By Lee Ji Yae
Photos and video = Lotte Entertainment

A battered van rattles down the road looking like its engine could stall at any moment carrying a woman and her three daughters all wearing matching T-shirts. This might look like a family trip that they all decided on, but an unmistakable tension hangs in the air.

This is the premise of "The Journey to Gyeongju," whose media screening and news conference were held on Aug. 13 at Lotte Cinema World Tower in Seoul's Songpa-gu District. There, screenwriter and director Kim Mi-jo and the star-studded cast of Lee Jung-eun, Kong Hyo-jin, Park So-dam, Lee Yeon and Byun Yo-han, several of whom appeared in hit content like "Parasite" and "When the Camellia Blooms," discussed their forthcoming film and their roles.

This family revenge drama shows four women -- a mother and her three daughters -- go to Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, on the birthday of the youngest daughter Gyeong-ju, who was killed eight years ago during a school field trip.

Ahead of its theatrical release, the work received invitations to the Hawaii International Film Festival, Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal) and Korean Film Festival Barcelona (Spain) and won the Audience Award at the Florence Korea Film Fest (Italy), attesting to its critical merit and audience appeal.

From beginning to end, the film races toward the family's goal of revenge. Ok-sil, the mother, believes that getting even is the only way to restore her family but each of her surviving daughters carries different pains accumulated over the past eight years.

Actor Lee Jung-eun, who plays the mother Ok-sil in "The Journey to Gyeongju," on Aug. 13 answers questions at a media screening and news conference for the film at Lotte Cinema World Tower in Seoul's Songpa-gu District.

Lee Jung-eun, who plays Ok-sil, described her character's "desire for revenge bordering on obsession" as the key difference from the mothers she played before.

The actor said she held lengthy discussions with the director on how a family that once lived happily with four daughters fell apart after losing a member, adding that even if the survivors decided on revenge, each would have a different perspective on the matter.

Ok-sil "probably thought even that was the breakdown of the family," Lee Jung-eun said. "From that moment on, the mother believes that revenge is the only way to turn back the clock."

"I wanted to portray an ordinary mother who, after experiencing a traumatic event, displays a madness that drives her to say 'I'll kill the perp with my own hands' and pursuing that to the very end, not realizing that the prayer beads symbolizing her faith have snapped."

In the film, Ok-sil is the only one in her family who never takes off the matching T-shirt, which has "Mom" written on the back. This is a plot device that symbolizes her inability to communicate with her surviving daughters because of her obsession with revenge.

Actors Lee Yeon (from left), Park So-dam and Lee Jung-eun, director Kim Mi-jo, and actors Kong Hyo-jin and Byun Yo-han on Aug. 13 pose for photos at a media screening and news conference for "The Journey to Gyeongju" at Lotte Cinema World Tower in Seoul’s Songpa-gu District.

Lee Yeon, who plays Dong-ju, the third daughter who uses her fists before thinking it comes to her family, said she focused on the contradiction inherent in revenge.

"I think revenge is an act that simultaneously stabs both the target and oneself," she said. "Pursuing revenge also requires overcoming one's own pain, which is why the mother's journey toward revenge is also painful."

"I liked how the aftertaste of revenge was neither purely satisfying nor purely sad."

The film also highlights more genres open to female-led narratives through a combination of black comedy and action. It also goes beyond a conventional family drama despite women being at the center of the story, with stories focused on women expanding from the themes of family, coming of age and healing to genres such as action, crime and thrillers.

"The Journey to Gyeongju" is also the director's first commercial feature since her debut work "Gull," which earned acclaim at home and abroad. Her long-standing interest in action films such as "Mad Max" is also reflected in the film, particularly through its hand-to-hand combat sequences and car chases.

Scenes from "Journey to Gyeongju"

The heart of the action, however, is still revenge. Kim described the film as a family story where comedy and tragedy intersect. She said her work began with a question arising while she saw conventional revenge stories: What happens at the moment someone decides to seek revenge?

"When I watch traditional revenge dramas, I understand the desire for revenge, but I often wondered about the process of reaching that decision," she said. "I think it's not easy to answer the question 'Could you kill someone?'"

Set to hit theaters on Aug. 26, "The Journey to Gyeongju" combines humor from absurd situations with thrilling action scenes, all while keeping revenge at the center of its story. The family's bid to avenge the member it lost eight years ago is what the director called the "most inefficient quest for revenge" that goes beyond the mere satisfaction of achieving retribution.

ljyhwa@korea.kr