MOVIE The World’s Spotlight on Korean Film
K Korean Culture
No.5
MOVIE The World’s Spotlight on Korean Film
Korean Culture No.5
K-MOVIE The World’s Spotlight on Korean Film Copyright © 2015 by Korean Culture and Information Service All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher. First Published in 2012 by Korean Culture and Information Service Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Phone: 82-44-203-3340~47 Fax: 82-44-203-3595 Website: www.kocis.go.kr ISBN: 978-89-7375-597-4 04680 ISBN: 978-89-7375-596-7 04680(set) Printed in the Republic of Korea For further information about Korea, please visit: www.korea.net
K Korean Culture
No.5
MOVIE The World’s Spotlight on Korean Film
MOVIE K CONTENTS
06 Prologue Chapter 1
Korean Films Today 12 The Evolution of Commercial Films: Korean-style Blockbuster Films 18 The Coexistence of ‘Diversity Films’ 22 Foreign Perspectives on Korean Films Chapter 2
Korean Films in the World 28 Overseas Export of Hallyu and Korean Films 33 Expansion of Exchanges through Joint Production with Foreign Countries 37 Increased Export of Film Technology Services
39 Taking the Lead in the Development of the Southeast Asian Film Industry 44 Korean Directors Gaining Attention Worldwide 59 K-Movie Stars Chapter 3
Major Film Festivals in Korea 72 Busan International Film Festival 74 Jeonju International Film Festival 76 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 78 I nternational Women’s Film Festival in Seoul
79 Jecheon International Music & Film Festival 80 Other Festivals Chapter 4
84 Top 10 Korean Films Worldwide 100 Appendix
Prologue
E
ven though Hollywood films still dominate the world’s box offices, Korean films are just as popular as their Hollywood counterparts in domestic
theaters. In 2014 alone, Korean movies drew a combined total of 107.7 million viewers at box offices nationwide, accounting for 50.1% of the total number of movie viewers. Korean movies have accounted for more than 50% of the total film market share for the past four years and have attracted more than 100 million moviegoers annually for the past three years. In particular, the movie The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014), which depicts the Myeongnyang Naval Battle led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, attracted 17.61 million viewers during its stay at the box office, setting an all-time record-high in the commercial film industry. Domestically produced movies from other genres have also experienced great success in recent years. One such example is the documentary My Love, Don’t Cross That River (2014), the story of an elderly couple who spent 76 years together; the movie attracted 4.8 million viewers and achieved unprecedented Korean box-office success among low-budget indie films and art movies. Along with its increased success domestically, the Korean film industry has also been increasing its export of films to foreign countries. At the heart of the export industry is the continued momentum of Hallyu (the Korean Wave) 06
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2014. The Admiral: Roaring Currents
07
Prologue
2014 My Love, Don't Cross That River
08
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Prologue propelled forth by the popularity of the industry’s top Korean actors and actresses. The Korean film industry has also been expanding its market share by using its production knowledge to engage in join film ventures with other Asian countries, such as China and Vietnam. The highlights outlined above serve as a brief summary of the Korean film industry as it today in 2014. Korean films and the Korean film industry as a whole have undergone many years of so-called growing pains to reach the level of success they enjoy today. The high caliber Korean films seen today are largely the result of the passion of Korean moviemakers and their ability to match the production skills of other advanced nations as well as Korean moviegoers’ undying support of Korean films to match the passion and ability of Korean moviemakers. This book not only shares some of the dynamic ups and downs of the Korean film industry throughout history, but also seeks to share some of the cultural experiences of Korea with people from around the world.
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Prologue
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MOVIE The World’s Spotlight on Korean Film
Chapter
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Korean Films Today
Chapter
01 Korean Films Today
The Evolution of Commercial Films: Korean-style Blockbuster Films The term ‘Korean-style blockbuster’ was first used in promotional materials for The Soul Guardians, a fantasy film released in 1998. The movie’s producer sought to mirror the style and budget of Hollywood blockbuster movies by bumping production costs to $2.1 million, up from $1.3 million, the average production cost of movie in Korea at that time. Much of this budget increase was used to produce stand-out special effects and conduct aggressive marketing. The interest in Hollywood blockbuster movies in Korea was sparked by the release of Jurassic Park (1993) by Director Steven Spielberg. When the media reported that Jurassic Park had earned as much as the total export of 1.5 million Korean cars worldwide, many Koreans started to realize the economic value of the cultural industry. From then on, the Korean film industry sought to embrace the principles of profitmaximization via the economics of scale and began to follow Hollywood’s lead of 12
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2003. Taegukgi: Brotherhood Of War
producing and distributing movies using larger budgets. However, despite its best efforts, the Korean film industry was still much smaller than Hollywood and needed a unique filming strategy to compensate for its small size and limited resources in order to effectively compete with Hollywood. This strategy involved developing movie plots that would elicit sympathy from Korean audiences and making the most efficient use of limited budgets using well-knit scenarios. Using this strategy, Korean moviemakers were able to make more creative blockbuster movies than they had previously while still coming in at far below the average production cost of Hollywood movies and their other foreign counterparts. The movies produced using this type of strategy increased the number of box office viewers proportionate to increased production costs, making an important contribution to the quantitative growth of the Korean film industry. 13
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2014. The Admiral: Roaring Currents
The success of Kang Je-kyu’s Shiri showed that the strategy could pay dividends. An action thriller set against the backdrop of inter-Korean tensions, the film was made for $2.7 million and drew a record audience of 6.2 million within three weeks of its release. It was also a hit in Japan, becoming the first Korean film to attract more than a million viewers to theaters there. Shiri inaugurated a new era in Korean cinema history. One film after another adopted the Hollywood-style economy-of-scale strategy: huge production costs, saturation marketing, wide release. In 2000, Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area hit a new high water mark with an audience of 5.83 million nationwide. The blockbuster strategy was now a sine qua non for industry growth. The accent in “Korean - style blockbuster” is on the “Korean.” If the typical 14
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Hollywood film is a transnational spectacle that relies heavily on fantasy and scifi elements, its Korean counterpart focuses on dramatic recreations of incidents from the country’s stormy history. This demands solid scripting and a firm footing in historical episodes or situations that were traumatic for the Korean people (of which there is no shortage). Many have dwelled on the ongoing conflict with North Korea, and the tragedy of a single people pitted against each other by their nation’s division. Signature blockbuster films that have enjoyed box-office success using the aforementioned strategy include Silmido, Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War, Joint Security Area and Northern Limit Line, all of which drew more than 10 million viewers. In addition to financial gain, the success of Korean blockbuster movies has led to the exploration of new genres and more viewing options for Korean audience members. The continuous appearance of movies with 10 million viewers or more is largely attributable to filmmakers’ new attempts to meet the gradually growing expectations of the average Korean moviegoer. Some of the representative blockbuster movies from the Korean film industry that have rivaled Hollywood releases include The Host (2006), a movie about a Korean monster, Haeundae (2009), a disaster film, Sector 7 (2011), Asia’s first 3D blockbuster film, and My Way (2011), a film with wartime scenes equally as stunning as those in Hollywood films. Other films of note include War of the Arrows (2011) and The Thieves (2012), two stunning action movies, The Flu (2013), a film in which the main characters fight against lethal cold viruses, and Snowpiercer (2013), a film with a star-studded cast. 15
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2013. Snowpiercer
The evolution of the Korean-style blockbuster has continued into the present. The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014), which depicts the historic Myeongnyang Naval Battle led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin during the Joseon Dynasty, raised the bar for Korean films both in terms of the scale and complexity of its battle scenes and in terms of its record-breaking sales. Yet another recent hit is Ode to My Father (2014), the story of overcoming major challenges in modern and contemporary society. This particular movie not only elicited the sympathy of middle-aged and older audiences, but was also one of the most popular films of 2014, coming in second only to The Admiral: Roaring Currents in terms of total number of viewers. So far in 2015, the top Korean films that have passed the 10 million viewer 16
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2014. Ode to My Father
mark have been Assassination (2015), a film that depicts the struggle of Korean independence activists during Japanese colonial rule, and Veteran (2015), a film about a major confrontation between a large conglomerate and a police detective. It is true that the commercial film industry in Korea has developed gradually by using the strategy of imitating diverse genre films in Hollywood. However, Korean films have been marked with such a high degree of creativity and uniqueness that Korean films are no longer labeled or perceived as poor Hollywood imitations, thus fascinating domestic as well as foreign audiences. In other words, most Korean movies have stopped competing with those from other countries and are now striving for excellence in their own right. 17
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The Coexistence of ‘Diversity Films’ Audiences haven’t just supported commercial films. In 2001, a year when screens were dominated by Korean-style gangster films like Kwak Kyung-taek’s Friend, an independent movement was afoot among viewers to protect the “small movies”. artistically accomplished, but unable to score the theater space they needed to draw a big audience. Examples included Lim Soon-rye’s Waikiki Brothers, Jang Hyun-soo’s Raybang, Moon Seung-wook’s The Butterfly, and Jeong Jae-eun’s Take Care of My Cat. This newfound attention led to re-releases and extended runs, generating some measure of box office performance. People began talking about the importance of diversity in cinema. Low-budget movies and art films needed at least some opportunity for theatrical release, they argued. Meanwhile, the rerelease campaign continued unabated, granting second chances to films like Taekwon Boys (2004) and Epitaph (2007). Viewers were trying to change the multiplex culture, with its overwhelming focus on the blockbuster, and stake out new “viewing rights.” This support went a long way in contributing to the diversity of Korean cinema. A turning point came in 2003, when the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) launched the Artplus Cinema Network, an alliance of art cinemas and low-budget independent theaters geared to providing a new viewership for particularly outstanding films and giving audiences the right to a more eclectic selection. As a result, documentaries that had previously been denied any screens to speak of in theaters (Park Ki-bok’s ‘Mudang’: Reconciliation Between the Living and the Dead (2003), Kim Dong-won’s Repatriation (2004), and Kim Myung-jun’s Our School (2006) among them) were now receiving official openings. 18
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2001. Take Care of My Cat
Our School was an especially big hit. The moving documentary, which looks at the lives of Korean-Japanese students at a Hokkaido school from admission to graduation, was seen by more than 70,000 viewers in Korean theaters. Around half of them ended up doing so not at formal theatrical screenings, but through the noncommercial community screenings network. 19
Korean Films Today
2006. Our School
2013. Han Gong-ju)
For example, One for All, All for One (2014), a film depicting the daily lives of ethnic Korean students living in Japan, was not distributed online right after the movie left theaters, but was instead shown to select groups of people following the completion of an application process for noncommercial community screenings. This can be seen as the society’s quite but meaningful attempt to deviate from a theatrical screening-focused movie culture. Currently, in Korea, independent, low-budget, and artistic movies are collectively referred to as ‘diversity films.’ One representative diversity film that has attracted attention both domestically and overseas is Old Partner (2009), which portrays a unique friendship between an old man and his aging bull. After its release, the film gained in popularity through word of mouth and soon made its way from indie theaters all the way to the main multiplexes, drawing a total of 2.99 million viewers. Old Partner enjoyed its spot as the top indie film for a number of years until the release My Love, Don’t Cross That River (2014), which set a new record of 4.8 million viewers. Other notable diversity films included 20
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No Regret (2006), Breathless (2009), The Journals of Musan (2011), Bleak Night (2011), The King of Pigs (2011), Miracle on Jongno Street (2011), 2 Doors (2012), Pieta (2012), A Girl at My Door (2014), and Han Gong-Ju (2014), each of which enjoyed relatively high ticket sales thanks to the support of Korean audiences and favorable reviews at domestic and foreign film festivals. Director Kim Ki-duk, an auteur director, and Director Hong Sang-soo, in particular, have received much support in European countries. In fact, Kim Kiduk’s film Pieta (2012) became the first Korean film to win one of the world’s top three film festivals upon receiving the Golden Lion Award at the 69th Venice Film Festival. Even more recently, Han Gong-Ju (2014) by Director Lee Su-jin was awarded the grand prize at both the Marrakesh International Film Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and Factory Complex (2015) won the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Biennale. These movies and their successes on the international stage have greatly contributed to the continued popularization of Korean diversity films worldwide. 21
Korean Films Today
Foreign Perspectives on Korean Films Focus on the Director Darcy Pacquet, Korean correspondent for the American film site Screen International, says the new Korean films of the 21st century, a regular presence at international film festivals, are playing a crucial trendshaping role in Asian culture. In particular, he notes the prestige enjoyed by the director, whose grip on the filmmaking process is rather tighter than is the case in the United States or other advanced countries. The industry’s ever-evolving technical capabilities are allowing these filmmakers’ talents to shine, opening new paths for them to share their unique and original cinematic visions. Korea traces its first experience with the film medium back to the early 20th century, the days of Japanese colonial rule. For a long time, the filmmaking process followed a kind of apprenticeship system (itself rooted in Japanese practice). Apprentices started out doing basic jobs on the film set, moving their way up the ladder as they honed their practical skills and strategies by watching their more experienced colleagues at work. The system was rigorously hierarchical, and gave the director unquestioned authority, quite a difference from the producer-dominated American studio system. But as the pictures got bigger and more costly, Korea began looking to the American system as a model, seeing its practices as more systematic and rational. For a while, the two forms coexisted, giving birth to a unique production culture; as Pacquet observes, the director remained a very influential presence. This production environment, and its trust in directorial talent, would later provide a crucial underpinning for directors like Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho, and Kim Jee-woon, whose “well-made” films became an industry mainstay.
