Synopsis
One day, a man and a woman seek a dentist clinic for treatment. A chilling row of medical equipment forms a line next to the dentist’s chair. After both being anaesthetised and losing consciousness, the man’s wicked intentions and desire draws him into a dream world. The masochist dentist appears in the form of the devil and the beautiful woman is besieged inside wicked intentions. Outside the logic of reality, a series of sadomasochist events occur. An Empty Dream is notorious for being charged with breaches of both the anti-communism and public obscenity law. Year by year, the issues surrounding this film are the topic of discourse. Referred in relations to films that have evoked the controversial boundaries of expression and obscenity in art. However, a more precise and relevant reading of the film is that of a rare Korean expressionist film structured on connecting montage images. The reminder of someone allures to a search outside on the streets, losing sense of direction, pointing to the unfamiliarity of the text and the cruel and void characteristics of the era. Distorted expressions of the 1920's streets reflected in studio sets, the images of the characters and montage with its foundations in metaphor and synecdoche. Surrealist images within insert cuts mingled to point of resembling absurd theatre. Likewise, An Empty Dream was similar to other modernist self-consciousness films released in the mid to late 1960’s. Films displaying a previously unseen floating of sensibility dissonance. The common practice of dubbing dialogue in postproduction, the incongruous acting and the occasional stereotypical expressions are a bit rustic. Nonetheless, an aromatic and delightful avant-garde film. As a shadow of an inevitable era, An Empty Dream cannot be neglected. YU Hyun-mok’s filmography is represented with montage and mise en scene generated visual images drawing strength from a superb visual sensibility. Amongst that diverse collection, An Empty Dream is supreme highlight of self-consciousness space expressionism and experimental montage composition. (KIM Mee-hyun)