Everything I saw at the 24th Jeonju Film Festival

From the 28th to the 30th of April of 2023, I attended the 24th Jeonju International Film Festival. It was the breath of fresh air I needed after the stifling midterm exams period; I was able to appreciate some of the newest films that were hitting the international festival circuit, as well as some older films included as part of arthouse screenings. A total of 247 films from 42 countries were screened in 2023, which had the Film Street of downtown Jeonju constantly brimming with people throughout my visit.

The first film I viewed was Master Gardener, the latest film released by director Paul Schrader of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. The movie featured an introspective, gritty plotline that explores topics such as redemption and self-abnegation, which viewers familiar with Scrader’s filmography can recognize as his trademark themes. Master Gardener is about a former neo-Nazi turned horticulturalist who forms an unlikely bond with his employer's grandniece, a wayward teenager whom he takes on as his apprentice. While the story had intriguing elements, I could not shake off the feeling that the film was perfunctory in many ways and had “all been done before.” I felt that several characters lacked the emotional depth to make their struggles relatable as opposed to having them logically understood. For example, the film never provided the audience with a sufficient explanation of why the main character led a life as a Nazi in the first place, which made it harder for viewers to gauge the weight of that burden.

The second film was a 2022 Italian documentary titled Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America. Anyone unfamiliar with the name Sergio Leone will definitely be familiar with his work, the most famous being the iconic 1977 Spaghetti Western film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This documentary, which splices together interview clips of the late Sergio Leone, his family, film critics, and contemporary filmmakers, is a beautiful love letter to his legacy and the legendary subgenre that he birthed. For one hour and 47 minutes, I was able to witness the entire span of Sergio Leone’s career in all its glory, juxtaposed with stories from his personal life and interjected with iconic scenes of his lifelong collaborator, Ennio Morricone. Whether or not you are a fan of his movies, this documentary will be a delightful treat to your eyes and ears.

The third film I watched was The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, which is a 1972 French surrealist film directed by Luis Buñuel. The movie is virtually plotless, and the most significant takeaway was that the plot is centered around a group of six middle-class acquaintances and their constantly-sabotaged attempts to have a meal together. The movie depicts one absurd, dream-like sequence after another, so viewers looking for consistency and narrative coherence may be slightly disappointed. In spite of its lack of plot and nonconformist nature, I still loved this film because it was extremely humorous—many of the scenarios that transpire are so nonsensical that it turns into a hilarious scene. In addition, the illogicality of the plot never came across as a condescending attempt on the part of a snobbish director to outsmart his audience, but rather as a simple invite to let go and laugh along. Overall, it was a very intelligent and enjoyable movie that I recommend to anyone who truly wants to watch something different.

The fourth film I saw was also by Luis Buñuel called The Phantom of Liberty. The film did seem to have more of a plot than The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, but the added complexity did not prevent the movie from being equally disorienting and unclear. The Phantom of Liberty stages a series of sequences that are loosely connected to one another, but collectively address the absurdity of societal rituals and concepts of morality by tackling sensitive content from execution to pedophilia. As such, the film challenges viewers to constantly question social norms and understand how destructive the illusion of liberty can be. This makes the movie have more depth and context than Discreet Charm, which made me further enjoy The Phantom of Liberty as it gave me more to ruminate on.

The last film I viewed at the Jeonju International Film Festival was West Indies, a 1979 musical film directed by Med Hondo. Recently restored by the Harvard Film Archive, the movie was bold and experimental. With everything taking place on the set of a massive slave ship, West Indies addressed the plight of African immigrants by covering four centuries of history, beginning from the Atlantic slave trade. I could sense that it took special talent to be able to construct and execute such an ambitious project as every shot felt very calculated and every musical number cryptic but alluring. However, one critical downside was that I felt that too much of the movie’s value was stored in its historical significance; in other words, the pacing felt too languid, and the story was too long-winded to reach a larger modern audience.

My first experience at a film festival was an immensely enjoyable one, and I can definitely see myself frequenting the event more in the future. The program was also packed with guest talks, special seminars, and audience events in addition to simple film screenings, which is why l would recommend Jeonju, or any other major film festival for that matter, to anyone who considers themselves a film enthusiast.