By Brian Shin Photograph by Eric Sueyoshi
“Gina Kim’s Video Diary,” Kim’s first feature, is a self-portrait of the filmmaker’s struggle with anorexia and loneliness.
LEFT: In “Never Forever,” Andrew (David McInnis) and his wife, Sophie (Vera Farmiga), struggle with infertility. • RIGHT: Out of desperation, Sophie asks Jihah (Jung-Woo Ha) to impregnate her.
Gina Kim on location while shooting “Never Forever.”
Gina Kim stares down at my shoes disapprovingly. She politely reminds me to ditch my Chuck Taylors at the door before offering a glimpse inside her comfy Irvine, Calif., home.
While the 33-year-old filmmaker has lived in the States for more than a decade, she is a self-proclaimed “Korean Korean,” unwilling to bend when it comes to the cardinal house guest rule.
However, inside the charming suburban home she shares with her husband, Kyung-Hyun, a political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, Kim is at ease discussing “Never Forever,” the film that has earned her industry cred.
The toast of big name festivals worldwide — beginning with its January premiere at Sundance where it earned a Grand Jury Prize nomination for best dramatic feature — “Never Forever” came to life three years ago. That’s when Kim found herself immersed in the predominately Irish-Catholic community of Boston during her two-year stint teaching Korean cinema at Harvard University.
“That really inspired me because I was never fully exposed to mainstream white culture,” she says. “Because of that, I became more aware of my own race than ever before.”
Kim often frequented Chinatown, which was the closest thing to Korean culture she could find in Boston. “I started to think about all these issues of race and sexuality, masculinity and femininity. I always knew that Asian women were overly sexualized in mainstream Western culture, but how come Asian men are completely desexualized in this culture?”
The question inspired Kim to write the script that follows a white housewife, Sophie (Vera Farmiga from “The Departed”), and her infertile Korean American husband, Andrew (David McInnis). Devastated by their inability to conceive a child, Andrew spirals into a deep depression, leading to an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Desperate to save her marriage, Sophie follows an illegal Korean immigrant, Jihah (Jung-Woo Ha), home from a sperm bank and offers him a shocking proposition: no-strings-attached sex for cash, including a significant bonus if she conceives a child. Things prove potentially disastrous when she discovers deeper feelings for Jihah.
Kim says her teaching gig, which provided her a chance to revisit the Korean classics, also served as a source of inspiration for the film.
“People say that the Korean cinema industry is just really fantastic these days, but compared to the ‘60s, it’s just really lame,” she laments. Kim was taken by the powerful, subversive female characters of the era, a far cry from modern films that reduce female actors to what Kim describes as “ghostly figures.”
Born on the outskirts of Seoul in a rough, crime-ridden area north of the city, Kim was raised by parents she affectionately describes as “total intellectuals.”
“My parents were very liberal,” explains Kim. “They never told me when to study or what to do.”
In addition to running the local pharmacy, her mother served as the town physician. Her father, a political science professor at Hankuk University, eventually moved the family to Apgujeong, an upscale district of Seoul, where Kim spent the majority of her adolescence. “There is always the one kid in your class,” reminisces Kim, flashing her infectious grin, “wearing big shoes, big glasses, braces — really small and skinny — kind of always awkward and everything. That was me.”
Kim excelled in school, earning her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Seoul National University. It was while taking a video arts class her senior year that she discovered her passion for film. “The first time I touched a video camera, I was just really mesmerized by all the potential and the beauty of the medium,” says Kim. “And I started to think … maybe this is it.” After graduating in 1996, Kim decided to pursue an M.F.A. in film at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia.
Kim went on to direct several short films before releasing her first feature, “Gina Kim’s Video Diary,” in 2002. The self-portrait about her personal struggle with anorexia and adjusting to life in America screened at several film festivals and got Kim noticed. Her following film, “Invisible Light,” a dual narrative about infidelity and the repressed anger of women, earned a special jury prize at the 2004 Seoul Women’s Film Festival.
Immediately after writing “Never Forever” that same year, Kim sent the script to her Korean producer, Joon-Dong Lee, who passed it along to his brother, renowned director Chang-Dong Lee. Both immediately came on board as producers. After enlisting the help of American producer Andrew Fierberg, the pieces fell into place. Kim took on an exhaustive schedule during the shooting of the film, taking the redeye from Boston to New York twice a week in order to accommodate her teaching schedule.
A year later, the daring imagery and subtle commentary of “Never Forever” have earned Kim critical acclaim where she can now pursue filmmaking full time. As for her future in the industry, Fierberg is confident she’ll leave a lasting impression.
“Gina makes films that have a female perspective that don’t have a feminist agenda,” he says. “They are films about searching for your personal desire, regardless of your gender.”
Soon Kim will be leaving for Korea, accompanied by several producers from Paramount, to research and develop a mainstream suspense-thriller project.
“Everything is film, film, film now,” she declares. “Some people say, ‘You don’t have a life.’ But I say, ‘What do you mean? This is my life.’”
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Featured Event
One of the the biggest Asian cinema events to hit Southern California opens on May 10. The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, features the latest works by established and emerging filmmakers, along with seminars, panel discussions and symposiums on topics relevant to Asian Pacific cinema.
Opening Night features “Shanghai Calling,” directed by Daniel Hsia and starring Korean American Daniel Henney, who plays a Chinese American expat lawyer navigating his way through the mean streets of Shanghai (the picture above also indicates he is a raisin smuggler). But does he take off his shirt? Go watch the movie to find out! read more
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