JIFF Home Feature Featuring Film Info
Tang Poetry 86min
Tang Poetry
SECTION 10th Anniversary Screening
DIRECTOR Zhang Lu
FILM-INFO Korea | 2004 | 86min | 35mm | 
Color | 
SUBTITLE English


CODE DATE TIME VENUES INFO TICKETING
233 05.01 20:00 Primus 4  
704 05.06 11:00 Jeonju Cinema Town7  
Director 장률 Zhang Lu
Producer Choi Doo-yong
Screenwriter Zhang Lu
Cinematographer Liu Yong Hong
Art Director Liu Zingzhi
Sound Korean Film Commission
Cast Wang Xiang, Cui Yuemei
A middle-aged pickpocket spends all his time in his bare apartment, occasionally eavesdropping on a neighbor and watching TV channels about Tang Dynasty poetry. His former apprentice, a young woman suggests taking part in a major robbery. He silently cold-shoulders her, but then a murder next door brings a stolen gun into the picture. This is Zhang Lu’s first feature film. Director captures viewer’s attention by subsequently putting unexpected incidents in Character’s calm yet dull life. Screened in JIFF 2004.
A film by director Zhang Lu, Tang Poetry. A middle-aged pickpocket who suffers from shaky hands has almost given up a hope. Then, one day, his girlfriend asks him to rob a bank together . The man does few things and meets only a few people; lecture about Tang poetry on TV, a girlfriend who’s only taking up space, the voice of an old man coming in through the bath room, a salesman who constantly bugs him to buy things, and a janitor sweeping the floor. Close-up scenes, long takes, frames with the bottom and top cut, a contrast between darkness and light, and the same costumes show the overall mood of the film. When the film begins, Tang Poetry is introduced through subtitles, and the narrative begins. The film depicts the
mundane life of the main character. Small incidents build up to an explosive finale in the last scene. In this way, the film seems still at first, but has a bomb inside it, ready to explode. The images as presented to the audience allow for many different interpretations. Who killed the old man next door and stole the cash?  What will the man do? The film gives no answers, and the audience will find themselves contemplating the answers even after the film is finished. (Seo Kok-suk)
Zhang Lu
Born in 1962, China. Korean-Chinese director Zhang Lu graduated from Yanbian University as a Chinese Cultural Studies major. Despite no professional film education in background, international recognition has been given to him when he was nominated in International Competition of Shorts Films at Venice Film Festival with his first short Eleven(2001). His film Grain in Ear(2005) was invited in Critic’s week of Cannes Film Festival. Zhang’s later Films such as Desert Dream(2007), Chongqing(2008) and Iri(2008) dealing with the stories of isolated and abused people, received great compliments and praise from critics.
2005 <망종 Grain in Ear>
2007 <경계 Desert Dream>
2007 <사실 Fact >
2008 <중경 Chongqing >
2008 <이리 Iri >