Directed by: Chong Wishing
Starring: Yoko Maki, Mao Inoue, Nanami Sakuraba, Kim Sang-ho (김상호), Lee Jung-eun (이정은), Yo Oizumi, Shinpei Ooe, Ryohei Otani, Han Dong-gyu (한동규), Toshie Negishi, Shohei Uno, Im Hee-cheol (임희철)
The Film: Yakiniku Dragon is about the struggles of a largely un-talked group of people known as Zainichi, or ethnic Koreans with permanent residence in Japan that dates back to before the end of WWII in 1945. This is also a people who saw their home country of Korea divided in two by the subsequent Korean War. The film is based on an original play of the same name written by Chong Wishing in 2008.
Chong, who is a Japanese-born Korean himself, came up with the idea for the play after setting his sights on a Japan-Korea co-production project. Yakiniku Dragon, the play, has since been successfully staged in both countries and has received multiple awards. Now, 10 years later, Chong’s film adaptation of his hit play faithfully brings his touching family drama to the world’s stage.
In a rundown village near the Kansai airport in late 60’s Japan, a colorful family who run a tripe restaurant are barely scraping by. Kim Sang-ho (Punch, 2011; Will You Be There?, 2016) and Lee Jeong-un (The Battleship Island, 2017; A Taxi Driver, 2017) masterfully play the Korean parents of four children, three grown daughters and one adolescent son. The family is headed by the father, Yong-gil, a stoic man who lost his arm in the war after being drafted by the Japanese army, and a heavily-set staunchy mother, Young-soon, who isn’t afraid to give the entire village (and audience alike) an ear- beating if she needs to scold or complain. Both will defend and emotionally support their children until they have nothing left to give. Together with their children and their children’s friends and love interests (there are many), a chaotic but loving family wades through the trials and tribulations of domestic life.
The children play a large part in the drama that unfolds in Yakiniku Dragon. The family dynamics are further expanded by the two eldest daughters, Shizuka (Yoko Maki) and Rika (Mao Inoue), having come from their father’s previous marriage and the younger daughter, Mika (Nanami Sakuraba), coming from her mother’s. Their youngest and only son, Tokio (Shinpei Ooe), however, they had together. Shizuka, although sometimes ashamed and gloomy about her limp from a childhood injury, is calm and mature, and often plays the peacekeeper role at home. Rika, a newlywed, is going through difficult times with her husband (Yo Oizumi) who can’t hold a down a job due to his temper. And while Mika is in love with a married man (Ryohei Otani), Tokio seems to have lost the power of speech and is severely bullied at school. Needless to say, the parents have their hands full with all the drama they can handle.
Language and identity are a big part of Yakiniku Dragon. While both parents speak Korean and Japanese, the children, except Mika, can speak very little Korean if at all. This goes for their 2nd and 3rd generation neighbors and friends too, who identify as Korean but feel both their language and homeland to be out of reach. And even though both parents have adopted an ‘assimilate or die’ mentality, their hearts quietly yearn for their motherland where they can no longer return to, be it for the financial cost or other tragic horrors that have destroyed any former home they’ve known.
The meshing of languages in Yakiniku Dragon has seldom been done to this level of perfection. Kim Sang-ho and Lee Jeong-un have a lot of Japanese dialogue that they convincingly pull off so well that I needed the colored subtitles to remind me which language they had switched to (yellow for Korean and White for Japanese). Between the neighbors and the family, there is a lot of language mixing which helps make the family’s restaurant and house so lively and interesting. Anyone that has grown up in a multi-language home will surely be able to relate to the challenges and energy such a culture-mashing of environments bring out.
Having been based on a play, there is an undeniable theatrical quality to Yakiniku Dragon. Nearly the entire film takes place either in or around the family’s home, with an occasional entertaining trip to a local cabaret that expands upon Mika’s storyline. This theatrical quality helps to keep the drama front and center. Almost as if patrons of the restaurant, the audience is given a front row seat to all the celebrations, quarrels, confessions of love take place inside the tiny restaurant.
Yakiniku Dragon will make you laugh and it will make you cry. The drama is very intense and tasteful, but tips the scale towards being overly excessive at times. The director intended to show a lot of the difficulties that faced/are facing the Zainichi, and is most intensely illustrated in Yakiniku Dragon by its portrayal of the devastating toll merciless bullying takes on the young son Tokio at his school. In these regards, Yakiniku Dragon may be the most successful of its kind. For those interested in another great film that deals with this topic, I recommend checking out Isao Yukisada’s 2001 film, Go.
Yakiniku Dragon is one of those special life-affirming films that remind us of the important things in life. Amidst all the hardship, there is great warmth and love to be found among the family. From its emphasis on the importance of community and the unbreakable bonds of family, Yakiniku Dragon will fill your heart with hope. And despite being overly long in reaching its conclusion after some excessive screaming and crying, the characters of Yakiniku Dragon grow so lovable that you won’t want to say goodbye to them when the time comes. 7/10 Great family drama & unique production, recommended!
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