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The Bacchus Lady (2016)

The Bacchus Lady (2016)

Not Rated

Kocowa

A warm yet bittersweet drama about the margins of Korean society

7.6

Movie

South Korea
English, Korean, Tagalog
Drama
2016
E J-YONG, JE-YONG LEE
Chon Moo-song, Hyun-jun Choi, Jeon Moo-song
110 min

What it's about

So-young, an elderly prostitute working in Seoul, tries to take care of a young Korean-Filipino child she meets in a hospital and make ends meet. So-young's life takes a dark turn when several of her old clients try to reconnect with her.

The take

Before her triumphant Oscar win for her role in Minari, Youn Yuh-jung starred in The Bacchus Lady as So-young, an aging sex worker strugglin to make ends meet. Youn brings a certain dignity to the role that’s rarely seen in typical depictions of sex work around the world. Her work isn't framed as something disgusting or immoral, but as something that's natural and normal. Writer-director E J-yong clearly sides with and respects the people that you don't normally see in K-dramas—characters that have been pushed aside in favor of the stereotypical “ideal” Korean. While meandering at times, the film's warm and bittersweet approach to these characters acts as a reprimand to Korean society on how they fail those at the margins.

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