South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook is the latest auteur making the migration to television. He previously dabbled in serialized narratives by directing all six episodes of the 2018 BBC spy thriller mini-series "The Little Drummer Girl." Adapting a John Le Carré novel, famous for their intricate plots, for his second English-language work? Park's pulled off that and more.
This year, Park co-created "The Sympathizer," a Vietnam War satire starring Robert Downey Jr. and Hoa Xuande. Adapted from Viet Thanh Nguyen's 2015 novel (and Pulitzer winner), Park also directed the series' first three episodes. Most recently, it's been confirmed that he's producing a TV remake of his most famous film: 2003 revenge thriller "Oldboy."
Park is one of the most internationally known filmmakers from South Korea. The country has a thriving movie industry. (Check out /Film's picks for the best South Korean film directors here.) Before Park took off as a director,...
This year, Park co-created "The Sympathizer," a Vietnam War satire starring Robert Downey Jr. and Hoa Xuande. Adapted from Viet Thanh Nguyen's 2015 novel (and Pulitzer winner), Park also directed the series' first three episodes. Most recently, it's been confirmed that he's producing a TV remake of his most famous film: 2003 revenge thriller "Oldboy."
Park is one of the most internationally known filmmakers from South Korea. The country has a thriving movie industry. (Check out /Film's picks for the best South Korean film directors here.) Before Park took off as a director,...
- 5/18/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Back when Kim Han-min made “The Admiral: Roaring Currents” in 2014, little did he know that the film would go on to become the highest grossing Korean film of all time, a record still held by it, or that he would go on to make a trilogy of features on its lead character, legendary real-life naval commander, the much loved Admiral Yi Sun-shin. Yet here we are, just under a decade since the release of “The Admiral”, and the final film in the Yi Sun-shin trilogy looks finally set to release, following on from last year’s “Hansan: Rising Dragon”.
Synopsis
In 1598, the seven-year Imjin War nears an end as Wae invaders prepare to withdraw from Joseon. Admiral Yi Sun-shin leads an allied fleet of Joseon and Ming ships to annihilate the Wae army. Joseon, Ming, and Wae forces clash at Noryang Strait, the deadly sea where Admiral Yi fights his last valiant battle.
Synopsis
In 1598, the seven-year Imjin War nears an end as Wae invaders prepare to withdraw from Joseon. Admiral Yi Sun-shin leads an allied fleet of Joseon and Ming ships to annihilate the Wae army. Joseon, Ming, and Wae forces clash at Noryang Strait, the deadly sea where Admiral Yi fights his last valiant battle.
- 9/20/2023
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Editor’s Note: This story was originally posted on July 23, 2017, and has been updated multiple times since.
Few cinematic moments can burn themselves into an audience’s psyche better than a good sex scene. They can shock, arouse, or simply capture human beauty in ways that cinema is uniquely positioned to do. Sex scenes don’t have to define the movies they appear in, but they’re often the parts you remember the most.
The nature of sex scenes are constantly evolving, as the prevalence of intimacy coordinators and increased concern for performers’ safety in Hollywood is hopefully making regrettable sex scenes a thing of the past. That has allowed sexy cinema to flourish, with plenty of tantalizing movies hitting the multiplex in recent years. With that in mind, it felt like the right time to compile some of the best additions to the sexy film canon.
Our list of...
Few cinematic moments can burn themselves into an audience’s psyche better than a good sex scene. They can shock, arouse, or simply capture human beauty in ways that cinema is uniquely positioned to do. Sex scenes don’t have to define the movies they appear in, but they’re often the parts you remember the most.
The nature of sex scenes are constantly evolving, as the prevalence of intimacy coordinators and increased concern for performers’ safety in Hollywood is hopefully making regrettable sex scenes a thing of the past. That has allowed sexy cinema to flourish, with plenty of tantalizing movies hitting the multiplex in recent years. With that in mind, it felt like the right time to compile some of the best additions to the sexy film canon.
Our list of...
- 8/17/2023
- by Christian Zilko, Samantha Bergeson and Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is expanding its membership.
According to a press release, the organization that hands out Oscars each year at the Academy Awards has extended invitations to join the Academy to 398 artists and executives who have made notable contributions to the motion picture industry.
“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang in a joint statement.
Read More: The Academy Announces 2024 Oscars Date As Well As Submission Deadline
There are some big names and familiar faces among the invitees, including musicians Taylor Swift and David Byrne, and numerous actors, ranging from Selma Blair to Keke Palmer to “Elvis” Oscar nominee Austin Butler.
According to a press release, the organization that hands out Oscars each year at the Academy Awards has extended invitations to join the Academy to 398 artists and executives who have made notable contributions to the motion picture industry.
“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang in a joint statement.
Read More: The Academy Announces 2024 Oscars Date As Well As Submission Deadline
There are some big names and familiar faces among the invitees, including musicians Taylor Swift and David Byrne, and numerous actors, ranging from Selma Blair to Keke Palmer to “Elvis” Oscar nominee Austin Butler.
- 6/28/2023
- by Brent Furdyk
- ET Canada
Those who accept will be only additions to Academy’s membership in 2023.
Vicky Krieps, Paul Mescal, Warner Bros Discovery head David Zaslav, Aftersun writer-director Charlotte Wells, She Said director Maria Schrader, and Kerry Condon are among 398 who have been invited to join the Academy.
Some 40% of the 2023 class identify as women, 34% belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 52% are from 50 countries and territories outside the United States. There are 76 Oscar nominees including 22 winners among the invitees.
Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership. Should they all accept, the total number of members...
Vicky Krieps, Paul Mescal, Warner Bros Discovery head David Zaslav, Aftersun writer-director Charlotte Wells, She Said director Maria Schrader, and Kerry Condon are among 398 who have been invited to join the Academy.
Some 40% of the 2023 class identify as women, 34% belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 52% are from 50 countries and territories outside the United States. There are 76 Oscar nominees including 22 winners among the invitees.
Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership. Should they all accept, the total number of members...
- 6/28/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan, Daniel Kwan, and Daniel Scheinert, recent acting nominees Austin Butler, Paul Mescal, and Stephanie Hsu, and bold-face names for the extremely online like Taylor Swift, Abel Tesfaye (a.k.a. The Weeknd), and Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav were among the 398 people announced as new members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday.
“The academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said academy CEO Bill Kramer and academy president Janet Yang in a joint statement.
This year’s class of new members is heavy on 2022 breakouts, like the aforementioned Kwan and Scheinert – invitees in both the directors’ brand and the producers’ branch. In keeping with academy practice,...
“The academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said academy CEO Bill Kramer and academy president Janet Yang in a joint statement.
This year’s class of new members is heavy on 2022 breakouts, like the aforementioned Kwan and Scheinert – invitees in both the directors’ brand and the producers’ branch. In keeping with academy practice,...
- 6/28/2023
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
The Academy has invited 398 artists across cinematic disciplines to join its membership, including Taylor Swift, Keke Palmer and this year’s Best Supporting Actor winner Ke Huy Quan.
“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang.
Also scoring invitations are actors Selma Blair, Austin Butler, Ram Charan, Kerry Condon, Bill Hader, Nicholas Hoult, Stephanie Hsu, Noémie Merlant, Paul Mescal, Nt Rama Rao Jr. and Paul Reiser, directors Joseph Kosinski, Maria Schrader and Michael Showalter, writers Josh Friedman, Kazuo Ishiguro and Charlotte Wells.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” duo The Daniels (Credit: Getty Images)
Eight people were invited to join the Academy by multiple branches and must choose which...
