Truth
Directed by Jang Doo Ik
Written by Kim In Young
Originally aired in Korea, from January 5 to February 24, 2000
Review by Leonard Norwitz
Cast:
• Choi Ji Woo as Lee Ja-Young
• Park Sun Young as Lee Shin Hee
• Ryu Si Won as Jung Hyun Woo
• Son Ji Chang as Park Seung Jae
• Kim Chang Sook as Shin Hee's mother
• Kim Hyung Ja as Ja-Young's mother
• Ahn Jung Hoon as Ja-Young's brother
Studio:
Production: MBC Television
Television: MBC, Korea
DVD Distribution: YA Entertainment (USA)
Video:
Aspect ratio: 4:3
Region 1: NTSC
Feature: 480i
Supplements: 480i : 4:3
Audio:
Korean DD2.0
Subtitles:
Feature: English
Extras: English
Extras
• Excerpt from Episode 1 of Mr. Duke (20 Min.)
• "Side Dishes” (60 Min.)
Presentation
16 episodes, approx. 55 min/episode
Extra features: 80 minutes (total)
Published in 1 box set
Each box set includes 2 volumes, totaling 6 discs
Release Date: January 8, 2008
Truth
Comment
Fans of the genre can not help but notice how much of the plot turns on lies. If characters – even the "good" ones – would answer direct questions without obfuscation, shilly-shallying, deception or just out and out lying, there would be no drama. All would be resolved in an augenblick. Even though we all lie on occasion, this doesn't keep us from screaming to the protagonists: "Just tell the truth, dummy!" It is important to the flow of things that certain key information is withheld on a need to know basis – and the people you would want to know don't ever get to until the final reels.
To best appreciate the forces at work in this drama (aka “Honesty”, though the translation as "truth" is not only more accurate, but has a better ring to it ), we need to review the quasi-Confucian and conservative Christian moral precepts at work at this level of Korean society: The first is that the wishes of one’s parents come before one’s own. The second is that to the extent one lives a fundamentally principled life, one is ill prepared to see an acquaintance as unprincipled. If someone you know is knifing you in the back, you are more likely to rationalize or excuse their behavior than to see them as dangerous, no matter how many times you are wounded. Together, these conditions are a perfect storm to create a Victim (with a capital “V.”) The intended Korean audience appreciates how morally righteous people must suffer at the hands of those who are not. Their heroines generally rise again, like Christ, but only after dying a thousand deaths, mostly out of sacrifice to what they see as a greater good. It's a variation on the theme: "Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."
There is a tendency in Korean TV dramas to take this sentiment to pathological extremes. I say this, knowing that I open myself up to criticism on grounds of cultural insensitivity. Still, I feel that it is manifest insanity to take responsibility for another person's feelings to the extent that one owes reciprocity of feeling just because the other person has declared their love, no matter how long that feeling has festered. Let me put the ethos of this K-drama plainly: If X says that he or she likes Y, Y is expected to like X. If X say that he or she likes Y a lot and has always done so, Y am expected to feel likewise – or, if not, at least to open the door to dating, even if Y's heart is known to be promised elsewhere. If X and Y's parents are friends, that expectation borders on obligation. If X occupies a higher social position than Y, I don't care what part of the galaxy you're from, such an attitude is just plain medieval. But if X threatens Y to make trouble if Y doesn’t oblige X, and Y concedes, this is pathological on both parts. In Truth , things do get to this stage, and frequently, with all four of the principal younger characters.
The family always plays an important role in the conflicts that arise in Korean drama. There is often a divide between the younger and older generation that works its way into the hearts and minds of both parties in not entirely predictable ways. More prominently placed than usual are the mothers of the three main protagonists. In some ways, their backstories are even more interesting than the trials of their offspring. In this case, the question is not simply one of respecting – or not - one's elders and their wishes, but in the protective instincts of the mother that rivals the lioness.
Truth was a very popular drama in its initial airing, averaging about a 40-point share. That's pretty good by any standard. It comes a couple of years before the international "Korean Wave" that began with KBS' Winter Sonata, not coincidentally starring Choi Ji Woo. The earlier series was produced by MBC, and has production values similar to All About Eve, which aired two months later. All About Eve is much more lavishly produced and its similar themes are more cogently argued, with only the insistence on chance meetings to spoil its plausibility.
