One of Korea's representative essay film makers is Kim Eungsu. He has made essay films since the mid-2000s, building his own independent world of films. Hence, this study examines Kim Eungsu's film world, and reviews specific ways in which the director's subjective thoughts were embodied, revolving around his representative essay films, Oh, Love, The Real, Mountain Lily, and Death of Narcissus. Further, this study analyzes how “embodiment of thought,” “textuality,” “formal experiment,” “self-reflexivity,” and “transtextuality,” which are the major features of essay films, were applied to and are concretely revealed in Kim Eungsu's essay films. The results of analysis are as follows: First, the texts of Kim Eungsu's essay films are uttered in two ways of subtitles and narration, which are clearly distinguished from each other by the feature of ‘contemporaneity.' Second, diverse and bold formal experiments are prominent in Kim Eungsu's essay films. The formal experiment is used as a means of embodying a creator's subjective thought, and this type was selected by him because it was most suitable for expressing his films. Third, Kim Eungsu's essay films show self-reflexivity mostly by actively using voice over narration, subtitles, and sound. This self-reflexivity acts as driving force that makes audience think about his film continuously, and constantly creates the relations of tension between reality and illusion. Fourth, Kim Eungsu's essay films create effective inter-textual interactions by quoting texts from literary works or films. Kim Eungsu's essay films reinterpret and reconstruct recorded images, revolving around subjective thoughts and contemplation, thereby creating new meanings. For this, voice over narration or subtitles are used, or diverse formal experiments are attempted. And it is found that a distinct tendency and peculiarities inherent in Kim Eungsu's films are revealed through these.
1. 텍스트성: 내레이션과 자막
2. 형식 실험
3. 자기 반영성
4. 텍스트 교류성