‘Dear Jinri’ bears witness to late Ok-pop singer Sulli’s fact, brutal music trade
6 min readBy AFP
BUSAN: A brand new documentary that includes a late Ok-pop star’s ultimate interview unveils complicated truths about South Korea’s notoriously brutal music trade whereas highlighting her defiance of stress to adapt to societal norms.
“Dear Jinri”, which premiered on the Busan International Film Festival, revolves round singing star Sulli’s final Netflix venture, an unfinished movie that included an in-depth interview.
Born Choi Jin-ri, Sulli took her personal life in 2019 at age 25, after an extended wrestle with on-line bullying. The interview within the movie — uncooked, highly effective and heartbreaking — has by no means been beforehand seen.
What Sulli shares in that dialog raises “many critical issues in our society,” director Jung Yoon-suk mentioned after the movie’s BIFF screening Saturday night.
“These can be seen as issues related to women, or they could be problems concerning the vulnerable in our society, or related to matters of equality,” he mentioned.
Sulli, who started her profession as a baby actress at age 11, made her debut in 2009 for f(x), which shortly grew to become one in all Ok-pop’s high lady teams.
Known for behaviour thought-about controversial in South Korea — together with refusing to put on a bra in public — she confronted relentless on-line bullying and was incessantly focused by sexually abusive feedback.
The movie additionally explores the singer’s lonely childhood and battles with self-perception as a girl in a world that may be intensely centered on look.
“Since you are born as a pretty woman, you don’t have to know anything,” Sulli says she was advised.
But, she provides: “It’s obnoxious to say your life was hard because you are a pretty woman.”
The well-documented pressures of the Ok-pop world are additionally spotlighted, with Sulli explaining how she was advised her aim was to be “the highest quality product”.
She likens her expertise to that of the protagonist in Luc Besson’s 1990 “La Femme Nikita”, who undergoes rigorous and harsh coaching to grow to be a programmed murderer, fully minimize off from the skin world.
It appeared as if folks “couldn’t recognise that we were human beings”, Sulli says within the movie.
The interview is punctuated by frequent pauses because the digital camera lingers silently on its topic, the ache and sorrow palpable on her face.
Audible sobs from the viewers could possibly be heard all through the screening.
A self-aware artist
Suicide is the main explanation for dying amongst South Koreans aged 10 to 39 and happens at an unusually excessive charge, official figures present.
Several different younger Ok-pop stars have died of suspected suicide in recent times, together with Goo Hara, Jonghyun and Moonbin. The incidents have prompted requires elevated psychological well being assist for younger folks within the trade.
Sulli’s response to director Jung’s query in regards to the on-line bullying she endured — particularly, her resolution to grant authorized forgiveness to one of many perpetrators — is arguably some of the poignant and revealing scenes within the film.
She additionally candidly discusses feminism — a subject nonetheless controversial in socially conservative South Korea — saying she “rooted for women who spoke out”, even when their views didn’t align with hers.
In the top, the movie paints a portrait of a contemplative, resilient determine who, within the methods she might, resisted the stress to adapt, striving as a substitute to forge her personal understanding of the world and her place in it.
The movie takes its title from Sulli’s authorized title, Jin-ri, which suggests fact in Korean.
“It was incredibly important to view this person not just as a celebrity or an idol, but as someone who possesses self-awareness as an artist,” Jung mentioned.
“It seemed like the movie would be meaningful as the truth itself, just as (her) name implies.”
Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
BUSAN: A brand new documentary that includes a late Ok-pop star’s ultimate interview unveils complicated truths about South Korea’s notoriously brutal music trade whereas highlighting her defiance of stress to adapt to societal norms.
“Dear Jinri”, which premiered on the Busan International Film Festival, revolves round singing star Sulli’s final Netflix venture, an unfinished movie that included an in-depth interview.
Born Choi Jin-ri, Sulli took her personal life in 2019 at age 25, after an extended wrestle with on-line bullying. The interview within the movie — uncooked, highly effective and heartbreaking — has by no means been beforehand seen.googletag.cmd.push(perform() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );
What Sulli shares in that dialog raises “many critical issues in our society,” director Jung Yoon-suk mentioned after the movie’s BIFF screening Saturday night.
“These can be seen as issues related to women, or they could be problems concerning the vulnerable in our society, or related to matters of equality,” he mentioned.
Sulli, who started her profession as a baby actress at age 11, made her debut in 2009 for f(x), which shortly grew to become one in all Ok-pop’s high lady teams.
Known for behaviour thought-about controversial in South Korea — together with refusing to put on a bra in public — she confronted relentless on-line bullying and was incessantly focused by sexually abusive feedback.
The movie additionally explores the singer’s lonely childhood and battles with self-perception as a girl in a world that may be intensely centered on look.
“Since you are born as a pretty woman, you don’t have to know anything,” Sulli says she was advised.
But, she provides: “It’s obnoxious to say your life was hard because you are a pretty woman.”
The well-documented pressures of the Ok-pop world are additionally spotlighted, with Sulli explaining how she was advised her aim was to be “the highest quality product”.
She likens her expertise to that of the protagonist in Luc Besson’s 1990 “La Femme Nikita”, who undergoes rigorous and harsh coaching to grow to be a programmed murderer, fully minimize off from the skin world.
It appeared as if folks “couldn’t recognise that we were human beings”, Sulli says within the movie.
The interview is punctuated by frequent pauses because the digital camera lingers silently on its topic, the ache and sorrow palpable on her face.
Audible sobs from the viewers could possibly be heard all through the screening.
A self-aware artist
Suicide is the main explanation for dying amongst South Koreans aged 10 to 39 and happens at an unusually excessive charge, official figures present.
Several different younger Ok-pop stars have died of suspected suicide in recent times, together with Goo Hara, Jonghyun and Moonbin. The incidents have prompted requires elevated psychological well being assist for younger folks within the trade.
Sulli’s response to director Jung’s query in regards to the on-line bullying she endured — particularly, her resolution to grant authorized forgiveness to one of many perpetrators — is arguably some of the poignant and revealing scenes within the film.
She additionally candidly discusses feminism — a subject nonetheless controversial in socially conservative South Korea — saying she “rooted for women who spoke out”, even when their views didn’t align with hers.
In the top, the movie paints a portrait of a contemplative, resilient determine who, within the methods she might, resisted the stress to adapt, striving as a substitute to forge her personal understanding of the world and her place in it.
The movie takes its title from Sulli’s authorized title, Jin-ri, which suggests fact in Korean.
“It was incredibly important to view this person not just as a celebrity or an idol, but as someone who possesses self-awareness as an artist,” Jung mentioned.
“It seemed like the movie would be meaningful as the truth itself, just as (her) name implies.” Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