Korean dramas, until very recently, rely heavily on certain stock characters – among them, the goofy friend. Truth, thankfully, has only one, but she makes up for the ones that are absent. Chance meetings, to the extent that it seems the people in this drama are the only people in a city of 10 millions, are, of course, another stock-in-trade. Most of the encounters in this series are plausible, given the intentions and predictable whereabouts of the characters. So far, so good.
Unlike many K-dramas of it its time, Truth relies very little on instant flashbacks that for me, so easily derail the dramatic momentum. Instead, this series is one long flashback until we catch up with the story a few episodes from the end. The advantage of this device is that for some 12 or 13 episodes, our brains are working in the background to fit what we learn as we go into where we left off for the flashback. How do we get there from here? is the question, and the closer we get to that moment, the more the tension tightens. Given how things leave off in the present just a few minutes into the first episode, and the more we learn about the characters and their relationship to each other, the more we scratch our heads wondering how the writer is going to bring this off. (More on this presently.)
One difficulty for me was working up any sympathy for Shin Hee, Ja Young's nemesis. By contrast, we see All About Eve's Young Mi as a very disturbed person with significant vulnerabilities despite her connivances. Shin Hee is greedy, ambitious and a pathological liar, though eventually we come to see much of this, thanks to the wise eyes of an older Ja Young, as a defense against weakness – something like what often results from sibling rivalry. (Though not related, it is probably no coincidence that both girls share the same family name.) I felt that Ja Young's realization was a case of too little, too late, for our interest in regards Shin Hee is her comeuppance - unless you're holding out for redemption which is always a possibility in K-dramas.
Truth is a fundamentally character-driven drama. The twists and turns of the plot, for the most part, are the result of the dynamics between the four main characters and the three mothers. (Seung Jae doesn't seem to have a mother.) When the story remains faithful to this premise, it works quite well. Every now and then, though, it takes a step back from that ethos, but returns quickly, often stronger and more interestingly textured than ever. Alas, I was not convinced by the final three episodes (where we pick things up from where we left off in Episode 1.) I felt these unnecessarily and wrongfully enlarged the scope of the story instead of consolidating it. I was quite dismayed by behaviors that seemed to come from the desires of the writer and producer rather than the characters. To underscore my impression, the production values devolved in direct proportion. The final encounter between Shin Hee and Seung Jae is so badly lit and filmed it seems tacked on like an afterthought.
The Score Card
The Series : 8>6
The series begins with a bang. Shin Hee, Hyun Woo and Ja Young are enjoying some sort of reunion with drinks at a restaurant/bar. Shin Hee offers her friends a ride and, even though drunk – drunker than either of her friends – she drives off into the night. Erratic driving and impaired judgment notwithstanding, along with pleas by her Ja Young to pay attention and even to stop the car, Shin Hee eventually plows right into some unfortunate fellow crossing the street. Hyun Woo, apparently without his seat belt fastened, goes sailing through the windshield. When Shin Hee comes to, miraculously with only minor injuries, she reviews the results of her handy-work: everyone dead or unconscious, she knows not which. Frightened, but undaunted, Shin Hee manages to position Ja Young behind the driver's seat, while she takes the passenger's. There she lies, feigning insensibility, until rescue vehicles arrive.
Cut to four or five years earlier when Shin Hee and Ja Young are schoolmates. Shin Hee is a rich, lazy, self-involved teenager (how much of that is redundant?). Ja Young's family lives in the basement flat of Shin-Hee's house; her father works as Shin-Hee's father's driver. It is evident that Shin Hee's father doesn't think much of his daughter, much to her embarrassment that the family downstairs is aware of it. In her efforts to impress, first her father, then the boy she has had a crush on forever, she bribes (more like: intimidates and threatens) Ja Young, an ace student, to help her cheat on her final exams and SAT's.
Ja Young is painfully aware of her unethical contribution and collusion, but seeing as how her family will be the beneficiary of Shin Hee's family's thanks – yes, they do find out about it all – she cooperates. In this miserable emotional state she meets: first Seung Jae, a mobile security officer, who mistakes her for her upstairs neighbor and with whom she falls in love; and later, Hyun Woo, the light at the end of Shin Hee's tunnel.
