Blu-ray Collection
Sorum(2001)
The Korean film archive has released Sorum (Yoon Jong-chan, 2001), a masterpiece of Korean horror film on Blu-ray. It is the 26th Blu-ray title planned by the archive and produced by Blue Kino. Set in an old apartment block, Sorum portrays how the horror and madness of a tragic family history that happened 30 years earlier affects the characters like curse. Sorum has become a representative film in Korean cinema history beyond horror genre and was included in the top 100 Korean films selected by the archive in 2013. Sorum also won Best Actress at the 22nd Blue Dragon Film Awards and Best New Director at the 38th Baeksang Arts Awards.
Sorum reveals our inner malice and violence using a surrealistic setting, while talking about Korean society and history more metaphorically. The director uses the genre conventions of horror film, but he focuses on embodying his subjective perspective and messages. Thus, Sorum is rather a difficult film to understand. The narrative is unkind and specific motivations cannot be found in the characters’ emotions and behavior. The sound is either very implicit or symbolic, and there is also a secret that is not revealed until the end of the film. However, when overcoming these difficulties and reaching the film’s true character, then you will understand film critic Song Kyung-won’s explanation that “Sorum is a film permeated into the spirit of the time, proving how the invisible rather than the visible encroach upon us”. What makes the film stand out more than anything is the outstanding performances of lead actors Kim Myung-min and Jang Jin-young, relative newcomers at the time.
Space is as important as the characters in Sorum. In other words, the old and nearly collapsing apartment block where the characters live, is one of the main characters in the film. The director scouted the 30-year-old Keumwha Citizen Apartment in Bugahyeon-dong and shot the film using the building as an open set. It is said that he filmed there under the natural light minimizing artificial lighting in order to make the space look as realistic as possible. The apartment in Sorum is not only a significant spatial setting, but also a condition for the film to be made, and this somewhat exaggerates, the film itself. If madness is the main sentiment in the film, it can be said that the source of it is the apartment itself, which had gradually grown older over 30 years and retained the curse of time. When the 30 years of the Migeum Apartment in the film is overlapped with that of the Keumhwa Citizen Apartment, we realize Sorum is not just a story told in a film, but a story about our reality. The reality or historicity peculiar to Sorum could be the effects resulting from overlapping the cinematic space and the real one.
Director Yoon Jong-chan and film critic Jung Sung-il provided the commentary. Film critic and director Jung Sung-il analyzes the film and engages in conversation with Yoon Jong-chan with his unique insight, and the director, who remembers his directorial intentions and episodes even now, 20 years since the film was made, willingly reveals secrets related to each scene. The images of the Blu-ray are sourced from the outcome (4K) of intensified restoration which was completed by the archive in 2020 and supervised by the director. Thus, the viewers can enjoy the excellent beauty of the images that were reborn through restoration. Three short and medium-length films made by Yoon Jong-chan while he was doing his MFA in Film Directing in America, are included in the supplements. In particular, the archive digitized the 16mm mid-length film of Memento, in HD. This was the film that provided the original idea for Sorum and we have included it in the Blu-ray, which is expected to add to the value of the Blu-ray as a collectable.
Sorum reveals our inner malice and violence using a surrealistic setting, while talking about Korean society and history more metaphorically. The director uses the genre conventions of horror film, but he focuses on embodying his subjective perspective and messages. Thus, Sorum is rather a difficult film to understand. The narrative is unkind and specific motivations cannot be found in the characters’ emotions and behavior. The sound is either very implicit or symbolic, and there is also a secret that is not revealed until the end of the film. However, when overcoming these difficulties and reaching the film’s true character, then you will understand film critic Song Kyung-won’s explanation that “Sorum is a film permeated into the spirit of the time, proving how the invisible rather than the visible encroach upon us”. What makes the film stand out more than anything is the outstanding performances of lead actors Kim Myung-min and Jang Jin-young, relative newcomers at the time.
Space is as important as the characters in Sorum. In other words, the old and nearly collapsing apartment block where the characters live, is one of the main characters in the film. The director scouted the 30-year-old Keumwha Citizen Apartment in Bugahyeon-dong and shot the film using the building as an open set. It is said that he filmed there under the natural light minimizing artificial lighting in order to make the space look as realistic as possible. The apartment in Sorum is not only a significant spatial setting, but also a condition for the film to be made, and this somewhat exaggerates, the film itself. If madness is the main sentiment in the film, it can be said that the source of it is the apartment itself, which had gradually grown older over 30 years and retained the curse of time. When the 30 years of the Migeum Apartment in the film is overlapped with that of the Keumhwa Citizen Apartment, we realize Sorum is not just a story told in a film, but a story about our reality. The reality or historicity peculiar to Sorum could be the effects resulting from overlapping the cinematic space and the real one.
Director Yoon Jong-chan and film critic Jung Sung-il provided the commentary. Film critic and director Jung Sung-il analyzes the film and engages in conversation with Yoon Jong-chan with his unique insight, and the director, who remembers his directorial intentions and episodes even now, 20 years since the film was made, willingly reveals secrets related to each scene. The images of the Blu-ray are sourced from the outcome (4K) of intensified restoration which was completed by the archive in 2020 and supervised by the director. Thus, the viewers can enjoy the excellent beauty of the images that were reborn through restoration. Three short and medium-length films made by Yoon Jong-chan while he was doing his MFA in Film Directing in America, are included in the supplements. In particular, the archive digitized the 16mm mid-length film of Memento, in HD. This was the film that provided the original idea for Sorum and we have included it in the Blu-ray, which is expected to add to the value of the Blu-ray as a collectable.
Subtitles: Korean, English, and Japanese
Screen: 1080P FULL HD 16:9
Audio: Korean DTS-HD MA5.1
Rated 18: Ages over 18 admitted.
Special Features
- Commentary: Yoon Jong-chan(Director), Chung Sung-il(Film Director, Film Critic)
- Digital Restoration: Before & After
- Making Film
- Short Films: Playback, Memento, Viewer
- Trailer
- Image Gallary
Booklet
- “Permeating into the Crease of Oblivion, the Horrified Face of an Era for Its Sadness: Yoon Jong-chan’s Sorum” Song Kyung-won(Film Critic)
Miscellaneous
- Three Film Postcards
Screen: 1080P FULL HD 16:9
Audio: Korean DTS-HD MA5.1
Rated 18: Ages over 18 admitted.
Special Features
- Commentary: Yoon Jong-chan(Director), Chung Sung-il(Film Director, Film Critic)
- Digital Restoration: Before & After
- Making Film
- Short Films: Playback, Memento, Viewer
- Trailer
- Image Gallary
Booklet
- “Permeating into the Crease of Oblivion, the Horrified Face of an Era for Its Sadness: Yoon Jong-chan’s Sorum” Song Kyung-won(Film Critic)
Miscellaneous
- Three Film Postcards