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This is the blog of Ian Rosales Casocot. Filipino writer. Sometime academic. Former backpacker. Twink bait. Hamster lover.

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Friday, December 01, 2006

entry arrow8:41 PM | Scorpio Nights and Summer Time

I was watching one of those DVDs newly-acquired from the ever-faithful pirate along the Capitol highway, and chanced upon a sexy Korean movie, Summer Time, which was released last 2001, directed by Jae-ho Park and written by Jeong-hak Lee. (See the IMDB information here, and a review here.)



Save for a few scenes and the half-hearted (agonizingly mishandled) ending, it is a virtual copy-cat of Peque Gallaga's jarring erotic masterpiece Scorpio Nights. A photo-copy, really.



Does Peque know about this?

I don't know whether to be enraged or delighted. Enraged, because of the usual reasons. But also delighted, because -- after all these years of prognostication that Filipino cinema is dead and left behind by the rest of the world, especially Korea -- here is proof that many of our films do create impact, enough to be emulated (or pirated) by other filmmakers abroad.

In the long run, the original is still the better version of the story. Gallaga's film (see the IMDB data here), a controversial affair that blurred the borders between art and pornography, is gritty and well-made, going beyond its shocking display of graphic sexuality and finally becoming a damning mirror of the society it reflected. Park's version, on the other hand, does not escape its masturbatory nature and sinks ever lower.

Still, I'd prefer it if Park and Lee had acknowledged their source. It's just not right.

[brief update: whoopsie, turns out everybody's been talking about this since forever.]

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