Director Yeon Sang-Ho has always been one who knows how to blend horror, loss, and parenthood into one visual experience. This was evident in his previous creation,Train to Busan. When many thought it was impossible to reinvent the zombie narrative,Train to Busanshowed the raw power of sacrificing oneself for loved ones while underscoring the terror and tension that embody the experience. With his newest dystopian thriller,JUNG_E, these themes are not only further empowered but even horrifyinglysubverted when Yeon passionately takes on the themesof loss and parenthood.
The world is in ruins due to climate change in the year 2194. Humanity has been evacuated from Earth to space shelters to survive. To end the war that is raging there, Yun Jung-Yi (Kim Hyun-Joo), one of the best mercenaries, has her brain cloned by those seeking to attempt to create one of the best artificial fighters in the world.
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At the center of all this action is a terminally ill scientist, Seo-hyun (Kang Soo-Yeon), whose mother is the very elite soldier whose brain they are using to try to create the war’s ultimate fighting weapon. We tragically learn that her mother died during the war when Seo-hyun was just a little girl, and the only way she gets to be close to her is by the clones she creates.She is emotionally cut off from her past experiencesand can only remember her mother’s former self through these AIs.
The horrifying thought that registers here, even if this is not horror in itself, is that they have stripped away the essence of what this woman once was. She is now an army of people and no longer has an identity. Prior to this, she was a mother with a child, above all this, she had a life of her own. Now the child has to watch as her mother is used and abused as a dummy for war and violence. This is the only way Seo-hyun, who is incapable of protecting herself in the terrifyingly chaotic world they live in, can safeguard the last memory she has of her mother. The only bright spot in this tense situation is the knowledge that if her mother could do it once, she could do it again. This time,she would not be alone in her mission to endthe civil war that has plagued the Adrian Republic for decades.
Director Yeon Sang-Ho takes this mother-daughter connection and not only makes it gut-punchingly personal but adds the element of human risk to it as well. It’s not just about the child and her mother, but the events that led up to that give no breathing room to focus on the personal. Seo-hyun has no time to mourn her mother’s death or to consider her terminal illness because the world itself is hell. There are many facets to pain, and Yeon Sang-Ho makes itclear that it is a universal experiencethat affects everyone.
Even after she discovers that the AI and war hero is her mother, it becomes even more obvious that her suffering is immaterial because everyone else’s lives are at risk. The news she soon learns emphasizes this point even more. 35 years ago, when Seo-hyun was just a child, Jung-Yi fell into a coma after a failed mission. To create the ideal soldier, it was declared, with permission, that the Kronoid should be able to copy her brain for use in research and testing. They would keep all of her best traits while discarding all of her flaws, meaning any sentimental traits would be forced out of her. She fails at the same point in each of her missions, even though it was intended to create the ideal fighting AI. Viewers soon learn Jung-Yi became a mercenary to fund Seo-huyn’s lung cancer treatment.The same day Jung-Yi goes on her failed mission, Seo-hyun is having her life-changing surgery.
As she watches her mother’s death routinely, she becomes desensitized and cold to the whole experience. The relationship between them is interesting because while her daughter is working on the project, Seo-hyun controls how her mother lives, subverting the mother-daughter trope. While playing the creator with her mother, she is unable to unmold how her mother’s brain is constantly at war, a terrifying nightmare for someone who has to live with thesame visions every day and a roleof irreparable damage and guilt for the “creator.”
When Seo-hyun learns that her lung cancer is terminal, things can only get worse. She can choose Type C, which enables businesses to create clones of her, or she can become like her mother and have her brain cloned. Since the Adrain Republic and Allied Forces reached a peace agreement around this time, a new level of testing for JUNG_E has been implemented. Since they are no longer soldiers, the AIs now serve as housekeepers and service AIs. When the program is shut down, she discovers theAI is being tested for other means, including being used for sexual purposes.
The point that the personal connection only means something far deeper to her is further explored by director Yeon Sang-Ho. Others see her as something much more fleeting in nature. She has emerged as a celebrity and a “war hero,” someone they can cling to, believe in, and feel some ownership over. Jung-Yi is never simply someone who is intended for Seo-hyun to love because everyone sees her as an AI. There isn’t any intimate sense of connection with anyone invested in this project. She is just a tool for reaching a means to an end; she will never be seen the way Seo-hyun sees her.Whether the goal is to eradicate violenceor to solve minor issues that plague the world, she will always be seen as an instrument of sacrifice.
Feeling responsible for her mother’s predicament, she locates the most recent model of JUNG_E and discovers that the reason her mother failed during the mission was that she was thinking about her daughter’s surgery that day. Her daughter’s charm would fall off her gun, causing her to become distracted. When she finds out that her mother was thinking of her the whole time, she tries to save her by deleting her memories. Before the final simulation can continue,she tells this JUNG_E the truth so theycan plan their escape.
The value of a mother-daughter bond truly shines through during this sequence of events but is underscored by loss. At a time when Seo-hyun gained her life back before becoming terminally ill again, she lost her mother to war. Even though her mother would go on to initially “live,” her mother would lose her sense of identity, belonging to a government experiment and a war-driven country. They are only brought together again by memories, but at great cost to both of their lives.
Once Seo-hyun deletes the brain data, she puts it into another AI that no longer looks like her mother. While they are proceeding to escape,Seo-hyun is shot by Kronoid’s main lab director(Ryu Kyung-soo), who is also revealed to be an AI. A massive battle ensues, and JUNG_E is victorious, but the win is bittersweet.
The theme of loss is advanced further when the viewer realizes neither is going to get the ending they want out of this. JUNG_E not only completely lost her likeness at this point, but her terminally ill daughter is now fatally wounded. In many ways, they are suffering something far worse than death. For this version of JUNG_E to keep living, Seo-hyun must die, thus severing theconnection between a mother and her childfor good. Either way, JUNG_E can’t save her.
When Seo-hyun tells her to “live for herself,” she believes that this version of JUNG_E does not remember who she is. By rubbing against her cheek and bidding her farewell, the AI disproves this theory and demonstrates that she still retains some memories of their past. As her mother leaves, the final words that escape her lips are, “May all the luck in the world be with you.”
JUNG_Esubverts the themes of parenthood and loss by showcasing the hideous aspects of losing one’s identity and the forceful severance of ties between a mother and a daughter due to war and violence. They only come back together through the source of control or through memories, but this is further torn apart by more death and destructiveness. Given that rising star Kang Soo-Yeon, who played Seo-hyun,tragically died of a cerebral hemorrhagebefore the release of JUNG_E, it concludes that death and loss are unprecedented.
It is not unlike Yeon Sang-Ho to use family dynamics to deal with the uncomfortable emotional tensions that lie dormant within us or the horrors that lie tucked away in today’s society.JUNG_Eshowcases a very poignant fact: the personal wealth of a family member is invaluable. It’s an endearing concept that transcends space, technology, and even time itself.What is lost can never be forgottenif it is kept in one’s heart at all times.
