Resurrection of the Little Match Girl

Resurrection of the Little Match Girl is inspired by the well-known story, but the film goes a step further with its unpredictable, techno, Taoist approach, while well-worn habits and opinions about love, telling stories and games are disrupted. The girl with her matchsticks (in this version they are lighters) from the fairytale by Andersen is presented in the style of the silent film. Exhausted and freezing cold, she falls asleep. After this opening, we meet Ju, who would very much like to swap his job as Chinese-meal delivery boy for a career as a professional gamer. When he meets the Match Girl and dials the number that is printed on a lighter, he steps inside a game. The aim of the game is to allow the girl to die a painless, loving death by freezing. The other players include a transsexual hitwoman and her boyfriend Lee, who has been hired by the Orwellian game control. In this, the most expensive film in Korean film history, Jang uses the Hong Kong specialists Daniel Yu and Raymond Fung for the action scenes. Yet the film still has a grungy look, that makes it recognisable as a product of the maker of Lies and Timeless, Bottomless, Bad Movie. Jang’s big-budget adventure was not a great success in his home country -but that does not make it any less spectacular for anyone who is interested in the fusion of cinema and games.