Drama Festival 2013: Haneuljae's Murder (2013)

'The Haneuljae Murder' is episode 9 of MBC’s 'Drama Festival,' a series of 10 one-act dramas. The dramas feature up and coming directors and writers as well as experimental works. 'The Haneuljae Murder' fits right in with its progressive theme which focuses on taboo relationships. “Things get a little twisted,” as mentioned in the movie description above, aptly summarizes the dramas progression and conclusion.

The movie is set in the aftermath of the Korean War. Yoon Ha, played by Seo Kang Joon, meets Jeong Boon, played by Moon So Ri, as a child. They help each other during a difficult time in their lives. Fast forward roughly 10 years and they meet again. A love triangle develops when Jeong Boon’s daughter, Mi Soo, develops feelings for Yoon Ha. Unbeknownst to Mi Soo, Yoon Ha only has eyes for her mother. In turn, Jeong Boon realizes that any feelings they harbor for each other are doomed, and she rejects Yoon Ha. Consequently, Yoon Ha marries Mi Soo when he realizes this is the only way to stay near Jeong Boon.

The story is well done. I would have given this a 10, except I couldn’t completely buy into the dongsaeng-noona relationship between Yoon Ha and Jeong Boon because of the huge age disparity. We’re talking about a 20 year age difference that could have worked, if the directors hadn’t made Moon So Ri look so aged and more like Yoon Ha's mother, instead of a love interest. This often left me with the impression that Yoon Ha’s feelings for Jeong Boon bordered on obsessive and at times were a little creepy. I like to think this vibe was intentional on the writers part, because they wanted to push our buttons by forcing us to explore our feelings and thoughts on the whole ‘age ain’t nothing but a number’ theme.

As a newcomer to dramaland, Seo Kang Joon is really beginning to show us his acting abilities. I’m happy he opted to play this character, because it’s not an easy role to convey. Kang Joon did well showing the absolute love Yoon Ha feels for Jeong Boon. Often the emotion he conveys is nothing short of palpable. Everyone else also did a fantastic job, making this short drama special a nice watch. Be warned, however, there is no cutesy happy ending and there are moments where the show is downright heartbreaking.

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I stumbled upon a video some time ago that was about Seo Kang Joon's progress as an actor. It was in Korean and there were no subtitles, so I practically understood nothing BUT there were some snippets from this drama special shown. I sensed some good melodrama in there, so my curiosity was sparked for good. I looked it up, wanting to know how a plot that twisted could be executed within an hour. An hour! And here are my impressions of that hour between confusion - because there were no subtitles - and amazement - because there was so much going on:
Plot-wise, Haneuljae's Murder reminds me of a greek tragedy. It comes across as a play almost. Considering the little budget this project had and the short running time, the outcome is pretty impressive. There was much effort spent on the cinematography, I could tell. Even though the production value is not very high, the consistent autumnal color palette is beautiful and it creates a sense of nostalgia and sadness.
Overall, I'm intrigued by these drama specials now! They take on this seemingly impossible and ambitious challenge of cramming plot enough for a 10-16 ep drama into an hour. The result is not exactly satisfying, but interesting and somehow captivating for sure!

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