Park Chan-wook
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Park Chan-wook | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Korean name | |
| Hangul: |
박찬욱
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| Hanja: |
朴贊郁
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| Revised Romanization: | Bak Chan-uk |
| McCune-Reischauer: | Pak Ch'anuk |
Park Chan-wook (born August 23, 1963 in Tanyan) is a South Korean director and screenwriter. One of the most acclaimed and popular filmmakers in his native country, Park is internationally renowned for what has become known as his "vengeance trilogy", consisting of 2002's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy in 2003 and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance in 2005.
[edit] Biography
Park grew up in Seoul and studied philosophy at the Sogang University, where he started a cine-club called the 'Sogang Film Community' and published a number of articles on contemporary cinema. On seeing Vertigo, he resolved to try to become a filmmaker. After graduation, he wrote articles on film for journals, and soon became an assistant director of films like Kkamdong of Yu Yeong-Jin and A Sketch of a Rainy Day of Kwak Jae-yong (My Sassy Girl).
His debut feature film was The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream (1992), and after 5 years, he made his second film Trio, but the response to these two films were quite cold.
In 2000, Park directed Joint Security Area, which was a great success both commercially and critically, even surpassing Kang Je-gyu's Shiri as the most-watched film ever made in South Korea. This success made it possible for him to make his next film more independently - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the result of this creative freedom.
After winning the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for the film Oldboy, a journalist asked "in your film, why is the vengeance repeating?". According to Park, he decided to make three consecutive films with revenge as the central theme. Often thought to be in favor of vengeance, Park has denied this, saying his films are about the utter futility of vengeance and how it wreaks havoc on the lives of everyone involved.
His so-called "vengeance trilogy" consists of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. It was not originally intended to be a trilogy. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, shortened to Lady Vengeance, was distributed by Tartan Films for American theatrical release in April 2006.
After the DVD release of Lady Vengeance in the UK, the three films were re-released, packaged together into a 6 disc boxset with a 2 disc special edition of each film. These included previously unavailable additional features including a 3.5 hour documentary on the making of Oldboy and the "Fade to Black and White" version of Lady Vengeance. A "deluxe" version of the boxset was also released, packaged in a box with the same design as the boxes used in Oldboy, and in addition to the films, contained an Oldboy hammer/bottle-opener and Lady Vengeance gun poster.
Many of Park's critics cite the degree of violence in these films in order to pigeon-hole Park as just a director of extreme cinema and not a filmmaker of any merit.
In addition to being a film director and screenwriter, Park is also a film critic with several published editions to his name. None have been translated into English as yet.
Famed American director Quentin Tarantino is an avowed fan of Park and has publicly disclosed on the show Jimmy Kimmel Live! that as the head judge in the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, he personally pushed for Park's Oldboy to be awarded the Palme D'Or (the honor eventually went to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11). Oldboy garnered the Grand Jury Prize, the second highest honor in the competition.
He was offered the chance to remake The Evil Dead but he turned it down.
In 2006, he was the member of official section jury at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival.
In February of 2007, Park won the Alfred Bauer prize at the 57th Berlin Film Festival. The award, named after the festival's founder and in praise of movies opening up new perspectives, went to Park for his film, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK [1]
Like another Korean director Bong Joon-ho, Park is a partisan of Democratic Labor Party, a minor and the most leftist party in South Korea, for whom in 2002 he joined the presidential TV campaign.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Director
- Moon Is the Sun's Dream (1992)
- Saminjo (1997)... aka Trio
- Judgement (1999) (short film)
- Joint Security Area (2000)
- Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
- If You Were Me (2003) (segment "Never Ending Peace And Love")
- Oldboy (2003)
- Three... Extremes (2004) (segment "Cut")
- Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)
- I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
- Evil Live (2007) (pre-production)
[edit] Writer
- Moon Is the Sun's Dream (1992)
- Saminjo (1997)...aka Trio
- Judgement (1999)
- Anarchists (2000)
- Joint Security Area (2000)
- The Humanist (2001)
- Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
- A Bizarre Love Triangle (2002)
- If You Were Me (2003)
- Oldboy (2003) (screenplay)
- Three... Extremes (2004) (segment "Cut")
- Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)
- Sonyeon, Cheonguk-e gada (2005)
- I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
- Evil Live (2007)
[edit] Producer
- Evil Live (2007)
[edit] Recurring cast in Park Chan-Wook's films
Park Chan-Wook often casts the same actors in different roles in his films. The following is a table indicating recurring actors and their roles in his most well known films:
| Actor | Photo | Mr. Vengeance | Oldboy | Lady Vengeance | JSA | Cut (Three... Extremes) | Other Park Chan-Wook Films |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song Gang-ho |
 |
Father of kidnapped girl | Hired kidnapper attacking the heroine | North Korean Sgt | |||
| Shin Ha-kyun |
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the deaf Protagonist | Hired kidnapper attacking the heroine | North Korean Private | |||
| Choi Min-sik |
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Oh Dae-Su (Protagonist) | Antagonist (English teacher) | ||||
| Kang Hye-jeong |
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Mido (heroine) | TV News Anchor | wife of director | |||
| Yu Ji-tae |
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Lee Woo-Jin (antagonist) | Ghost of murdered child | ||||
| Lee Byung Hun |
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First choice for the role of Lee Woo-Jin which he turned down | protagnoist (South Korean soldier) | movie director | |||
| Lee Young Ae |
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Heroine | Heroine (investigating officer) | ||||
| Lee Dae-yeon |
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Police Detective (captain) | The beggar who gives the cell phone to Dae-Su | Prison Warden | South Korean Sergent (Sgt Hwang) | Male Actor in a high-school girl uniform | |
| Oh Kwang-rok |
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Leader of anarchist gang | Suicidal man | Vengeful father with an axe | |||
| Gi Ju-bong | Laid-off Engineer | South Korean general | Father of the victim in Judgement | ||||
| Oh Dal-su |
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Jail owner | Bakery owner | one of patients in Cyborg | |||
| Yun Jin-seo |
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Sister of Lee Woo-Jin | Prisoner | ||||
| Ji Dae-han | Police Detective | Joo-Hwan (Dae Su's friend and the owner of a cybercafe) | |||||
| Lee Seung-Sin |
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Hypnotist | Wife of Antagonist | ||||
| Park Myeung-shin | Coiffeuse | Victim's family member | |||||
| Kim Byeong-ok |
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Mr. Han (Bodyguard of Woo-Jin) | Preacher | Judge in Cyborg |
Park Chan-Wook and his close friend director Kim Ji-Woon love to share their actors. For example, in A Bittersweet Life of Kim Ji-Woon, you can find Lee Byung Hun, Oh Kwang-rok and Oh Dal-su while the stepmom of A Tale of Two Sisters plays the role of the vampire in Park's Three.. Extremes and the elder sister of A Tale of Two Sisters will be the heroine of the next Park Chan-Wook I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK.