“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang.
Also scoring invitations are actors Selma Blair, Austin Butler, Ram Charan, Kerry Condon, Bill Hader, Nicholas Hoult, Stephanie Hsu, Noémie Merlant, Paul Mescal, Nt Rama Rao Jr. and Paul Reiser, directors Joseph Kosinski, Maria Schrader and Michael Showalter, writers Josh Friedman, Kazuo Ishiguro and Charlotte Wells.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” duo The Daniels (Credit: Getty Images)
Eight people were invited to join the Academy by multiple branches and must choose which...
- 6/28/2023
- by Benjamin Lindsay and Libby Hill
- The Wrap
Singer-songwriters Taylor Swift and David Byrne, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria, Everything Everywhere All at Once filmmakers Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert), Nobel Prize-winning writer Kazuo Ishiguro, former SXSW chief Janet Pierson, WME co-chairs Christian Muirhead and Richard Weitz, and actors including Selma Blair, Austin Butler, Bill Hader, Paul Mescal, Nicholas Hoult, Keke Palmer, Ke Huy Quan and Rrr stars Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr. are among the 398 artists and executives from around the world who have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year, the Oscar-dispensing organization announced Wednesday.
“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang said in a statement. “They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion...
“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang said in a statement. “They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion...
- 6/28/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the names of its newest round of invitees, increasing the number of voting members past 10,000, should everyone accept.
With the addition of the 398 artists and executives that the Academy extended invitations to (totaling one more invite than last year), the Academy now boasts a membership that is 34 percent women, 18 percent from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities, and 20 percent from countries or territories outside of the United States. Though their invites have a rolling deadline, they must accept them and pay dues in order to vote for the Oscars and gain access to benefits like the Academy Screening Room.
Among the list of possible new members are, predictably, many of the filmmakers behind Best Picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” including Best Supporting Actor winner Ke Huy Quan, Best Supporting Actress nominee Stephanie Hsu, Best Film Editing winner Paul Rogers,...
With the addition of the 398 artists and executives that the Academy extended invitations to (totaling one more invite than last year), the Academy now boasts a membership that is 34 percent women, 18 percent from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities, and 20 percent from countries or territories outside of the United States. Though their invites have a rolling deadline, they must accept them and pay dues in order to vote for the Oscars and gain access to benefits like the Academy Screening Room.
Among the list of possible new members are, predictably, many of the filmmakers behind Best Picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” including Best Supporting Actor winner Ke Huy Quan, Best Supporting Actress nominee Stephanie Hsu, Best Film Editing winner Paul Rogers,...
- 6/28/2023
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
It’s that time of year again — the break between Cannes and the fall festivals, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences makes its membership invitations. The Oscars group said today that it has extended offers to 398 artists and execs — one more than last year — who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to motion pictures.
The list includes actors, directors, writers, producers, musicians, executives, artist reps, publicists and below-the-liners such as casting directors, cinematographers, costume designers, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, production designers and sound pros.
“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement. “They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide.”
As usual, the invitees include newly minted Oscar winners,...
The list includes actors, directors, writers, producers, musicians, executives, artist reps, publicists and below-the-liners such as casting directors, cinematographers, costume designers, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, production designers and sound pros.
“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement. “They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide.”
As usual, the invitees include newly minted Oscar winners,...
- 6/28/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Stars of ‘Decision To Leave’ and ‘Squid Game’ were among those on the red carpet.
The 24th Jeonju International Film Festival opened tonight (April 27) with stars on the red carpet, a dramatic taekwondo performance onstage, and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne greeting the audience at the Sori Arts Center of Jeollabuk-do before the screening of opening film Tori And Lokita.
“Thank you for welcoming us and for defending cinema in the world,” said the Belgian filmmaking duo on their much-anticipated first trip to the country. “Thank you also to the cinema of Korea, because we did not know South Korea except...
The 24th Jeonju International Film Festival opened tonight (April 27) with stars on the red carpet, a dramatic taekwondo performance onstage, and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne greeting the audience at the Sori Arts Center of Jeollabuk-do before the screening of opening film Tori And Lokita.
“Thank you for welcoming us and for defending cinema in the world,” said the Belgian filmmaking duo on their much-anticipated first trip to the country. “Thank you also to the cinema of Korea, because we did not know South Korea except...
- 4/27/2023
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
In evident, art-house fashion, the film follows Choi Hyeon, a S.Korean man, who works in China as a professor and is married there, in a melancholic trip in the streets of the city of Gyeongju, and down memory lane. In his trip, that was instigated by the death of an old friend, he meets another old friend, the deceased's wife, an ex-lover and gets to know the beautiful owner of a tea-house and her friends.
“Gyeongju” is available from Echelon Studios
Zhang Lu directs a very personal film, with the protagonist conversely mirroring his own situation, since Lu is Chinese, but now works in S. Korea. The dialogue is scarce and the pace quite slow, as Lu almost forces the audience to observe the surroundings, the beauties of the city, and the everyday life in it.
Through this trip, and the experiences Choi Hyeon has, he also makes some subtle comments,...
“Gyeongju” is available from Echelon Studios
Zhang Lu directs a very personal film, with the protagonist conversely mirroring his own situation, since Lu is Chinese, but now works in S. Korea. The dialogue is scarce and the pace quite slow, as Lu almost forces the audience to observe the surroundings, the beauties of the city, and the everyday life in it.
Through this trip, and the experiences Choi Hyeon has, he also makes some subtle comments,...
- 3/31/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Kim Namjoon, known as Rm, the leader of the iconic K-Pop group BTS, has dropped a special music video for fans. His track Closer, a collaboration with Paul Blanco and Mahalia, was released as a theme song for the romance-mystery South Korean movie, Decision to Leave.
The rapper shared a part of this melodious track on his Instagram handle. He captioned the post, “We mixed some lo-fi arrangements to go with the video! It’s an honor to be a part of a movie I love.” He also tagged director Park Chan-wook, English Electronic Duo Honne, and music artists Paul Blanco and Mahalia.
The award-winning movie Decision to Leave begins with a man plummeting to his death from a mountain peak in South Korea.
It went on to win Park Chan-wook the Best Director award at Cannes for what is dubbed his ‘Hitchcockian masterwork’. The movie stars South Korean actor...
The rapper shared a part of this melodious track on his Instagram handle. He captioned the post, “We mixed some lo-fi arrangements to go with the video! It’s an honor to be a part of a movie I love.” He also tagged director Park Chan-wook, English Electronic Duo Honne, and music artists Paul Blanco and Mahalia.
The award-winning movie Decision to Leave begins with a man plummeting to his death from a mountain peak in South Korea.
It went on to win Park Chan-wook the Best Director award at Cannes for what is dubbed his ‘Hitchcockian masterwork’. The movie stars South Korean actor...
- 2/23/2023
- by Shweta Ghadashi
- GlamSham
2022 was finally the year that the Korean box office, after the pandemic, was defibrillated back to life. Producers and distributors were finally confident that the time was right for big budget, blockbuster projects, that had long been queueing up for a release, to start making their way to the theatres. After having to resort to Ott streaming and generally smaller scale films, the audience too was hungry to see high-value productions, entertainment and their favorite stars on the big screen and thronged to the theatres, lapping up these releases. So much so that 2022 saw four new films make their way into the 100 highest grossing Korean films of all tie at the domestic box-office, with Ma Dong-seok’s “The Roundup” even rolling comfortably into the top 10.
