film, she will periodically return to China, where she will deal with various dodgy brokers, in the hopes they can arrange transit for her family, or at least bring back news on their situation.

Not surprisingly, Kim suffers from a powerful case of survivor’s guilt.  Yet, she is only in her early twenties and fully entitled to live her own life.  Viewers will want to offer her emotional comfort, as they start to suspect the worst for her family.  While just under an hour, Haven contains more reality than a month of network television.  These are real people, feeling real fears, as they face life-and-death situations.

Haven tells a very personal story, but it is also a rather shocking expose, capturing the perils endured by North Korean defectors through a few hidden cameras and considerable chutzpah. While it is comparatively circumspect in addressing the sort of persecution that is an everyday reality in North Korea, this is clearly out of concern for the Kims and other family members of defectors. Nonetheless, the obvious fear of potential repercussions speaks volumes regarding the appalling state of human rights in the DPRK.

Kim Young-soon is an achingly compelling POV figure who hopefully will find peace and happiness in the next phase of her life.  She certainly commands viewer sympathies.  Haven is a gutsy doc, shot guerilla-style in nations like China and Laos that do no respect basic freedoms of expression.  For a touch of celebrity, Moon Bloodgood serves as narrator, demonstrating a nice voice for such work.  Highly recommended, it screens this Thursday (10/24) at the Village East Cinema as part of this year’s KAFFNY.

Parents in Hell: Beautiful Boy

Parents think they know their greatest nightmare. Sadly, one nearly estranged couple experiences anguish beyond their worst fears in Shawn Ku’s Beautiful Boy (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Bill and Kate might not have been the best parents in the world, but they stayed together for the sake of their son, Sammy. As a father, Bill has been a bit aloof. Conversely, Kate has been a somewhat overbearing mother. Together, they were probably about average. Certainly, they were not abusive or overtly destabilizing. Yet, something went profoundly wrong. Always a relative loner, the troubled Sammy turned into a monster, setting off on a campus killing spree before taking his own life. Confused and bereft, Bill and Kate find themselves pariahs in the community, grieving parents who are not allowed to grieve.

Wisely, Boy never shows the horrific act directly, only revealing details obliquely and sporadically as the devastated parents attempt to shut out the world. However, Ku walks a perilously fine line in his approach to Sammy. Granted, he offers nothing to excuse or in any way ameliorate Sammy’s ghastly actions. Yet, early in the film viewers see him through his parents’ eyes, as a rather sheepish young man. This has a humanizing effect, regardless of intent. As a result, anyone who has lost a loved one in an incident like the Fort Hood shooting should probably avoid Boy.

Left with only fragments of a marriage on the rocks, Bill and Kate will be spared nothing. In truly visceral performances, Michael Sheen and Maria Bello strip themselves naked in every way imaginable as the couple struggles with guilt, anguish, denial, and resentment. In fact, they are even moments of surprisingly mature physical intimacy (but to the regret of Maxim readers, none involve Moon Bloodgood, who is largely wasted as Kate’s sister-in-law, Trish).

Some of the film’s promotional copy suggests the tragedy will bring Bill and Kate back together in unexpected ways. Though not necessarily false, circumstances are far more complicated than a pat Oprah ending would permit. Indeed, Ku and co-writer Michael Armbruster have little truck with easy sentiment, while Sheen and Bello are simply too honest and raw to indulge in cliché.

Did I mention Moon Bloodgood is in this film? It bears repeating, because Boy is so oppressively claustrophobic and dashed disconsolate, viewers will need something—anything—to hold onto. (Perhaps Meat Loaf in a brief but sensitively turned supporting role works for you instead.) Without question, Bello and Sheen put on a true acting clinic, but the cumulative effect is exhausting. A film worthy of respect and praise, but difficult to recommend to those looking for a little escapism as they go about the challenging business of life, Boy opens this Friday (6/3) in New York at the Angelika Film Center.