Park Yong-Su Movies
- 2006
The Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Beetlejuice in director Jeon Gye-Su's bizarre musical comedy horror film concerning a haunted movie theater. Young Sodan has discovered a most unusual movie theater. From the outside it doesn't look much different than your average movie house, but take a peek inside and you're sure to get a ghoulish surprise. As Sodan enters the theater, she discovers that it seems to exist in some strange void outside of time and space. The eccentric staff bears a striking resemblance to the glamorous ghosts who perform onstage, and it isn't long before Sodan is taken by their otherworld charm. Though Sodan ultimately makes the decision to stay on as an employee at this macabre movie house, it isn't long before her sense of reality becomes severely distorted by her strange new surroundings. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheon Ho-jin, Park Jun-myeong, (more)
- 2004
Korean superstar Song Gang-ho (Memories of Murder) stars in writer/director Lim Chan-sang's ambitious feature debut, The President's Barber. Song stars as Seong Han-mo, a barber whose shop is within shouting distance of the "Blue House," where the president (Jo Yeong-jin) lives. The film takes place during the early '70s, a tumultuous period in South Korea's history, and Seong finds himself in the middle of a number of historical events. Seong doesn't know much about politics, and follows the lead of local leaders, who involve him in a scheme to rig an election in the president's favor. His son Nak-an (Lee Jae-eung) is born during the April 19 revolution, while soldiers are gunning down protestors in the street. Later, he inadvertently gets in the middle of a bitter political rivalry between Park (Park Yong-su), the head of the CIA, and Jang (Son Byeong-ho), the head of the secret service. When he inadvertently embarrasses Park, Jang rewards him by helping him become the president's personal barber. Park's prestige grows among his neighbors, and his life improves. Even his nagging wife, Min-ja (Moon So-ri of Oasis and A Good Lawyer's Wife), is proud of him. His relatively carefree, oblivious life is thrown into turmoil when the government starts rounding up people with diarrhea, purportedly to help them track down collaborators with sick North Korean spies. Little Nak-an gets sick, and Seong misguidedly tries to prove his loyalty to the dictator by turning the boy in, thinking no harm will come to him. But he's underestimated the brutal irrationality of his leaders. The President's Barber had its international premiere at the 2005 New York Korean Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Song Kang-ho, Moon So-ri, (more)
Every three years, the gloomy halls of a highly regimented all-girl Korean school are haunted by the spirit of a student who died as a result of her teachers' cruel forms of discipline. Though outwardly a Gothic, sometimes gruesome horror tale, the story is actually a critique of Korea's militaristic approach to education. At the school, it is not uncommon for errant students to be slapped or hit hard upon the head. The ghost died a decade before in a freak accident and since then her restless spirit reemerges at the same time and interval to get revenge by taking over the body of a new student and using her to cause all kinds of trouble for the instructors. One of those educators was a former student and a best friend of the deceased girl. The ghost's reign of terror is threatened by the presence of a shaman's daughter, who has at her disposal the means to send the ghost away forever. Yeogo Goedan was screened at the 1998 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Mi-Yun, Lee Mi-yeon, (more)
