Jinju is bad. She smokes, drinks, runs away from home, and has no qualms
about making her parents worry. Her mother and sister beg her to be a
better student, sister, daughter; her beleaguered father expresses his
concerns with his fists.
Bad Friends is set in the 1990s in a
South Korea torn between tradition and Western modernity and haunted by
an air of generalized gloom. Cycles of abuse abound as the characters
enact violence within their power structures: parents beat children,
teachers beat students, older students beat younger students. But at
each moment that the duress verges on bleakness, Ancco pulls back with
soft moments of friendship between Jinju and her best friend, Jung-ae.
What unfolds is a story of female friendship, a Ferrante-esque
connection formed through youthful excess, malaise, and struggle that
stays with the young women into adulthood. Served by a dry and precise
line, Bad Friends viscerally captures the adolescent years of two young
women who want and know they deserve something different but,
ultimately, are unable to follow through. In a culture where young women
are at a systemic disadvantage, Ancco creates a testimonial to female
friendship as a powerful tool for survival.
Jinju forgets her
worst adolescent memories, but she cannot ever shake the memory of her
friendship with Jung-ae during her most tumultuous years.
Bad Friends - Ancco
- Product Code:New
- Availability:In Stock
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£15.99