2023 too began strongly, with the long-in-production “The Point Men” starring Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin and the Sol Kyung-gu led ensemble spy thriller “Phantom” opening the year strong.
2023 too began strongly, with the long-in-production “The Point Men” starring Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin and the Sol Kyung-gu led ensemble spy thriller “Phantom” opening the year strong.
- 2/12/2023
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Exclusive: For the second time this week, we can reveal a milestone performance for a Mubi film, with the update that Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave has become the company’s most streamed film in North America.
We’re told the Cannes 2022 hit has now surpassed North America engagement for films such as Lars Von Trier’s The Kingdom, Gotham nominee Azor, Werner Herzog’s Family Romance and Terrence Malick’s Voyage Of Time.
Decision To Leave is also the company’s best-performing title on transactional platforms in the market.
Tang Wei and Park Hae-il (The Host) star in the story of a detective investigating a man’s death in the mountains who meets the dead man’s mysterious wife in the course of his dogged sleuthing.
Voracious arthouse streaming platform and theatrical buyer Mubi kicked on a gear last year with the splashy Mg it paid for all U.
We’re told the Cannes 2022 hit has now surpassed North America engagement for films such as Lars Von Trier’s The Kingdom, Gotham nominee Azor, Werner Herzog’s Family Romance and Terrence Malick’s Voyage Of Time.
Decision To Leave is also the company’s best-performing title on transactional platforms in the market.
Tang Wei and Park Hae-il (The Host) star in the story of a detective investigating a man’s death in the mountains who meets the dead man’s mysterious wife in the course of his dogged sleuthing.
Voracious arthouse streaming platform and theatrical buyer Mubi kicked on a gear last year with the splashy Mg it paid for all U.
- 2/10/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Editor’s Note: This story was originally posted on July 23, 2017, and has been updated multiple times since.
Few cinematic moments can burn themselves into an audience’s psyche better than a good sex scene. They can shock, arouse, or simply capture human beauty in ways that cinema is uniquely positioned to do. Sex scenes don’t have to define the movies they appear in, but they’re often the parts you remember the most.
The nature of sex scenes are constantly evolving, as the prevalence of intimacy coordinators and increased concern for performers’ safety in Hollywood is hopefully making regrettable sex scenes a thing of the past. That has allowed sexy cinema to flourish, with plenty of tantalizing movies hitting the multiplex in recent years. With that in mind, it felt like the right time to compile some of the best additions to the sexy film canon.
Our list of...
Few cinematic moments can burn themselves into an audience’s psyche better than a good sex scene. They can shock, arouse, or simply capture human beauty in ways that cinema is uniquely positioned to do. Sex scenes don’t have to define the movies they appear in, but they’re often the parts you remember the most.
The nature of sex scenes are constantly evolving, as the prevalence of intimacy coordinators and increased concern for performers’ safety in Hollywood is hopefully making regrettable sex scenes a thing of the past. That has allowed sexy cinema to flourish, with plenty of tantalizing movies hitting the multiplex in recent years. With that in mind, it felt like the right time to compile some of the best additions to the sexy film canon.
Our list of...
- 2/4/2023
- by Christian Zilko, Samantha Bergeson and Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
The 2023 Academy Awards, which will take place on March 12, has revealed its official list of nominees. However, not everyone is happy with the Oscars’ choices. In particular, some fans believe one South Korean movie should’ve been recognized by the prestigious award show.
The 2023 Oscars revealed some surprising nominees
The 2023 Oscar nominations were announced on January 24. Many of the nominations are expected, but fans did not see some choices coming.
For example, Ana de Armas is in the running for Best Actress for her role as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. The film was rather controversial. Its depiction of Monroe’s life was highly criticized. It even received eight nominations in the upcoming Razzies.
#Blonde leads the 2023 #Razzies with eight nominations, including worst picture https://t.co/lrKra3mUsK pic.twitter.com/DvVyUEDKjo
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 23, 2023
Another surprising nomination is Andrea Riseborough, who is also in the running for...
The 2023 Oscars revealed some surprising nominees
The 2023 Oscar nominations were announced on January 24. Many of the nominations are expected, but fans did not see some choices coming.
For example, Ana de Armas is in the running for Best Actress for her role as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. The film was rather controversial. Its depiction of Monroe’s life was highly criticized. It even received eight nominations in the upcoming Razzies.
#Blonde leads the 2023 #Razzies with eight nominations, including worst picture https://t.co/lrKra3mUsK pic.twitter.com/DvVyUEDKjo
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 23, 2023
Another surprising nomination is Andrea Riseborough, who is also in the running for...
- 2/2/2023
- by Tram Anh Ton Nu
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Park Chan-wook has one of the most illustrious careers as a filmmaker in South Korea, with movies like “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance,” “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden” winning multiple prestigious Korean film awards. He returns this awards season with the unique Cj Entertainment film “Decision to Leave,” a thriller turned tragic romance that one would say goes against his usual style of filmmaking. However, his command of direction remains impeccable, winning him the Best Director prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. It may come as a shock to many that he has never received an Oscar nomination; will this be the year he could break into the Best Director category?
“Decision to Leave” stars Park Hae-il as a skilled detective investigating the murder of a mountain climber and begins to have intense romantic feelings for his main suspect wife, played by Tang Wei. While the film does not have a lot...
“Decision to Leave” stars Park Hae-il as a skilled detective investigating the murder of a mountain climber and begins to have intense romantic feelings for his main suspect wife, played by Tang Wei. While the film does not have a lot...
- 1/18/2023
- by Christopher Tsang
- Gold Derby
Takings up more than 98 on 2021 but are still down on pre-pandemic figures.
The South Korea box office reached 937.5m (KRW1.17tn) in 2022, up 98.5 year-on-year, led by local feature The Roundup and Top Gun: Maverick – but is still some way from returning to pre-pandemic levels.
According to a preliminary report from the Korean Film Council (Kofic), cinema attendance rose 86 to 112.8 million compared to 60.53 million in 2021. It marks the first time annual admissions have topped 100 million since the Covid-19 outbreak.
But while clearly showing signs of recovery, total receipts for 2022 are just 60.6 of pre-pandemic 2019 and admissions are at 49.8 of the 227 million tickets...
The South Korea box office reached 937.5m (KRW1.17tn) in 2022, up 98.5 year-on-year, led by local feature The Roundup and Top Gun: Maverick – but is still some way from returning to pre-pandemic levels.
According to a preliminary report from the Korean Film Council (Kofic), cinema attendance rose 86 to 112.8 million compared to 60.53 million in 2021. It marks the first time annual admissions have topped 100 million since the Covid-19 outbreak.
But while clearly showing signs of recovery, total receipts for 2022 are just 60.6 of pre-pandemic 2019 and admissions are at 49.8 of the 227 million tickets...
- 1/13/2023
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
Bong Joon-ho may be the national hero for bringing home the Oscar for Parasite, but it was Park Chan-wook who first blazed the trail for Korean cinema. After two false starts, his international career began in earnest in 2000 with Berlinale hit Joint Security Area (J.S.A), a military thriller set in the no-man’s land between North and South Korea. In the years since, Director Park has been a quicksilver talent, never repeating himself and bringing savagely original twists to genres as diverse as the vampire movie (Thirst), the erotic thriller (Handmaiden) and manga (Oldboy). His latest, Decision to Leave, is no exception, a perversely modern and yet classically Hitchcockian whodunnit, in which Park Hae-il’s obsessive detective Hae-joon falls hard for his suspect (Tang Wei).
