Mongrels is a unique and compelling movie set in Canada. It’s mostly in Korean with English subtitles.
We had a chance to sit down with the writer, and director Jerome Yoo before the big screening at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).
HNMAG: Are you originally from Vancouver?
Jerome Yoo: I was born in South Korea. My family immigrated to Vancouver when I was one. I pretty much grew up here.
HNMAG: That’s why you don’t have an accent.
Jerome Yoo: It’s interesting. I used to have a scene in Mongrels that is cut now but the Son is learning English from TV, quoting western films.
HNMAG: You’re also a professional actor. When did you become interested in performance?
Jerome Yoo: I think, innately I was interested in performance, perhaps even from high school because I had a history of dancing back then. Then, It wasn’t a primary focus of mine. I had my sights set on academics influenced by my family. After my first year at UBC, I took an academic break to explore other avenues of things that really interested me away from the sciences. Theater was one of those things. I initially got into performing arts and that started my acting journey.
HNMAG: Then you studied acting at various places around the world.
Jerome Yoo: I was at the Beverly Hills Playhouse for a bit. I also attended The American Conservatory Theater which is based in San Francisco.
HNMAG: You got some really good training in acting and then you started working in film and TV in Vancouver. When did you become interested in making your own films?
Jerome Yoo: It was by accident how I fell into filmmaking well because I never had an interest in the sense of the technical application. I never went to film school, I was never properly taught, all I knew was how to act, so just everything that happened behind the camera seemed like such a big mystery to me.With most professions, you need to learn the process, and the technical skills, Just because I never got any of that, I never really imagined that I could be a filmmaker, I found filmmaking back in 2018 when I was writing a script to apply for a story submission through friends. I never meant to direct it however once I got the grant, everyone that I approached didn’t want to direct it because it felt like such a personal story, a really distinct voice. It was through the help of my filmmaking friends who enticed me as a director, all I needed to know was how to work with my actors. That’s all I really knew how to do. I didn’t know any technicalities so if I could just depend on my director of photography, and my production designer, if I could just communicate a vision to them and the story they would be able to help me bring that to life. It was a lot of people saying, no to my film just in terms of no one wanting to direct it, so I was forced to direct it. I realized it was one of the most creatively fulfilling things I’ve ever done in my life. I never looked back since.
HNMAG: Have you kept that approach?
Jerome Yoo: Yes. I’m almost a little embarrassed to admit the fact that I still don’t know as much. I definitely have come to understand a lot more about the technical processes of filmmaking, but I still am most confident directing my actors. I really rely on my creative collaborators to bring their part in bringing the film to life.
HNMAG: One thing from the beginning of your feature film. There’s a shot of outside of where they’re living, there’s a clothesline. On the ground, there’s a white sheet going along the ground. Is there a dog under that sheet?
Jerome Yoo: What do you think is under that sheet?
HNMAG: There was a dog walking under the sheet.
Jerome Yoo: The implication is definitely supposed to be meant as a dog, as I’m really glad it’s convincing. Underneath, it’s actually Hana, the daughter, who’s walking through. It’s meant to be kind of this playful show or is it a dog? Is it Hana? If we actually go into the scene where we meet Hana for the first time later with her brother watching TV, the small, little details of when he says, to Hana, “did you go out again?”
HNMAG: Was Paul an old friend of Sonny and brought him to Canada because he’s this kind of dog whisperer?
Jerome Yoo: That’s correct. Paul had immigrated earlier. He’s settled down and gotten the scope of the land. Paul’s trying to get an in with Scott, who’s really kind of the unofficial mayor of the town in some ways.He has a lot of power and influence in town. Understanding the issues that this prairie town is going through, he proposes someone he knows back from his motherland, which is Sonny.
HNMAG: Paul does understand that Sonny is an exceptional hunter, which is why the backstory of it all is so important.
Jerome Yoo: With the mother’s passing, the family grieving and needing a new start. Paul is an opportunist and he ultimately is always looking for how to benefit himself in some ways, in selfish ways. So he does propose to Scott to bring Sonny’s family over to sponsor them in exchange for his services, which is a win-win.
HNMAG: Paul and Sonny, were they in the army together or were they actually related?
Jerome Yoo: They were in the army together. So Uncle, when the kids refer to him as Uncle, it’s meant as a family friend, not a blood relative. With the mandatory conscription in Korea, a lot of people, during those two years of service, really bond together. And in that sort of like way, Paul is kind of this upperclassman to him and they’ve bonded and retained that bond.
HNMAG: There seemed to be almost a romantic relationship between Noah and Hajoon and then Hajoon broke it off.
Jerome Yoo: It was the innocence and a naive friendship. Hajoon really wanted to keep it plutonic. It’s the complex layers that teenagers can go through where love goes.
HNMAG: Hana misses her mother and Laura probably wants to have a daughter as well and treats her as such. She wants to make her in her own image and, therefore will dye her hair blonde, but she doesn’t actually do it. What was the emphasis on stopping that?
Jerome Yoo: It’s the break in this imaginary world and settling back into reality for Hana. Actually changing the colour of her hair would have been a bridge too far.
HMMAG: Grief is a major theme of Mongrels
Jerome Yoo: Each family member deals with grief in different ways. It’s like they’re all drunk and grief really is a coping mechanism in different ways. For Hajoon it’s with these newfound friends and these new vivid experiences that he’s been unable to have back home in Korea. He’s trying to embrace the new and trying to escape what has happened. For Sunny it’s not so different. He is focused on a new life. He needs everything to be successful and set, so then they can move forward. We’re not ready, we’re not there yet, Where Hana doesn’t even know why her mother’s not around; she’s asking how we got here. What’s going on?
Jerome Yoo is a creative filmmaker with a unique vision. He is passionate about his culture, history, and place in his home. Jerome is able to make movies that we haven’t seen before and add to our collective experience. We need more filmmakers like Jerome Yoo.