I missed out on a chance to see
Little Black Dress earlier
this year in March when it was playing at the CGV cinemas in Los Angeles. It wasn’t a question of missed
opportunities and previous engagements, it just didn’t appeal to me. Considering that it is a no-holds-barred
chick flick this is understandable.
For most men, what springs to mind when thinking of ‘chick flicks’, is a
bevy of wretched romcoms. Romance
films are often considered chick flicks but I can’t say that I agree with that
as a catch-all term. ‘Bad’ romance
films are chick flicks, rather, they are bad chick flicks, because there are
plenty of good films aimed at women.
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| At the Jewelry store |
However, Hollywood frequently makes films that are squarely
aimed at the female demographic and, just like they splatter the screen with
blood, guts, and naked women to draw in men, chick flicks highlight some of the
worst female stereotypes and are nebulous, shallow, and consumerist orgies
which belie the industry’s misogynistic nature. Romance, when done well, as often is the case with Korean
cinema, is universally appealing. Though
it is probably fair to say that it still weighs towards the fairer sex. Little
Black Dress, very much like its Hollywood counterparts, is crass, consumerist,
shallow, and directionless. However, it is also quite enjoyable.
Against my better judgment and my natural instincts, viewing
Little Black Dress was a surprisingly pleasant experience. The question is why? After the first ten
minutes I had the impression that I was in for a long ride. The pettiness and the brand worshipping
were enough to severely put me off. It was also impossible for me to feel any sympathy for these
four pretty privileged girls as they struggled through their wearisome daily
trials. It was like Sex and the
City (a very good show) without the wit, which in effect made it like Entourage
(a not so good show that I nevertheless stuck with through to the end). In fact it is very much like the latter,
vain, narcissistic fluff that is never engaging but always watchable.
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| After a night out |
So what happened after those first ten minutes? How did I begin to enjoy the film? Did a story kick in? Was there a monumental event that
occurred? Did the two-tone
caricatures blossom into characters? No. I suppose
you could say that I got used to it. It showed me exactly what it was with its opening salvo, and therefore
it limited my expectations. What
it also did, however, was get the worst stuff out of the way at the start: the
ditzy-ness, the consumerism, etc. So when things did start to happen, as prosaic as they were,
it was a marked improvement.
This
reminds me of a similar strategy employed by Shortbus (2007), a little-seen
American indie film that may be one of the best of the last decade. Director John Cameron Mitchell wove
together a stunning opening sequence consisting of three parallel-edited
scenes, each more shocking than the last, featuring onscreen ejaculation,
auto-fellatio, and more. The
purpose of that was to thoroughly plunge viewers into the deep end, so that
they were able to appreciate the rest of the film in its emotional context,
rather than the graphic sexual acts it depicted on screen. This was a very clever move that enabled
people with latent homophobia to move past their prejudices and appreciate the
film on its significant artistic merits. It was a deliberate move and while what I’ve described in Little
Black Dress may have been accidental, it seemed to achieve the same effect.
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| Friend's success vs. mother's expectations |
There isn’t very much going on as far as the story is concerned
but I suppose it could be seem as a higher-strata, but much lower brow spin on
Take Care of My Cat (2001), as it features four girlfriends who have just
graduated from University and are not quite sure what happens next. Naturally some progress quicker than
others and splinters begin to form in the foursome. The film follows the four protagonists, some more closely
than others, as they try get by and get ahead, all the while wrestling with
their parents and their own expectations for young adult life in Seoul.
The glossy look of the film suits it as it is very well shot
with vibrant colours and strong composition throughout attractive
locations. It also makes it look
like a commercial sometimes and this serves to highlight the frivolity of the
narrative, this is also emphasized when one of the characters, the lazy,
pretty, party girl who has never had to work in her life, winds up on
billboards and tv ads as a jeans model.
The film revels in aesthetics and is always pleasing to look at,
significant attention is paid to the costumes and they are also important parts
of the narrative, as the title implies.
Costumes and appearance are very important to the characters, besides
the friend who becomes a model and subsequently a K-Drama actress, another
friend is also trying to land roles but she is so ashamed of her rejections that
she tells her friends that she is no longer pursuing that career.
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| At the clothes store |
I can’t say that
Little Black Dress is for everyone, it is a light film with little substance. Perhaps I was in a slightly less
cynical and more forgiving mood than usual but to me the film was an easy watch
and intermittently rewarding, as I am also in my mid-20s and a little uncertain
of where my life’s path will lead.
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