[Cine21] Beyond Reality ① Exhibition Introduction – On Things That Are Fading Away
Published July 11, 2021 - Source
One of the unique strengths of VR film is its ability to revive a character’s memories and allow the viewer to experience the passage of time within confined spaces. Director Gina Kim elevates this strength further by weaving in genre aesthetics and using a tragic historical event as her subject. Bloodless and Tearless are part of her VR trilogy on U.S. military “comfort women.” The first film in this series, Bloodless, is based on a real-life incident in which a sex worker in a U.S. military camp town was murdered by an American soldier in 1992.
The film places the viewer in the bustling downtown area of Dongducheon. Suddenly, a woman walks by. The sharp sound of her heels is amplified, drawing the viewer’s attention. A cut shifts the scene, and the viewer finds themselves facing a wall in a narrow, elongated alleyway. A woman emerges from the darkness at the end of the alley and passes directly through the viewer, a moment likely to evoke unease. From this point on, the viewer takes on a secondary point of view—that of a client waiting for the sex worker. The next scene is set in a small inn room. The room is in disarray, and the viewer stands awkwardly inside while the woman is nowhere to be seen. The film encourages the viewer to examine every corner of the space. Before the viewer even realizes it, a sense arises that something has already spread throughout the room. The film does not reveal its clues all at once but instead is structured like an escape room café, prompting the viewer to search the space and uncover hints themselves.
Gina Kim’s new film Tearless also employs the same technique. Compared to Bloodless, it amplifies the effect of sound to enhance the eerie atmosphere. The film begins in the “Monkey House,” a facility established in the early 1970s where women in U.S. military camp towns were detained and treated. The process of reconstructing the invisible, tragic remnants of that now-ruined site is compelling. The viewer is prompted to look around each space, and when they return to their starting point, they notice that objects or equipment that hadn’t been there before are now present. In other words, the film masterfully constructs a narrative within an empty space using only a few images and sounds—without introducing any characters. By maintaining a sense of suspense, as if a figure might suddenly appear via a jump scare, the film also proves itself to be a worthy entry in the horror genre. As the viewer finds themselves positioned in a long hallway reminiscent of Whispering Corridors, rain begins to fall. The sound of rain is overlaid with the mournful wailing of a woman, allowing the viewer to feel both the characters’ sorrow and a mounting sense of dread.
Director Gina Kim received the Best VR Story award at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival and the top VR prize at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival for her short documentary Bloodless. Her latest work Tearless also adopts a similar approach, but with an even more active use of sound to convey narrative - revealing her deeper consideration of VR storytelling. One cannot help but look forward to the final installment of Gina Kim’s trilogy.