Happy 57th Birthday, Chan-wook Park! Born today in 1963, this South Korean former film critic, screenwriter, producer and film director is of the most acclaimed and popular filmmakers in his native country.
Raised in a devout Catholic family, Park described himself as an atheist years later. He grew to eventually study philosophy at Sogang University.
Here, in light of his disappointment with the analytic orientation of the department and consequent scant offerings in aesthetics, he started a cinema club, the 'Sogang Film Community'. He also published a number of articles on contemporary cinema.
Originally intending to be an art critic, Park, upon seeing Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 American film noir psychological mystery/thriller film 'Vertigo', resolved to become a filmmaker.
After graduation, Park wrote articles on film for journals and soon became an assistant director of films. In 1992, Park wrote and directed his debut feature film.
Park's earlier films, however, were not successful at the box office, and he pursued a career as a film critic to make a living.
Eight years after Park made his feature film, Park directed the 2000 South Korean mystery/drama thriller film 'Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA' ('Joint Security Area').
Based off of South Korean novelist Park Sang Yeon's novel "DMZ", the film was a great success both commercially and critically.
It even surpassed South Korean film director Kang Je-gyu's 1999 South Korean action drama/mystery film 'Swiri' ('Shiri') as the then most-watched film ever made in South Korea.
At the time, 'Joint Security Area' was the highest-grossing film in Korean film history.
Three years later, Park co-wrote and directed the first film of which he is best known. This was the 2003 South Korean neo-noir action thriller/mystery film 'Oldeuboi' (Oldboy').
Set in 1988, the film tells of Dae-su Oh (Choi Min-sik), an obnoxious drunk bailed from the police station yet again by a friend.
However, he is abducted from the street and wakes up in a cell, where he remains for the next fifteen years, drugged unconscious when human contact is unavoidable, otherwise with only the television as company.
And then, suddenly released, he is invited to track down his jailor with a denouement that is simply stunning. Violent and definitely not for the squeamish, 'Oldboy' is a visceral, strange and powerful tale of revenge.
'Oldboy' is the second installment of The Vengeance Trilogy, preceded by 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance' (2002) and followed by 'Lady Vengeance' (2006). The films concern the utter futility of vengeance and how it wreaks havoc on the lives of those involved.
The following year, 'Oldboy' won the Grand Prix at the 57th Cannes Film Festival in May 2004. It received high praise from the President of the Jury, director Quentin Tarantino. He also regards Park's 'Joint Security Area' to be one of 'the top twenty films made since 1992'.
The film has also been well received by critics in the United States, with Roger Ebert stating that 'Oldboy' is a "powerful film not because of what it depicts, but because of the depths of the human heart which it strips bare".
'Oldboy' later received praise for its action sequences, most notably the single shot fight sequence by South Korean cinematographer and filmmaker Chung Chung-hoon's photography. The film has been listed among the best films of the 2000s in several publications.
'Oldboy' had been based on the titular Japanese manga, which ran from 1996–1998. It was written by Garon Tsuchiya and illustrated by Nobuaki Minegishi.
In a May 2004 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Park listed Sophocles, William Shakespeare, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Honoré de Balzac and American writer Kurt Vonnegut as influences on his career.
Since 2004, Park has been an owner of the filmmaking company Moho Film, which participated in the production of South Korean film director and screenwriter Bong Joon-ho's (‘The Host’, ‘Parasite’) 2013 South Korean/Czech science fiction action fantasy/thriller film 'Seolgungnyeolcha' ('Snowpiercer').
In 2006, Park was the member of official section jury at the 59th Venice International Film Festival in May of that same year.
In the early 2010s, Spike Lee directed the 2013 American neo-noir action thriller/drama film 'Oldboy'. It starred Josh Brolin, Samuel L. Jackson and Elizabeth Olsen.
However, the film was a box office bomb. It also showed one of the worst box office performances of Lee's directing career. On a budget of $30 million, 'Oldboy' only grossed a mere $4.8 million.
Three years later, Park co-wrote and directed the second and final film of which he is best known. This was the 2016 South Korean erotic psychological drama/thriller film 'Ah-gas-si' (lit. 'Lady' or 'The Handmaiden').
With help from orphaned pickpocket Sook-Hee (Kim Tae-ri), Korean con man, Count Fujiwara (Ha Jung-woo), devises an elaborate plot to seduce and bilk a Japanese woman, Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee), out of her inheritance.
'The Handmaiden' had been inspired by Welsh novelist Sarah Waters' 2002 Gothic historical crime fiction novel Fingersmith.
For the film, the setting changed from Victorian era Britain to Korea under Japanese colonial rule. Told in three parts, 'The Handmaiden' has a runtime of almost three hours.
'The Handmaiden' was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year.
At the 71st British Academy Film Awards, 'The Handmaiden' won the category of Best Film Not in the English Language. This occurred in mid-February 2018.
It was released in South Korea on June 1, 2016, to critical acclaim. On a budget of approximately $8.8million, 'The Handmaiden' grossed over $38.6 million worldwide.
The trademarks in Park's films often uses computer generated effects to smoothen transitions between shots, as well as the frequent use of short, surreal fantasy sequences.
These coincide when a deceased character will interact with a living one in the film's present (or vice versa), characters often using scissors to commit acts of violence and bold, colorful cinematography.
Park combines dark humor, a painterly sense of composition and lots of gore. But, beneath all of the violence lies a deep humanity – and love of the absurd.
Also known as Bakridamae, Park is a versatile stylist with an aesthetic that straddles the line between the idiosyncratic and the mainstream. His films have gained notoriety for their immaculate framing, black humor and often brutal subject matters.
Park has been active from 1992–present.
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