Goryeojang

Director: Kim Ki-young

1963 / 90min / DCP

The title of Kim’s film, set during Korea’s Goryeo Dynasty, refers to an ancient custom that called upon one to carry one’s parents into the mountains and abandon them there once they’d reached the age of 70. A man’s struggle to decide between obeying the rules of this social custom or following the demands of filial loyalty makes up the climax of Goryeojang, a film whose depiction of life in a famine-stricken village ruled by jealousy, violence, and superstition is imbued with the atmosphere of a cruel fairy tale by Kim.