Deadline: What were your thoughts going into Cannes with Decision To Leave?
Park Chan-wook: I guess I don’t really have a...
Deadline: What were your thoughts going into Cannes with Decision To Leave?
Park Chan-wook: I guess I don’t really have a...
- 1/12/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Much of the world knows Korean entertainment through superstar pop music performers like BTS and Black Pink. Then, with “Squid Game,” the world fell for Korean drama. And thanks to Bong Joon Ho and his “Parasite” Oscar-winner, more of the planet has learned of the powerhouse that is Korean cinema. ¶ The Korean film industry’s proficiency is scarcely new. Bong, together with the likes of Kim Jee-woon (“A Bittersweet Life”) and the multihyphenate Park Chan-wook are part of a cohort of leading directors who emerged at the beginning of the millennium and remain at the forefront. Over some two decades, they have given Korean cinema an impeccable reputation for combining style, substance and smart storytelling.
With his latest drama, “Decision to Leave,” on the Oscar international film shortlist after a glittering run on the festival circuit and a successful worldwide release, it is now Park’s turn in the spotlight.
With his latest drama, “Decision to Leave,” on the Oscar international film shortlist after a glittering run on the festival circuit and a successful worldwide release, it is now Park’s turn in the spotlight.
- 1/10/2023
- by Carole Horst and Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Each year, the Variety staff picks their favorite scenes from the year’s top contenders. While spoilers of all shapes and sizes may follow, read on with caution if you have yet to see the films!
Avatar: The Way of Water
(20th Century Studios)
James Cameron’s escalating obsession with using technology to recreate the beauty of the natural world reaches an exhilarating peak in the scene in which Jake Sully’s son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) communes underwater with the lonely, plesiosaur-inspired beast Payakan. The rebellious Na’vi youth feels estranged from his family, so the two creatures immediately have an affinity for one another, and quickly develop a camaraderie that gives Lo’ak a sense of belonging. But after learning that the tulkun was exiled for a crime that the whale-like animal did not commit — an event that holds the key to prevailing against the “sky people” greedily...
Avatar: The Way of Water
(20th Century Studios)
James Cameron’s escalating obsession with using technology to recreate the beauty of the natural world reaches an exhilarating peak in the scene in which Jake Sully’s son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) communes underwater with the lonely, plesiosaur-inspired beast Payakan. The rebellious Na’vi youth feels estranged from his family, so the two creatures immediately have an affinity for one another, and quickly develop a camaraderie that gives Lo’ak a sense of belonging. But after learning that the tulkun was exiled for a crime that the whale-like animal did not commit — an event that holds the key to prevailing against the “sky people” greedily...
- 1/10/2023
- by Shalini Dore, Carole Horst, Jazz Tangcay, Todd Gilchrist, Tim Gray, Katie Reul, Michaela Zee, Sharareh Drury, Peter Caranicas and Jenelle Riley
- Variety Film + TV
Gold House and Cape (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) have released their third annual Gold List to guide voters ahead of the awards race by spotlighting and honoring outstanding work by Asian filmmakers and talent in the past year, as voted on by the community’s top creatives and leaders.
A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” tops the Gold List with five honors, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director (Daniels aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Performance in a Leading Role (Michelle Yeoh), Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Ke Huy Quan) and several honorable mentions.
“It has been an incredible year for Aapi stories pushing the boundaries of expectations for what an Asian American story can be,” said honoree Daniel Kwan, writer-director of “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” “Through films like ‘Turning Red,’ ‘After Yang,’ ‘Umma’ and many more, we are getting a taste...
A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” tops the Gold List with five honors, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director (Daniels aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Performance in a Leading Role (Michelle Yeoh), Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Ke Huy Quan) and several honorable mentions.
“It has been an incredible year for Aapi stories pushing the boundaries of expectations for what an Asian American story can be,” said honoree Daniel Kwan, writer-director of “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” “Through films like ‘Turning Red,’ ‘After Yang,’ ‘Umma’ and many more, we are getting a taste...
- 1/10/2023
- by Lawrence Yee
- The Wrap
Everything Everywhere All at Once continues to be everywhere on awards lists.
The genre-busting A24 record-grosser tops the third annual Gold List, an FYC guide from nonprofit organizations Gold House and Cape highlighting this year’s cinematic achievements by Asian filmmakers and artists.
“Since its inception just two years ago, 15 Gold List honorees have gone on to receive Academy Award wins or nominations,” Gold House executive director and COO Jeremy Tran said in a statement. “Chloé Zhao, Youn Yuh-jung and Riz Ahmed’s history-making wins, to name a few, underscore why vehicles like the Gold List that celebrate the most impactful achievements from and among the Asian community are essential signals that generate new creative development, production and distribution opportunities for traditionally unrecognized communities.”
Eeaao led six of the list’s 14 categories – which for the first time went gender-neutral in the acting races – including best picture, best director (Daniels), best...
The genre-busting A24 record-grosser tops the third annual Gold List, an FYC guide from nonprofit organizations Gold House and Cape highlighting this year’s cinematic achievements by Asian filmmakers and artists.
“Since its inception just two years ago, 15 Gold List honorees have gone on to receive Academy Award wins or nominations,” Gold House executive director and COO Jeremy Tran said in a statement. “Chloé Zhao, Youn Yuh-jung and Riz Ahmed’s history-making wins, to name a few, underscore why vehicles like the Gold List that celebrate the most impactful achievements from and among the Asian community are essential signals that generate new creative development, production and distribution opportunities for traditionally unrecognized communities.”
Eeaao led six of the list’s 14 categories – which for the first time went gender-neutral in the acting races – including best picture, best director (Daniels), best...
- 1/10/2023
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cape (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) debuted the third annual Gold List to guide voters ahead of the awards race by spotlighting and honoring the work of Asian filmmakers and talent in the past year, as voted on by the community’s top creatives and leaders.
Everything Everywhere All At Once leads with wins for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director (Daniels), Best Performance in a Leading Role (Michelle Yeoh), and Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Ke Huy Quan), with several honorable mentions.
Rrr and Decision to Leave garnered five honors each across the major categories, with Rrr winning Best Original Song for “Naatu Naatu.” Pixar’s Turning Red earned Best Animated Film; David Siev’s Bad Axe leads for Best Documentary; Dolly De Leon and Stephanie Hsu won for Breakout Performance, and Joyland rounded out the list with Breakout Independent Film.
In a year where Asian-helmed...
Everything Everywhere All At Once leads with wins for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director (Daniels), Best Performance in a Leading Role (Michelle Yeoh), and Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Ke Huy Quan), with several honorable mentions.
Rrr and Decision to Leave garnered five honors each across the major categories, with Rrr winning Best Original Song for “Naatu Naatu.” Pixar’s Turning Red earned Best Animated Film; David Siev’s Bad Axe leads for Best Documentary; Dolly De Leon and Stephanie Hsu won for Breakout Performance, and Joyland rounded out the list with Breakout Independent Film.
In a year where Asian-helmed...
