Actor Yeom Hye-ran spoke about portraying the Jeju April 3 incident through the film "My Name."
On the afternoon of the 2nd, at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Yongsan District, Seoul, a press screening and press conference were held for the film "My Name" (director Jeong Ji-young, produced by Let's Film·Aura Pictures, co-produced by M eighty-three·Viva Film, distributed by CJ CGV·Wide Release). Director Jeong Ji-young and actors Yeom Hye-ran, Shin Woo-bin, Choi Jun-woo and Park Ji-bin attended and, moderated by broadcaster Kim Kyung-sik, discussed the film.
"My Name" is a well-made mystery drama film that tackles the Jeju April 3 incident in a contemporary way through the two generations of 18-year-old son Young-ok (Shin Woo-bin), who wants to erase his uncool name, and mother Young-ok (Yeom Hye-ran), who is raising a son a generation younger than her. Yeom Hye-ran, praised for the Netflix series When Life Gives You Tangerines, meets director Jeong Ji-young, who has filmically explored the pains of the era. The film raises expectations by featuring former child actor Park Ji-bin alongside newcomers Shin Woo-bin and Choi Jun-woo.
To achieve this, Yeom Hye-ran built detailed emotional acting. She said, "There are so many works that deal with the Jeju April 3 incidents, and I referenced those works. Among them, the 'collection of testimonies' was helpful. I was particularly impressed by the uncrafted accounts of people who actually experienced it and referenced those."
She also explained about the sunglasses that signify Jeong-soon's overcoming: "They are a symbolic tool for being unable to face the past. When she goes to the barley field, the place of pain, at the end, the act of willingly confronting it—when she takes off the sunglasses—is overwhelmingly moving, but it came to mean facing the pain."
Was there any burden in choosing a film based on the true story of the April 3 incident? Yeom Hye-ran said, "Because it actually happened, the approach was very cautious. But when I read the script, it was literarily very attractive. I especially liked that the story does not remain in the past. It does not only deal with the past April 3 incident; it made me think about how we should view the incident, which had its 78th anniversary this year, in the present. Jeong-soon is not viewed in a flat way but appears multilayered as both perpetrator and victim. Artistically the message is good, and the character is also good," she said emphatically.
"My Name" will be released nationwide on the 15th.
[Photo] OSEN reporter Ji Hyung-jun.
[OSEN]