[Yoon Sung Eun's movie story] Where are our parents right now? "I want to see your parents' faces."

"I want to know your parents" │ 2002 Director: Kim Ji-hoon │ Starring: Seol Kyung-gu

* The contents of the movie are included.

▲ The poster of the movie, "I want to see your parents' faces".

Director Huh Jin-ho's new film, "The Ordinary Family," which will be released on October 16, is a story of parents who are torn over crimes committed by their children. In fact, rather than being torn apart, it would be correct to say that they are scrambling to make children criminals somehow. Although two couples have internal conflicts, and sharp arguments arise, it is the safety and future of their children that dominate at every juncture of choice rather than ethics. The film, which seems to be in a very Korean context, is originally based on the novel "The Dinner" by Hermann Koch, a Dutch writer. The Dinner was also made into an Italian film in 2014 and a Hollywood film starring Richard Gere. It seems to be a worldwide phenomenon that parents who are in a hurry to cover even such children feel scarier than broken children.

▲ Still cut from the movie, "I want to see your parents' faces".

There are quite a few movies and dramas with a similar theme consciousness
, but the movie "I Want to See Your Parents' Face" (director Kim Ji-hoon, 2022, hereinafter "Your Parents") is the most straightforward from the title. It is based on plays by Hatasa and Seigo, and was first known as a play in Korea. "I want to see your parents' faces" is a common idiom used in Japan, as in Korea when seeing spoiled children, "Who is your father?" In this way, raising parents in a Confucian culture is a huge insult, and after watching a movie, the expression feels somewhat justified. This is because it turns out that a large part of the child's misdeeds are inherited from parents.

▲ Still cut from the movie, "I want to see your parents' faces".

Your parents' begins with one student committing suicide at a prestigious international middle school. "Gunwoo" throws himself from the cliff to the lake, leaving a letter with the names of four friends in the same class saying he doesn't want to live anymore because of school violence. The next day he is found unconscious, and the parents of the perpetrators are summoned to the principal's office. Parents, who learned the whole story of the incident because of Gunwoo's letter, are busy destroying evidence of their children's school violence and baking the people involved in the case. Kang Ho-chang (Seol Gyeong-gu), an interview lawyer, is also busy covering up the sins of his son, Hangyeol (Sung Yoo-bin) by sympathizing with Do Ji-yeol (Oh Dal-soo), the president of the hospital, Jeong (Ko Chang-seok), the student manager of the school, and Park Moo-taek (Kim Hong-pa), a former local police chief. However, with the declaration of conscience of Song Jung-wook (Cheon Woo-hee), a fixed-term homeroom teacher, the children are investigated by the police, and in the process, Ho-chang finds out that Hangyul became a victim of the trial. Because of Hangyul, who became the only perpetrator from one of the perpetrators in a day, Ho-chang goes to court to plead his son with the feeling of an unfair victim.

▲ Still cut from the movie, "I want to see your parents' faces".

The
movie flows almost to the end to add to the frustrating situation. Children's scenes of violence are horrific, and parents who are busy covering up their mistakes rather than scolding them are appalled. The scene of the court's failure to function properly while playing in the cartels of the haves is also disastrous. Although the luxurious view of the international middle school and the overly neat mise-en-scène hinder emotional immersion, and the fact that the person's ethical consciousness is inversely proportional to economic power is schematic, it is a good text to give a word on contemporary children's education. The overall making is not bad either. Restricted music and editing absorb the impact of stimulating scenes, and filming is stable. Actors such as Seol Kyung-gu, Oh Dal-soo, Chun Woo-hee, and Moon So-ri also live up to their name value. It is quite interesting that Seol Kyung-gu, who played the role of Hochang here, once again played as a lawyer who is troubled by his children's crimes in "The Ordinary Family." It seems clear that he is the first actor to emerge as the father of an intelligent and wealthy teenager among his contemporaries. Jae-wan, who he played in "The Ordinary Family," is also a person who has a lot of emotional ups and downs at the crossroads of choice whenever facts that he didn't know are revealed like Hochang. It would be interesting to compare "The Ordinary Family" and "Your Face" as a movie that makes you nervous until the ending credits go up, but it would also be a good viewing point to compare Jae-wan and Ho-chang characters played by one actor.

▲ Still cut from the movie, "I want to see your parents' faces".

■ Writing: Yoon Sung is a film critic (Dr. Young Chemistry / Director of Jeonju International Film Festival)