- 1/10/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Writer-director Park Chan-wook has long been a favorite of cinephiles thanks to the combination of meticulously controlled craft and boundary-busting shock value in films like “Oldboy,” “Lady Vengeance,” and “Thirst.” With his Best International Feature–shortlisted romantic thriller “Decision to Leave,” however, the auteur leaves his penchant for taboo-breaking behind in favor of a subtler approach that paradoxically yields his boldest and most original film yet. The story of a detective (Park Hae-il) who falls deeply and tragically in love with a murder suspect (Tang Wei), “Decision to Leave” is a hypnotic reverie of longing, obsession, and regret in which the characters are constantly hiding things from themselves, each other, and occasionally the audience — which required precisely adjusted cinematic effects from Park and his collaborators.
“People in modern films tend to be very honest with their feelings,” Park told IndieWire, “and honesty is considered an ideal in our society. But...
“People in modern films tend to be very honest with their feelings,” Park told IndieWire, “and honesty is considered an ideal in our society. But...
- 1/9/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Echelon Studios, an independent production, distribution, and licensing company, has
strengthened its presence in the Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (Fast) arena with an
impressive content catalogue.
Following the successful launch of several Fast channels under the “a-z” brand in 2020, Echelon
Studios has now added to its diverse library, with a growing lineup of 19 Fast channelsincluding
a-z Asian Flix showcases blockbusters and award-winning titles from the East. Film titles such as
acclaimed crime thriller “Project Gutenberg” starring Chow Yun-Fat, mega box office hit “Shock
Wave 2” starring Andy Lau, action comedy “By Quantum Physics” starring Emmys nominee Park
Hae-soo, and historical drama “The King’s Letters” starring “Parasite” Song Kang-ho and
“Decision to Leave” Park Hae-il.
Echelon Studios’ Fast channels have already embraced partnerships with a number of leading
distribution platforms, including Mometu, Tcl, FlixHouse, Watch Free TV and HeroGo TV, to
deliver extraordinary content within ad-supported environments. Mometu carries all the...
strengthened its presence in the Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (Fast) arena with an
impressive content catalogue.
Following the successful launch of several Fast channels under the “a-z” brand in 2020, Echelon
Studios has now added to its diverse library, with a growing lineup of 19 Fast channelsincluding
a-z Asian Flix showcases blockbusters and award-winning titles from the East. Film titles such as
acclaimed crime thriller “Project Gutenberg” starring Chow Yun-Fat, mega box office hit “Shock
Wave 2” starring Andy Lau, action comedy “By Quantum Physics” starring Emmys nominee Park
Hae-soo, and historical drama “The King’s Letters” starring “Parasite” Song Kang-ho and
“Decision to Leave” Park Hae-il.
Echelon Studios’ Fast channels have already embraced partnerships with a number of leading
distribution platforms, including Mometu, Tcl, FlixHouse, Watch Free TV and HeroGo TV, to
deliver extraordinary content within ad-supported environments. Mometu carries all the...
- 1/6/2023
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s ‘Drive My Car’ secures eight nods.
Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave leads the nominations for this year’s Asian Film Awards (Afa) with 10 nods including best film and best director.
Korean films have secured nominations in every category for the 16th edition of the awards, which will return to Hong Kong for the first time in three years, having been hosted in Busan for two years and not held in 2022.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
Korean romantic noir Decision To Leave premiered in Competition at Cannes last May, where Park won best director. As...
Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave leads the nominations for this year’s Asian Film Awards (Afa) with 10 nods including best film and best director.
Korean films have secured nominations in every category for the 16th edition of the awards, which will return to Hong Kong for the first time in three years, having been hosted in Busan for two years and not held in 2022.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
Korean romantic noir Decision To Leave premiered in Competition at Cannes last May, where Park won best director. As...
- 1/6/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Park Chan-wook’s stylish crime drama Decision to Leave leads the nominations for this year’s Asian Film Awards with a sweeping 10 nods, including Best Director and Best Film.
The film’s impressive nominations haul also includes a Best Screenplay nod and acting nominations for leads Park Hae-il and Tang Wei, as well as below-the-line recognition for Cinematography, Editing, Music, and Production Design.
Decision to Leave follows a detective (Park Hae-il) investigating a man’s death in the mountains when he meets the dead man’s mysterious wife, a suspect in the case, and begins a tangled affair. The film debuted at Cannes where Park won the Best Director prize. Korea has also submitted the film as its entry for the international feature Oscar race.
Japanese filmmaker Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Drive My Car trails with eight nominations. The epic road movie also debuted at Cannes, but in 2021. Elsewhere, Hirokazu Koreeda...
The film’s impressive nominations haul also includes a Best Screenplay nod and acting nominations for leads Park Hae-il and Tang Wei, as well as below-the-line recognition for Cinematography, Editing, Music, and Production Design.
Decision to Leave follows a detective (Park Hae-il) investigating a man’s death in the mountains when he meets the dead man’s mysterious wife, a suspect in the case, and begins a tangled affair. The film debuted at Cannes where Park won the Best Director prize. Korea has also submitted the film as its entry for the international feature Oscar race.
Japanese filmmaker Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Drive My Car trails with eight nominations. The epic road movie also debuted at Cannes, but in 2021. Elsewhere, Hirokazu Koreeda...
- 1/6/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Park Chan-wook’s noirish romance “Decision to Leave” makes the running in the Asian Film Awards by collecting ten nominations, including best film and best director.
Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Drive My Car,” another awards season favorite which also debuted at Cannes, albeit a year earlier, has eight nominations.
Zhang Yimou, the acclaimed mainland Chinese director of “One Second,” “Hero” and “Raise the Red Lantern,” will head a seven-person jury that sorts through the nominated films and decides the winners.
Organizers said that a total of 30 films from 22 countries or territories received 81 nominations in 16 categories.
The final awards will be presented at a ceremony that relocates to Hong Kong, after being held for two years in Busan and was omitted entirely in 2022. The event will take place at the new Hong Kong Palace Museum on March 12, the evening before film and TV rights market FilMart makes its in-person return for the...
Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Drive My Car,” another awards season favorite which also debuted at Cannes, albeit a year earlier, has eight nominations.
Zhang Yimou, the acclaimed mainland Chinese director of “One Second,” “Hero” and “Raise the Red Lantern,” will head a seven-person jury that sorts through the nominated films and decides the winners.
Organizers said that a total of 30 films from 22 countries or territories received 81 nominations in 16 categories.
The final awards will be presented at a ceremony that relocates to Hong Kong, after being held for two years in Busan and was omitted entirely in 2022. The event will take place at the new Hong Kong Palace Museum on March 12, the evening before film and TV rights market FilMart makes its in-person return for the...
- 1/6/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products released each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.
Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!
Bones and All Blu-ray from Warner Bros.
A late contender for one of the most affecting horror films of the year, Bones and All will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 31 via Warner Bros. Unfortunately, no special features are listed for the cannibal drama.
Luca Guadagnino directs from a script by David Kajganich (Suspiria), based on Camille DeAngelis’ 2015 novel of the same name. Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet star with Mark Rylance, Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon Green, and Jessica Harper.
Terrifier 2 Shirt from Terror Threads
Art the Clown has cemented his place as a modern horror icon, so it’s to be expected that he’s the focal point of most merchandise,...
Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!
Bones and All Blu-ray from Warner Bros.
A late contender for one of the most affecting horror films of the year, Bones and All will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 31 via Warner Bros. Unfortunately, no special features are listed for the cannibal drama.
Luca Guadagnino directs from a script by David Kajganich (Suspiria), based on Camille DeAngelis’ 2015 novel of the same name. Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet star with Mark Rylance, Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon Green, and Jessica Harper.
Terrifier 2 Shirt from Terror Threads
Art the Clown has cemented his place as a modern horror icon, so it’s to be expected that he’s the focal point of most merchandise,...