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Not everything has been about commercial appeal, though. Some directors have painstakingly nurtured unique perspectives that are anything but commercial –and found audiences for them not just (or not even) at home, but in overseas art film markets. Emblematic of this trend are such respected figures as Hong Sang-soo, Kim Ki-duk, and Lee Chang-dong. These directors enjoy fervent fan bases in the domestic art film market and have been hailed by overseas media and critics for distinctive approaches that stand at the very forefront of Asian film aesthetics. Lee Chang-dong and his staff at set of Poetry
23
Korean Films Today
Korea National University of Arts’ School of Film, TV & Multimedia
Avid Viewer Interest Another hallmark of Korean cinema, Pacquet says, is the high level of local audience attention it enjoys. One of the best examples of this is Park Chanwook’s Oldboy (2005). Despite its shockingly taboo subject matter and distinctive auteurist vibe, the film drew more than 3 million viewers to theaters nationwide-a testament to Korean audiences’ love and support for Korean cinema. Discerning and open to the adventurous, those audiences have furnished a solid support base for the growth of their national cinema. It is doubtful that 24
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viewers in other countries would have been as receptive to a homoerotically charged historical drama, The King and the Crown (2005) or a blockbuster monster movie with strongly political associations, The Host (2006), but both were 10 million-plus sensations in Korean theaters. It is also unusual to find a country where fully one-quarter of the filmviewing population heads to the theater to see the same movie, as has often been the case in Korea.
Flourishing Film Media A boom in film media has been crucial for Korean cinema’s growth, Pacquet notes. Most of the country’s major media companies have their own journals featuring in-depth coverage of anything and everything film-related. Cine 21, which dates back to the pre-blockbuster days of 1995, may be the leader of the pack, but a number of other weeklies (Film 2.0, Movieweek) and monthlies (Kino, Screen) are also there to survey the peaks and valleys of cinema history, making a rich contribution to Korean film discourse.
Help from the Government Last but not least, the overseas attention enjoyed by Korean films has been facilitated by support programs from the national government. The country has a screen quota system in place to provide cinema space for Korean movies and ensure a certain level of cultural diversity. Meanwhile, the Korean Film Council has been the focal point for efforts to expand film infrastructure, assist local films in finding overseas audiences, improve working conditions in the industry, support low-budget independent work, and –through the Good Downloader Campaign –eradicate the practice of illegal fi lm downloading. In these and other ways, it is working to lay the groundwork for the industry’s development. 25
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MOVIE The World’s Spotlight on Korean Film
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Korean Films in the World
Chapter
02 Korean Films in the World
Overseas Export of Hallyu and Korean Films Before hallyu overtook Japan by storm with K-pop and hit television miniseries (K-drama), Korean movies were the main source of entertainment for Korea-lovers there. Films like Christmas in August (1999), Shiri (2000), Joint Security Area (2001), and My Sassy Girl (2001) drew major attention with their cinematic quality and achieved box office success. Shiri, in particular, was a hit with audiences abroad, opening simultaneously in 150 venues across Japan and drawing a total of 1.3 million viewers. This success ignited hopes that these movies might take the place of Hollywood product in Japan. After a string of bankbreaking American duds, people began looking to Korean movies that accomplished much more for far less. Adding to the appeal was the fact that these films came from East Asia and shared similar cultural elements, making them more accessible to audiences. 28
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2000. Joint Security Area
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In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Japan was a major destination for Korean film exports with no fewer than 30 Korean movies released in Japanese theaters in 2004 alone. In 2005, when the hallyu craze hit its peak, Japan accounted for a whopping 79.4% of all Korean film exports. The widespread appeal of Korean films in the country at this time was largely due to the popularity of the movie stars and celebrity directors, who were idolized as the core of the hallyu craze. From 2004 to 2005, three other Korean films—Windstruck (2004), April Snow (2005), and A Moment to Remember (2004)—were also released in Japan and enjoyed profits of 2 billion yen, 2.75 billion yen, and 3 billion yen respectively. Windstruck and April Snow were significantly better received in Japan than they were at home, thanks in no small part to the popularity of leads Jun Ji-hyun
2004. Windstruck
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(Windstruck) and Bae Yong-jun (April Snow). During this time, The Duelist (2005) and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005) were sold to Japan even before their production was completed. With the hallyu frenzy, Korean film exports skyrocketed by around 30 percent, from $58.28 million in 2004 to $75.99 million in 2005, reaching an all-time high that the industry has yet to match. Despite these staggering sales records, subsequent films such as Running Wild (2005), Typhoon (2005), Daisy (2005) and Now and Forever (2006) failed at box offices in Japan, drastically decreasing the value of Korean film exports there in one fell swoop. Between 2005 and 2006, film exports to Japan free-fell 82% from $60.32 million in 2005 to $10.39 million in 2006; overall film exports tumbled 68% from $75.99 million to $24.51 million over the same period. Some attributed the nosedive to an overreliance on the Hallyu star ticket draw. In order to break away from traditional hallyu, which focused on casting certain famous actors and actresses in lead roles, the Korean film industry has recently been trying to establish more effective film export strategies that focus on analyzing popular genres in export destinations and cooperating with local manpower. The development of this type of strategy is credited with overcoming the lull in Korean cinematic hallyu and enabling a new wave of hallyu to start in China. This new wave has been brought about in part by the movie Late Autumn (2011), a director Kim Tae-yong melodrama, which was released in China in March 2012. Despite favorable reviews and the casting of two A-listers—Korean actor Hyun Bin and Chinese actress Tang Wei—the movie failed to be a huge hit in Korea. However, in China, the movie was an instant success with profits of 11 billion won making it the highest-earning Korean movie released in China to date The secret of the film’s oversea ssuccess was due largely to the winning combination of TangWei-a celebrity well-known to Chinese audiences- and the storyline of a “restrained” love that resonated with East Asian audiences. 31
Korean Films in the World
The Korean film exports hit a financial peak in 2005, declined until hitting a low in 2012 and has been recovering ever since. The current upward trend of the Korean film export market can be attributed largely to the Chinese market. In 2014, China became the largest destination of Korean film exports, surpassing Japan for the first time. The emergence of China as the largest consumer of Korean films may be due in part to the abundance of quality Korean movies that appeal to Chinese moviegoers, but is more likely due to the severe competition among Chinese companies to secure movie content in response to the rapid expansion of the Chinese film market. Despite this rebound of film exports, the current state of the Korean film industry can more accurately be seen from diverse perspectives, such as technical assistance and personal exchanges, including joint production with foreign countries, rather than sheer financial data of hallyu trends.
Late Autumn got people talking by casting popular Korean actor Hyun Bin and Chinese top actor Tang Wei.
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Three Extremes is a joint Korea—China—Japan omnibus film featuring work by directors Park Chan-wook, Fruit Chan and Miike Takashi.
