This essay will analyse Kim Ki Young’s camera work and his editing techniques in The Housemaid 1960 and what it is about these techniques that made the film stand out.
The Housemaid 1960 is a great example of the types of socio-political difficulties Korean filmmakers such as Kim Ki-young experienced in order to develop both Bordwell’s and Neale’s categorizations. The April Revolution of 1960, or 4-1-9, overthrew the First Autocratic Republic of South Korea. The Housemaid—made by Kim Ki-young in South Korea in 1960, when the country was still part of the emerging world and recovering from the cruel Japanese colonial occupation, a civil war, and severe poverty. This certainly fits the melodramatic mould. Its story is about a marital crisis (a staple of the genre) caused by the employment of a new maid in a household, and its emotions often run violently high. But it is far from the product of an underdeveloped cinematic sensibility; with its aesthetic restraint and self-critical humour, it does not appropriate the usual overindulgent style of melodramas, giving it an unyielding power of individuality. However, this film isn’t just about the aesthetics it also manages to question the significance of traditional family values and social hierarchy.
This film was made and released at a time where freedom of expression had come to Korean cinematic practices as then the right for film censorship had been transferred from the government to civil organizations, specifically the Film Ethics Committee. This freedom, both democratic and artistic, was momentary, however, due to a military coup d’état on the 6th of May 1961. The imprecise year from the revolution to the new military regime provides a temporal window of artistic cinematic practice and haebang (liberation). From 1960 to 1961, Korean auteurs such as Yu Hyun-mok and Lee Man-hui, together with Kim Ki-young, made films that addressed ‘dark social realities’ such as Aimless Bullet/ Oboltan (Yu Hyung-mok, 1961) and Kaleidoscope/ Jumadeung (Lee Man-hui, 1961) (along with much more).
The Housemaid is commonly described as one of the three or four most significant Korean films of all time and was a huge box-office success upon original release.
The movie has been widely praised as a classic displaying expertise in filmmaking skill during a relatively early period of Korean cinema history
The editing of this movie is unlike anything I have ever seen before. How the scenes are cut especially are very distinct. It is as if the camera does a spin in a fast motion. I am not however familiar with this particular technique. However, the editing in this film can be compared to that of renowned filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock in his film vertigo.
Kim Ki-young’s style is similar to Hitchcock when looking at the film’s interesting camera angles, & unusual camera movements, zooming in and out from one room to another with a smooth technique. Every shot has a purpose, even the littlest, seemingly random things in the house helped in adding to the sinister feel of the movie. Add in the piano sounds properly injected in scenes, the result is a portentous, uncanny mood all throughout. The editing is noticeably very clean. I really like that fade out-fade in the transition of scenes, especially when compared to films nowadays with their idle editing styles.
One of the major techniques that were used in this film that I find very interesting is the scenes of the fil that were filmed through the glass doors. This is a very different approach that is hard to come by in films. This technique gives off the feeling that the viewers are quietly eavesdropping on the family’s life from outside the window.
Another style of camerawork I find very noticeable is the continuous movement of the camera. The camera steadily and smoothly manages to follow each character as they carry about the business. (22:06) In this scene, the father had just finished serving his wife and family food and is about to stand up to go and receive his guests. The camera movements in this scene are very genuine as the movement also makes it seem like the camera stood up the bed as well with the father’s character.
As the film goes on it is noticeable that the images become somewhat distorted, I am not sur this this was done intentionally or unintentionally but this however gives the film a dreamlike feel which is not clear at the beginning but made clearer at the end of the movie when we discover that all of this never actually happened and it turned out to be a figment of someone’s imagination.
This essay highlights the individuality/uniqueness of the camera work and style of this film. Through an analysis of parts of the film, we have been able to see how forward the editing style and camerawork was compared to other Korean films that were released during that period in time as well as how the camera style can be compared to a film of the present.
Originally published 15.10.2019