A Woman Judge: What's the Story Here?

Someone recently asked me what distinguishes Korean film. What makes it unique or special? To this, I replied: "It's penchant for turning on a dime." Hong Eun-won's wild A Woman Judge is a prime example. Initially, this 1962 movie seems to be a formulaic flick about a bright young woman (Moon Jeong-suk) fighting against societal -- and family -- expectations as she pursues her passion to be an adjudicator with an eye on the sisterhood in society. Then the movie shifts out of social justice mode and becomes about a sister-in-law (Bang Seong-ja) obsessed with getting a piano and undermining the female judge, even going so far as to set up her brother, the judge's husband (Kim Seok-hun) with a desperate, unmarried secretary (Eom Aeng-ran) who works for her feminist father (Kim Seung-ho) at the construction company. When batty, banana-crazed grandma (Bok Hye Suk) dies, however, the whole feel and focus of the movie changes once again as we're propelled into the courtroom for an old-fashion murder mystery, with the former judge as lead lawyer.

To be sure, your enjoyment of A Woman Judge demands your openness to dropping one genre (melodrama) for another (thriller) then another (courtroom drama) without judgment. Nothing is wasted as you go from one to the next: The sexist doctor-boyfriend (Park Am) will return as a helpful old friend; the disowned, addict child (Chu Seok-yang) of the mother-in-law (Yu Gye-seon) will resurface to disastrous results. Luckily, our now retired lady judge will put all that hard-earned legal training to good use when the situation demands it. Footage may be missing yet A Woman Judge is still three films in one.

Tuition: A Poor Education

Poverty may inspire some to get an education but it also gets in the way of learning. It's not just going to school hungry that does it in Choi In-kyu's and Bang Han-jun's drama Tuition either. It's also the shame that comes with not having the cash to pay your tuition. And it's not the teacher that's creating that sense of guilt. The kids without money feel bad all on their own. Yet the drive to learn is strong! So when given the opportunity to go to his aunt's house over 20 kilometers away, Yeong-dal (Jeong Chang-jo) makes the journey alone — first on foot and then a stretch on an oxcart before resuming his trek unassisted (often with indifferent vehicles passing him by). You have to admire his tenacity even as you wish he had an adult to accompany him, given his grandmother (Bok Hye-suk) — and primary care taking — is continually ailing. Where are his parents, you ask? Well, they're trying to make a living elsewhere and while they do show up at the end, they don't appear overly delighted to see him. The formality in that part may be cultural but it's still pretty weird to witness.

In truth, there's not a lot of emotion to be found in Tuition. Most of the action is presented matter-of-factly with incredibly sparse dialogue, although the scene in which the young boy cries that he's "bad luck" as a way to comprehend the lack of food and money in his struggling household is certainly an anguishing one. I also appreciated the subplot involving a young girl in similar straits: She's the school's other top pupil and their initial rivalry to get top honors shifts once they realize their struggles are the same.