[yasr_overall_rating]
While the Kingdom of Korea is under occupation by the Japanese, an old and experience hunter is challenged by the hunt of the last tiger.
South Korean director Park Hoon-jung wrote the excellent “I Saw the Devil” and wrote/directed the innovative-but-flawed crime drama “New World.” “The Tiger,” which he both scripted and helmed, sees him find his footing as a filmmaker with an epic vision, a distinct voice and an artful sensibility, preserved among all the big-budget mayhem. While overlong – and sometimes overblown – “The Tiger” is a thoughtful blockbuster, a truly pleasant oddity these days.
The prologue takes place in 1915: Father Chun Man-duk (Choi Min-sik, who worked with the director on “New World”) teaches his son how to hunt, passing on his highly enviable skills. He goes hunting, promising his wife he’ll bring something back this time. “Bear with me,” he says (pun intended? lost in translation? regardless, made me smile). He follows a bloody trail that leads him to a tiger, and an intense confrontation.
A decade or so later, the occupying Japanese authorities send out their own group of hunters, to eliminate all the tigers from Korea – particularly one legendary beast that has been massacring their troops, “the King of all Korean tigers,” weighing “over 850 pounds.” They enlist a drunk, decrepit Chun for the next-to-impossible task. “Why would you dare provoke the mountain lords?” Chun reasonably asks. When his own, angsty son joins a gang of hunters – led by the villanous Gu-kuyng (Jeong Man-sik) – and tragedy (involving, yes, a tiger – but also a pack of wolves) strikes, Chun “comes back from retirement” to face the beast, with whom he shares a deep, personal history.
Bing-sik as the wise, aging hunter seamlessly blends with the scenery, bringing to mind DiCaprio’s performance in the somewhat-similar “The Revenant.” One with nature, his Chun is multi-faceted and intriguing, a borderline-mythical character who stepped off the pages of some ancient legend. Cinematographer Lee Mo-gae catches every wrinkle in the actor’s face – but also every snowflake in the air, every exhaled breath; he quite literally paints on screen, his strokes of blizzard, landscape and aquarelle contrasts absolutely mesmerizing.
Hoon-jung sustains a contemplative, unhurried mood, complemented by sounds of wind whistling and feet crunching in the snow. It’s assured filmmaking: engrossing and gorgeous to behold. The hunting scenes are masterfully done – starting from Chun’s first, pre-credit encounter with a tiger and ending with the final, lyrical, extended confrontation. The tiger-killing scenes are both exhilarating and hard-to-watch, those heavenly beasts mercilessly slayed by soldiers. The film’s biggest success is its portrayal of the relationship between man and nature (in this case, exemplified by the Tiger) that transcends Earthly realms, and how it’s juxtaposed against the tyranny, cynicism and banal evil of humankind.
When it comes to politics, the film falters a little. The Japanese-Korean conflict isn’t really explored; the Japanese villains come off as thinly drawn and one-dimensional. Some dialogue exchanges are a bit silly (especially in a scene involving a father impressed by his son’s penis size). “Use any means necessary to catch that tiger,” a Japanese commander bellows, as if the hunter has a choice in the matter (were the restrictions regarding the tiger’s killing methods prior to that statement?) The film can’t help but delve into sentimentality here and there, especially in its flashback sequences. At well over two hours, the film is too long for such a minimalist plot. At 100 minutes, this would have been a lean, mean killing machine, without losing its contemplative tone.
Hoon-jung’s epic film reiterates the magnificence of wild animals, their grandeur and savage beauty, and the importance of animal preservation. An action/horror hybrid, a survival tale, a historical account and an art film – “The Tiger” is an almost-perfect symbiosis. Its main statement is: “Look at how puny and stupid we are, compared to the natural world we’re steadily annihilating.” Seek this tiger out. Just please, for Christ’s sakes, don’t kill it.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital August 9th
