붉은 강,<Red River>

붉은 강 감독 장가서 (2009 / 중국) 출연 장정초,장가휘,이려진,이수현 상세보기

줄거리 :

3회 서울 충무로 국제영화제(2009) - 최우수 작품상, 충무로 오퍼스

가슴 저미는 아픔을 가져다주는 비극적이면서도 아름다운 이 러브 스토리는 베트남 전쟁의 고통스런 경험에서 비롯된 후유증을 다루고 있다. 1975년 배경으로 중국과 베트남의 국경에 위치한 붉은 강 근처의 한 작은 마을에서 이야기는 시작된다. 3살의 어린 베트남 소녀의 천진무구한 삶이 그녀의 아버지가 베트남 전쟁 당시의 잔존지뢰를 밟고 폭사하면서 산산조각나기 시작한다. 

Prologue, set in Vietnam in 1975, shows tyke Tao (Xu Junhan) traumatized 
when her soldier father (Xue Wenkang) is blown up by a land mine while the two are playing with a kite. Twelve years later, the grown Tao (Zhang Jingchu) arrives illegally in a bordertown in Yunnan province, China, where her aunt, Shui (Lee), has arranged work at her massage parlor.

One night, escaping from a police raid, Tao ends up in the apartment of broke, unemployed Mo Zhongxia (Cheung), whom Tao mistakes for her father. Shui warns Mo that Tao is still a virgin and he should refrain from any hanky-panky, but lets him exploit her fine singing voice by setting up a roadside karaoke.

This should be the start of a touching love story between the childlike Tao and loser Mo, who still pines for a Yunnan opera performer who dumped him years ago. But Zhang's performance as Tao is so one-dimensionally wide-eyed that not enough sparks are generated to make Mo's growing attraction to Tao convincing after their initial, semi-comedic scenes.

Mo's eventual attempt to rescue Tao from the attentions of a Chinese-Vietnamese gangster (Hong Kong's Danny Lee) ring as false as the ethnic minority strand that's later stitched into the story (Mo is from the Yao minority around the Red River region, already celebrated by helmer Zhang in "Huaoyao Bride").

Cheung, who's developing into one of Hong Kong's finest character actors, is alright here, but looks uncomfortable in a Mandarin-speaking role. Much more in tune, as Tao's hard-nosed but sympathetic aunt, is Lee, making a rare screen appearance after virtually retiring a decade ago.

Lensing of locations around Hekou by South Korean d.p. Jin Young-hwan ("Rainbow Trout," "Lovers' Concerto") is consistently eye-pleasing, but not enough to compensate for the pic's lack of a strong emotional center. Helmer Zhang's original cut, which was much longer, has so far not appeared on DVD.

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뉴질랜드에서 2009년에 있었던 Chinese Film Festival에서 보았던 영화 중 하나.

개인적으로 중국영화를 참 좋아하는데 투박한 화면 가운데서 섬세한 감정 묘사는 관객으로 하여금 빠져들게 한다.
상당히 좋았던 작품 중에 하나.

DVD를 구해 보려고 제작년에 수업 들었던 중국영화 관련 교수님께 전화도 드렸지만 이런 류의 영화는 구하기가 어렵다는 게 답변이어서 아쉽게 되었다.