- 12/23/2022
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
South Korea’s Oscar© 2023 Entry for Best International Feature: ‘Decision to Leave’ by Park Chan-wookSure to be on the top of many people’s list as one of the best films of the year (including my own along with ‘Eo’), at the very least it should be nominated for for best international feature Oscar. This melodrama keeps you in the tense suspense of ‘Double Indemnity’, ‘The Postman Rings Twice’ or ‘Gaslight’.
From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae (Tang Wei). As he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire. By falling in love with her, he commits worst crime he could commit as a police officer.
writer Jeong Seo-kyeong
Decision to Leave is co-written by Jeong Seo-kyeong with the director Park Chan-wook. It is shot in and around Busan. The romantic thriller premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is being released in select U.S. theaters by Mubi.
During the Hammer Museum- Moma Contender Series, the screenwriter Jeong Seo-kyeong spoke about her many collaboration with Park Chan-took.You can watch the 32 minute conversation here with film critic Katie Walsh. Or read below for the written version, slightly edited and abridged.
The music itself is exceptional. I wanted to go out immediately and buy it and could not stop singing it as I drove home from the movie. The original music was composed by his long time collaborator Cho Young-wuk (Oldboy, The Handmaiden, The Little Drummer Girl, Lady Vengeance, Thirst). The soundtrack is available to stream/download in most international markets and on Spotify. Watch the offical music video here for the theme song “Fog” or “Mist” (안개)” by Jung Hoon Hee(정훈희) & Song Chang Sick(송창식). Record label: Bertelsmann Music Group. Awards: Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Music, Grand Bell Award for Best Music, Korean Film Awards for Best Music.
Aside from the original mustic there is the recurring fourth movement of Mahler’s 5th Symphony thoughout the film. When asked her about the use of music this is what she answered.
When we were writing the script, the Mahler’s Fifth was actually the first score that we thought of. I needed a song that goes with someone in that lone space high up on the mountain, a music that speaks to how he feels separated from the rest of the world. That’s why I chose two songs by Mahler. And when Director Park saw the first draft, he called me up and he said, “Oh, it’s all good, but why did you have to use Mahler? Did you not watch Death in Venice? That song was perfectly used there already, so why would we have to use it again?”
But I never saw Death in Venice.
So he said, “Okay, I’ll try to work it out on my own.” And I think he did try his best to find something else, but he had to return to Mahler.
Have you seen Tar? They also use Mahler. No.
She conducts Mahler’s Fifth in Tar. So it’s a theme this year.
To return to her writing, Katie Walsh and Jeong Seo-kyeong’s conversation is below.
You started working with Director Park in 2005 with Lady Vengeance. So I’m so curious how you two connected and started working together on that film.
There was a short film competition and he was a jury member and he selected the film. And that’s how we got to know each other. From what I remember, the script of the short film was very weird and I think that’s exactly what he liked about it. So he said, I’ve got this idea. I’m working on this this vengeance trilogy and I want your sensibility on this.
At that point, just when we were about to start working together, he had just won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes [for Oldboy] and he became a worldwide director.
I thought to myself, wow, I’m going to be working with such a worldwide famous director. I was very stunned by that and he was busy at the time, so I had to start on the screenplay on my own at first.
He was on his promotional tour for the film and I was working on the first draft of the screenplay by myself. And from what I remember, it was a pathetic first draft.
But he was not taken aback by the draft at all. And instead he calmly said, “okay, let’s start revising it together”.
In Korea, there’s a method of working in which we share one hotel room and we stay there and work together for days. So the crew members were sitting around this large table in this hotel room. There are two monitors, two keyboards and one hard drive. And we were working together. When one person is writing, the other person can see it on the screen. Next to that table was a long couch where all the other crew members were sitting. It almost felt like writing that screenplay was a game of table tennis.
So he writes and then I write. I would see something that I ddin’t like and I would revise it. He would see something he didn’t like and he would revise it. So we would go back and forth like that. Instead of sharing conversations by mouth, we were seeing what was happening on the screen and that’s how we talked about the story.
At that time I was a first time writer and I was working on my first screenplay. So I really had to give it all my best to catch up with him. It really was an unfair game, if I may say. Whenever we would ask people which they liked better, they would always be on the director’s side.
But 20 years later, today, the crew member actually take my side more now.
So you still work like this?
No. Oh. After Thirst, I had my first child. And while we were working on Stoker I had my second child close. That’s why I couldn’t make a lot of time. And that’s why we can’t spend that much time together anymore.
So now I write the first draft of the screenplay and we revise it for three or four days or up to a week. Then he writes the final draft after a discussion with the crew members and the actors and myself.
Wow. That’s remarkable. I was going to ask how you guys work together, what you’re working process was like. So I’m I’m thrilled that it just came up naturally. And that is such a trial by fire. I mean, I’m sure that was like film school being in that hotel room, having to write against Park Chan-wook in a competitive manner.
I actually majored in screenwriting at school, but after graduation, I realized I actually don’t know anything about screenwriting. Like, really, like, genuinely. I was learning screenwriting from director Park Film School and I’m still learning today.
Park Chan-wook
And I’m sure director Park feels the same way.
Yeah. Yeah. So Decision to Leave is an original script.
You’ve worked on some adaptations before, but what was the spark of idea for this screenplay?
Director Park, while working on Little Drummer Girl in London, sent me an email. He suggested, “What about a story about a detective? And in his area, there are two husbands who are murdered by his wife.”
His idea at the time actually reminded me a lot of Thirst… a murder caused by adultery.
I told him, “I don’t think we can work on this one. First of all, neither of us can write a melodrama. But even more, I really can’t write a story about adultery.”
But Director Park answered, “What do you mean? I’m great at writing this stuff.”
I told him no. I don’t think we can work like this. So we had an argument about that, actually. During that argument, I realized I was already developing the characters for this story. And I found myself with a finished synopsis for the film. That’s how the film came to be.
It sounds like there’s some creative energy in the conflict or in the argument. Can you talk a little bit about that and how you’re sort of working against each other and then it’s generating ideas for you.
For this film and it’s so for most of the films that we work together on, I relate a lot to the female characters and director Park tends to relate to the male characters. And the reason I didn’t want to work on a melodrama is because I had a terrible memory from Thirst. I did not like the ending of Thirst. Why did the female character have to die when she did not want to. It would have been nice if she lived on as a vampire. So when the film was over I think I felt just like Tae-ju. She’s like, “I don’t want to die but since I love him, I guess there’s no other choice”. So I thought to myself, “Well, I don’t want it to be that way, but I guess I have no other choice.”
For Decision to Leave, I do like the ending but I did have to ask the question why the female character had to die. I had a lot of frustrations regarding that. Why Seo-rae seem to like Hae-jun more than he likes her. Why does Hae-jun seem like he can’t give up on his wife or Seo-rae.
Seo-rae says, “The moment you said you loved me, your love is over. The moment your love ends, my love begins.”
And Seo-rae has to give up give up her whole life for Hae-jun. But Hae-jun only gives up on his self-esteem.
But watching the finished film, I was struck with a realization that for some people, giving up on one’s self-esteem is the same as giving up one’s life.
There was some conflict while we were writing the film, but watching the finished film, I think I understood and connected with the overall ending.
I’m also curious about the casting of Tang Wei, who’s a Chinese actress, obviously living in Korea. And did you write the character of Seo-rae for Tang Wei or was it? Did you change that character to be Chinese once you knew she was going to be in the film?
