The Weight (film)

The Weight (Korean: 무게; RR: Muge) is a 2012 South Korean film about a hunchback mortician and his transgender stepsister.

The Weight
Hangul무게
Revised RomanizationMuge
McCune–ReischauerMuge
Directed byJeon Kyu-hwan
Produced byKim Woo-taek
Choi Min-ae
Written byJeon Kyu-hwan
StarringCho Jae-hyun
Park Ji-a
Music byJu Dae-gwan
CinematographyKim Nam-gyun
Edited byKim Mi-yeong
Park Hae-oh
Distributed byNext Entertainment World
Release date
Running time
108 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean

It made its world premiere in the Venice Days sidebar of the 69th Venice International Film Festival,[1][2][3] where it won the 2012 Queer Lion, an award for the "best film with a homosexual and queer culture theme."[4] It is the first Korean film to have won the prize.[5][6] It also won a Special Award at the 2013 Fantasporto Orient Express Awards.[7] Jeon Kyu-hwan was awarded Best Director at the 16th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival,[8][9][10] and the Silver Peacock award for best director at the International Film Festival of India.[11] Cho Jae-hyun won Best Actor at the 2013 Fantasia Festival.[12][13][14]

Most of director Jeon Kyu-hwan's previous films, including Berlinale-featured Varanasi and Dance Town, have dealt with the underbelly of society. The Weight is his fifth feature-length film.[15]

Plot

Jung is the mortician at the morgue who has to heavily rely on medicine for his severe tuberculosis and arthritis. Despite his illness, cleansing and dressing the dead is a noble and even beautiful work to him. Jung is the last living person who silently takes care of the dead. So for him, his life at the morgue is both a reality and a fantasy while the corpses are his models and friends for his paintings, his sole living pleasure.

Born with a hunchback and left at an orphanage, Jung was adopted by a woman who hid him away in the attic only to use him as a child slave for her dress shop. The woman's own child Dong-bae is younger than Jung; she has always wanted to become a woman, loathing her own male body. While Jung feels affection and sympathy for his younger stepsister, he feels burdened by Dong-bae's struggles. Under the weight of life and death carried by the dead bodies that he faces each day coupled with his love-hate relationship with Dong-bae, Jung endures the pain and thirst that he feels like a camel crossing a desolate desert in silence. Then he quietly prepares his biggest, his last gift for his sister.

Cast

References
  1. Lee, Claire (25 July 2012). "Korean film invited to Venice's independent section". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  2. Lee, Tae-ho (25 July 2012). ""The Weight" 1st Korean film invited to Venice Days at Venice int'l film fest". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  3. Sunwoo, Carla (26 July 2012). "Venice film fest to screen 'The Weight'". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  4. "Queer Lion 2012 goes to the extreme film The Weight". Venice Days. 7 September 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  5. Lyman, Eric J. (7 September 2012). "Venice 2012: Korean Film 'The Weight' Wins Queer Lion Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  6. Suk, Monica (12 September 2012). "Award-winning Korean film The Weight goes to Busan Int'l Film Festival". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  7. Conran, Pierce (12 March 2013). "Multiple Awards for Korean Films at Fantasporto". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  8. "The awards of the 16th Black Nights Film Festival were announced". 16th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival - News. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  9. Frater, Patrick (28 November 2012). "Jeon wins with Weight". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  10. Conran, Pierce (28 November 2012). "THE WEIGHT Picks Up Best Director at Black Nights Film Festival". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  11. Conran, Pierce (4 December 2012). "JEON Kyu-hwan Triumphs Again". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  12. Conran, Pierce (12 August 2013). "Trio of Awards for Korean Films at Fantasia". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-08-14.
  13. "Cho Jae-hyun Collects Gong at Montreal Film Fest". The Chosun Ilbo. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-13.
  14. Lee, Claire (12 August 2013). "Cho Jae-hyun wins acting prize at Montreal Film Festival". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
  15. Lee, Claire (28 September 2012). "BIFF to heat up Busan". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
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