<The Weight> is a controversial drama that confirms Jeon Kyu-hwan’s adept and unrivaled film language established in The Town Trilogy and <From Seoul to Varanasi>. The subtitle, <The Sad Story of Mr. Jung>, is a direct indication of the nature of this film. Cho Jae-hyun’s Mr. Jung is a hunchback. He recalls <The Hunchback of Notre Dame’s Quasimodo>, but Jung’s appearance isn’t as repulsive. His wistful eyes on an expressionless face arouse curiosity as to what this amateur painter’s sad story could be. The stories and the lives of the masses swirling around Jung are shocking. Jeon’s uniquely unreserved images, which never shy away from the pornographic, reach for the heights of extreme cinema, a film beyond shock. His extremities, however, are at a completely different level from other extreme movies. It’s explicit but not lascivious, disturbing but not repulsive, provocative but not obsessive. For the narrative is so contextually confident, it becomes the film’s decisive element and its greatest asset?one that defines Jeon’s film language. <The Weight> certainly deserves its likely place as a BIFF 2012 sensation. (JEON Chanil)