The late Korean actress Lee Eun-joo's posthumous cinema 'The Scarlet Letter' is invited to the 7th Taipei Film Festival, scheduled to raise a curtain on June 25.
The Taipei Film Festival is an annual multi-cultural event containing film festival and other film culture-related activities held by the Taipei City Government and mapped out by the Department of Cultural Affairs.
In the past three years, the Taipei Film Festival is executed by Taiwan Film & Culture Association, a newly established non-profit film culture organization conducted by the world-acclaimed director HOU Hsiao-Hsien (Millennium Mambo, Flowers of Shanghai, City of Sadness).
And the General Director of the Taipei Film Festival, Edmond Wong, is the former Director of the Chinese Taipei Film Archive.
Cinema 'The Scarlet Letter', in which Lee Eun-joo starred, shows a plot that Ki-hoon is an elite detective, a graduate of the Police Academy and in charge of the Violent Crimes Department. He married to Soo-hyun but he also involved with her friend Ga-hee (Lee Eun-joo).
A photo studio owner is murdered and the main suspect is the victims wife, Kyung-hee, a mysterious woman with a tainted air about her. Soo-hyun and Ga-hee become pregnant around the same time, and Ki-hoon becomes more and more confused as he finds himself attracted to enigmatic Kyung-hee.
Director Daniel H. Byun - Byeon Hyeok sticks faithfully to the grammar of the mainstream genre film but he also attempts an unusual variation. Characterization and emotional ups and downs drive the narrative rather than the clues to the crime.
What puts the hero into the corner is not the crime or the obstacles the detective faces in the investigation, but rather his complex private life. The suspects are evocative of the heros personal complications and also epitomize the heros internal desolation.
Ki-hoons private life takes on a bigger part as the film moves into the second half. The Scarlet Letter is at once a detective film and a character drama. Its also a melodrama about the frustration of forbidden desires. The careful and detailed cinematography, first-rate performances and a tight narrative are all impressive in this interesting film.
Lee Eun-joo (b. Dec. 22, 1980) studied piano for much of her youth, without giving much thought to becoming an actress. After finding work as a model, however, she began to be offered roles in various TV dramas, including Start and KAIST.
Her film debut came in 1999, when she played the younger sister in Park Chong-wan's award-winning feature Rainbow Trout. Her first lead role came as the title character in the third film by internationally acclaimed director Hong Sang-soo, The Virgin Stripped Bare by her Bachelors.
Following this, she teamed with actor Lee Byeong-heon (JSA) in the 2001 hit film Bungee Jumping of Their Own, and also scored a hit opposite Cha Tae-hyun in the melodrama Lovers' Concerto.
Lee's later career was marked by several turns in films that failed at the box-office, plus a key role in the record-breaking Korean War film Taegukgi. In late 2004 she starred in her last film, Daniel H. Byun's The Scarlet Letter which screened as the Closing Film at the 2004 Pusan International Film Festival.
Tragically, Lee committed suicide on February 22, 2005 after suffering from depression for over a year. The news of her death prompted a massive outpouring of grief from fellow actors and filmmakers. Lee will be remembered for her talent, intelligence and passion that made her stand out from other actresses of her generation.
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