Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: HOPELESS [Red Sea International Film Festival 2023 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia]
"Hopeless", like "Naga" earlier in the festival at the Red Sea, is about escape in a way but only once a brutal reality at times is confronted and set in. The story here is of Yeon-gyu (Xa-Bin Hong) who just wants to get away from a dead end and abusive life by a stepfather who dotes on his daughter but punishes him for no reason other than his own shortcomings. Circumstances simply change Yeon-gyu's dynamic and one action causes a resounding effect to another. While the beginning of the film struggles to put these pieces together, it does innately and vividly establish the path this boy takes and how certain reactions and tolerances bring him to his ultimate point at the end. The trick and brilliance of the film is actually how it takes the would-be antagonist in Jeong Jae-kwang as Seung-Mu, the boss of sorts but one with a story all his own. The dynamic builds within the notion of a criminal business but how the family grows out of it (even more than Yeon-gyu's own family). There is a side story with his half sister (played by Bibi) which creates another interesting dynamic especially in a patriarchal setting because of the essence of protection and what that means.
What makes the progression work halfway through the story and amps the film up is that Yeon-gyu makes certain mistakes that any rational person would in the situationbut they nevertheless don't go in his direction, whether it is because he is set up to fail, his own short sightedness or his unwillingness to see the bigger picture. He has no problem at times making a split second decision but then pays for it afterwards. There is a context of duality which is wonderfully explored very visually in the third act of the movie through a selection of scenes which become more and more defined. Granted the film gets a bit brutal in its final minutes and rightfully so, though the mortivation of one character's part at the end seems a little self sacrificing without fully explaining why. A flashback tome in the middle really does bring this to bear to give it more meaning though the structure of it is a bit shoddy as is the aftermath which could have gone alot farther and made a bigger point, despite the main character almost on a path he can never return from. Again the aspect of the primal and survioval exist prominently but only if a lesson can be learned from the path,. Yeon-gyu has, at certain times, the benefit of the doubt but his path can and it might be ended at any time. It is just the luck of the draw. B+
By Tim Wassberg
