The Running Actress
(Yeobaeoo-neun oneuldo)
$15 Special Event Tickets
With Jang Joon-hwan, Jeon Yeo-bin, Lee Seung-yun.
South Korea, 2017, DCP, color, 71 min.
Korean with English subtitles.
DCP source: MetaPlay
After two very active decades as an actress, Moon So-ri decided to seek a radically different perspective on her craft and art by enrolling in the film production program at Chung-Ang University, resulting in a trio of short films that explore, in meta-fashion, the strange world of the performer. An enhanced compilation of the three autobiographically inspired shorts into complementary chapters, The Running Actress follows episodes in the life of a celebrated but overwhelmed veteran actress struggling with one too many family and professional crises and decisions. The life roles of mother, wife and daughter-in-law are held up to scrutiny with a deadpan wit and verve that has leant comparison to Larry David and Hong Sang-soo. Standing both behind and before the camera, Moon So-ri bravely stars as a version of herself, guided by a gentle self-depreciatory humor and a thoughtful and frank critique of the extreme pressures specifically placed on actresses to mold themselves according to impossible and unreasonable fantasy ideals of womanhood and professionalism as defined by men.