Lee Chang-dong Movies
A successful novelist and screenwriter before becoming a director, Lee Chang-dong came late to filmmaking, but quickly established himself as one of Korea's most talented directors. He studied Korean literature at Kyungpuk National University, where he directed and acted in numerous plays. He graduated in 1980 and published his first novel, Chonri, in 1983. In the early '90s, he co-wrote, with director Park Kwang-su, two pivotal films of the Korean New Wave: To the Starry Island (1993) and A Single Spark (1996). Now an established figure in the Korean cinema community, Lee was encouraged by his colleagues to become a director (they even formed a mock committee dedicated to the cause.) His first film, Green Fish (1997), a critique of Korean society told through the eyes of a young man who becomes enmeshed in the criminal underworld, won awards at the Rotterdam and Vancouver Film Festivals. His next film, Peppermint Candy (2000), took an even broader and more bitter view of Korea's recent history. Like Christopher Nolan's more gimmicky Memento, released the same year, it tells its story backwards, covering 20 twenty years in the life of a man progressively ruined by his experiences in the military, law enforcement, and business worlds. Fueled by its powerful performances, unique narrative structure, and strong social critique, it was widely praised both in Korea and abroad. He was so impressed with the work of two of the film's actors, Sol Kyung-gu and Moon So-ri, that he cast them in much more demanding roles in his next film, Oasis (2002), as a mentally disabled man and a woman afflicted with cerebral palsy who fall in love. Less overtly political than his previous films, it nevertheless garnered him even more international recognition, winning five awards at the Venice Film Festival. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide- 2009
Inspired by writer/director Ounie Lecomte's own childhood experiences, A Brand New Life tells the story of a nine year old girl named Jinhee (Kim Sae-ron) who's sent to live in a Seoul orphanage run by Catholic nuns so her father can start a new family. Realizing that her life has been permanently and profoundly changed, Jinhee struggles with feelings of separation while attempting to make sense of her new surroundings. There, in the orphanage, friendships are broken as quickly as they were forged - the whimsy of fate and adoptive parents making lasting relationships difficult. At first Jinhee longs for the day she, too, will be selected to live with a new family, but over time she begins to resent the idea of once again being separated from the people she cares most about. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Sae-ron, Do Yeon Park, (more)
- 2007
In this somber Korean drama, a young mother and widow, Shin-ae, moves with her young son, Jun, from Seoul to a small town called Miryang following her husband's death. Having given up on her career as a concert pianist when she married her husband, she starts up a piano school, but soon it begins to feel like the polite people who inhabit her new home aren't as friendly as they seem on the surface. Judgmental whispers and disapproving gossip begin to reach Shin-ae's ears, and pressure to join the Christian cult that thrives in the town begins to mount. She's hesitant until an unimaginable tragedy alters her life forever, setting Shin-ae on a dark path of withdrawal from society as a whole. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeon Do-yeon, Song Kang-ho, (more)
Korean filmmaker Gina Kim directed this erotic drama about a woman's dangerous response to her husband's fertility issues. The Departed's Vera Farmiga stars as Sophie, an American woman married to Korean-American Andrew (David McInnis). When Andrew's inability to impregnate Sophie leads him to attempt suicide, Sophie seeks the help of a fertility clinic, but is turned away. Desperate to save her marriage, she begins paying Korean immigrant Jihah (Ha Jung-woo) for sex, in hopes that she'll become pregnant and Andrew will be none the wiser. As on might expect, though, the relationship between Sophie and Jihah evolves into something more than either bargained for. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vera Farmiga, Ha Jeong-woo, (more)
Korean director Lee Chang-dong's drama begins on the day that Jong-du (Sol Kyung-gu), a mentally handicapped young man, is released from prison. He is immediately arrested again for being unable to pay a restaurant bill, and his brother bails him out and sets him up with a menial job and a place to live. The crime that originally landed Jong-du in prison was a hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of an old man. One day he goes to visit the victim's family, and meets Gong-ju (Moon So-ri), the man's daughter, who has cerebral palsy. After a disastrous first meeting, the two begin an unlikely love affair that exposes the callousness and uncomfortable secrets of both of their families. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Seol Gyeong-gu, Moon So-ri, (more)
