Jung_E Review: Netflix Korean Film Is A Pleasant And Moving Surprise
Cast: Kang Soo-yeon, Kim Hyun-joo, Ryu Kyung-soo
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Korean cinema and series changed the entire industry after Parasite and Squid Game. Now another sci-fi film Jung_E landed on the Netflix platform today. What if we told you that a South Korean-produced dystopian thriller that also manages to be moving has been available on Netflix since January 20, 2023? It sounds incredible, but it’s true. If you’re wary, all you have to do is press play. The film in question is titled Jung_E, written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho and produced by Climax Studio, and deals with surprisingly deep issues. It is also the latest film by Kang Soo-Yeon, a South Korean actress who gained fame in the second half of the 1980s, who passed away in May 2022 and who was often called “the world’s first star Korean”.
Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, produced by Climax and distributed by Netflix, Jung_E is a science fiction film set in a dystopian future in which human beings have had to abandon the planet Earth which is no longer habitable. The premises could make us think of a rather predictable development of the plot, but the story of the film turns out to be somewhat unexpected. As we will see in our Jung_E review the narration puts aside the raids in space to make room for the emotional dimension, expressed in an unusual bond between mother and daughter.
Jung_E Review: The Story
In 2194, the Earth is no longer habitable due to climate change, and a civil war between the shelters built to house humans has been raging for decades. At this juncture, legendary mercenary Yun Jung-yi’s brain is cloned to develop a powerful combat android. Shortly, when climate change has led to a rapid rise in sea levels, humans have been relocated to more than 80 refuges located between the Earth and the orbital planes of the Moon. After taking office, however, refuges number 8, 12 and 13 proclaimed themselves the Adrian Republic, indiscriminately attacking all the others and starting a violent civil war. In 2194, the year in which the events narrated in the film takes place, the war has been going on for over four decades, with devastating consequences for both factions, the Allied Forces and the Adrian Republic.
The Kronoid laboratory is part of the Allied Forces, intent on creating combat robots by cloning the brain of a former Korean mercenary, Yun Jung-Yi, who has been in a vegetative state for 35 years due to an accident in battle. The team leader of the research institute responsible for this project called Jung_E is Seohyun, daughter of Yun Jung-Yi. Despite all efforts, however, all experiments to make an infallible android are unsuccessful. The trading of cerebral materials is now normalized, as well as androids. There is the illusion of being immortal, and these technologies are no longer the sole prerogative of the war industry, on the contrary, when the conflict finally dies down and peace negotiations are reached, Kronoid must think about changing direction. The idea is to expand to androids for domestic uses, including sexual ones. Seo-hyun, Yun’s daughter who meanwhile became the project manager of the company and wanted to use Yun’s mind to resolve the conflict, doesn’t take this change well. As you can guess, war is not the point here.
Jung_E Review and Analysis
Although Jung_E is set in a dystopian universe populated by androids and with a terrible civil war in progress, the film takes place solely inside the Kronoid laboratory and focuses on the relationship between team leader Seohyun and her mother, or rather, the clones of the mother. For the woman, who for years has dedicated her existence to combat robots equipped with her mother’s neural networks, the Jung_E project has multiple meanings: to put an end to the war, to redeem her mother from the failure of her mission, and, in some way, soothe that guilt that has haunted her for 35 years. In fact, as a child, Seohyun had suffered from severe lung cancer and, due to the high cost of treatment, her mother had to continue working as a mercenary.
The day of her surgery was also the day of Yun Jung-yi’s death in battle. A drama within a drama: not only the loss of the mother and the belief that she is primarily responsible for it but also the weight of having to see her die again and again, every time the clones fail in their endeavor. The film, therefore, becomes a sort of healing journey for Seohyun who, day after day, tries to learn not to blame herself and to free herself from that cyclical, extremely painful sense of guilt. If you are looking for amazing space combat, this is certainly not the film for you. Try to learn not to blame yourself and to free yourself from that cyclical, very painful sense of guilt. If you are looking for amazing space combat, this is certainly not the film for you.
Although the ethical question – as to be expected in a film populated by androids – is often touched upon, the film does not try to untie the knots, leaving any eventual judgment to the viewer. The theme of cloning one’s brain for eternal life in the body of a robot is mentioned, as well as the fact that this procedure has three different levels which correspond to different legal treatments and, obviously, different costs. But the protagonist has already internalized all of this and the moral has no place within the narrative. As already mentioned, everything that does not have to do with the beating heart of the film – the mother-daughter relationship – inevitably remains on the sidelines; occasionally we catch a glimpse of its outlines, but these are never brought into focus.
Much of Jung_E’s success is certainly due to the protagonist of the film, Soo-Yeon Kang. The actress portrays laboratory team leader Seohyun with great delicacy and complexity, bringing to the screen a character who is as sober and silent on the outside as she is restless on the inside. A melancholic performance that almost seems like a swan song, an omen of what, shortly after, would have happened to the South Korean actress, who died in May last year. Around her, a rather marginal supporting cast, except for Ryu Kyung-soo in the role of the laboratory director, is her boisterous and, very often, annoying counterpart.
What would you expect from a dystopian sci-fi thriller set in a world where androids are commonplace and there is a war going on, what would you expect? Us, probably, a somewhat botched plot, characters brave but deep as a puddle, equally superficial relationships, a ridiculous number of very long fight scenes, the war of robots, aliens, humans and androids in the foreground, a take up most of the playing time. Jung_E goes in the opposite direction. The pulsating core of this film is the strange mother-daughter relationship that still exists between Seo-hyun and what remains of Yun, which however is turned off and on as necessary for the simulations, leaving no room for even a shred of awareness.
For Jung-Yi, the operation involving her mother has several meanings: it serves to end the war but also to avenge her mother’s death, her failure. Plus, she soothes her guilt. The woman feels she has forced her mother to become a mercenary. The money she earned fighting her was used to cure her disease. There are so many stratifications, impossible to analyze all of them here, as well as the themes. Jung_E talks about loss, freedom, ethics and bioethics, industry, money, affection, ecology, human nature, rights, and society. Maybe that’s too much. A million small planets revolve and orbit around the nucleus, each one for each cue. Some are barely touched, left to wander in the void. There are a lot of irons in the fire, the payoff is not optimal. If you’re here for the fight scenes, which turn out to be short and quite botched, choose another film.
Jung_E Review: The Last Words
The pulsating core of this film is the strange mother-daughter relationship that still exists between Seo-hyun and what remains of Yun, which however is turned off and on as necessary for the simulations, leaving no room for even a shred of awareness. There are so many stratifications, impossible to analyze all of them here, as well as the themes. Jung_E talks about loss, freedom, ethics and bioethics, industry, money, affection, ecology, human nature, rights, and society. Maybe that’s too much.