Expansion of Exchanges through Joint Production with Foreign Countries After a few quiet decades, co-productions were suddenly an item again in the 2000s, with Legend of the Evil Lake (2003), Three Extremes (2004), The Promise (2005), and Wind struck coming in the early part of the decade. For the most part, the Korean film industry’s experiences in joint production have focused more on building a base for future joint production efforts than on short-term economic gain. To this end, the Korean film industry is redoubling efforts to engage in joint and international film production, giving special consideration to the unique film market and film technology of each partner country. Not simply a moneymaking venture, joint film production also has important diplomatic significance 33
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and serves as a means to promote cultural exchanges and open communication between the countries involved. The Korean film industry has been actively establishing cooperative relationships with foreign countries since the mid-2000s. Up until now, Korea has signed joint production agreements with France, New Zealand, Taiwan, Australia, China and India. These partnerships are evidence of the increased recognition of Korean films worldwide—this newfound recognition can be seen as a response to the improvements in the size and technology of the Korean film industry in more recent years. The Sinosphere film industry is the largest in the world. The joint production
2014. Miss Granny
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ventures with Sinosphere countries take the largest share of Korea’s joint production with foreign countries, and the number of joint production ventures between the Korean film industry and Sinosphere countries continues to increase. In particular, a Korea-China pact on joint film production signed in July 2014 is expected to result in a number of coproduced movies. Prior to its signing, Korea and China had already had a history of joint film collaboration. Representative movies jointly produced by Korea and China included Seven Swords (2005), Daisy (2006), Battle of Wits (2006), Sophie’s Revenge (2009), A Good Rain Knows (2009), Reign of Assassins (2010), Dangerous Liaisons (2012), A Wedding Invitation (2013), Mr. Go (2013), Bunshinsaba 2 (2013) and Making Family (2015). In recent years,
2013. Mr. Go
35
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Korean movies that achieved box office success in Korea have been jointly remade for Chinese audiences casting Chinese actors and actresses. This trend can be seen in the case of Miss Granny (2015), a Chinese remake of a Korean movie of the same name released in 2014, and The Witness (2015), a remake of the Korean film Blind (2011). Of all the remakes to date, Miss Granny, in whose remake CJ participated, is viewed as the most successful, having raked in approximately 67.4 billion won at the Chinese box offices. More recently, Myung Film, a Korean film production agency, announced plans to remake Korean hits such as Architecture 101 (2012) and Cyrano Agency (2010) for release in China via joint production between Korea and China. 2012. Architecture 101
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Of course, joint ventures by the Korean film industry are not limited only to China. Over the past few years, Korean filmmakers have teamed up with Japanese filmmakers to produce First Snow (2007), Cyborg She (2008), Boat (2009), Ghost (2010), Sayonara Itsuka (2010), Genome Hazard (2013) and A Midsummer’s Fantasia (2014). Korean producers have also ventured outside of Asia and completed joint film ventures with the United States, producing Sam’s Lake (2005), August Rush (2007), Never Forever (2008), The Forbidden Kingdom (2008), The Warrior’s Way (2010), and Running Man (2013). Joint production projects with France, on the other hand, have been more limited, mainly centering on art films such as A Brand New Life (2009) and Dooman River (2009).
Increased Export of Film Technology Services As of 2014, one of the most notable aspects of the Korean film export industry was the record-breaking overseas sales of film technology services, such as visual and special effects. Profits that come from the export of movies themselves are ultimately limited due to the widespread domination of Hollywood films and high cultural barriers in other countries. The rapid increase in overseas sales of film technology services coupled with international joint film production is now the largest contributor to the diversification of export items. The rapid increase in the overseas sales of film technology services is a testament not only to the quality content of Korean films, but also the advanced technology used in the Korean film industry that can enhance the content visually. China is currently the largest market for Korean film technology service providers; in fact, Korean companies specializing in visual effects have been involved in three of the ten top box-office hits in China. Korean companies specializing in special effects, visual effects and sound mixing have contributed 37
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2003. Taegukgi: Brotherhood Of War
38
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greatly to the believability and integrity of many Chinese action blockbusters. This demand for Korean film technology began when the Huayi Brothers, impressed by the battle sequences in Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War (2004) orchestrated by the Korea Demolition Company, asked the company to do FX work for its wartime blockbuster Assembly (2008). The film was a smash hit in China, and the stunning visual effects sparked interest in Korean film technology services. Since then, Korean companies have gone on to do visual effects for movies in Sinosphere nations like After Shock (2010), Detective Dee (2010), Reign of Assassins (2010) and The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011). In the 2010s, with the increased demand for 3D movies in the Chinese film market, Korean companies have truly come into their own. Real D Square, a Korean visual effects service provider, recently provided the 3D technology for Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013) and The Monkey King (2014), both of which were huge hits in China and helped showcase Korea’s world-class 3D technology to the world.
Taking the Lead in the Development of the Southeast Asian Film Industry The spread of Hallyu across Southeast Asia, fuelled by fans’ obsession with K-pop and K-drama, skyrocketed the popularity of certain Korean entertainers overseas. Korean films featuring Korean entertainers have continue to be released to meet local audiences. For example, Singapore saw the successive release of Obsessed (2014) featuring Song Seung-hun, Gangnam Blues featuring Lee Min-ho, Haemoo (2014) featuring Park Yoo-chun, a member of the Korean idol group JYJ, Fahion King (2014) featuring Joo Won, and The Technicians (2014), and Twenty (2015), featuring Kim Woo-bin. In particular, the movie Gangnam Gangnam 39
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Blues, filmed by director Yoo Ha, has been evenly distributed across Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, and the Philippines, thanks to the popularity of its main actor, Lee Min-ho, who has ascended into Hallyu fame thanks to the Korean drama Boys Over Flowers. Of course, there are also many movies that have enjoyed success overseas due to their high commercial quality, not just a starstudded cast; one such movie is The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014). The Admiral: Roaring Currents not only drew the largest number of viewers to the Korean box office in Korean movie history, but was also released in Vietnam, Thailand and several other countries. Even though Korean movies continue to expand their reach into other regions, they still account for a very small percentage of the entire Southeast Asian film market. In fact, in a real sense, evidence of the Korean film industry as a leader in Southeast Asia can be seen in each country’s theater and film distribution infrastructure. Since the mid-2000s, CJ CGV and Lotte Cinema, two of the largest film distributors in Korea, have been gradually expanding multiplex theaters in Southeast Asian countries, particularly Vietnam. Currently (as of August 2015), CJ CGV operates a total of 26 theaters in Vietnam, and Lotte Cinema operates a total of 16 theaters, making for a combined market share of more than 50% of the total number of theaters in Vietnam. CJ CGV has also announced plans to increase the number of its theaters to 60 by 2018, which will further increase the company’s market share. In addition to 40
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2014. Obsessed
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2014. Gangnam Blues
Vietnam, CJ CCV and Lotte Cinema have also been increasing the number of their overseas theaters in Indonesia. As of August 2015, CJ CGV operates 13 theaters and 100 screens in Indonesia and plans to increase the number of its theaters and screens by nearly six-fold to 80 theaters and 600 screens by 2020. Theaters established by CJ CGV and Lotte Cinema enable local audiences to experience a more advanced movie-viewing that includes a luxurious viewing environment and high quality services, resulting in a more satisfactory experience than offered by many local movie theaters. Lotte Cinema has further contributed to the Korean film industry by dedicating 20% of the annual screen time of its overseas locations to the screening of Korean films, which gives Korean films an important opportunity to reach 42
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local audiences. Rather than focusing on a short term goal, such as increasing theaters’ sales via the entry into local markets, CJ CGV as well has made efforts to secure a solid foundation in the local film industry as a key partner by opening art theaters showcasing local independent movies produced in Southeast Asia. There are currently four such art theaters in operation—three in Vietnam and one in Indonesia. Three theaters may not seem like a lot, but there are only 20 Vietnamese films released each year, and Vietnamese films often have difficulty finding a venue for screening. In light of this, the art theater run by CJ CGV is instrumental in supporting the diversity of the Vietnamese film industry by guaranteeing that Vietnamese independent films have the opportunity to be shown in the theater. Improved theater infrastructures have led overseas audiences to expect and demand a higher quality of film that matches the high quality of the theater and its services. To meet these expectations, CJ E&M, a Korean film investorcum-distributor, orchestrated a joint film project between Korea and Vietnam, culminating in the production of De Hoi Tinh (2014), which was the sequel to De Mai Tinh (2010), a Vietnamese movie hit. The jointly produced movie enjoyed record-high sales of 4. 2 billion won (approximately $3.85 million) at Vietnamese box offices. In the future, CJ E&M plans to continue to pursue cooperative relationships with Vietnamese filmmakers and produce two or three local films targeting the Vietnamese market. Like the remake strategy used in China, CJ E&M is now developing strategies for remakes of Korean films that have been well received in Vietnam in the form of joint production between the two countries. CJ E&M has further invested in the growth of the Vietnamese film industry by operating ‘Toto’s Studio,’ a classroom providing movie education for children, and by sponsoring the Hanoi International Film Festival. 43
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Filmography The Moon is . . . the Sun's Dream (1992) Threesome (1997) Joint Security Area (2000) Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) Oldboy (2003) Three Extremes (2004) Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (2005) I'm a Cyborg But That's OK (2006) Thirst (2009)
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Korean Directors Gaining Attention Worldwide
Park Chan-wook An inveterate B-movie aficionado, Park Chan-wook discovered the films of Alfred Hitchcock in his college days and was spellbound. He made up his mind then and there to become a film director, a dream that came to pass in 1992 with his first feature film, The Moon Is . . . the Sun’s Dream. The producers had requested a carbon copy of the hit American comedy Ruthless People (1986), but Park had other plans. The end result was an experimental movie that tweaked the structure and conventions of genre film. It was also a commercial and critical bomb. Park soon found himself a man stigmatized –shunned by film companies as a “cult director.” It took another five years after his debut for him to direct his follow-up, but Threesome (1997) followed down the same road as the first one. What finally established Park as a director to watch was his success with the 2000 film Joint Security Area, produced by Myung Films. A canny combination of commercial film style with the hot-button topic of inter-Korean conflict, it was a major hit with critics and audiences alike. Next up was the hard-boiled Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002). Packed with intense and graphic violence, it divided critics and garnered a lot of attention, but not much in the way of ticket sales. Park bounced back from this cool reception with the second part of the “revenge trilogy” he had begun with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Oldboy wasn’t just a box office hit –it was a global phenomenon, taking the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. In 2010, it ranked 27th among the top 50 movies of the 2000s as chosen by the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), the world’s largest online repository of film information. 45
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The trilogy wrapped up with Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005), which turned heads by making elegant actress Lee Young-ae its avatar of retribution. In his vengeance trilogy, Park Chan-wook uses an aesthetic style and provocative subject matter to explore moral dilemmas. Far from just your average story of revenge, Park successfully blurs the line between victim and victimizer, and in doing so, rejects the societal values of previous generations. Park made his Hollywood debut as the director of Stoker at the request of Fox Searchlight Pictures and Scott Free Productions. Written by Prison Break actor Wentworth Miller and featuring a-list celebrities Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode, Stoker is said to be one of Park’s crowning accomplishments. Currently, Park is working on his next movie, an adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, which was originally set in England in the late 18thcentury. Park’s take on the novel is set in Korea and Japan during the period of Japanese colonial rule in Korea.
