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Bungee Jumping of Their Own

KIM Dae-seung

Korea2001 100min 35mm color

Synopsis

< Bungee Jumping of Their Own > is an unusual Korean melodrama. The first half is a traditional love story between a man and a woman. In-woo and Tae-hee who meet at the campus in the eighties, go between hotels, cafes, and back street alleys-following the usual tracks of love. What is unusual about this film is its latter half. Many years later, In-woo, who has become a schoolteacher, realizes that his deceased loved one's soul is inside his student, Hyun-bin. It is like a mystery novel identifying the missing links. The character's feelings are not easily revealed, and his love for the deceased is remembered in flashbacks. Through identifying the missing links, the viewer is able to understand the present life of In-woo.   
It is the mysterious fact that his lover who died on his day of entering the army, is brought back to life, in the body of his male student. In-woo consummates his old love by falling in love with Hyun-bin. While doing so, they are subjected to social stigmas, creating a feeling of tension throughout the film. Love between the teacher and the student, and between the same sex-cannot be resolved unless it is transmigration. Not only this, there is a strong feeling of pleasure in < Bungee Jumping of Their Own >. The wide gap between love and morality adds to the film? intensity, twisting the rules of the melodrama. Two lovers who bungee jump toward death supercedes destiny, and it is an act of a contract obliging the two with love immortal. (LEE Sang-yong)

Diretor

KIM Dae-seung

Started his experience as an assistant director for director JUNG Ji-young? < White Badge >, he went on to become a solid first assistant director for reknown director IM Kwon-taek in internationally acclaimed films such as < Sopyonje >, < The Taebaek Mountains > (Official Competition at Berlin Int? Film Festival), < Festival > and < Chunhyang > (Official Competition at Cannes Film Festival). < Bungee Jumping of Their Own > is his debut film.