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The Gingko Bed

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Interweaving mythic and supernatural elements, writer/director Jacky (Jekyu) Kang’s The Gingko Bed dramatizes the tale of doomed lovers whose souls have transmigrated to, and remain trapped for over 1,000 years in, the expertly hand-carved wood of a gingko bed. The film proper begins in contemporary Seoul as 32-year-old college art instructor Su-hyun takes possession of the antique bed, oblivious to its tragic history, even as he reignites its drama. Soon beset with baffling impulses, hallucinatory visions, and terrifying nightmares, Suhyun struggles to understand his experiences.

movie cover for the ginko bedAs revealed in flashbacks, Su-hyun is, in fact, the reincarnated Jung-mun, a court musician enamored of Mi-Dan a thousand years ago. Jungmun’s transcendent playing of the kayagum, music described as “soft as the water and sharp as the sword . . . the sounds of the wind,” wins Mi-Dan’s affection. But brutal General Hwang, wartime conqueror who has taken Mi-Dan as his prize, longs for and demands passionate devotion, which she repeatedly refuses. A jealous Hwang pursues the secretive pair to a beach rendezvous where he beheads Su-hyun before Mi-Dan’s eyes. The thwarted lovers’ spirits travel to two gingko trees, blossoming side by side on a hillside. Ever vengeful, Hwang, taking the form of a hawk, uses lightning to kill Mi-dan’s tree, thereafter sculpted into the exquisite bed where her spirit dwells. Now, 170 years later, Su-hyun unwittingly frees Mi-dan’s spirit, reactivating Hwang’s determination to destroy them both once and for all.

Subplots include Su-hyun’s girlfriend, a doctor named SunYoung, whose medical career is threatened by her involvement in a scientifically inexplicable incident. Sun-Young pronounces a young man dead, not knowing Mi-Dan has borrowed the patient’s body to warn Su-hyun, who cannot see Mi-Dan (in fact, he walks straight through her) in her ethereal form. By the time MiDan returns her vehicle, the young man’s eyes have been donated to another. After the “dead” man returns, the hospital administrator assumes gross incompetence on SunYoung’s part and forces her to quit. Convinced by Su-Hyun of the truth of the extraordinary situation, Sun-Young offers her own body for Mi-Dan’s use in the final confrontation and secures Mi-Dan’s promise to return before the lunar eclipse ends.

Grisly horror, flashy special effects, jagged editing, and an energetically moving camera result in awkward juxtapositions of spiritual beliefs with a visceral cinematic style. Fast-paced and emotionally aggressive, technique often overwhelms substance. And despite its effective and harmonious blend of traditional and contemporary music, The Gingko Bed frequently fails to achieve a thematically satisfying union of violent and mythic content. That is, the story repeatedly foregrounds loud verbal and fierce physical battles, all but eclipsing the fascinating legend and intriguing cultural content, including a brief funeral scene, a group of individuals testifying to transmigration, a “cultural property” monument to the destroyed gingko, glimpses of musical training and performing, and superb music.

Unfortunately, the pervasive intrusion of gore limits classroom use. In one scene, only six minutes into the film, we watch an unknown man viciously beating and raping a woman, tearing her clothes off and ferociously kissing her breasts. General Hwang attacks him, not to protect the woman, but to reach into the chest cavity of the drunken brute to tear out his heart, an action accompanied by intensifying sound effects. Though partially obscured by shadow, there’s no confusion over exactly what unsavory brutality occurs to the woman and then to the rapist. Hwang holds up and admires the pulsing heart he’s seized.

In addition, as mentioned above and as shown in an explanatory flashback, Hwang beheads Jung-mun, after which Princess Mi-dan cradles the severed head. Similarly, in one dream, Su-hyun’s arm is sliced off, and late in the film, Hwang slashes two doctors’ faces and throats and, shortly thereafter, unmercifully attacks Su-hyun. In fairness, The Gingko Bed’s gore and bloodshed is no worse than most, and is even more restrained than some contemporary horror films. Nevertheless, the repetitive violence and its severity must give teachers of any grades below high school serious reservations. Even upper-level instructors should watch and carefully prepare for The Gingko Bed before showing it to any class.

Though Hwang’s unmitigated cruelty and savagery, as he struggles for dominance, are consistent with contemporary standards, the ubiquitous violence all but eclipses the more productive cultural and historical material. Teachers should note the choice of gingkos (also spelled ginkgo) known as trees of love because they cross pollinate, male to female, to produce edible nuts. Their leaves yield some medicinal benefits. Lovely trees, gingkos line boulevards, populate parks and Buddhist temple grounds, and grow as tall as 60 meters.

Three years in production, The Gingko Bed cost a reported $3.5 million, a comparatively large Korean budget, amply on display in the beautiful cinematography, atmospheric lighting, and lovely, opening animation. Shot entirely on location in South Korea (copyright 1996), the film won the 1996 Grand Bell Award for Jacky Kang as Best New Director of the Year and also features award winning actors. The film runs 88 minutes, in Korean, with easily read English subtitles.