Attending film festivals can sometimes feel like being in a loop while still being kept outside The Loop. One moves around between press screenings and other events, but after a few days, there is a distinct feeling of deja vu. As in the Hungarian film Hurok, it feels like being stuck in a rut. The same screening rooms, the same people, the same jokes, and often, the same-looking films. This one, directed by Sang Beom Koo, is a story about bullying in a high school environment. “Nothing changes,” says Jinsoo (Jung Ji-hoon), a young man suffering from brutal bullying at school, before he takes the fatal step that sparks a sequence of events, cinematically presented in some kind of loops.
Is there any way out of The Loop?
The Loop revolves around the aforementioned Jinsoo, who is a Filipino student, and his friend Se-jong (Lee Hyo-je, awarded for Best Actor). After the former’s death, Se-Jong is the prime suspect by the police. He goes through the last 24 hours in his head in different iterations, even though Jinsoo’s fall appears in most of them. Another crucial character is his mother, if anything could be deemed essential in this work. The first characteristic that strikes the spectator is the crudeness and sentimentality of the narrative. The good and evil characters are caricatures that would even make Steven Spielberg ask the director to dial things down a tad. The acting is often overwrought and off-putting as well.
The narrative structure is not original and, more damningly, poorly executed. The Loop clocks in 79 minutes but still manages to overstay its welcome. Unfortunately, there are few reasons to recommend the film, and the main competition selection is puzzling. On the other hand, that can be said for many other films in that strand of the festival, with Silent City Driver as a glorious exception. Whether it was an extraordinarily bad year or if the fault lies with the programmers is an open question. If the latter is the case, the solution is at least within the festival’s reach.
The Loop was screened in the Official Selection – Competition at the Black Nights Film Festival.
