Directing ‘The Rose: Come Back To Me' Felt Just Right To Eugene Yi

Forbes

a day ago

When Eugene Yi was asked to direct the music documentary The Rose: Come Back To Me, it was an easy decision.
'I've always been interested in Korean rock and roll,' said Yi. "For myself, growing up as a Korean American here, I was always exposed to k-pop and Korean popular culture, but it was always harder to come across rock music. It just wasn't quite as mainstream. And for me growing up here, loving rock and roll, it was this breath of fresh air. It's like, ah, this feels good to me.'
The film documents the journey of The Rose, the Korean indie rock group composed of Woosung Kim (Sammy), Dojoon Park (Leo), Taegyeom Lee (Jeff), and Hajoon Lee (Dylan) from their beginnings as k-pop trainees to their band's appearance at Coachella.
As a filmmaker Yi is drawn to Asian American stories and stories that focus on diasporic communities. Together with Julie Ha, he directed Free Chol Soo Lee, a film about a Korean immigrant unjustly accused of a Chinatown gangland murder. While The Rose: Come Back To Me may seem like a far cry from his first film, Yi sees similarities in the ways it explores cultural interface. Two members of The Rose spent time growing up outside of Korea. Woosung was born in Korea, but grew up in the U.S. Dohoon spent some of his childhood in New Zealand. Taegyeom and Hajoon grew up in Korea. The band's musical influences are global, which helped to create their distinctive sound.
'"I think it's really fascinating the path that they've been on and the mix of guys in the band,' said Yi.
Eugene Yi directed 'The Rose: Come Back To Me.'
Eugene Yi
As a rule, k-pop bands do not form organically. They are usually formed by entertainment companies with a concept in mind. Trainees sign up for a disciplined system that requires them to live and train together, often for years before they debut. While the k-pop training system has launched the careers of many talented performers, it's not ideal for everyone.
After starting out as k-pop trainees, the members of The Rose each realized the system did not give them enough creative freedom. So, they struck out on their own, with three members busking on the street, before Woosung joined them as a front man. The band released their first song, 'Sorry' in 2017 and by 2018 Billboard pronounced them one of the 'top five k-pop groups to watch.'
'I thought there was just something really powerful about that,' said Yi. 'They really are choosing to do this music with each other. On some level it's a very familiar story for a lot of European or American or Latin American bands, but just one that you hear less of in Korea. In that way, being able to hear a lesser heard story, that was something that really, really resonated with me, as well as in terms of giving a much rounder vision and look into what it is to be a Korean musician and a Korean artist right now. That there isn't just this one way to do things. For them, the fact that they were able to exercise that agency, is just something that's so central to them. They really chose their own destiny and decided to do things their own way. I love that part of their story.'
Filming began in the summer of 2023 and lasted until mid 2024. Shot in Los Angeles and in Korea, the story culminates with the band's memorable performance at Coachella. Part of getting the film just right, said Yi, was deciding how much of the band's music to include, which he accomplished with the help of editor David E. Simpson.
'It was interesting to try and figure out how much music is too much music and how much music needs to necessarily make narrative sense, for it to make emotional sense, if that makes sense,' said Yi. 'There's that scene that David put in where he edited one of the songs, 'You're Beautiful,' in the midst of the scene about their fandom and their fan base. It was this wonderful moment where the footage and the song and the feeling that the song evokes really all came together in a way that made it feel like, okay, this is the music documentary magic doing its thing, where this serves both a narrative purpose and an emotional purpose. Even if it doesn't necessarily fit an outline or a timeline or anything like that, this just felt right.'
The film includes intimate conversations with the band's members, often focusing on their personal and professional struggles. Taegyeom spoke about his mental health struggles, which Yi felt was important to include. Yi describes Taegyeom as the heart of the film. His struggles illustrate the band's message that music can be healing.
'So much of his difficulties and the candor with which he spoke about it really took me aback,' said Yi. 'It was really bracing and not something that I feel like I had heard much of in terms of when people are talking about what they've been through. Because of its connection to the theme of healing and because of the beautiful art that came out of it, how he was able to take that and turn that into music. It seemed to encapsulate something that was really central about the band.'
Trust had to be an essential part of the collaboration.
'We did consult with the guys as we were working on the film,' said Yi. 'We tried to make sure that they felt comfortable with our approach to a lot of these very sensitive topics that we're talking about, because some of these topics are still very difficult to talk about, for anybody, but there's a specific South Korean context to it, as well as their own individual comfort.'
The band, which currently has more fans in the U.S., Indonesia, the Philippines and Mexico than it does in Korea, is managed by Transparent Arts, a company founded by Asian American electro hip-hop group Far East Movement. While the film can be seen as a primer on staying true to your own creative goals, it doesn't sugarcoat how difficult that process can be,
'I think it's harder to see how bumpy that road can be,' said Yi. 'And how hard it can be at times to keep your eyes on that signal light that you're trying to follow in terms of what's important to you. I certainly had those experiences in my life where in creative collaboration or creative expression, you sort of start to lose your way.'
Yi, who worked as a film editor and in print journalism before turning to directing, enjoys making documentaries and sharing the stories of real people. He describes the inspiring story of The Rose as a tale of perseverance.
'They had every single possible thing that could happen to a Korean musician happen to them that could have easily derailed their career," he said. "But their perseverance is really something that I found inspiring, not just to their music, but to each other. Something about that really stayed with me."
The Rose: Come Back To Me premiered last week at the Tribeca festival and also airs at the festival on June 12 and 15. The Rose is currently on their Once Upon A WRLD tour.