Coming Out
Promotional poster
Korean name
Hangul
Revised RomanizationKeoming aut
McCune–ReischauerK‘ŏming aut
Directed byKim Jee-woon
Written byKim Jee-woon
Lee Hae-young
Lee Hae-jun
Produced byKim Sung-je
StarringGu Hye-ju
Shin Ha-kyun
Jang I-ji
CinematographyChoi Young-hwan
Edited byLee Jae-woong
Music byLee Young-ho
Distributed byMedia 4M
Release date
  • August 7, 2000 (2000-08-07)
Running time
45 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean

Coming Out is a 2000 South Korean short film directed by Kim Jee-woon.

Plot

The film opens with a man being interviewed about his sister, who has recorded a video diary in which she makes a shocking confession to her friends and family. Purporting to be a true story, the bulk of the film is presented as a reconstruction of actual events.

Hyun-joo announces to her younger brother Jae-min and his girlfriend Ji-eun that she has an important confession to make, and asks them to record it on video. After issuing an apology to her parents, she reveals that she has been hiding a painful secret and is not like normal people; she is in fact a vampire. Jae-min and Ji-eun initially think she is playing a prank, but to prove her sincerity Hyun-joo bites into her wrist and starts to suck her own blood. She goes on to disclose further details of her life as a vampire, and dispels many of the common myths associated with the legend. Having heard of others like her overseas, she has decided to join a community of vampires living in England.

Going out at night to attract less attention, Jae-min films his sister as she feeds on a young woman in a telephone box. He and Ji-eun later talk to the woman, who remains unharmed, and she tells them that the experience was not painful, likening the sensation to an electric shock. The events prove to them that Hyun-joo is telling the truth.

Some time later, Ji-eun visits Hyun-joo who is now living in England. Curious to know how it feels being bitten by a vampire, she asks Hyun-joo to suck her blood. Choosing the inside of her thigh, Hyun-joo begins to feed on her friend.

Cast

  • Gu Hye-ju as Hyun-joo
  • Shin Ha-kyun as Jae-min
  • Jang I-ji as Ji-eun
  • No Eul as Girl in telephone booth
  • Kim Il-woong as Interviewer
  • Im Won-hee as Tutor

Production

Kim Jee-woon wrote and directed Coming Out as part of a project to distribute three digital short films online. Commissioned by venture group Media 4M, the project also included shorts by Jang Jin and Ryoo Seung-wan.[1] Coming Out was shot with a Canon XL-1 camcorder during a time when digital filmmaking in South Korea was still in its infancy, and went on to inspire many other digital productions.[2]

Release and critical response

Coming Out was first broadcast online on 7 August 2000.[1] In 2001 it was shown at the Fantasia Festival, and a report for Ain't It Cool News described the film as a "sexy and funny little short" with "a series of truly hilarious and unnerving scenes", also noting the "unmistakable overtones to the imagery" with regard to the final scene where Hyun-joo draws blood from her friend's thigh.[3] Other festival screenings include the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in 2001,[4] and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in 2005.[5] Coming Out was also included as a special feature on the UK DVD release of The Quiet Family, and a review at DVDActive praised it as "delicate, cerebral and contemporary cinema at its most profound."[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Paquet, Darcy. "Three comic filmmakers collaborate on digital film project". Korean Film Newsletter #7, 7 August 2000. Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved on 2 November 2008.
  2. ↑ Lee Sang-yong. "Digital Generation, Digital Films Archived 2008-11-15 at the Wayback Machine". Korean Cinema: From Origins to Renaissance, pp. 397. Korean Film Council. Retrieved on 2 November 2008.
  3. ↑ Moriarty. "FANTASIA 2001: MORIARTY Revels In The Wonder of METROPOLIS, LYLIA, TELL ME SOMETHING, and More Shorts!!". Ain't It Cool News, 4 August 2001. Retrieved on 2 November 2008.
  4. ↑ "Made in Korea < Internet Meets the Big Screen Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine". Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. Retrieved on 2 November 2008.
  5. ↑ "Kim Jee-woon Tribute Archived 2007-06-22 at the Wayback Machine". Thessaloniki International Film Festival, 2005. Retrieved on 2 November 2008.
  6. ↑ Sarkar, Bodhi. "The Quiet Family – UK Region 0 (Tai Seng) vs HK Region 0 (Modern)". DVDActive, 10 September 2005. Retrieved on 2 November 2008.
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