Needless to say, the dynamic set up by Ja Young and Shin Hee plays itself out with increasingly demanding lies and threats on Shin Hee's part, and self-loathing on Ja Young's – a feeling which she develops into a fine art, unable to take herself seriously as the object of sincere love. One wonders how all of this can work its way back to the future?
Image : 8 (6~7/9)
The score of 8 indicates a relative level of excellence compared to other standard definition DVDs on a 10-point scale for SD DVDs. The score in parentheses represents: first, a value for the image on a 10-point scale that accommodates both standard and high-definition DVDs – where any score above 7 for an SD is outstanding, since the large majority of high definition DVDs are 8-9.5. The second number in parentheses indicates how that image compares to what I believe is the current best we can expect in the theatre or, in the case of made-for-TV fare.
As mentioned earlier the production values have much in common with MBC All About Eve, the latter having a more saturated and denser image, while Truth went for a more naturalistic look. Enhancement and artifacts were at a minimum – hardly noticeable unless you were looking for them. All in all, this is a pretty good image, considering it’s an interlaced, non-progressive transfer, like other Korean TV dramas I have reviewed from YAE.
Audio & Music : 7/8
The balance of dialogue to music to background sounds were, with only with brief exception right on the money. Being the sort of television drama that it is, there isn't much call for audio effects, and in that Truth does not disappoint.
The music score was particularly good, making good use of American and European pop in the background to lend texture to the scene.
Translation & Subtitles : 8/8
For the most part, the adaptation into English is better than satisfactory, with only a small handful of misspellings. We always know what was going on and why, and we have a pretty good idea of the emotional state of the characters. There is, however, a tendency for YAE to suggest a modest level of censorship in moments where characters are under extreme duress
Perhaps I might be indulged with a story that might suggest a parallel:
The great lexicographer, Samuel Johnson, was in his study one afternoon with James Boswell, his friend and seeing-eye scribe, when Johnson asked Boswell to run off to the grocer to pick up some munchies. After only a block or two, Boswell suddenly realized he had left without his purse, and returned immediately. Upon entering the study, he found Johnson having at it with the parlor maid. "Mr. Johnson," Boswell exclaimed, "I'm surprised!" "No, James," Johnson corrected, "I'm surprised. You're shocked!"
So, when the mother sees her son being rushed to the ICU, she ought not exclaim, "Oh, my gosh!" – as might James Stewart's Mr. Smith on a date with Susan Payne. Kinda ruins the mood, doesn't it? Andy Hardy, this isn't. Or, to paraphrase Thumper as he recalls the admonition of his father, "If you can't say something off-color, don't say nothing at all."
Subtitles are white, bordered in black so as to always be clear against any background. A bit large for my taste.
Operations & Box Design : 9/7
As my DVD collection grows, I've become rather fond of compact box designs. By YAE standards, Truth qualifies: a simple, sturdy outer sleeve with an open end for two standard DVD cases. Each case holds three discs (Episodes 1-9 and Episodes 10-16 + the Special Features).
Extras : 5
YAE offers two Bonus Features. The first is a twenty-minute excerpt from Mr. Duke, a series starring Choi Ji Woo – and which looks promising. The second is a new idea from YAE that they call "Side Dishes." In its present form, Side Dishes consists of a bloggish commentary that appears as subtitles during a rerun of Episode One. As the name suggests, Side Dishes is a veritable potpourri of comments – from Korean culture, traditions and language, to some bio information on the stars, to even a few admittedly bad jokes.
My feeling is that this is a great idea presented in the wrong format. Since the comments rarely refer to the action above the titles, the episode itself becomes a distraction. More important, what might have taken 5-10 minutes to read through, now requires an hour. And if I wanted to review any bits at a later time, I would have no way of scanning through the dishes to find the place I needed. So, along with any bonus episodes from other series YAE wants to promote, the Extra Features might include the title, "Side Dishes," under which there would be chapters in text form, such as: Cast, Production Notes, Korean Language, Korean Culture & Traditions, Korean Humor, etc.
Recommendation: 7
Truth gets off to a great start and, until it sort of collapses under its own weight in the final episodes, rivets the attention. Recommended for its brilliantly layered examination of lying and loyalty, and its heartfelt performances by all concerned, especially the two rivals, the staggeringly beautiful and sensitive, Choi Ji Woo (soon to become Korea's most popular actress) and the seductively sinister Park Sun Young.
Leonard Norwitz
LensViews
April 11, 2008
