화분 (The Pollen of Flowers). 1972. South Korea. Directed by Ha Gil-jong. Screenplay by Yi Hyo-seok. With Namkoong Won, Choi Ji-hie, Hah Myung-joong, Yun So-ra. In Korean; English subtitles. 89 min.
Ha Gil-jong’s incendiary debut, which emerged during the brief window between military dictatorships, boldly addresses sexual and political taboos that would soon become verboten under Park Chung-hee’s Yushin Constitution. A wealthy industrialist (Namkoong Won) brings his male secretary and sometime lover (Hah Myung-joong, the director’s brother) to the suburban mansion where he keeps his mistress and her younger sister. The secretary’s romance with the sister triggers a psychosexual maelstrom that Ha stages as feverish political allegory. Often compared to Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema, the film demonstrates Ha’s UCLA film education and his synthesis of European art cinema with specifically Korean class critique. The film’s frank treatment of homosexuality and its savage indictment of corrupt power structures—the mansion is pointedly called the “Blue House,” after Korea’s presidential residence—provoked accusations of plagiarism that barely concealed official discomfort with Ha’s subversive vision. Selected by director Bong Joon-ho.