Ryoo Seung-Wan
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Screening in this year’s festival: CITY OF VIOLENCE (encore presentation), THE UNJUST (New York Premiere)
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Ryoo Seung-Wan – he came to the NYAFF and all he
got was that lousy t-shirt.
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Korea has had a lousy century. Conquered by Japan, it suffered through World War II and then the Korean War. It was torn in half, suffered through a miliary dictatorship and remains in a constant state of alert, always worried about an invasion from the North. It’s no surprise then that most Korean directors are very suspicious of violence. Most Korean action movies end on notes of darkness and destruction, the violence unleashed taking a toll on both villain and hero. All is ashes and failure and blood and futility. For them, action always results in guilt.
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Then there’s Ryoo Seung-Wan.
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Director Ryoo Seung-Wan himself in CITY OF VIOLENCE.
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He represents the other side of Korean action movies. The kind that were hits in the 80’s, the disrespectable Korean action movies that were exploitation films, fighting female movies and Jackie Chan clones. Ryoo Seung-Wan is not interested in painting a dark and violent picture of violence, but in celebrating movement, grace, speed and action. His first movie, DIE BAD, was made when he was 27 with himself and his brother as its stars and it was nothing more than an exuberant showcase for his skills. Then came a thriller, NO BLOOD, NO TEARS, a wu xia fantasy, ARAHAN, a boxing movie with a happy ending, CRYING FIST, the exuberant balls-to-the-walls action hit, CITY OF VIOLENCE, and, finally, his send-up/homage to the cheap, anti-communist Korean thrillers of the 80’s, DACHIMAWA LEE.
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THE UNJUST
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For Ryoo, action isn’t some mournful process to cry over. It’s something that’s fun to watch and rather than be ambiguous and ambivalent, he’s super-charged and excited. Even in The Unjust which is more toned down, his characters still revel in sticking it to each other, in beating the crap out of one another and in the sheer fun of screwing each other over.
Ryoo Seung-wan is young, he’s talented and he knows what he likes: action. He likes it because it moves, because it’s fast, because it’s furious, because it transcends all boundaries, barriers and limitations. He likes it because there is nothing more amazing than the human body in motion. But most of all, he likes it because it’s fun. And that’s nothing to feel guilty about.
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THE UNJUST
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CITY OF VIOLENCE
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NA HONG -JIN
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Screening in this year’s festival: THE CHASER (encore presentation), THE YELLOW SEA (New York Premiere)
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THE CHASER
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With only two films under his belt, there’s not a lot to say about Na Hong-Jin. Born in 1974, Na first gained attention with when he won the Best Horror/Sci-fi Short Film Award at the Mise-en-scene Short Film Festival with his 9-minute and 30-second film “The Perfect Fishplate.” Two years later, during the lowest point of the Korean film industry, he made a low budget thriller with two mid-list actors. It was called THE CHASER and it became the number three movie of the year, beating out KUNG FU PANDA, MAMMA MIA! and even IRON MAN at the box office, solely based on word-of-mouth. Na wanted to take a break after this, but he was advised by one of his seniors to keep working and so he packed up and moved to Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture for two months. It was this research that inspired and shaped his screenplay for THE YELLOW SEA, which was released in late 2010. The first Korean movie to have direct investment from a US studio (20th Century Fox) it opened at number one at the Korean box office and was invited to participate in the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
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THE YELLOW SEA
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LEE JOON-IK
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Screening in this year’s festival: BATTLEFIELD HEROES (New York Premiere)
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In America we’re used to getting our history served up sanctimonious style, with shafts of golden sunlight and long boring speeches. Director Lee Joon-Ik serves up history with black comedy, razor-sharp satire and plenty of sex, blood and mud. His first success was the satire ONCE UPON A TIME IN A BATTLEFIELD which made sacks of cash at the box office. But then came KING & CLOWN, about a Joseon Dynasty king who falls for a young, feminine actor in his court. It doesn’t sound like much, but KING & CLOWN went off like an atom bomb and became the most successful Korean movie of all time, still holding the title as the King of the Korean Box Office. Lee went on to make RADIO STAR, a contemporary star vehicle that made good money, and then he went back in time for the swordplay film, BLADES OF BLOOD (last year’s NYAFF Official Closing Night Film). It did okay but not great. His new movie, BATTLEFIELD HERO, is his wildest swing yet, like an absurdist and deeply funny version of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT set in medieval Korea, and he vowed that if the movie flopped, he’d retire. It did okay, but not great and, true to form, Lee retired. Fresh out of filmmaking we welcome him and his best film yet to the NYAFF.
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BATTLEFIELD HEROES
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KWON HYEOK-JAE
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Screening in this year’s festival: TROUBLESHOOTER (New York Premiere)
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TROUBLESHOOTER
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A longtime collaborator of Ryoo Seung-Wan, director Kwon Hyeok-Jae started out as an assistant director and screenwriter. He first worked with Ryoo in 2006, assistant directing the now-classic action film, CITY OF VIOLENCE. He was next tapped to write the screenplay for director Ryoo’s long-in-gestation DACHIMAWA LEE, a send-up of Korea’s corny anti-communist action movies of the 1980’s. Released in 2008, Kwon not only co-wrote the script with Ryoo Seung-Wan but also worked as assistant director on the film. His directorial debut, TROUBLESHOOTER, is produced by Ryoo Seung-Wan and the script is written by director Kwon himself.
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TROUBLESHOOTER
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Jun 07 2011
