When the three cops are interrogating Do-joon, they hand him a confession and urge him to read it and sign it. In that moment, the camera zooms on Do-joon's leg and focuses on a red circular thing that's on top of it. What is it and why the director decided to emphasize it in that way?
shareit's a cup of seal paste, very common in Asia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_(East_Asia)#Seal_paste). it's there because he will need it to sign his confession, nothing more ...
shareThanks for the detailed answer. I was doing an essay on Madeo's mise-en-scène for college so I was kindda overthinking everything at the time haha. The zoom plus the contrast between the red seal paste and Yoon Do-joon’s blue uniform made me wonder if there was any special meaning to it or if it was just part of the overall visual style of the movie. Thanks for the clarification! (y)
shareThe shot of the paste seems to be Do-joon's Point of View.
As we know Do-joon had trouble focusing and concentrating because of his mental problems. That's why his Mother has him doing these things where he's rubbing his head, to concentrate. The policemen in the interrogation room ask him if he can read, he says of course he can read, and then they tell him it is important that he reads the list of what happened before he signs it. To them it looks like his eyes are on the paper but instead his mind wanders - again - and he is only interested in the red seal paste.
To me it seems like the director is trying to show us how Do-joon doesn't even read the paper that he later signs. This to emphasize Do-joon's wandering state of mind as well as underlining the shoddy police work.
Also this signals to the viewer a stronger feeling of "oh my gosh, this interrogation is a travesty, he's innocent for pete's sake!" The same way later, when he is forced to re-enact what he did, surrounded by all the villagers. He is waving and smiling to the girl he likes, and we're occupied by that, laughing at the entire scenario, again thinking "that poor kid, this is all a ridiculous circus!" But when you go back and look at it again, knowing that he's guilty, then we might think 1) well he doesn't need to read the paper because he was guilty after all and 2) at the re-enactment he actually shows them what really happened: first he throws the rock at the head of the doll - just like in reality - and later he hangs the doll over the side of the roof - just like in reality. But the director manages to toy with the viewer, making us believe the entire investigation is a disgrace - when in fact he was guilty all along.
Great intelligent filmmaking by Writer/Director Joon-ho Bong!