2003. Oldboy
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Hong Sang-soo Park may have taken a while to get going, but Art Institute of Chicago graduate Hong Sang-soo made a big splash right away with his feature debut, The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (1996). Actually, the film got more notice overseas than at home early on, netting Hong top prizes at international film festivals in Rotterdam and Vancouver. Korean critics lauded the unusual style as something never before seen in Korean film, offering a glimpse at a new Korean modernism. The French film magazine Cineaste called the style reminiscent of Robert Bresson and Eric Rohmer. Hong’s follow-up, The Power of Kangwon Province (1998), went to Cannes. His enshrinement as Korea’s foremost art film director was complete. The January 2005 edition of the preeminent French film journal Cahiers du Cinema featured an exclusive on Korean film, and it was Hong who drew the biggest notice. Indeed, France has been more vocal than any other country in its praise for Hong’s films. When In Another Country screened in competition at the 65th Cannes Film Festival in 2012, it was his eighth appearance there –a record unequaled by any other Korean director. These Cannes appearances included competition slots for Woman Is the Future of Man (2004) and Tale of Cinema (2005), Un Certain Regard nominations for Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000), Hahaha (a winner in 2010), and The Day He Arrives (2011), and a Directors’ Fortnight invitation for Like You Know It All (2009). 47
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Director Hong Sang-soo has such a wide French fan base that his movies have continued to be shown to French audiences via official screenings in art theaters. In fact, France even invested in the early stages of some of Hong’s works. Worldrenowned French actress Isabelle Huppert also collaborated with Hong and made an appearance in his film In Another Country, serving as further proof of French fans’ extraordinary support of Hong and his work. The American film critic David Bordwell places Hong’s work in a tradition of “Asian minimalism” alongside Taiwan’s Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang and Japan’s Hirokazu Koreeda. Like them, he focuses on the everyday, omitting major incidents and background information in favor of an unresolved ambiguity about the characters’ motivations. At the same time, Bordwell points to a distinctive and original approach to narrative structure that sets Hong apart from other directors. Despite superficial similarities, each of his films shows a different style and cinematic approach. At the same time, they aren’t filled with the kind of “metaphysics” that is often associated with the art film. Hong consciously rejects the conventions of art film and commercial film alike, constructing his own unique cinematic universe in the process. Hong’s 17th and latest movie Right Now, Wrong Then (2015) recently won the Gold Leopard Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, demonstrating his continued artistic development.
French actress Isabelle Huppert appeared in In Another Country on a no-guarantee contract.
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Filmography The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (1996) The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000) On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002) Woman Is the Future of Man (2004) Tale of Cinema (2005) / Woman on the Beach (2006) Night and Day (2007) / Like You Know It All (2009) Hahaha (2010) / Oki’s Movie (2010) The Day He Arrives (2011) / In Another Country (2012) Right Now, Wrong Then (2015)
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Filmography Crocodile (1996) / Wild Animals (1997) Birdcage Inn (1998) / The Isle (2000) Real Fiction (2000) / Address Unknown (2001) Bad Guy (2001) / The Coast Guard (2002) Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003) Samaria (2004) / 3-Iron (2004) The Bow (2005) / Time (2006) / Breath (2007) Dream (2008) / Arirang (2011) / Amen (2011) Pieta (2012) / Moebius (2013) / STOP (2015)
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Kim Ki-duk Kim Ki-duk was born in 1960 to a poor Protestant family in the mountain village of Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang. His father was a disabled veteran, his mother blind. The young Kim dropped out of high school and worked in factories until the age of 20. He then served as a noncommissioned Marine Corps officer until he was 25. Already, his life had taken a very dynamic, dramatic shape, and his lack of a formal education would later set him apart from his contemporaries. As a young man, Kim had no opportunity to encounter film –or any other cultural or artistic field, for that matter. After his discharge, he spent two years with a Christian volunteer group for the blind, hoping to someday become a missionary. Kim’s experience in the military, and his Christian connection, would eventually become a pivotal part of his films and their characteristic narrative dynamism. In 1990, Kim decided on a whim to go to France and become a painter. It was his first experience as an artist: leaving behind a Korea that had become like a prison to him, he opted for the life of the street painter. The following year, he saw three movies that left a deep mark on him: Leos Carax’s The Lovers on the Bridge, Jean-Jacques Annaud’s The Lover, and Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs. He had a new dream now. He was going to be a director. Upon his return to Korea, he went to work penning screenplays, one of which (Crocodile) would become his directorial debut in 1996. It was the first in a string of films that showed a highly idiosyncratic world view, one that embellished on peripheral lives lived under the shadow of brutal violence and coercive sex: Wild Animals (1997), Birdcage Inn (1998), The Isle (2000), Address Unknown (2001), and Bad Guy (2001). The intense, 51
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2003. Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring
graphic nature of his work had many grouping him with Japan’s Kitano Takeshi and Miike Takashi as practitioners of the so-called “Asian extreme,” gifted originals working in the aesthetic of brutality. But Kim had a surprise in store. With the German-funded Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring (2003), he made a qualitative leap: from a director of violence and destruction to one of penance and salvation. Set at a temple floating on a lake, it renders Buddhist thought cinematic against beautiful seasonal scenery and a minimum of dialogue. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring opened in countries like Germany, Spain, Russia, and the United States, making it his biggest worldwide success. By the following year, he was firmly entrenched as someone whose films were better received abroad than at home. Samaria and 3-Iron won back-toback director honors at the Berlin and Venice International Film Festivals. Kim also began working with noted foreign performers, including Taiwan’s Chang Chen (Breath, 2007) and Japan’s Odagiri Joe (Dream, 2008), helping to cement his reputation as a global director. 52
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2012. Pieta
But then the famously prolific filmmaker, whose films had been released on a nearly annual basis, suddenly went into seclusion. Kim would not return to the movie scene until the debut of his autobio graphical documentary Arirang in 2011. Cannes welcomed Kim’s return by awarding the film with “Un Certain Regard” honors. In 2012, Pieta, Kim’s first feature film in six years, won the Golden Lion award for Best Film at the 69th Venice Film Festival, the first Korean film to win the Grand Prize in one of the top three film festivals. Pieta is a story of atonement to save a capitalist society through a cold-blooded loan shark. The film was said to be the culmination of Kim’s violent film style. In his next film, Moebius (2013), Kim experimented further with his art by eliminating dialogue and communicating with audiences primarily through violence. Recently, Kim directed Stop (2015), a movie about a Japanese couple who agonized over the issue of abortion and birth in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Kim has also contributed to the development of Korean films by acting as a competent producer of other capable younger directors. 53
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Lee Chang-dong A native of Daegu, Lee Chang-dong was born in 1954, and worked as a high school Korean teacher-cum-budding novelist before venturing into direction. He made a debut in the film industry as a writer and a assistant director of To the Starry Island directed by Park Gwang-su in 1993. He went on to debut as a director in 1997 with Green
2007. Secret Sunshine
Fish, a noirish work set against the backdrop of heavy redevelopment in Seoul’s suburban ring. Its impact was immediate: Lee swept the country’s major film festivals, won the Dragons and Tigers Award at the Vancouver Film Festival, and earned invitations to around 20 other festivals overseas. Since then, his record has been the epitome of consistency: every one of his films –Peppermint Candy (1999), Oasis (2002), Secret Sunshine (2007), and Poetry (2010) –has earned plaudits at home and abroad. He was also tapped as Korea’s Minister of Culture under the administration of president Roh Moo-hyun in 2003, becoming the first film director to take on that post. Lee’s films deal frankly with sensitive issues, touching on the contradictions of Korean society in the process. With Peppermint Candy, which travels backward through the changing life of its protagonist amid major episodes in modern Korean history, Lee inveighs against the brutality that collective madness visits on the human being within its historical context. Secret Sunshine is a delicate exploration of the internal conflicts of a woman who turns to religion after the abduction and murder of her young son. Lead 54
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actress Jeon Do-yoen became the first Korean to win the Best Actress award at Cannes for her performance. Oasis addresses the romantic and sexual relationships of the disabled, taking a frank look at the desires of marginalized people in modern Korean society. (The film won Lee directing honors at the Venice International Film Festival.) And his most recent work, Poetry, focuses on the uncertainty faced by an elderly woman who belatedly comes to look at the world through the writing of poetry, only to find herself confronted with an unexpectedly harsh reality. It marks the latest step in Lee’s journey into the real lives of Korea’s alienated.
Filmography
Green Fish (1997) Peppermint Candy (1999) Oasis (2002) Secret Sunshine (2007) Poetry (2010)
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Filmography Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) Memories of Murder (2003) The Host (2006) Mother (2009) Snowpiercer (2013)
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Bong Joon-ho Bong Joon-ho’s first real education in film came when the university graduate entered the Korean Academy of Film Arts. He made his directorial debut in 2000 with Barking Dogs Never Bite. The wild comedy about the disappearance of a dog drew praise for its imaginative, cartoonish style, but flopped with audiences. The news wasn’t all bad, though: it was invited to prominent film festivals like Slamdance and Locarno, earning rave reviews from overseas critics and viewers alike. His real mark as a director came with his next movie, Memories of Murder (2003). Based on a string of real unsolved murders that took place in the rural Korean community of Hwaseong in the 1980s, Memories of Murder succeeded in introducing a new genre known as “rural thriller” while at the same time revisiting some of the more painful parts of Korea’s modern history. Korean critics were collectively blown away, and the film was a smash with audiences. Bong’s third movie The Host (2006) was a blockbuster monster movie that pitted a working class family against an unidentified beast from the depths of Seoul’s Han River. Host became the biggest box office hit in Korean film history, racking up no fewer than 13 million ticket sales. In recognition of its artistic quality, it was invited to the Cannes International Film Festival. Bong Joon-ho’s films don’t so much explore any one genre as borrow the language of multiple genres while digging into the reality within them. His gift lies in combining heterogeneous elements in the most seamless of ways. This is what led Cahiers du Cinema to pronounce him the second most noteworthy Korean director (after Hong Sang-soo), lauding him as “Asia’s version of Woody Allen.” The same journal also ranked The Host fourth on its list of the best movies of the 57
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2000s. After Bong’s subsequent film Mother (2009) was screened at Cannes, Bong further established himself as a leading director in France. Bong made another leap forward in his career with the release of Snowpiercer (2013), a sci-fi blockbuster and an adaptation of a French graphic novel of the same name. Snowpiercer is a movie about the desperate struggles of the last remnants of humankind as they struggle to preserve human dignity on a ceaselessly running train in the midst of a snow-covered dystopia in the far and distant future. In addition to its captivating storyline, Snowpiercer gained recognition as a global project since it was shot in the Czech Republic featuring well-known actors from home and abroad, such as Song Kang-ho from Korea and Ewen Bremner, Tilda Swinton and Jamie Bell from Great Britain. The movie not only attracted more than 10 million viewers in Korea but also garnered good reviews after being released in countries around the world.
2006. The Host
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K-Movie Stars
Song Kang-ho 2013. Snowpiercer
Korea’s actor par excellence, Song Kang-ho is in great demand with the country’s most famous directors. He has been instrumental in helping such internationally recognized figures as Lee Chang-dong, Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho, and Kim Jee-woon achieve their unique artistic visions. Appearing in everything from art films to big-budget blockbusters, he has been a formidable presence in the Korean cinema of the 21st century, undergoing a radical transformation with every new character he presents. 59
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The theater veteran started out in film with a small role in Hong Sang-soo’s 1996 film The Day a Pig Fell into a Well. He followed this up in 1997 with piquant comic turns in Lee Chang-dong’s Green Fish and Song Neung-han’s NO. 3 that made a major impression on audiences. Next in line were supporting roles in the box office hits The Quiet Family and Shiri. His first lead finally came in the role as an office worker and wannabe wrestler in Kim Jee-woon’s 2000 comedy The Foul King. Around the time he was making a name for himself as a comic actor, he tackled a new challenge with a dramatic role as a North Korean soldier in Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area (2000). He went on to leave behind his image as a bankable actor for a series of committed performances where he went to great efforts to present fully realized characters. Acclaimed turns in Park’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Thirst, Bong’s Memories of Murder and The Host, and Lee’s Secret Sunshine had him undergoing striking transformations. It was an ongoing career peak that saw him snapping up film festival acting honors right and left. Acting alongside established international actors, Song once again showed off his talent in Bong’s blockbuster film Snowpiercer. Starring in box office hits such as The Face Reader (2013), The Attorney (2013), and The Throne (2015), Song received several awards for Best Leading Male Actor, securing his rightful place as one of Korea’s most prominent actors.
2013. The Attorney
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Jeon Do-yoen
2010. The Housemaid
Jeon Do-yoen’s first taste of recognition came with her performance in the 1992 TV miniseries Urideurui Cheonguk (Our Paradise). She had a tremendous talent that ensured she would always be in demand for various roles. Her breakthrough came in 1997, when she made her film debut in the melodrama The Contact. A critical and commercial success, this movie showed a new side of Jeon with her role as a heartbroken young women. Her next film, A Promise (1998), had 61
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her playing a doctor who gives everything for her love. She followed this up with contrasting turns in 1999: a fresh-faced 18-year-old country girl in The Harmonium in My Memory, and a libidinous adulteress who abandons her child in Happy End, a film that drew some notoriety for its explicit sex scenes. After that, she took her intense, unsparing acting style into new genre territory with the action film No Blood, No Tears (2002). Jeon’s films are worth watching simply for her performances. It says something about the high regard she is held in that so many up-and-coming Korean actresses are described as the “next Jeon Do-yoen.” And recognition has come from beyond the peninsula’s shores: in 2007, she became the first Korean to win acting honors at Cannes, claiming the Best Actress award for her role in Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine (2007). Jeon is not one to rest on her laurels, though. She came calling at Cannes once again in 2010 with Im Sang-soo’s remake of The Housemaid. Indeed, perhaps her greatest strength as a performer is her desire to keep working –to always be acting. One of Jeon’s greatest strengths as an actress is her passion for the craft, a passion that she continues to tirelessly pursue. Jeon recently showed off her martial arts prowess in Memories of the Sword (2015), exhibiting a degree of skill and talent that is unmatched by any other actress.
2014. Memories of the Sword
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2003. Silmido
Sol Kyung-gu Sol Kyung-gu projects a “familiar” image that has made him a mainstay of Korean cinema in an eclectic assortment of everyman roles. He doesn’t look much like an actor, but Lee Chang-dong, for one, saw the limitless potential in that ordinary face. Having seen Sol’s turns in A Petal, Phantom, the Submarine, and Rainbow 63
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2008. Public Enemy Returns
Trout, the director decided to cast him as the lead in Peppermint Candy (1999). A terrifyingly glimpse at a character who carries within him the painful experiences of Korea’s modern history, this film propelled Sol to a virtual clean sweep of Korean film awards. He worked with Lee again on Oasis, snagging Best Actor honors at the Seattle International Film Festival for his performance as a man who falls in love with a woman suffering from cerebral palsy. He also starred in director Kang Woo-suk’s Public Enemy trilogy (Public Enemy (2002), Another Public Enemy (2005), and Public Enemy Returns (2008)), building up a rap sheet as an incorruptible working-class detective (and later prosecutor). Silmido (2003), an action movie directed by Kang Woo-suk in which Sol also appeared, drew a record-breaking 10 million viewers, establishing Sol as one of the top Korean actors. In the movie, Sol plays the role of a special agent to be sent to North Korea. A challenging role of raw emotion and historical significance, it also included a number of bold action sequences performed by Sol himself. After his performance in Silmido, Sol played the role of a fisherman fighting against a huge tsunami in Haeundae (2009), Korea’s first disaster blockbuster. The release once again placed Sol among Korea’s top performers in a hit movie with more than 10 million tickets sales. Recently, Sol has been actively making appearances in movies of diverse genres, such as Hope (2013), My Dictator (2014) and The Long Way Home (2015). 64
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Jun Ji-hyun (Gianna Jun)
Jun Ji-hyun emerged at a star in her early twenties, when Kwak Jae-yong’s My Sassy Girl (2001) catapulted her to fame not just in Korea but among Chinese audiences and elsewhere in Asia. The role showcased her unique charisma to devastating effect, presenting her as the kind of female lead that had never before been seen in Korean film. Her next few films –Windstruck (2004) and Daisy (2005)–did poorly in Korea, but Jun bounced back to score overseas roles by dint of her name recognition. And with this popularity came a broader range of performances, mainly in international projects (for which she adopted the Italianate name “Gianna Jun”). Perhaps her biggest standout role was her 2012. The Berlin File
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starring turn as in the vampire action fantasy Blood: The Last Vampire (2009), a Japanese-Hong Kong-French-Argentine co-production. Playing the daughter of a human father and vampire mother, Jun skillfully pulled off a demanding action performance. Up next was the title role in the 2011 American-Chinese co-production Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which had her teaming with Australian star Hugh Jackman and Chinese star Li Bingbing under the direction of world-renowned Wayne Wang. Set during the Qing Dynasty in 19th century, it tells the story of a lifelong friendship between two women. The film opened to a worldwide release in China and some forty other countries. Jun soon returned to Korean screens, performing action roles in both The Thieves (2012) and The Berlin File (2012). Recently, Jun starred as the head of the assassination squad in Assassination (2015) set during the period of the Japanese colonial rule over Korea. Her powerful action performance, unrivaled even by male actors more typically cast in this type of role, helped firmly establish Jun as one of Korea’s representative action stars. 2015. Assassination
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Lee Byung-hun 2012. Masquerade
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2014. Memories of the Sword
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Scouted for the KBS network in 1991, Lee Byung-hun started out playing a lot of leading man roles in TV miniseries. (Indeed, it was one of these series, All In (2003), that would later mint him as the second most popular Hallyu star in Japan, after Bae Yong-jun.) His screen debut, Who Makes Me Crazy (1995), marked the beginning of a fairly prolific film acting career, with performances in Runaway (1995), Kill the Love (1996), and Lament (1997). But it was Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area that really got him noticed. His role as a South Korean soldier on the border with North Korea required him to run the gamut of emotions from comical to intensely dramatic. Lee has shown his versatility by playing a sensitive soul devoted to love in Bungee Jumping of Their Own (2001) and Addiction (2002), and a glamorous action star in A Bittersweet Life (2005) and The Good, The Bad, and The Weird (2008). The following year saw his successful Hollywood debut as Storm Shadow in director Stephen Sommers’ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, cementing his reputation as one of Asia’s foremost action stars. He also appeared in the sequel, G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation (2013), and co-starred in Red 2 (2013), which once again paired him with Hollywood stars. Most recently, Lee played the role of T-1000 in Terminator Genisys (2015), a movie signaling the revival of the Terminator series, further building up Lee’s career as a representative actor in Asia. In Korea, Lee also showed the best performances in his roles in historical movies, such as Masquerade (2012) and Memories of the Sword (2015).
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Major Film Festivals in Korea
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03 Major Film Festivals in Korea
Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) The Busan International Film Festival (“BIFF�), which marked its 20th anniversary in 2015, is not only the most well-known and substantial international film festival in Korea, but is also one of the most representative film festivals in all of Asia. The BIFF, which was opened as Korea's first international film festival in 1996, is held in Busan, a port city in the south of Korea, every October and attracts more than 0.2 million movie viewers every year. So far, the BIFF has contributed greatly to the Asian film industry as a platform for Asian movies to be shown to the world. In 2011, the Busan Cinema Center, an exclusive festival screening facility made up of four screens and an outdoor theater, was established, creating an even more concrete foundation for the BIFF. The scale of the Busan Cinema Center is particularly of note since it is one of the only exclusive screening film facilities in operation worldwide. In 2015, Actress Kang Su-yeon joined Lee Yong-kwan as one of the BIFF festival directors, helping the BIFF secure its spot as one of the world's top three film festivals. This year, the BIFF screened a total of 304 movies 72
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from 75 countries, including 94 world premiers and 27 international premiers. Also in 2015, a group of prominent directors representing Asia visited the BIFF to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its opening. In attendance were famous names, such as Hou Hsiao Hsien, Jia Zhangke, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Johnnie To, Eric Khoo, Naomi Kawase, Hirokatz Koreeda, Lav Diaz, Wang Bing, and Bahman Ghobadi.
Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) The first edition of the Jeonju International Film Festival came in 2000 with an event organized around the theme “Digital, Alternative, Independent.” Since then, JIFF has adopted a unique focus on uncovering creative and adventurous works that depart from the mainstream. One of the flagship programs of the festival is the ‘Jeonju Project: Three Directors and Three Colors’, which not only provides monetary support to cover the manufacturing cost of movies, but also takes responsibility for their production and distribution. Initially titled ‘Digital: Three Colors,’ the short film program, which originally played in omnibus format short digital films produced by three world renowned directors with their own image aesthetics, was eventually turned into a program supporting the production of longer movies in 2014 and was renamed the ‘Jeonju Project: Three Directors and Three Colors in 2015. Following these changes, the program has been firmly established as a representative program of the JIFF, and is participated in by internationallyrecognized directors, such as Cannes Golden Palm-winning Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Shinya Tsukamoto, Bong Joon-ho, Erick Khoo, Pedro Costa, Harun Farocki, Eugene O’Neill, Masahiro Kobayashi and Zhang Lu. Many of the films produced under sponsorship by the JIFF were first screened at the JIFF, but were later invited to international film festivals, and some were 74
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even awarded prizes. In addition to domestic and foreign competitions, the JIFF also features other programs, such as: ‘World Cinema Scape’ and ‘Korea Cinema Scape,’ which provide a glimpse at world and Korean movies trends; ‘Expanded Cinema’, for the exhibition of the aesthetics of expanded film media; and ‘Cinemafest,’ in which audiences of all ages and genders can enjoy movies via outdoor screenings. In 2015, the JIFF celebrated its 16th anniversary with the screening of 200 movies from 47 countries, 45 of which were screened as part of the JIFF’s world premier competition.
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Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) Since making its debut in 1997, the Puchon International Film Festival has sought to set itself apart with a focus on fantastic genre work. “Fantastic” here encompasses not just sci-fi, horror, and fantasy, but anything else that conjures up that descriptor in the minds of viewers. It also represents Asia as the continent’s first member of the European Film Festivals Federation (EFFF). Its format marks 76
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a departure from the traditional film festival focuses on genre film, B-movies, and cult movies. BiFan tries to provide a setting where fantastic films can reach a wider audience by embracing everything with a cultish sensibility and mass appeal. The Network of Asian Fantastic Films was established in 2008. The organization annually operates diverse programs on the film industry in order to stimulate the production of genre movies, thereby contributing to the development of the genre film industry in Asia. 77
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International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul (WFFIS) A fixture since 1997, the International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul was launched with the goal of showing movies that address issues of special importance to women and has gone on to become the world’s biggest women’s film festival. In 2015, the WFFIS featured 111 films from 37 countries. In addition to presenting the latest currents in women’s film the world over, WFFIS has also served to promote interaction among women film makers, building a strong network with similar events throughout Asia. In more recent years, the festival has also featured movies produced by male directors and has made attempts to encourage the participation of men in the festival, seeking to unite the sexes and reinventing itself as a festival fully supported by all. After the event is over, the organizers provide local screenings of some of the more talked-about works, helping these films to serve a public function and reach a wider audience.
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Jecheon International Music & Film Festival (JIMFF) Launched in August 2005, the Jecheon International Music & Film Festival has been working to diversify film festival offerings by expanding the scope of cinematic genre in Korea and overseas to include the musical film. The midsummer event also presents itself as a “leisure festival,” offering not just music-themed cinema but also performances by renowned Korean bands on stage and street. In 2015, the JIMFF featured diverse music performances as well as the screenings of 101 movies from 25 countries. Included among the international array of musically oriented films at JIMFF are the competitors in the “World Music Film Today” program and the features in “Cinema Concert,” a program showing both cinema and live performances. Music programs range from One Summer Night, a signature music program of the JIMFF, and Uirim Summer Night set against the beautiful backdrop of the Uirimji Lake, to Festival for Street Musicians, an interactive music experience. 79
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(Left) Seoul International NewMedia Festival Poster (Right) Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul Poster
Other Festivals There are a number of film festivals in Korea that have collectively served as a cornerstone for the Korean film industry. In particular, the Seoul Independent Film Festival, the Mise-en-Scène Short Film Festival, the Seoul Independent Documentary Film & Video Festival, and the Asiana International Short Film Festival have acted as a stage for independent filmmakers to show off their skills and talented newcomers to find their footing. In addition, the Seoul International New Media Festival and Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul have added diversity to the Korean film culture by continuously introducing adventurous and experimental domestic and foreign films. The DMZ International Documentary Festival is Korea’s largest documentary festival and runs under the themes of peace, communications, and life. The festival is held in Korea’s demilitarized zone and wishes in part for the reunification of the Korean peninsula and the resolution of disputes. These festivals have continued to develop thanks to filmmakers’ passion for those film festivals and the support of Korean audiences who sympathize with and are enthusiastic about those filmmakers’ movies. 80
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DMZ International Documentary Festival Poster
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Top 10 Korean Films Worldwide
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04 Top 10 Korean Films Worldwide
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The Housemaid Kim Ki-young, 1960 Dong-sik (Kim Jin-kyu), a composer and music teacher at a textile factory, is a devoted father and happy husband to his wife (Ju Jeung-ryu). One day, he lets himself be seduced by the family maid (Lee Eun-sim). The two of them make love, and she becomes pregnant. Enraged when he forces her to have an abortion, the maid plots her revenge. She will do whatever it takes to destroy the family. An intense depiction of a middle-class family’s collapse and terrorization at the hands of their maid, this film is a nervewracking, horrifying experience for the viewer, who is left huddering by the grotesque mise-en-scene of its twostory home and the discordant notes on 84
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its soundtrack. It also offers devastatingly pointed portrayals of city and country, surplus sexuality and the desire for reproduction, young women with dreams of class advancement, bourgeois families terrified by a disruption to that class system, and male fears of women with economic power. The director, Kim Ki-young, was known for his deft touch in delving insistently into basic instincts and human lust. The Housemaid marked the point where he truly earned his reputation for being “diabolical,” with an idiosyncratic mixture of grotesquerie and sadism. It would take until the 1990s for his films to receive a worldwide reappraisal, earning him new recognition as a Korean filmmaker with a unique style. Eventually, The Housemaid was restored by the Korean Film Archive with support from Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation and shown at Cannes Classics in 2008. It was remade in 2010 with Jeon Do-yoen in the title role and Im Sang-soo in the director’s chair. The remake entered the Cannes competition that same year. 85
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02
The Coachman Kang Dae-jin, 1961 Chun-sam (Kim Seung-ho) is a widowed cart driver. His oldest son, a civil service exam candidate, has married, and Chunsam lives with his three other children : a mute oldest daughter who has fallen victim to domestic violence, a second son who keeps getting into fights, and a younger daughter who dreams of escaping poverty and moving up in the world. Supporting him on the sidelines is his lovelorn housekeeper (Hwang Jung-seun), who nurses a crush on him. They all have their own problems: the oldest son keeps flunking his test, the oldest daughter attempts suicide by jumping Into the Han River after being abused by her husband one too many times, and the younger daughter falls prey to a con man. Things get worse when Chun-sam is struck by a car, injuring his leg. Then his employer’s family decides to sell his horse, which has become a kind of his alter ego. Unbeknownst to him, his housekeeper buys the horse, planning to give it back to him. Awarded a special Silver Bear at the 11th Berlin International Film Festival, The Coachman is often cited as a superior example of the Korean family melodrama. It provides an outstandingly detailed portrait of the agonies and frustration of a working class family at a time when the country was making the transition from premodern to modern. The film 86
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seeks to transcend this conflict–not through generational friction but through reconciliation. The father prevails over his transitional dilemma when his son finally passes his test; his crumbling authority over the family is restored. The film recalls the cinema of naturalism with its street landscapes, which deliver an exquisitely limned picture of a society and culture where the modern coexists with premodern, as witnessed in the changing modes of transportation and locations in Seoul. Actor Kim Seung-ho’s strong performance helped instill him in the public consciousness as the archetypal “father” of ’60s Korean cinema. 87
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03
Heavenly Homecoming to Stars
Lee Jang-ho, 1974
Still scarred from being dumped by her first love, Gyeong-a (An In-suk) tries to make a new life for herself as the second wife of middle-aged Manjun (Yoon Il-bong). But their romance comes to an end when he learns about her past pregnancy. She takes to the bottle and eventually becomes a “hostess,” entertaining strange men by drinking with them at the bar. One day, she meets artist Mun-ho (Shin Seong-il). The two fall in love and move in together. But the severely alcoholic Mun-ho realizes he can’t even love himself and goes away, leaving Gyeong-a behind. A year later, her body is found in the winter snow. The debut of director Lee Jang-ho, Heavenly Homecoming to Stars is based on a serialized novel of the same name by a close friend, the writer Choe In-ho. It was, for a time, the biggest hit in Korean film history, selling 465,000 tickets and making Lee one of the most popular directors around. What resonated most with viewers of the day was the way it used the melodrama genre to capture the historical context of ’70s-era industrialization and modernization, where many women came to the city and ended up having to work as bar hostesses. Heavenly
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Homecoming to Stars also delivers a scathing critique of the way young women of the time were threatened with abuse by men and suffered under the prevailing patriarchal mind-set.
04
The Surrogate Woman Im Kwon-taek, 1986
Ok-nyeo (Kang Soo-yeon) is a 17-year-old girl living in Joseon-era Korea. She has been brought into a distinguished household to serve as a surrogate mother, bearing a son to carry on the family line as custom dictates. But when the child is taken away from her, she is driven to take her own life. The Surrogate Woman explores the resentments of a woman whose life is rent asunder by patriarchal violence. 89
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This was a common theme in Korean period pieces of the 1980s: the way the male-dominated order of the feudal era oppressed women and drove them to their death. The film is especially interesting in its use of the sacrificial ritual where the dead and living communicate, and its exploration of a world where the living are dominated by the dead. It forgoes any dramatic narrative of maternal instincts or romance for a vivid, ethnohistorical perspective on the customs of the times, including the use of surrogate mothers (in Korean, ssibaji –literally, “seed receptacles”) and various other practices that were supposed to bring a male child. The film was shown at the 44th Venice International Film Festival, where Kang Soo-yeon won Best Actress honors for her performance as Ok-nyeo –making this the first Korean film since 1961’s The Coachman to win an award at one of the world’s three biggest festivals. It also helped establish Im Kwon-taek as a director of international renown, while marking the first instance where Western film festivals really began taking note of the way Korean films represented their country’s traditions and culture.
