Film Review: "Yellow Door: '90s Lo-fi Film Club" (2023).

Before the renaissance of Korean cinema, there was the film club, Yellow Door. Thirty years later, the story behind director Bong Joon Ho's first short film and Korea's first cinephile generation. This is Yellow Door: '90s Lo-fi Film Club. This documentary film directed by Lee Hyuk-rae. This intimate documentary explores a bygone era of cinematic passion and the emergence of young film enthusiasts in South Korea, including Bong Joon-ho.

On September 14, 1969, South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter, Bong Joon-ho (봉준호) was born. His filmography is characterised by emphasis on social and class themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the black comedy Barking Dogs Never Bite (플란다스의 개) (2000), before achieving both critical and commercial success with his subsequent films: the crime thriller Memories of Murder (살인의 추억) (2003), the monster film The Host (괴물) (2006), the science fiction action film Snowpiercer (설국열차) (2013), which served as Bong's English language debut, and the near-universally acclaimed black comedy thriller Parasite (기생충) (2019), all of which are among the highest-grossing films in South Korea, with Parasite also being the highest-grossing South Korean film in history. All of Bong's films have been South Korean productions, although both Snowpiercer and Okja (옥자) (2017) are mostly in the English language. Two of his films have screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival—Okja in 2017 and Parasite in 2019; the latter earned the Palme d'Or, which was a first for a South Korean film. Parasite also became the first South Korean film to receive Academy Award nominations, with Bong winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, making Parasite the first film in the award's history not in English to win Best Picture. In 2017, Bong was included on Metacritic's list of the 25 best film directors of the 21st century. In 2020, Bong was included in Time's annual list of 100 Most Influential People and Bloomberg 50.

What makes the film really work is the even tone with which it treats its subjects. The club and its members are never ridiculed nor are they held up as a grand artistic achievement and movement. The film is less an ode to Bong Jong-ho than a long form exploration of the fantastical manifestation of the inner lives of the members of Yellow Door. This is a remarkable story, certainly most entertaining for fans of Bong Joon-ho and South Korean cinema. Still, it's fascinating to watch the archival footage of the members in their youth and the interviews of the members now. The joy of the film is the ingenuity with which the kids face filmmaking challenges, from finding and transcribing film text books to creating a library of VHS tapes of their favourite films.

Simon says Yellow Door: '90s Lo-fi Film Club receives: