“Jane” is often frustrating, at times touching
“Jane” is written and directed by Cho Hyun-hoon. It stars Lee Min-ji, Gu Gyo-hwan, Lee Joo-young, Park Kang-seob, Kim Young-woo, and Park Kyung-hye.
Cho Hyun-hoon’s Jane was South Korea’s entry in this year’s New York Asian Film Festival. It is a drama concerning So-hyun (Lee Min-ji), a girl set adrift when her boyfriend leaves her. She has no job and no one to take care of her. She soon meets Jane (Gu), a transgender woman who works at a nearby bar. The two hit it off and soon So-hyun joins Jane and several other lost, desperate young people. Soon, So-hyun and Jane are separated, and So-hyun ends up with a new “family,” more isolated and miserable than ever.
The plot of Jane takes a good deal of twists and turns throughout the film’s 104 minute runtime. If my synopsis is at all vague or truncated it’s because it is very difficult to discuss the film’s second half without spoiling major plot points. In truth, I had a bit of a difficult time with Jane. The basic premise and situation was unclear to me. Skimming back through the film, and consulting its Wikipedia page cleared things up, but I still have questions. The precise nature of the relationship between So-hyun and the mysterious Jung-ho is never explored in detail. The situation of the young people at the story’s center is never explicated. And the “families” formed by the characters were confusing to me is well. A bunch of characters move into a house together and casually refer to themselves as a “family.” Not in the Fast & Furious sense, but in a more colloquial way where it seems to allude to something specific. I blame my lack of knowledge of Korean culture for not getting this, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t make long stretches of the film confusing. Some sort of criminal element seems to be implied here. This is never made explicit. Are these characters prostitutes, perhaps? Is the character they call “dad” (not much older than the others), their pimp?
Lee Min-ji plays So-hyun as a cipher, impossible to read. She is often impassive, her private thoughts anyone’s guess. It’s an odd choice, one that works better in some scenes than in others. Gu Gyo-hwan is more successful, infusing Jane with a great deal of life, wisdom, and a sense of mischief. You can see why she captivates So-hyun so.
For the most part, Jane did not engage me in its narrative in the way that I was hoping. There are story elements and specific scenes that really work, however. In particular So-hyun’s brief friendship with Ji-su (Lee Joo-young) is touching and well-observed, with Lee Joo-young turning in the most nuanced, layered performance in the whole picture. Some of the darker, more intense sequences in the back half get by on sheer brutality/shock and the tone struck by the ending is fairly touching.
I cannot call Jane an entirely successful film, but there are moments of intrigue throughout.
-Anthony Calamunci
