Korean filmmaker Kelvin Kyung Kun Park structures his documentary Cheonggyecheon Medley: A Dream of Iron as a missive to his deceased grandfather who owned a scrap metal plant in Japan. The film follows the artisanal metal workers of the titular district in Seoul, and while physically it remains rooted there, conceptually and thematically Park’s fractured lyrical tone poem wanders and explores like the phantasmagoric visions of metal and iron that the director seeks to purge from his dreams.

There are strands of plot woven throughout: the artisans are caught in dire economic straits while one of their own packs up for greener pastures, and Park meditates on his ancestor’s complicated history while following the people who continue his trade. But the film transcends being a simple human interest piece about the working man made obsolete; instead it infuses the whole milieu with a cybernetic, apocalyptic significance. It’s about the clash of binary opposites: producer and consumer, idealism and materialism, Korea and Japan, industry and art—and they are all illuminated by the glow of molten iron.

Park is fascinated by the simple physical process of metal casting, and many shots linger on the geometric, rhythmic repetition of the work as the artisans give form to the formless. But this manufacturing process becomes imbued with the cosmic importance of elemental creation as he uses the work as a launching point into hypnotic mélanges of historical/industrial footage layered with philosophical ruminations and backed by dissonant free jazz.

When Park meditates on the worth of his own film and the relation of his art to the work he’s capturing, in less sure hands it could come across as navel-gazing. However, things snap into clarity as he contrasts the unpretentious earthiness of the metal workers with the polished sheen of the installation artist who commissions their services for an exhibition piece. The argument constructed here—that contemporary society is utterly disconnected from the industrial processes that used to build it—is not a novel concept. But Park’s lens into the world is an urgent and infectious one, bringing the invisible to the forefront; with the flashy dominance of the digital, it’s easy to forget that we live in a world made of metal.

HYPERMODERN.COM