March 2, 2008
Yobi, the Five Tailed Fox
When I got down to East 8th Street and University Place this morning, there was already a line of about 40 people outside the Cantor Film Center. A mother held her son’s hand firmly asking him to wait patiently. A group of elementary school girls were circled giggling about whatever elementary school girls giggle about. Families were huddling together to stay warm while in line. Could a guy in his mid-20’s stand out any more? Parents, children , and I were gathered for one purpose, the beginning of day 2 of the New York International Children’s Film Festival.
While everyone else was waiting to gain entrance to see the short films showing in the morning, I was actually in line to get on the wait list for Yobi, the Five Tailed Fox (2007) which was showing later in the day. When I arrived about 30 minutes beforehand, the line outside was still there, except the younger children were replaced by teenagers. I felt just as out of place as I did in the morning, as I certainly did not belong at a film event for kids.
Fortunately, I have no shame and I was able to get tickets because the film was really good. Yobi is Lee Seong-gang’s second full-length animated feature after My Beautiful Girl, Mari (2002). I thought the animation itself was gorgeous and the direction was fantastic. I think I just like how the characters are drawn relatively simply and plain, at least for an anime (if I may use the term for a non-Japanese animation). Also, I love the way he captures emotion and expression in their faces.
A music video trailer for Yobi, the Five Tailed Fox
As for the actual story, I enjoyed it despite the seeming randomness of linking furry aliens with kumiho. There were a few things that I wish he had done differently and thought were unnecessary. First and foremost, consider this your spoiler alert. Now that that’s out of the way, I wish the ending was slightly different. I suppose Lee wanted to leave the ending open and focus more on the idea of Yobi returning as a human, but the romantic in me would’ve been happier to have a moment where Geum-ie, the love interest, would enter the final scene to at least provide the possibility that the two would-be lovers could end up together at last.
My second complaint is some of the character development or lack thereof. For a handful of characters Lee created back stories that I thought had potential, but he didn’t flesh them out as much as I would’ve liked. For example, instead of making her “rival” for Geum-ie, the pretty girl at the school, strong enough or at least interesting enough to actually be considered a rival, she comes across as a snivelly snob. For a few characters I almost felt teased where I ended up wanting more, but he didn’t deliver. The film might have been better served by either adding an extra 20-30 min. to develop and tie-in those back stories, or by not mentioning them at all. Ultimately, they came out with a half-finished feel that was disappointing.
Yobi meets Detective Shadow
Finally, I was confused by his use of antagonists in the film. Lee spent a majority of the film creating an antagonist out of the guy that hunted down kumiho, but then in the end pulled a bait-and-switch only to turn Detective Shadow, who you originally think is an ally, into a diabolical foe. Though I didn’t mind the bait-and-switch idea of turning a friend into an enemy, but again, it was a matter of character development for me. The hunter was in the film for a much more significant amount of time only to get left out during the climax of the film. Meanwhile, Detective Shadow was hardly expanded at all outside of the fact that he would help Yobi every now and then. His betrayal could’ve been so much more poignant if only he was more established.
All that being said, I delighted in what he did for both Yobi and Geum-ie. They were great characters and I fell in love with them as they fell in love with each other. Geum-ie plays the misunderstood trouble-maker but gains an extra dimension as he seeks approval from the adults which leads him to betray Yobi, while at the same time you can clearly see that he genuinely loves her.
Geum-ie in the forest on the mountain
As for Yobi herself, I’m a sucker for the heroine coming of age story that is so persistent in Miyazaki films, and is very apparent in Lee’s film. What made this even more interesting was her internal conflict between needing a soul in order for her to become human and sacrificing her own in order to save the soul of the person she loves. Also, kumiho are regarded as being evil creatures in Korea. How interesting then that such an “evil” creature would fall in love with a human and even make the ultimate sacrifice for him.
Yobi and the aliens
Despite the aspects of the film that I didn’t care for, Geum-ie and Yobi really made the movie for me. Perhaps I’m too easy to win over and really am a stooge for a love story, but in the end it was a good film and certainly worth seeing. And if nothing else, has whet my appetite for the rest of the NYICFF. Bring on day 3!
1510 