I told director Park I didn’t want to write a melodrama because I was not confident I would do a good job. One exception was, that if the female character were played by Tang Wei, then I would write it. Because I was in love with Tang Wei.
That’s a good answer. Makes sense. I understand.
And that’s why the female character turned out to- turned out to be a Chinese person.
Well, she’s fabulous in the film. So we thank you for your instincts, for being in love with her.
One of the things I love about this film is the use of technology. It feels so honest as to how we use technology in our everyday lives, how we’re always texting and the way the characters communicate through technology. But also it becomes part of the mystery and how he solves the mystery and then also how he’s sort of driven mad at the end. So when you’re writing with director Park, how are you incorporating how the characters are using technology into the writing process? He makes it so cinematic, but I know that you must be putting that into the script as well.
If you consider authors like Agatha Christie at the time when she was writing her crime novel and compare them to those who are writing crime novels today, we have so much technology. Phones are always filming and are recording evidence. There’s not a lot that we can work with because anyone can take photos and have voice recordings and there are always CCTV cameras everywhere.
So I realized it’s impossible to have that romanticist classical crime story. Instead we must actively incorporate the use of modern technology. When Director Park first received a draft of the script. He asked me, “Why are there so many scenes with cell phones? I’ve never seen so many cell phones in a movie except in Searching.”
Director Park initially did not want to film any scenes with cell phones. But later he gave up on giving up on those cell phone scenes and instead filmed from the point of view of a cell phone. That is actually a very innovative, creative take on that. But I do feel that people took that in very well because we often feel that phones are looking at us.
As for me as a writer, the use of Apple Watches actually gave me a lot of creative freedom because it’s difficult to have scenes to incorporate the protagonist in a voiceover out of nowhere. But with the Apple Watch and the recording, it made that so much easier.
You have worked across so many genres with Director Park, vampire, vengeance, melodrama. The Handmaiden is a historical drama, romance. It’s an adaptation. Do you think there’s a consistent theme or tone that you and Director Park always come back to that spans your body of work?
The thing is, Director Park and I actually don’t agree on the themes most of the time. For instance, for Lady Vengeance, the theme was vengeance. But I don’t quite understand why people are so obsessed with vengeance.
So I actually called my friend and asked, “Why do people have to take revenge on each other instead of striving for peace?”
As for Thirst, the theme was guilt or salvation. But the thing is, I don’t feel a lot of guilt in my life. As long as I don’t do anything bad, there is no need for guit or salvation. That’s what I think.
If I were a vampire, I would think to myself, “Oh, this is how the mankind is going to evolve. So I should find a new method of life”.
So in those ways I don’t think the themes quite worked with me, but as we were working together, I didn’t realize we were working toward one common theme. I think it has to do with respect or the dignity of mankind.
In all of these different genres, the protagonists tend to be thrown into very extreme situations. And yet even in these extreme situations, these protagonists try not to lose their sense of dignity. I think when Hae-jun was talking about how Seo-rae had such upright posture, I think it really spoke to her sense of dignity.
That is a common theme throughout films like I’m a Cyborg But That’s Okayor The Handmaiden.
I was wondering, did you ever come up with that alternative finale or like, did you suggest an alternative finale?
The ending is actually something that makes logical sense. This is a story that begins very high up and then ends very low. We start on the mountain and close on the ocean. So conclusively it makes logical sense that it would end up with someone digging a hole.
I actually tend to think that an ending in which a woman dies for love is quite unnatural. But if a man dies, that’s a little more natural. But despite those personal frustrations, I cannot think of any other ending that would work better.
Director Park seems to write a lot of stories featuring female protagonists. What are the difficulties you face when you’re writing about a female protagonist while you’re working with a male director?
It is very easy. I’ve actually written a story in which it only features male protagonists. It’s called Believer. That story is filled with male characters. And I had such a hard time, I thought I was going to die.
I think one of the most difficult parts of being a writer is if a female writer is trying to write a good male character, and when a male writer is trying to write a good female character.
But despite all those difficulties, Director Park actually portrays the female characters very well. He writes characters in such a way that they don’t have to sacrifice their femininity in order to walk their path of life.
Over 20 years of working together, our collaboration has evolved so much that it’s actually difficult to tell which line is written by me and which line is written by Director Park.
In the movie The Handmaiden, one of the most feminine looking lines, was actually written by Director Park. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say that line out loud.
It’s a line by the character Sook-hee and she says, “If I could have milk from my breasts, I wish I could feed you, my lady.”
Can you imagine that?
Well, his female characters are so strong, I’m sure that is your influence, of course, in your writing, but also, in just the working relationship that he has with you.
I wish I could also have developed writing better male characters, but I think I’m a little behind if we have to make a comparison.
Keep writing women, we like it.
I wanted to ask about Seo-Rae’s mother-daughter relationship because I felt like that was such a pivotal moment in the story.
The relationship between Seo-rae and her mother was actually described in more lengthy terms. Because I think the entire story started the moment Seo-rae killed her mother. There is nothing more serious. She doesn’t commit a more serious crime than killing the mother that she loves so much.
So I think in some ways, Seo-rae has already died the moment she had to go through that.
I think she has taken a journey with her mother and her grandfather to the mountain that her mother said belonged to her, and then she starts her journey down. After she has placed the ashes of her mother and her grandfather at that mountain, she starts her own journey towards death down from the mountain. Because I think every animal, including mankind, wants to find death where they were born.
So that is why Seo-rae believed that her mother wanted to be buried in the mountains and Seo-rae goes towards the ocean because she belongs to the ocean.
I think the only way she might have found salvation from her ordeal could have been to leave and go somewhere else with Hae-jun, but that didn’t happen, so inevitably she had to go to the ocean.
And all of that began with the death of Seo-rae’s mother.
Well, thank you all so much for being here. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jiwon. Thank you, Chung Seo-kyung. And thank you for watching this film and talking to us about it.
The film’s producer, CJEnt is also the international sales agent as well as the So. Korean distributor of the film. Internationally it has licensed the film to Mubi for USA, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Latin America, Turkey, India, and Airlines and to Arna Media and Vesta for Russia, Bac Films for France, Cinobo for Greece, Cinéart for Benelux, Golden Village Pictures for Singapore, Happinet Phantom Studios for Japan, Lucky Red for Italy, Madman Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand, Movie Cloud for Taiwan, NonStop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Plaion Pictures for Germany, Purple Plan (2022) (Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore, The Filmbridge for Mongolia, Alambique Filmes for Portugal, Avalon for Spain
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From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae (Tang Wei). As he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire. By falling in love with her, he commits worst crime he could commit as a police officer.
writer Jeong Seo-kyeong
Decision to Leave is co-written by Jeong Seo-kyeong with the director Park Chan-wook. It is shot in and around Busan. The romantic thriller premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is being released in select U.S. theaters by Mubi.
During the Hammer Museum- Moma Contender Series, the screenwriter Jeong Seo-kyeong spoke about her many collaboration with Park Chan-took.You can watch the 32 minute conversation here with film critic Katie Walsh. Or read below for the written version, slightly edited and abridged.
The music itself is exceptional. I wanted to go out immediately and buy it and could not stop singing it as I drove home from the movie. The original music was composed by his long time collaborator Cho Young-wuk (Oldboy, The Handmaiden, The Little Drummer Girl, Lady Vengeance, Thirst). The soundtrack is available to stream/download in most international markets and on Spotify. Watch the offical music video here for the theme song “Fog” or “Mist” (안개)” by Jung Hoon Hee(정훈희) & Song Chang Sick(송창식). Record label: Bertelsmann Music Group. Awards: Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Music, Grand Bell Award for Best Music, Korean Film Awards for Best Music.