- 1999
This documentary tackles the emotional battle to protect South Korea's national film industry against the corporate juggernaut of the MPAA (which is backed by the U.S. government). From a high profile hunger strike by Korean directors in the summer of 1998 to the current stalemate after the issue was separated from general trade talks, the film focuses on Korea's use of screen quotas for local flicks (currently standing at 106, but this is bound to be reduced). While the MPAA sees Korea as a key market in its attempts to dominate all of Asia, Korean filmmakers regard local productions as central to Korea's sense of national identity. This film was screened at the 1999 Pusan Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Myung Kye-Nam
- 1999
Screenwriter turned director Lee Chang-dong, who scripted the acclaimed A Single Spark, creates this tale of personal evolution and national history. Told backwards, the film opens in the spring of 1999 where a family outing is spoiled by a raggedy old man, Yeong-ho, who threatens to throw himself in front of a train. Rewind to three days earlier, Yeong-ho is seen buying a gun to off himself. Recently ruined by bad stock deals, terrorized by loan sharks, and dumped by his adulterous wife, Yeong-ho is a typical victim of the Asian financial meltdown. He pays his dying ex-girlfriend a visit in the hospital and, though she is unconscious, he gives her the same peppermint candy that she used to send him. Rewind further to the summer of 1994, Yeong-ho hires a detective to tail his philandering wife, though he is involved with a pretty office assistant. Rewind to 1987, which reveals Heong-ho as a thuggish policeman known for dispensing horrific amounts of brutality. This film was a critical favorite at the 1999 Pusan Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sul Kyoung-Ku, Mun So-ri, (more)
- 1997
In this South Korean crime drama, Makdong (Han Suk-Kyu) is discharged from the army to find changes in his rural hometown village. Aboard a train, he meets nightclub singer Miae (Shim Hye-Jin), girlfriend of a Seoul gang leader (Moon Sung-Keun). Makdong joins the gang, but his increasing interest in Miae puts him in conflict with the boss. This film won the 1997 Vancouver Film Festival's Dragons and Tigers Award, given to top Asian films. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Han Suk-Kyu, Shim Hye-Jin, (more)
- 1996
The protagonist of this Korean drama is a composite of three union activists from the 1970s, the era in which the primary story is set. It is a three-fold tale that shows the parallel courses of two activists from different eras framed by documentary-like footage at the film's beginning and end. Activist and law school graduate Kim is being persecuted by the mid-'70s Park regime for trying to write a book about Jeon Tae-il (a real person), a union activist who immolated himself at age 22 to protest government hypocrisy. Kim hides himself from authorities in the apartment of his pregnant girl friend Jung-soon and continues his research, secretly visiting Jeon's old hangouts. The sequences dealing with Jeon's life are filmed in black and white. While he researches and wrestles with the consequences of his book, Jung-soon must deal with authoritarian harassment. Eventually she is arrested and in seeing her bravely go off to meet her fate, Kim fines the strength to complete his task. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This South Korean drama makes a poignant case for the reunification of north and south as it uses childhood memories to chronicle the events that divided the population of a small island. The film begins in modern times and looks back. Moon Chae-ku and Kim Chul have been friends since childhood. Together they are returning to Kwisong Island to bury Moon's father. Unfortunately, bitter locals will not let the boat containing his body land. Moot tries to talk to them, but they are adamant. Kim begins to remember the 40-year old events that led to this moment. Kim again becomes a baby. Oknim is a young village woman with mild mental retardation. Before her wedding she tells Kim how the souls of the dead become stars. He remembers Moon Duk-bae, his friend's philandering, uncaring father who watched his sickly daughter die and his wife go mad with grief and then sent her to her death which caused the whole conflict. Moon Duk-bae also helped the Nationalist Army find and execute supposed Communists upon the tiny island. In the present it is a shaman that brings them all back together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Moon Sung-Keun, Ahn Song-Gi, (more)