05
Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? Bae Yong-kyoon, 1989
Two monks live in an old Buddhist temple deep in the mountains, an old one named Hye-gok (Lee Pan-yong) and a young one named Hae-jin (Hwang Haejin). Hye-gok is visited by Gi-bong (Sin Won-sop), who wants to sever all ties with the world and become a buddha. Conflict ensues as Gi-bong practices, communing spiritually with the older monk (who is facing his own imminent death) but failing to escape completely from the delusions of the world. Meanwhile, the orphaned Hae-jin kills a bird, an act that brings him face to 90
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face with the duality of life and death for the first time. He finds himself asking questions about the fundamental suffering of existence. The debut work of director Bae Yong-kyoon, Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? won the Golden Leopard award at the 1989 Locarno International Film Festival. It was from overseas, then, that he saw his first real recognition for the unique cinematic vision he had developed outside Seoul’s Chungmuro studio system. The film itself took eight years to plan and four years to make, with Bae taking on the responsibilities of screenwriter, director, producer, cinematographer, lighting director, art director, and editor. It poses a Buddhist-style koan to the viewer with the Zen meditation of its three monks, while providing a detailed depiction of the changing seasons that shows the phenomena of the universe nestled in nature.
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06
My Sassy Girl Kwak Jae-yong, 2001 Gyeon-u (Cha Tae-hyun) sees a drunk young woman (Jun Ji-hyun) staggering in the subway. Sick to her stomach, she ends up vomiting on a passenger’s head. Instantly, the subway car is in pandemonium. She then turns to Gyeon-u, calls him “honey,” and collapses in his arms. From that moment, they are inseparable, and romance blossoms. But her antics are far from over. Adapted from an online story ostensibly based on a true story, this romantic comedy was a box office sensation not just in Korea but throughout Asia. Different cultures tend to have very different standards for “funny,” but the seemingly very Korean humor of My Sassy Girl translated surprisingly well with other audiences. It also made a bona fide Hallyu star of its female lead, Jun Ji-hyun –some said she commanded a multimillion-dollar brand with her “sassy girl” character. The film was eventually given the American remake treatment in 2008 by director Yann Samuell, with Elisha Cuthbert doing her best sassy in the lead. 92
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07
Oldboy Park Chan-wook, 2003 Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is a typical salary man. One evening, he is abducted and locked up in a room for reasons unknown to him. His only food is a regular delivery of Chinese dumplings; his only news of the outside world comes via television. Fifteen years pass before he is eventually freed. He meets Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung), a cook at a Japanese restaurant, and the two of them fall in love. He also discovers the identity of the man who imprisoned him: one Lee Woo-jin (Yoo Ji-tae). Dae-su plots his revenge, but he has no idea of the shock awaiting him. Oldboy was nothing if not an attention-getter when it came out, with its mixture of provocative subject matter and unusual cinematic style. But its Grand Jury Prize honors at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival was the real impetus that sent it on the rounds to overseas film festivals, where it inspired numerous other
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directors. Eli Roth admitted that his Hostel (2007) was directly influenced in its style by Oldboy. And when Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight came out in 2008, some US media noted distinct aesthetic similarities. The film is currently slotted for a Hollywood remake by Spike Lee.
08
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring Kim Ki-duk, 2003
A temple floats in the middle of a lake. A boy captures a forest frog, a snake, and a fish and tortures them by tying a stone to them. An old monk sees him and ties a stone to the sleeping boy’s back. The boy wakes up and tearfully complains of the 94
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pain. The old monk tells him he will spend his life with the karma if he does not undo his misdeed. The boy grows to age 17. A young girl of the same age arrives at the temple to recuperate. The two fall in love. The old monk notices. The girl leaves. The boy is unable to let go of his deepening attachment and leaves the temple. Ten years pass. The boy, now an adult, arrives at the temple, fleeing the authorities after slaying his adulterous wife. The anger and pain are too much for him, and he attempts suicide in front of a statue of the Buddha. Set against the changing of the seasons, this film expresses Buddhist ideas through a minimum of dialogue and restrained performances. The lakebound temple in particular is like a beautiful painting. With this film, director Kim Kiduk takes a step away from the violent, instinctually driven characters of his previous works to show a Zen meditator repenting of his worldly misdeeds. The film resulted in a successful transformation of the director’s image and earned him a strong following not just at home but overseas.
09
The Host
Bong Joon-ho, 2006
Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) runs a snack stall on the Han riverside with his father (Byun Hee-bong). He has a daughter, Hyeon-seo (Go Ah-sung), whom he loves deeply, but he is also somewhat slow and unreliable. One day, a mysterious creature comes up out of the river and starts attacking people. Gang-du tries to take Hyeon-seo and escape the beast, but he accidentally lets go of her hand, and she is spirited away to parts unknown. He and his family are quarantined in the hospital as authorities try to figure out whether they were infected by the beast. But when they learn that Hyeon-seo is still alive somewhere along the river’s 95
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banks, they break out of the hospital and prepare to battle the monster. The third film by director Bong Joon-ho, The Host was Korea’s first-ever monster blockbuster, and it was a box office monster, too, selling 13 million tickets. It was a labor of love, with fully 16 months spent working out the film’s beast. Unusually for a monster movie, it was invited to the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, where it met with rapturous praise. With this film, Bong offers a vivid picture of contemporary Seoul –much like his carefully crafted portrait of a 1980s-era farming community in his previous film, the thriller Memories of Murder –while at the same time lending a certain plausibility to his monster. His films don’t just offer genre thrills, but a host (so to speak) of other pleasures for those who get the historical, cultural, and geographical references.
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10 Poetry
Lee Chang-dong, 2010
Elderly Mi-ja (Yoon Jeong-hee) lives in a decrepit apartment with her middle schooler grandson. She enjoys dressing up in a flower-bedecked hat and nice clothes, and she has a curiosity that belies her age. One day, she begins taking poetry classes at her neighborhood cultural center. She becomes an avid poet, looking closely at the things around her for inspiration. She gains a new perspective on familiar things, an experience that leaves her giddy. But an ugly reality intrudes as her grandson is implicated in a female classmate’s suicide. Mi-ja tries to tune it out, but at what cost? Poetry is a film about the pain of others and a film about beauty. It offers a portrait of a person torn at the moment where poetry (something assumed to be beautiful) meets an immoral desire to ignore people’s suffering. The winner of a screenplay award at Cannes, Poetry was embraced by audiences when it opened in France, becoming the most successful of director Lee Chang-dong’s films there. 97
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Korean Culture
No.5
MOVIE The World’s Spotlight on Korean Film
Appendix
Appendix Other Notable Directors The directors mentioned in the text are just a few of the many filmmakers whose outstanding work is helping give Korea such a strong national cinema. Here are a few more names worthy of attention: The works of Kim Jee-woon span a variety of genres of Korean films. Ever since making his debut with Quiet Family (1997), Kim has experimented with a new genre in each of his subsequent movies including The Foul King (comedy),
A Tale of Two Sisters (horror), A Bittersweet Life (film noir), The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (action), and I Saw the Devil (suspense thriller) and enjoyed both a commercial and artistic success. Instead of rehashing existing genres, Kim has continued to challenge the confines of each genre, presenting his own creative reinterpretations. The New York Times even coined the term “kimchi western” to describe Kim’s film The Good, the Bad and the Weird , which, as its title suggests, is a homage to The Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly , a classic western by Sergio Leone. Following this success, Kim was asked by Hollywood to direct Last Stand (2013), Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action comeback film. Kim produced the film as an entertaining movie full of B-grade movie sentiment and showed off his directing skills without confining himself and the film to one particular genre. While Kim Jee-Woon has challenged moviegoers with his ever-changing mix of genres, director Im Sang-soo continues to challenge his viewers with his criticisms of 100
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(top) 2008. The Good, The Bad, The Weird (bottom) 2012. The Taste Of Money
Kim Jee-woon, Im Sang-soo, Byun Young-joo, and Choi Dong-hoon
Korean society made through provocative subject matters and poignant topics. His film debut, Girls’ Night Out (1998) presented a frank discourse on female sexuality, while his follow-up movie Tears (2001) explored the psychology behind teenage rebellion. The President’s Last Bang (2004), on the other hand, deals with the topic of the assassination of South Korean President Park Chung-hee. More recently, Im has explored the practices of Korea’s all-powerful chaebol corporations in The Taste of Money (2012) invited to the Cannes competition. As shown in the above, Im has taken bold attempts to take a scalpel to the old taboos and sorest spots in Korean society. Choi Dong-hoon can also be listed without hesitation among Korea’s top commercial film directors. Choi has continued to reap successive box office hits for the past ten years and is a born storyteller with unparalleled talent. In particular, as illustrated by The Big Swindle (2004),
Tazza: The High Rollers (2006), and The Thieves (2012), Choi is especially gifted in directing action/crime movies that feature diverse characters with unique personalities. Much of Choi’s success is based on his vivid and robust scenarios, which are written using detailed research that continues to evolve throughout early stage of planning and 101
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2012. The Thieves
development. Other than crime movies, Choi is also known for entertaining films, such as in Jeon Woochi: The Taoist
Wizard (2009), a fantasy film, and Assassination (2015), a film that takes place during the Japanese colonial period. Other directors that deserve mentioning are Youn Jekyun, director of Haeundae and Ode to My Father , Kim Han-min, director of War of the Arrows and The Admiral
: Roaring Current s, and Ryoo Seung-wan, director of The Berlin File and Veteran . Together with Choi Dong-hoon, these directors are leading the development of Korean commercial films and are credited with presenting new challenges in order to expand the horizon of Korean films. Who are the next-generation filmmakers waiting in the wings to take Korean cinema to new heights? One of them may be Na Hong-Jin, who became a star director overnight with his hugely successful feature debut, the serial killer thriller The
Chaser (2008), which drew 5 million Koreans to the theaters. His followup, a conspiracy movie about a hired killer called The
Yellow Sea (2010), was invited for showing in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes. With this film, Na showed his innate gift for the masculine genre of the action thriller. Kang (top) 2012. Helpless (bottom) 2009. Breathless
Hyeong-cheol, who has enjoyed box-office hits, such as
Speed Scandal (2008), Sunny (2011) and Tazza: The Hidden Card (2014), is known for his both touching and entertaining comedies, and is placed among Korea’s next generation of top directors in commercial film. When it comes to indie movies, one important name to remember is Yang Ik-june, who has done a superior job of charting the inner human landscape while incorporating what are seen as “masculine
Appendix
elements” of harsh language and violence into his work.
