Choi Min-Sik Movies

After the success of the modern-day comic martial arts epic Arahan, writer/director Ryu Seung-wan changed gears and again teamed up with his brother, actor Ryu Seung-beom, to produce Crying Fist, a much more serious boxing drama. Actor Ryu plays Yu Sang-hwan, a street thug who rejects the life of his hard-working, struggling father for a life of petty crime and run-ins with the law. He winds up in a juvenile detention center, where he responds to some bullying by flying at the bully, Roc (Kim Su-hyeon), and biting his ear off. Yu is then taken under the wing of the prison's boxing trainer, and he learns a bit of self-discipline through boxing, gradually recognizing his own strengths, and eventually acknowledging the support of his caring family. Meanwhile, 40-year-old Kang Tae-shik (Choi Min-sik of Oldboy), is a washed up former champion whose home and professional life have completely fallen apart. His wife leaves him, taking their young son. Besieged by creditors, Kang earns a meager living by charging people on the street for the privilege of punching him out. In danger of losing his son forever, his own health deteriorating rapidly, Kang decides to enter one last boxing competition, the same one which the equally desperate Yu has chosen to show his mettle. Crying Fist won a FIPRESCI Award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and had its North American premiere at Subway Cinema's 2005 New York Asian Film Festival, with director Ryu in attendance. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook directed this violent and offbeat story of punishment and vengeance. Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is a husband and father whose reputation for womanizing is well known. One day, for reasons he doesn't understand, Oh Dae-su finds himself locked up in a prison cell, with no idea of what his crime was or whom his jailers may be. With a small television as his only link to the outside world and a daily ration of fried dumplings as his only sustenance, Oh Dae-su struggles to keep his mind and body intact, but when he learns through a news report that his wife has been killed, he begins a long and difficult project of digging an escape tunnel with a pair of chopsticks. Before he can finish -- and after 15 years behind bars -- Oh Dae-su is released, with as little explanation as when he was locked up, and he's soon given a wad of money and a cellular phone by a bum on the street. Emotionally stunted but physically strong after 15 years in jail, Oh Dae-su struggles to unravel the secret of who is responsible for locking him up, what happened to his wife and daughter, and how to best get revenge against his captors. Oldeuboi was screened in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and won the coveted Grand Prix. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Renowned Korean director Im Kwon-Taek (Chunhyang) tells the story of legendary iconoclastic Chosun Dynasty artist Oh-won (Choi Min-Sik). With little reliable documentation of the artist's life, the director (along with co-writer Kim Young-Oak) used dramatic license to fill in the details of the man's life. Born a peasant named Jang Seung-ub in 1843, the artist used his talents to escape a life of poverty. A wealthy nobleman, Kim Byung-Moon (Ahn Sung-Ki), recognizes Jang's talent, and takes him in at an early age. Master Kim recommends Jang to a respected art teacher, and his career path begins. As a young man, Jang grows in stature for his ability to flawlessly copy well-known Chinese paintings. He also falls in love with a noble's daughter, Mae-Hyang (You Ho-Jeong). Because of the class difference, he can never be with her, and he's heartbroken when she marries another man. This sets him on the path he follows for much of his life -- that of a drunken wanderer. Despite his self-destructive hard drinking, his penchant for consorting with prostitutes, his impoverished background, his refusal to follow anyone's rules, the political turbulence of the times in which he lives, and the fact that he rarely signs his own work, Oh-won rises to prominence as an artist. Director Im shared the Best Director prize (with Paul Thomas Anderson) at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, and Chihwaseon was also featured in the 2002 New York Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

One of the most popular homegrown films in South Korea in 1999, the extramarital drama Haepi Endeu presents a subtle, character-based approach to the time-honored tradition of the love triangle. The movie opens with an illicit encounter between Bo-ra (Jeon Do-yean) and her lover Il-beom (Joo Jin-mo), an ex-boyfriend who has recently shown up to re-ignite their romance. Meanwhile, Bo-ra's husband, Min-ki (Choi Min-sik), is content to play the homemaker in their marriage, caring for their baby daughter and reading mystery novels. He eventually confronts Bo-ra with evidence of the affair. Instead of strengthening their bond, she continues to meet Il-Beom, and Min-ki quietly comes up with a scheme for putting an end to the situation. Haepi Endeu is the first full-length film from writer-director Jung Ji-woo -- and marks a mature turn from Do-yean, who was last seen playing a naive schoolgirl in The Harmonium of My Memory. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide