Green Fish

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Green Fish

Poster for Green Fish
Directed by Lee Chang-dong
Written by Lee Chang-dong
Starring Han Suk-kyu
Shim Hye-jin
Moon Sung-keun
Song Kang-ho
Release date(s) February 7, 1997 (South Korea)
Running time 111 minutes
Language Korean
Admissions 163,655 (Seoul)[1]
IMDb profile
Korean name
Hangul 초록 물고기
Hanja 草綠 물고기
Revised Romanization Chorok Mulgogi
McCune-Reischauer Ch'orok Mulgogi

Green Fish (초록 물고기 - Chorok Mulgogi) (1997) is a South Korean film. It was the first feature-length film directed by Lee Chang-dong, who also wrote the screenplay. Lee had previously been known as a novelist and high school teacher. The film stars Han Suk-kyu in one of his first major film roles. It was the eighth highest-attended Korean film of 1997.[1]

Although director Lee is renowned for superb writing, he allowed Han to improvise the now-famous extended monologue inside the telephone booth. The scene became iconic enough to be spoofed by the 2002 Korean compendium of satire, "Funny Movie" directed by Gyu-seong Jang. As recently as August 2007, the scene was once again spoofed in the MBC drama "Kimchi Cheese Smile".

The character of "Kim Yang-gil" (a rival mob boss), as played by Myung Kae-nam, has been parodied with an extended back-story in the black comedy "The Customer is Always Right" (2006).

The pivotal scene in a men's restroom, has recently been cited by poet/director Yu Ha for informing the basis of a similar scene in his more stylistically baroque A Dirty Carnival.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Han Suk-kyu plays a man who isn't explicitly named but is called Makdong, 'youngest sibling', throughout the movie. At the start of the film he meets a woman, Mi-ae, on the train while returning to his parents' home after completing his mandatory military service. He later seeks her out, only to discover that she's the lover of a local mob boss, Bae Tae-kon. Jobless and naive to a fault, Makdong ends up taking menial tasks from Bae and enters the world of organized crime.

Makdong's feelings for Mi-ae grow throughout the film, as does his loyalty towards Bae, who is constantly bullied by the rival mob boss, Kim Yang-gil. Bae entrusts Makdong with a mission to kill Kim, then disposes Makdong once his purpose has been served.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b 1997 (English). koreanfilm.org. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Kim, Kyung-hyun (2004). "1. At the Edge of a Metroplis in A Fine, Windy Day and Green Fish", The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema (in English). Durham and London: Duke University Press, pp.34-43. ISBN 0-8223-3267-1. 
  • Paquet, Darcy. Green Fish (English). koreanfilm.org. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
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