Lies [Widescreen] (E)

Jang Sun-Woo’s Lies (based on a notorious Korean novel, whose author Jang Jung Il was sentenced to six months jail over its content) takes the very simple premise of a sexual affair between an older man and a younger woman and turns it on its head. Right from its opening scenes where the ‘actors’ discuss their roles and the difficulties of performing on-screen sex, the audience is led into deep analysis of what film authenticity means. This becomes a tantalizing proposition as the affair between J (Lee Sang Hyun), 38-year-old married man and the innocent Y (Kim Tae Yeon), an 18-year-old student determined to lose her virginity, becomes a sadomasochistic one. As these two people explore just how far the other is willing to go, we as an audience are asking the same question of the film as each erotic act becomes seemingly more real. Sun-Woo heightens this by adopting a documentary verite style that distances itself from its main protagonists. Finally the blurred boundaries between what is performance and what isn’t ultimately begs the question, ‘does the camera lie?’. In Korean with English subtitles.