Caution: The review below might not be suitable for young adult readers

YouTube is not cinema, almost never — unless it is Korean. Once you turn on theater mode, the Korean shorts turn on the mood, and it often takes no effort to create the atmosphere. Because it comes from Korea. 

‘A Naked Boy’ (2015) exists on YouTube without titles and credit rolls. However, it is strictly copyrighted by Matchbox Films and comes with a staunch warning against unauthorized distribution. Its Korean title is 아직 끝나지 않았다 (Ajik Kkeutnaji Anhanda), which translates into ‘It is Not Over Yet’. It is officially available to rent or buy on Vimeo and GagaOOLala. But it is a charming little film that already exists in the public domain.   

And just as well, it has probably helped many queers internationally in their darkest hours. Without the YouTube release, they’d have never found it. Just like we never found many films we always wanted to stream. They were always behind paywalls. Meanwhile, queers were stuck in countries where online transactions were not allowed.      

After the initial hype and the commercial years are over, all filmmakers should consider a YouTube release. Because it is ethical to do so. Because films help us survive.

‘A Naked Boy’ is a summary of the composite biography of all the gay men who grow old — suddenly, one day, without realizing.  

The Inner War 

The film centers on Jin-Tae, a history teacher, and his student, Seok-Jin, who looks exactly like his childhood flame. Jin-Tae is 45 years old now. One day, he spots his ex-lover’s son in the classroom.

The problem is his eyes see Seok-Jin completely naked every time, though he is never naked. But his imagination starts becoming too real. He has to resort to self-help books, assuring him he is not crazy.

Its entire 21-minute runtime is a quest to figure out what to do with his delusions. Jin-tae has to fight stripping a minor student naked in his mind every time they are together. He never figures out how to stop it. Because he wasn’t meant to.

Instead, he just asks Seok-Jin to come to a cafe with him one day, just to tell him he is getting married soon. And he decides to live a fake life forever, for as many years as he has left.

The frame cuts off.

The Courage to Love

It is a story of getting old as a gay man. It is also a story of true love that never goes away. It becomes somewhat of a curse, a love that comes only once in a lifetime and never leaves. The yearning remains, precisely because it is unrealised.

And of course, it is also a story of living in the closet for a lifetime – a destiny so many gay men succumb to. Truth is, mustering up the courage to love is easier said than done. And Korea is not yet free from this reality.

‘A Naked Boy’ is very much an advocacy film. It advocates for that courage. Jin-Tae is the representative of a type in its plot. He is not merely a Korean gay man, and the universality of his experience is transnational.

Too many gay men wake up one day only to find they have never lived their lives. They lived someone else’s life they never wanted to. They just didn’t have other options.

Cinematography

For a short film like this, the framing was breathtaking — something one could argue it couldn’t do without. Jin-Tae returning home on a train, watching the horizon from the train’s window, his balcony crowded with the rusted flower pots stacked on top of each other – all the frames speak of his emptiness.

But the most haunting frame is arguably the last one, where the boy again strips naked in his delusion and lifts his eyes to look at him — before walking away. His eyes ask a final question: “So, your life has passed you by, and you never found the courage to confess?”

Jin-Tae, in the end, just like so many other gay men, accepts defeat.

However, he still manages to give Seok-Jin one last piggyback ride home, just as he once did to his same-faced father. The flashbacks return, and he decides to stay content with his memories.

At the same time, this indicates that Seok-Jin’s father too accepted the same fate, that he too ran out of choices one day.

An Ethical Question

‘A Naked Boy’ is an emotional rollercoaster that can take its romantic audience through a heart-wrenching ride. But there are ethical concerns, too.

The character of Seok-Jin, played by Kang Ha Kyung, is a minor. Kim Young Pil, an actor born in 1973, portrayed Jin-Tae. Does it normalise pedophilia?

It is easy to confuse. Kyung is a perfect twink after all – with all his twinkly charms. What the film really focuses on is the closeted gay male’s aging process. And it can only be contrasted with a twink boy.

The director, Jang Young Seon, was bold enough to portray it as it is. The bodies of his two protagonists did come into contact, but only during the piggyback ride. The script includes no other harmful touch.

However, it does not specify the age of Seok-Jin’s character. He looks somewhere between 15 and 17. Kyung himself was 21 years old when he portrayed him.

In the absence of a scale that determines what crosses the limits between, the LGBTQ Supplement to the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™ checklist is very relevant here (it isn’t famous). It carries brief instructions on safeguarding the gay young adult’s information from his unaccepting family and strictly prohibits any power plays from the older mentor.

‘A Naked Boy’ met all these conditions. It most certainly doesn’t promote pedophilia, nor does it show the story of a younger gay mentee with an older gay mentor.

It just picturises a fact of life — something that is inescapable for so many gay people. They will certainly grow old, and art is never immune to controversies. But this film will still bring some solace to their tired hearts.

‘A Naked Boy’ met all these conditions.