‘A Normal Family’ by Director Hur Jin-ho opened the 18th edition of the London Korean Film Festival on 2 November. Based on the novel ‘Het Diner’ (English Translation: The Dinner), by Herman Kock, this latest feature from Director Hur is a complex melodrama which delves into divisive issues and explores rifts that arise in the face of moral conundrums – testing not only the characters’ relationship(s), but their ethics too.
Transporting the novel to South Korea, Director Hur wastes no time in shocking the audience. As the opening scene unfolds, the viewer is exposed to what one might describe, if feeling kind, as an incident of road rage, but in reality is more akin to a violent crime committed simply for the sake of being violent. A young man, let’s call him TH, is blazing his way through the streets in an expensive car, provoking a reaction, thoroughly enjoying it and then without mercy ploughs over his victim – the result of which is one dead father and a severely injured daughter, giving the audience little time to feel anything other than shock.
‘A Normal Family’ then introduces us to two siblings: brothers Jae-wan (Sul Kyung-gu) and Jae-gyu (Jang Dong-gun). One, a lawyer, and the other a doctor. The two are both professionally impacted by the aforementioned criminal offence. There is an immediate and obvious contrast between the two. On the one hand, we have Jae-wan, a lawyer, seemingly affluent and unscrupulous. Jae-wan is reluctantly obliged to take on the case of representing TH, and in so doing, uses all the tools within his disposal to ‘spin’ a yarn that results in TH getting off scott-free so TH can continue doing whatever he likes (both at his father’s expense). On the other hand, there is Jae-gyu, a Doctor. He is pictured as struggling and moralistic as he works hard to save the life of the injured girl when she is rushed to the ER for lifesaving medical treatment.
The brothers being on “opposing sides” if you like, would give the siblings plenty to discuss during one of their monthly dinners, but the story doesn’t stop there. It continues by exploring the brothers’ very different family situation. Jae-wan is married to much younger Ji-su (Claudia Kim), arguably the star of the film. Jae-gyu’s wife is Yeon-kyung (Hee-ae Kim). One of these dinners affords the brothers’ teenage children, Hye-yoon (Hong Ye-ji), Si-ho (Kim Jung-chul) an opportunity to break from their studies. They attend a party. Enter alcohol and bad decisions. Somehow these teenagers end up kicking rubbish and laughing which seems initially harmless and silly thing to be doing but later it transpires that the fooling around escalated into the pair beating a homeless man so badly he went into a coma. The video recording from a nearby CCTV capturing the ‘incident’ goes viral – fortunately for them, their identities are unknown, save of course to their parents. Enter dilemma the brothers are left to grapple with, and a question for humanity: “What do we do?”
A Normal Family explores the decision making process the brothers are left to work through, and looks at the duality of humans and human nature. The film requires the viewer to look beyond what appears on the surface to be elegant and educated. It also offers an interesting and insightful critique of class structure and commentary on the effects of extreme pressure within the modern education system.
Interestingly, a large part of the film is shot through windows, an artistic style the director adopts in order to create a sense of distance between the character and viewer. There’s lots of violence to varying degrees woven through this film which intensifies as the film builds to a conclusion. Director Hur intended the audience to form their own opinions on what they would do if faced with such a dilemma. This viewer will keep her views to herself but would add that will watch this film again when/if she has children of her own to see if her opinion changes.
A Normal Family is a great film – especially if you like ambiguous endings, dark humour and interesting debates.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Trailer: