HAN JIMIN
Starting her show business career while still a teenager, Han Ji-minquickly became a familiar face in South Korean television dramas and films, beloved by audiences for her sweet, wholesome image. Han turns that image on its head with her gritty portrayal of a child abuse survivor in MISS BAEK; a career-changing role that has won Han the Blue Dragon -- the Korean equivalent of the Best Actress Oscar.
At the first annual New York Asian Film Festival Winter Showcase, Han spoke with LMD about her passion to get MISS BAEK made, and her hopes for its positive influence on Korean society.
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MISS BAEK
Han Ji-min
The Lady Miz Diva: Your performance as Baek Sang-ah is raw and completely heartfelt. Had you done research with child abuse survivors? Have any come up and shared their impressions of the film with you?
Han Ji-min: It was difficult to actually meet child abuse survivors, especially in Korean society. It’s very difficult for the victims to come out, or reveal what they’ve been through. And also, as someone who’s doing research, I felt very reluctant and cautious about possibly poking into their wounds and past trauma. So, there weren’t any face-to-face interviews with actual victims.
Even for my director, I don’t think she was in contact with any actual abuse survivors. But she worked with secondhand anecdotes from people who worked in hospitals, who had worked with such abuse survivors. So, that’s how my research, I guess I would call it, happened. It was more so building her backstory to really figure out how this person had lived until this day, and what kind of experiences had shaped her as a human being. I would say, because we were doing a lot of detailed backstory building, we really were working on how Baek Sang-ah would interact with the world and with people.
For example, in our conversations, we were talking about how she would not be able to look a person quite in the eye, face-to-face. So, for example, when she first meets the character of Kim Ji-eun, she never looks at her directly in the eye; it’s just sort of this downward glance that she gives, which I thought was appropriate for her character. And then when she offers Kim Ji-eun water, it’s not just like a direct offering of water; it’s just sort of this elbowing of an offer -- it’s like a half sort of offer. So, it was really the process of building the backstory scene by scene with the director that I was really able to flesh out this character of Baek Sang-ah.
LMD: I felt your performance spoke for so many people who have survived child abuse. As you mentioned, it was difficult to approach real survivors because of the feelings of South Korean society. In any society, when you show something that is unpleasant, you are risking a backlash. Were you worried about bringing this very sensitive subject to the face of society, and how that might backlash on you?
HJm: There were some people who would actually just straight out not want to watch it, just by hearing that it dealt with issues of child abuse. And I think that’s one of the reasons why it was difficult getting distribution for the film, and also why it opened at the box office little later than we were thinking it would. But I feel like when it comes to these social issues, if you don’t at least try -- if you don’t make an effort -- nothing will change. And nothing will change for the future of many children out there who are still struggling under this kind of abuse.
I think I wanted people to watch the movie with a sense of compassion and empathy, where you could ask yourself, ‘If this were my child, what would I do, and how would I feel?’ That is the question that I wanted to ask the audience. And I think as a result of this, hopefully, it will be the start of some sort of change as a result of this project. As we’ve seen with the other Korean film called THE SILENCED in 2011 -- as a result of that new laws were implemented -- as a result of the influence that that film had. So, in that sort of vein, my hope is that MISS BAEK also sheds light on this sort of overlooked issue in Korean society, and that hopefully small but steady change can lead to a much bigger change in the world.
There was also a journalist who said that this was really, really hard to watch, but I feel that you can’t satisfy every single audience member. But if there is one thing that I hope with this film, is that people are able to watch as if watching their own child, and if I achieve that, I think that’s what I set out to achieve, and have achieved.
At the first annual New York Asian Film Festival Winter Showcase, Han spoke with LMD about her passion to get MISS BAEK made, and her hopes for its positive influence on Korean society.
Dig it!
MISS BAEK
Han Ji-min
The Lady Miz Diva: Your performance as Baek Sang-ah is raw and completely heartfelt. Had you done research with child abuse survivors? Have any come up and shared their impressions of the film with you?
Han Ji-min: It was difficult to actually meet child abuse survivors, especially in Korean society. It’s very difficult for the victims to come out, or reveal what they’ve been through. And also, as someone who’s doing research, I felt very reluctant and cautious about possibly poking into their wounds and past trauma. So, there weren’t any face-to-face interviews with actual victims.
Even for my director, I don’t think she was in contact with any actual abuse survivors. But she worked with secondhand anecdotes from people who worked in hospitals, who had worked with such abuse survivors. So, that’s how my research, I guess I would call it, happened. It was more so building her backstory to really figure out how this person had lived until this day, and what kind of experiences had shaped her as a human being. I would say, because we were doing a lot of detailed backstory building, we really were working on how Baek Sang-ah would interact with the world and with people.
For example, in our conversations, we were talking about how she would not be able to look a person quite in the eye, face-to-face. So, for example, when she first meets the character of Kim Ji-eun, she never looks at her directly in the eye; it’s just sort of this downward glance that she gives, which I thought was appropriate for her character. And then when she offers Kim Ji-eun water, it’s not just like a direct offering of water; it’s just sort of this elbowing of an offer -- it’s like a half sort of offer. So, it was really the process of building the backstory scene by scene with the director that I was really able to flesh out this character of Baek Sang-ah.
LMD: I felt your performance spoke for so many people who have survived child abuse. As you mentioned, it was difficult to approach real survivors because of the feelings of South Korean society. In any society, when you show something that is unpleasant, you are risking a backlash. Were you worried about bringing this very sensitive subject to the face of society, and how that might backlash on you?
HJm: There were some people who would actually just straight out not want to watch it, just by hearing that it dealt with issues of child abuse. And I think that’s one of the reasons why it was difficult getting distribution for the film, and also why it opened at the box office little later than we were thinking it would. But I feel like when it comes to these social issues, if you don’t at least try -- if you don’t make an effort -- nothing will change. And nothing will change for the future of many children out there who are still struggling under this kind of abuse.
I think I wanted people to watch the movie with a sense of compassion and empathy, where you could ask yourself, ‘If this were my child, what would I do, and how would I feel?’ That is the question that I wanted to ask the audience. And I think as a result of this, hopefully, it will be the start of some sort of change as a result of this project. As we’ve seen with the other Korean film called THE SILENCED in 2011 -- as a result of that new laws were implemented -- as a result of the influence that that film had. So, in that sort of vein, my hope is that MISS BAEK also sheds light on this sort of overlooked issue in Korean society, and that hopefully small but steady change can lead to a much bigger change in the world.
There was also a journalist who said that this was really, really hard to watch, but I feel that you can’t satisfy every single audience member. But if there is one thing that I hope with this film, is that people are able to watch as if watching their own child, and if I achieve that, I think that’s what I set out to achieve, and have achieved.