Green Chair

Director: Park Chul-soo
Screenwriters: Kim Jun-han

Institute History

  • 2005 Sundance Film Festival

Description

With a film as erotically charged and aesthetically adventurous as it is emotionally truthful, veteran director Park Chul-soo brings us the provocative story of amour fou between a 32-year-old divorcee and a 19-year-old college student (who under Korean law is considered a minor until he turns 20).

After being arrested and sentenced to community service for corrupting a minor, beautiful, enigmatic Moon-hee attempts to ditch handsome young Hyun. But Hyun refuses to disappear, and the two, magnetically drawn together, go on the lam, escaping to a hotel room where they rapturously discover each other through sex that is as raw and intimate as any seen on screen. As the film progresses, so, too, do their trust in each other and their confidence in their unorthodox choices. Park brings an extraordinary intelligence, sensitivity, and spirited lightness to the story of an egalitarian relationship that continuously defies expectation as the lovers test the frontiers of sensation, communicate in ineffable ways, and improvise an unconventional family.

Park shifts gears with a humorously theatrical, almost surrealist culminating scene in which an unlikely group—including Moon-hee's feminist supervisor, her criminal case investigator, and Hyun's entirely accepting mother—weigh in with Greek chorus-like opinions on this rare partnership. Full of stylistic surprises and magical moments, Green Chair is a celebration of living in the moment and a profound meditation on maturity and innocence.

— Caroline Libresco

Screening Details

Credits

As you use our Online Archives, please understand that the information presented from Festivals, Labs, and other activities is taken directly from official publications from each year. While this information is limited and doesn't necessarily represent the full list of participants (e.g. actors and crew), it is the list given to us by the main film/play/project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications. Each entry in the Online Archives is meant as a historical record of a particular film, play, or project at the time of its involvement with Sundance Institute. For this reason, we can only amend an entry if a name is misspelled, or if the entry does not correctly reflect the original publication. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected]