Synopsis
A restaurant called "Virgin Restaurant" near an army base is now almost deserted. Mr. K, listening to his mother's death wish, comes to the restaurant to take care of an old woman in hopes of inheriting the place. Because of his care, the old woman slowly recovers. Her demands increase day by day, beyond his expectations, until her true desire becomes evident to him.
Director's Note
"Virgin Restaurant" has an ambiguous temporal space. I think sensual desire, one of the basic human instincts, does not distinct or is not restricted at a certain time.
In spite of ambiguous temporal space, I try to express realistic action and "Mise en scene" as possible as I can. The term realistic, here, means "lively existing". I intend to direct actors and actresses to act as if they were characters themselves in movies.
The old woman CAN have sex but she is sick and looks too old to have love with some man. Moreover that leads to the death. If I misdirected it could give rise to disgusting feeling to the audience. in order to avoid this feeling and show my intention as exactly as possible, I set up a scene which the audience can understand the attitude of Mr. K.
Director's Bio / Filmography
- LEE Jong-urn
Born in 1974, Chung-Ju, Korea
Graduated Dongguk University Graduate School, Dept. of Film & Theatre
1998 [Kiwi] 16mm, 7min., b/w
[Jin-hee and Dah-mi] 16mm, 18min., color
Encouragement Award, Golden Crown Korean Youth Film Festival (1998, Korea)
1998 [Farewell] 35mm, 23min., color
Korean Retrospective, 18th St. Kilda Film Festival (2002, Australia)
Best Script Award, 23rd Festival Int’l du Film Indépendant (2001, Belgium)
Korean Panorama, 23rd Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (2001, France)
IndieForum, Korean Independent Film & Video Makers' Forum (2000, Korea)
Busan Asia Short Film Festival (2000, Korea)
2002 [When Spring Comes] 35mm, 14’28”, color
Competition, 20th Int'l Short Film Festival Hamburg (2004, Germany)
Competition, 22nd Uppsala Int’l Short Film Festival (2003, Sweden)
Staff
writer/director: LEE Jong-urn
assistant director: KIM Mi-young
cinematography: JEONG Jeong-hoon
lighting: LEE Joo-saeng
art director : LEE Jong-phil
editor: KIM Hyun-seob
music: PARK Chun-hui
sound: KIM Soo-duk
Cast
JEONG Jong-hoon as a young man "K"
SON Young-soon as an old woman
LEE Tae-hoon as a middle-aged man
