Grain in Ear

Grain in Ear

Poster for Mang zhong (2005)
Directed by Zhang Lü
Produced by Choi Do-yeong
Written by Zhang Lü
Starring Liu Lianji
Jin Bo
Zhu Guangxuan
Wang Tonghui
Cinematography Liu Yonghong
Editing by Kim Sun-min
Release date(s) Cannes:
18 May 2005
South Korea:
March 24, 2006
Running time 109 min.
Country China
South Korea
Language Mandarin
Korean

Grain in Ear (simplified Chinese: 芒种; pinyin: Máng zhǒng; Hangul: 망종) is a 2005 Chinese film written and directed by Korean Chinese filmmaker Zhang Lü (Chinese: 張律; Hangul: 장률). The title refers to the solar term in the traditional calendars of China and Korea.[1]

Contents

Plot

Cui Shun-ji is a Chinese woman of Korean ancestry. A single mother bringing up a young son, she lives away from her hometown, and makes a living by selling kimchi. In the course of living her life, she meets three men who betray her. When her son dies in an accident, she decides to take revenge.[2]

Location

Grain in Ear was filmed in a small industrial town, an area 45 minutes' drive away from Beijing, yet just on the edge of farmland."[3]

Theme

Grain in Ear examines the interplay of sex, economics, social class and race in a newly industrialized Chinese provincial backwater. Korean Chinese are one of the recognized ethnic minorities in China, comprising about 2.7 million citizens. Korean Chinese are spread throughout the country, and their group situation is consequently invisible to other Chinese, though many have difficulties integrating into society. Televised folklore celebrations and popular Korean foods such as the world-famous kimchi serve as one of the few common reminders of Korean Chinese culture for other Chinese. Zhang, in his brutal focus on the challenges of assimilation for his native ethnic group, explains that "his film is essentially anti- terrorist. Not at all in the way of Bush’s political agenda, but on the scale of everyday life, how we as humans terrorise those around us."[3]

Festival appearances and awards

SOURCE: Korean Film Council[2], UCLA[4]

References

See also

External links