The Sungkyun Times

The Story: On Their Knees

Mo and Willie, sisters who have different fathers, have lived apart for a long time. They work at very different places; Mo works at an office and Willie works at a crowded bar. And they have different skin color. Before the funeral of their grandmother, who died a few days ago, Mo gets a letter from her grandmother. The grandmother, who raised these two sisters after the death of their mother, wrote about how much she had a longing for home in the letter. Mo makes up her mind to lay the body of her grandmother in her hometown and asks for her sister Willie's help. Their travel in an ice-cream truck that is loaded with the dead body of their grandmother is not always favorable. They had to deceive people and rob to get some money for their journey. They keep going on their journey even though there are many difficulties: they are robbing because they are short of money to move their grandmother, but they are recovering from their troubles that happen during their journey. At any rate, finally, the sisters meet the family of their grandmother whom they didn't know as sort of a big present at the very last moment of the journey.

The movie in "The Fourth Women's Film Festival"

It was raining. But the yard in front of the Dongsoong Art Center where The Fourth Women's Film Festival In Seoul (WFFIS) was held was full of people who were holding umbrellas. There was no one who lined up in front of the ticket office. Only a few people were wandering around. Most of them were waiting for some tickets from those who couldn't see the movie due to their urgent schedules. 15 minutes were left before the start of On Their Knees. "Are all tickets sold out?" "Yes, all are sold out." "When were those sold out?" "Around 11 o'clock, the tickets for today were sold out." The festival was more popular than I thought. For the fourth festival, audiences occupied 90% of the seats and 32,000 people attended the festival. In addition to this, 49 movies among 80 movies presented sold-out.

The Fourth Women's Film Festival In Seoul (WFFIS) was held
at the Dongsoong Art Center on April 4th-12th

On Their Knees also sold out. The director, Anais Granofsky, who was famous for herperformance in a CBS (a broadcasting network in U.S.) soap opera, was nominated at some film festivals like the Toronto Film Festival. And this movie was filmed in 18 days with a small budget in Ontario, Canada.

The movie reveals a matrilineal society

Most movies that were presented in the market show families that are centered around a father or fathers of the father. Some movies like Antonia's Line, of course, have the story about the understanding and warmness of a woman that makes people gather around. In many cases, however, movies that are running these days usually show family relations as centered around the paternal side instead of the maternal side. Additionally, even western countries that have achieved a high status for woman often habitually use the family name of their father's. However, On Their Knees shows a matrilineal society escaping from this patrilineal society.

Finding their roots

The two sisters were raised by a mother of their mother, not by a mother of their father, and they have different fathers. At those movies that people often see, if a grandmother appears, people might think the grandmother would be a mother of their father. If stepbrothers or sisters appear, people might assume they would be sons or daughters of the same father. However, instead of this commonly accepted idea, this movie suggests the motives of a matrilineal society. The movie shows the history of their family that descended from the grandmother and mother to their two-step sisters.

After many meanderings, Mo and Willie finally arrive at the hometown of their grandmother's, and they are running around the fields naked. This means they feel free when they find their own roots in the same way that they were born without any clothes. Also when they arrive at the hometown of their grandmother, people who welcome them and call them family were the family members of their grandmother. Mo and Willie tell these family members that they wanted to find out who they really are through the journey. Also they, finally, find who they are in the bloodline of their grandmother. And this suggests that women do not belong to men and women are independent creatures just like men.

The mama's boy at the motel

Laughing at men

Three men who met the two sisters during their journey appear dull and incompetent in this film. The first man that two sisters meet is a mama's boy. Two sisters meet with the dull boy who works at his mother's motel; he is restricted by his mother who is watching him through a monitor to check out whether he works hard or not. He shows us his passive behavior, which is usually regarded as the role of women in this world. The man watches his mother who is looking at him through the monitor when Mo asks him to reduce the motel's charges. This scene shows a man who doesn't want to lose his vested rights over women.

In another scene, Willie robs the bar to get travel expenses because of her lack of money. However, she is found by the owner of the bar, who appears, and she runs away with the money to the ice-cream truck and drives the truck quickly ahead. Though the man tries to chase the sisters, he cannot catch up with their car. Finally, he and his car crashes through a barrier which says that he is willing to ruin his car to get his money back. This scene shows a man who is only interested in money.

The third dull man is a sales man who sells vacuum cleaner. As he fills up gas in his car, Mo attracts him to the rest room. In the rest room, Mo takes his all money with a plastic gun. But almost in tears he says to Mo that he is a poor man. Suddenly Mo gives him masturbation with her hand. After masturbation, Mo leaves and the man stands vacantly. He forgot his money as he was blinded to his sexual desire. How funny men are!

Mo and Willie are moving their dead
grandmother's body

Don't forget to laugh

The movie doesn't describe the way of the two sisters are trying to find themselves seriously. By moving their grandmother in an ice-cream truck instead of a refrigerant funeral car to bury their grandmother in her hometown, unlocking the door of the church by Mo who seems like she would never do that kind of thing, and giving a man masturbation because she felt sorry for a salesman who was robbed by her, makes the movie more soft and interesting. These funny scenes make audiences concentrate on the movie and give them enjoyment instead of telling only their story.

This kind of movie, about burying a grandmother and going on a journey is not familiar to most audiences. The reason might be that the audience would think of their relatives while focusing on the parental line when someone thinks of their family. However, paradoxically speaking, this is the reason why this kind of movie should exist. Why is that women who make up a half of the world do not have any rights to create and succeed in their own blood lineage?

The story about seeking a burial place for a grandmother of two sisters sounds perplexing. However, the director tried to look at the world upside down. This movie, of course, has consternation and humor, but we might not just laugh while seeing this movie. The movie, On Their Knees, wasn't introduced in Korea yet because it's an independent movie in Canada. However, if it comes to Korea and someone sees it, one might think about women more and have fun with this movie, too.

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