Park Yong-woo Movies
- 2009
What happens when a scandalous item from a celebrity's past resurfaces and threatens to dampen the future of both star and management? For actress Yoon Jin-ah (Lee Se-na) and her agent, Oh Seung-min (Eom Tae-woong) , the one and only option involves re-obtaining the incriminating evidence as quickly as possible, before additional damage is done. The potential destruction wrought in this case is particularly overwhelming, given the fact that Jin-ah seeks to make a name for herself, and Seung-min wants to regain his once-prominent stature. One of Jin-ah's former lovers threatens Seung-min and places an explicit sex tape of Lee Se-na on Seung's phone. Seung locates the blackmailer, and obtains the original tape, but loses his phone in the process - meaning that one copy of the tape is still floating around, like a bomb waiting to go off. A man named Lee-gyu finds the tape and offers to return it, but suddenly recognizes the leverage that he holds and begins issuing insane demands to Seung in exchange for the safe return of the tape. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Park Yong-woo
- 2008
A two-bit swindler and a sexy jazz chanteuse team-up to steal a priceless gem known as the "Light of the East" in director Jeong Yong-gi's period adventure. It's the 1940s, and Korea is still under Japan's colonial rule. Devil may care adventurer Bong-gu and thrill-seeking jazz singer Chun-ja are after the "Light of the East," an enormous diamond set on a Buddhist statue in Seokguram cave. Though their mission is thwarted when Japan's head manages to reach the gem first, Bong-gu and Chun-ja scheme to infiltrate the party being thrown to celebrate the acquisition and steal away with the "Light of the East" before it is sent to Japan. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Park Yong-woo, Lee Bo-yeong, (more)
- 2007
Writer/director Jin Kwang-Kyo examines the darkest corners of the human psyche with this drama concerning two corrupted antiheroes who resort to debasing themselves and others by acting on their most base instincts. Detective Kang is an alcoholic and corrupt cop whose wife has been hospitalized in a deep coma. Lately, he's been using dirty money to pay her hospital bills, though after interrupting a major drug, Detective Kang's shady deeds are about to catch up with him. When Detective Kang presents his findings to his superiors, the drug dealer he busted notices that the volume of drugs presented in the crooked lawman's report is substantially smaller than the amount of drugs that was actually sized by police. And while any loving husband may be able to identify with Detective Kang's motives, his latest misdeed won't be swept under the rug quite as easily as his past transgressions were. Meanwhile, across town, smitten Min-woo has become infatuated with neighborhood beauty Su-yeon. On the day Min-woo finally works up the courage to approach her, however, Su-yeon mistakes his affection for aggression and screams for help. Instinctively, Min-woo silences her and drags her into the nearby woods, where he proceeds to rape her in a moment of total moral breakdown. Upon realizing that Su-yeon never saw his face during the course of the attack, Min-woo boldly continues his pursuit of the girl several weeks later. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Park Yong-woo, Nam Koong Min, (more)
- 2005
Mysterious and deadly events are filling the residents of the remote island of Donghwa with a sense of foreboding. A local shaman (Choi Ji-na) collapses during an annual ritual, and seems momentarily possessed by the spirit of Kang (Jeon Ho-jin), a local lord who was executed. Soon afterward, there's a massive fire on the docks just as the paper the island produces is being loaded to be sent to the mainland as tribute. When Lee Won-kyu (Cha Seung-weon) arrives from the mainland to investigate, he finds that the town drunk has been murdered and impaled. While he's investigating the two crimes, another grisly murder takes place, and Lee learns that the deaths mirror those suffered by Kang and four members of his family after Kang was accused of treason and of practicing Catholicism. While other residents of the island, including Kim In-kwon (Park Yong-woo of My Scary Girl), the son of another local lord, apparently try to stymie his investigation for political reasons, Lee digs deeper into Kang's execution, and finds a pit of corruption. At the center of the case is Doo-ho (Ji Seong), a talented artist who was an orphan when Kang took him in. As the body count mounts, Lee discovers that the victims were all informants who denounced Kang. While Lee methodically investigates the crime, the local residents grow increasingly fearful that their island is haunted by Kang's vengeful spirit. Blood Rain marks the second feature of director Kim Dae-seung (Bungee Jumping of Their Own). The film was shown at the 2006 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cha Seung-weon, Park Yong-woo, (more)
Written and directed by Lee Han, Yeonae Soseol (Lover's Concerto) explores the occasionally overlapping boundaries between love and friendship. When Lee Ji-hwan (Cha Tae-hyun) receives a series of strange photographs in the mail, he is reminded of meeting two teenage girls five years beforehand. He had initially fallen for Shim Su-in, but his advances were rejected. Relatively unphased, he remained friends with Su-in and her friend Kim Gyeong-heui (Lee Eun-ju) for the rest of the summer holiday. Eventually, Ji-hwan and Gyeong-heui developed feelings for one another, but both were reluctant to admit it. Through flashback and the listening ears of Ji-hwan's friend Cheol-hyeon (Park Young-woo), the young man struggles to define the former trio's complicated relationship. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cha Tae-hyun, Lee Eun-ju, (more)
Touted as the most expensive Korean film ever produced, Musa is a sweeping real-life epic about an official envoy from Koryo (ancient Korea) struggling to stay alive in war-torn China. The film is set in 1375 when the Yuan dynasty collapses after a 100-year reign against the insurgent Ming. As the Ming dynasty solidifies power pushing the remaining Yuan armies to the north and west, Koryo sends a delegation of diplomats to shore up their strained relations with the new government. Upon arrival the lead diplomat is thrown in jail and the rest are exiled to the dusty hinterland for spying. There, the party is ambushed by Yuan soldiers. The survivors are led by General Choi Jung and a bodyguard slave of another fallen general, Yeo-sol. After facing all sorts of adversities, the group make it to a remote country inn where they learn that the beautiful Ming princess Furong (played by Zhang Ziyi of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame) has been kidnapped. When Yeo-sol gets abducted by the same band of Yuan thugs, Choi Jung resolves to free them both. Fleeing from the same Yuan army, the Koryo warriors with Furong in tow learn that the Yuan has burned all ferryboats in the Yellow River valley. When they happen upon a group of Ming refugees, Furong promises them supplies and safe passage home if they escort the refugees to the Mud Castle upriver. The castle, however, proves to be in ruins and the Yuan are closing in. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ahn Sung-kee, Jung Woo-Sung, (more)