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More prolific as an actor than a director, Yang made his directing table with Breathless , in which he also starred. Detailing the conflicted relationship between a hired thug and a high school girl, it was a big hit for an indie, selling more than 120,000 tickets. It also won its maker a raft of awards at the world’ leading film festivals, including a Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. Yeon Sang-ho also made a dazzling debut at BIFF, where his animated feature King of Pigs pulled off a hat trick. An intense thriller that also looks at power battles in a school setting (this time among middle school students), the film was screened during the 2012 Directors’Fortnight at Cannes, where it was touted as Korea’ first feature-length animated film to receive that honor. Yeon Sang-ho also successively released two animated films that surprisingly deal with some of the more serious topics of Korea Society. These films are The Window (2012), a movie criticizing power relationships within the army, and The Fake (2013), a movie presenting the falsity of religious belief. As a next movie, he is working on Travel to Busan (2015), a real-life action blockbuster, and making a new experiment.
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Na Hong-jin, Yang Ik-june, Yun Seong-hyeon and Yeon Sang-ho
Hollywood Remakes With hundreds of films being made every year, Hollywood is always looking for new subject matter, and Korea has been a particularly attractive market for remake rights. Impressed by the novel ideas on display, more and more producers are buying the rights to remake them. The examples, which span a wide range of genres, include Tell Me Something (1999), Il Mare (2000), My Sassy Girl (2001), No. 815 (2002), Addiction (2002), Marrying
the Mafia (2002), Teacher Kim Bong-du (2003), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), Oldboy (2003), Into the Mirror (2003), 7 Days (2007), The Chaser (2008), Speed Scandal (2008),
Hello Ghost (2010), and The Man from Nowhere (2010). Some of the remakes that have made their way to theaters are The Lake House (2006), a Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves starrer based on Il Mare; My Sassy Girl (2008), with Elisha Cuthbert replacing Jun Ji-hyun in title role; Possession (2008), an adaptation of Addiction starring Sarah Michelle Gellar; Mirrors (2008), a Kiefer Sutherland vehicle based on Into the Mirro r; and The Uninvited (2009), a new version of A Tale of Two Sisters starring Elizabeth Banks. The Lake House and The Uninvited were particularly well received by audiences.
Il Mare vs. The Lake House Il Mare is a science fiction melodrama that tells a love story with a twist: newcomer voice actress Eun-ju (Jun Ji-hyun) and architect Seong-hyeon (Lee Jung-jae) are living two years apart from each other, carrying out their romance through the mailbox of a seaside house named Il Mare. Director Lee Hyeon-seung had previously shown a flair for well-crafted melodramas with gorgeous mise-en-scène in films like Blue in You (1992) and Sunset into the Neon Lights (1995). Il Mare had viewers lauding his artisanlike touch. So it was a matter of some interest among cinephiles while the film was slotted for Hollywood remake treatment. Helmed by Argentinian director Alejandro
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Appendix Agresti, The Lake House starred two of the biggest performers around in Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, which only added to the anticipation. The basic storyline is the same, although the house is now set on a lake rather than the seaside (hence the title), and the female lead is a doctor rather than a voice actress. While Il Mare focused more on the beauty of negative space rather than dialogue in expressing its time-traveling romantic premise, The Lake House adds more padding with chance meetings and dialogue across space-time, which critics said made it all a bit cloying.
A Tale of Two Sisters vs. The Uninvited Kim Jee-woon’ original is considered a modern horror classic by many, with its arresting visual aesthetic. Loosely based on the traditional Korean folktale of Janghwa and Hong-ryeon (the film’ original Korean title), it focuses on the bizarre incidents that unfold in a quiet country cabin where two sisters live with their father and new stepmother. Everything builds to a shocking final-act twist. Layering on wistful emotions as it keeps the tension mounting, A Tale of Two Sisters shows that a horror film can be a thing of beauty. Helmed by Charles and Thomas Guard, The Uninvited is more direct and conventional in its approach to horror, and tweaks the conclusion of Kim’ film to supply another unexpected turn. The result is a creative reinterpretation that jettisons almost everything but the characters from the original.
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Appendix
Korean Theaters
Korean viewers have been crucial in supporting the development of national cinema. Korean viewers have been crucial in supporting the development of national cinema. Almost nowhere else in the world will you find homegrown films pulling fully onefifth the country’ population to theaters –a testament to the avid interest and affection Korean audiences hold for their country’ movies. In Korea, theaters have become places for dates, friend or family get-togethers, and even company outings. Going to the movie theater is not just about seeing the movie itself, but also about being involved in modern culture and strengthening the bonds of friendship. The growing passion for film in Korea stems largely from this unique theater culture. The introduction of the multiplex theater system in the 2000s brought a dramatic overnight change to the environments where Koreans watched their movies. Huge theaters like CGV, Megabox, and Lotte Cinema drew big crowds with their convenience and accessibility. These multiplexes didn’ just show films; they also offered restaurants, cafés, game rooms, and other amenities. Recently, in order to meet global demands, multiplex theaters are not only equipped with theaters showing 3D films, but also have screens exclusively for the playing of 4D films. In addition, CJ CGV has developed the first-ever ‘Screen X,’ which is a premium large-
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Appendix scale screening format with multiple screens installed along the sides of the theater in addition to the large screen at the front. ‘Screen X’ is currently in operation in 75 theaters. Other than multiplex theaters which mainly play blockbuster hits, movie viewers can easily find many theaters showing art films. In Seoul, there are many theaters exclusively for art films, such as the Seoul Art Cinema, Cine Cube, KT&G Cinema Sangsangmadang, Indie Space and KU Cinema Trap and others. But other parts of the country also guarantee an electric assortment of viewing opportunities with art cinemas in Busan (most notably the Busan Cinema Center), Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, Jeonju, and Gangneung. For those wishing to see classics of Korean cinema, Seoul’s Cinematheque KOFA (run by the Korean Film Archive) provides free screenings of older and independent films. Tickets at multiplexes generally run about 8,000 won on weekdays and 10,000 won on weekends. Tickets for 3D films and 4D films are 12,000 won and 18,000 won respectively.
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Appendix
Korean Classics on
YouTube
In May 2010, the Korean Film Archive set up its own YouTube channel (www.youtube. com/koreanfilm), where it uploads classics of Korean cinema for free viewing. Seventy films from between 1940 and 1990 can be viewed there with English subtitles. Seven are available in high definition, including Aimless Bullet by Yu Hyun-mok, The
Barefooted Youth by Kim Ki-duk (not to be confused with the contemporary filmmaker of the same name), and Woman of Fire by Kim Ki-young. Subtitles are also available in other languages via Google Translate, helping to make especially outstanding Korean classics accessible to people all over the world. You can also view over 400 Korean films for free through a video on demand service at the KFA website (www. koreafilm.or.kr).
추가정보
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Appendix Webites on K-Movie Korean Film Council (KOFIC)
www.kofic.or.kr
Korean Movie Database (KMDB)
www.kmdb.or.kr
Korean Films VOD
www.kmdb.or.kr/vod
Korean Film Archive (KOFA)
www.koreafilm.or.kr
Darcy Parquet’s ‘Korean Film’
www.koreanfilm.org
Film Festivals in Korea Busan International Film Festivall
www.biff.kr
Jeonju International Film Festival
www.jiff.or.kr
Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival www.bifan.com Women’s Film Festival in Seoul
www.wffis.or.kr
Jecheon International Music& Film Festival www.jimff.org Indi Forum
www.indieforum.co.kr
Seoul Independent Film Festival
www.siff.or.kr
Seoul Independent Documentary Film & Video Festival
www.sidof.org
Asiana International Short Film Festival
www.aisff.org
DMZ International Documentary Film Festival http://dmzdocs.com/ Seoul International NewMedia Festival
www.nemaf.net
International Perimental Film & Video Festival www.ex-is.org
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Representative cinema site CGV
www.cgv.co.kr
Lotte Cinema
www.lottecinema.co.kr
Megabox
www.megabox.co.kr
The Korean association of cinematheques
www.cinematheque.seoul.kr
Korean Film Archive
www. koreafilm.or.kr/cinema
Cinecube
www.icinecube.com
KT&G cinema sangsangmadang
http://sangsangmadang.com/cinema
cinecode www.cinecode.co.kr/ Indie Space
www.indiespace.kr/
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Appendix Further Reading Kim, K. H. (2011) Virtual Hallyu: Korean Cinema of the Global Era. Duke University Press Books Paquet, D. (2010) New Korean Cinema: Breaking the Waves. Wallflower Press Choi, J. (2010) The South Korean Film Renaissance: Local Hitmakers, Global
Provocateurs. Wesleyan Jung, S. et al. (2007~2009) Korean Film Directors (Vols 1-22). Seoul Selection McHugh, K., Abelmann, N. (Eds.) (2005) South Korean Golden Age Melodrama:
Gender, Genre, and National Cinema (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Television). Wayne State University Press Shin, C., Stringer, J. (Eds.) (2005) New Korean Cinema. NYU Press Kim, K. H. (2004) The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema (Asia-Pacific: Culture,
Politics, and Society). Duke University Press Books Bowyer, J. (2004) The Cinema of Japan and Korea. Wallflower Press Min, E., Joo, J., Kwak, H. (2003) Korean Film: History, Resistance, and Democratic
Imagination. Praeger Lee, H. (2001), Contemporary Korean Cinema: Culture, Identity and Politics. Manchester University Press Lee, Y., Choe, Y. (1998), The History of Korean Cinema. Jimoondang International
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About the Author
Kim Kyung-tae Kim Kyung-tae is a well-known movie critic. He has completed doctorate courses on cinematic image theories at the Graduate School of Advanced Imaging Science of Chung-Ang University and is currently a visiting professor there. Also a reporter for Cinetizen, a movie portal site, Kim actively delivers news about domestic and foreign films. Kim is also currently involved in writing movie columns for a number of leading news sources, including the North Jeolla Province Munhwa Journal .
CREDITS Published by Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) Director (Assistant Minister) Younggoog Park Government Complex-Sejong, 14-1, 408, Galmae-ro, Sejong-si, Korea Tel: +82-44-203-3300 http://www.kocis.go.kr Writer Kim Kyung-tae Produced by Kyungsung Printing Photographs Yonhap Photo, Cine21, Korea National University of Arts, CJ E&M, Showbox, Lotte Ent, NEXT Ent, ShinCine, Studio Nurimbo, Vill LEE Film, Bom Film Productions BIFF, JIFF, BiFan, WFFIS, JIMFF * Movie images courtesy of their film productions and distributors
T
he Korean Culture series is one of the Korean Culture and Information Service’s project to furnish international readers
with insights into and basic understanding of the dynamic and diverse aspects of contemporary Korean culture.
ISBN 978-89-7375-597-4 ISBN 978-89-7375-596-7 (set)