Aside from the original mustic there is the recurring fourth movement of Mahler’s 5th Symphony thoughout the film. When asked her about the use of music this is what she answered.
When we were writing the script, the Mahler’s Fifth was actually the first score that we thought of. I needed a song that goes with someone in that lone space high up on the mountain, a music that speaks to how he feels separated from the rest of the world. That’s why I chose two songs by Mahler. And when Director Park saw the first draft, he called me up and he said, “Oh, it’s all good, but why did you have to use Mahler? Did you not watch Death in Venice? That song was perfectly used there already, so why would we have to use it again?”
But I never saw Death in Venice.
So he said, “Okay, I’ll try to work it out on my own.” And I think he did try his best to find something else, but he had to return to Mahler.
Have you seen Tar? They also use Mahler. No.
She conducts Mahler’s Fifth in Tar. So it’s a theme this year.
To return to her writing, Katie Walsh and Jeong Seo-kyeong’s conversation is below.
You started working with Director Park in 2005 with Lady Vengeance. So I’m so curious how you two connected and started working together on that film.
There was a short film competition and he was a jury member and he selected the film. And that’s how we got to know each other. From what I remember, the script of the short film was very weird and I think that’s exactly what he liked about it. So he said, I’ve got this idea. I’m working on this this vengeance trilogy and I want your sensibility on this.
At that point, just when we were about to start working together, he had just won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes [for Oldboy] and he became a worldwide director.
I thought to myself, wow, I’m going to be working with such a worldwide famous director. I was very stunned by that and he was busy at the time, so I had to start on the screenplay on my own at first.
He was on his promotional tour for the film and I was working on the first draft of the screenplay by myself. And from what I remember, it was a pathetic first draft.
But he was not taken aback by the draft at all. And instead he calmly said, “okay, let’s start revising it together”.
In Korea, there’s a method of working in which we share one hotel room and we stay there and work together for days. So the crew members were sitting around this large table in this hotel room. There are two monitors, two keyboards and one hard drive. And we were working together. When one person is writing, the other person can see it on the screen. Next to that table was a long couch where all the other crew members were sitting. It almost felt like writing that screenplay was a game of table tennis.
So he writes and then I write. I would see something that I ddin’t like and I would revise it. He would see something he didn’t like and he would revise it. So we would go back and forth like that. Instead of sharing conversations by mouth, we were seeing what was happening on the screen and that’s how we talked about the story.
At that time I was a first time writer and I was working on my first screenplay. So I really had to give it all my best to catch up with him. It really was an unfair game, if I may say. Whenever we would ask people which they liked better, they would always be on the director’s side.
But 20 years later, today, the crew member actually take my side more now.
So you still work like this?
No. Oh. After Thirst, I had my first child. And while we were working on Stoker I had my second child close. That’s why I couldn’t make a lot of time. And that’s why we can’t spend that much time together anymore.
So now I write the first draft of the screenplay and we revise it for three or four days or up to a week. Then he writes the final draft after a discussion with the crew members and the actors and myself.
Wow. That’s remarkable. I was going to ask how you guys work together, what you’re working process was like. So I’m I’m thrilled that it just came up naturally. And that is such a trial by fire. I mean, I’m sure that was like film school being in that hotel room, having to write against Park Chan-wook in a competitive manner.
I actually majored in screenwriting at school, but after graduation, I realized I actually don’t know anything about screenwriting. Like, really, like, genuinely. I was learning screenwriting from director Park Film School and I’m still learning today.
Park Chan-wook
And I’m sure director Park feels the same way.
Yeah. Yeah. So Decision to Leave is an original script.
You’ve worked on some adaptations before, but what was the spark of idea for this screenplay?
Director Park, while working on Little Drummer Girl in London, sent me an email. He suggested, “What about a story about a detective? And in his area, there are two husbands who are murdered by his wife.”
His idea at the time actually reminded me a lot of Thirst… a murder caused by adultery.
I told him, “I don’t think we can work on this one. First of all, neither of us can write a melodrama. But even more, I really can’t write a story about adultery.”
But Director Park answered, “What do you mean? I’m great at writing this stuff.”
I told him no. I don’t think we can work like this. So we had an argument about that, actually. During that argument, I realized I was already developing the characters for this story. And I found myself with a finished synopsis for the film. That’s how the film came to be.
It sounds like there’s some creative energy in the conflict or in the argument. Can you talk a little bit about that and how you’re sort of working against each other and then it’s generating ideas for you.
For this film and it’s so for most of the films that we work together on, I relate a lot to the female characters and director Park tends to relate to the male characters. And the reason I didn’t want to work on a melodrama is because I had a terrible memory from Thirst. I did not like the ending of Thirst. Why did the female character have to die when she did not want to. It would have been nice if she lived on as a vampire. So when the film was over I think I felt just like Tae-ju. She’s like, “I don’t want to die but since I love him, I guess there’s no other choice”. So I thought to myself, “Well, I don’t want it to be that way, but I guess I have no other choice.”
For Decision to Leave, I do like the ending but I did have to ask the question why the female character had to die. I had a lot of frustrations regarding that. Why Seo-rae seem to like Hae-jun more than he likes her. Why does Hae-jun seem like he can’t give up on his wife or Seo-rae.
Seo-rae says, “The moment you said you loved me, your love is over. The moment your love ends, my love begins.”
And Seo-rae has to give up give up her whole life for Hae-jun. But Hae-jun only gives up on his self-esteem.
But watching the finished film, I was struck with a realization that for some people, giving up on one’s self-esteem is the same as giving up one’s life.
There was some conflict while we were writing the film, but watching the finished film, I think I understood and connected with the overall ending.
I’m also curious about the casting of Tang Wei, who’s a Chinese actress, obviously living in Korea. And did you write the character of Seo-rae for Tang Wei or was it? Did you change that character to be Chinese once you knew she was going to be in the film?
I told director Park I didn’t want to write a melodrama because I was not confident I would do a good job. One exception was, that if the female character were played by Tang Wei, then I would write it. Because I was in love with Tang Wei.
That’s a good answer. Makes sense. I understand.
And that’s why the female character turned out to- turned out to be a Chinese person.
Well, she’s fabulous in the film. So we thank you for your instincts, for being in love with her.
One of the things I love about this film is the use of technology. It feels so honest as to how we use technology in our everyday lives, how we’re always texting and the way the characters communicate through technology. But also it becomes part of the mystery and how he solves the mystery and then also how he’s sort of driven mad at the end. So when you’re writing with director Park, how are you incorporating how the characters are using technology into the writing process? He makes it so cinematic, but I know that you must be putting that into the script as well.
If you consider authors like Agatha Christie at the time when she was writing her crime novel and compare them to those who are writing crime novels today, we have so much technology. Phones are always filming and are recording evidence. There’s not a lot that we can work with because anyone can take photos and have voice recordings and there are always CCTV cameras everywhere.
So I realized it’s impossible to have that romanticist classical crime story. Instead we must actively incorporate the use of modern technology. When Director Park first received a draft of the script. He asked me, “Why are there so many scenes with cell phones? I’ve never seen so many cell phones in a movie except in Searching.”
Director Park initially did not want to film any scenes with cell phones. But later he gave up on giving up on those cell phone scenes and instead filmed from the point of view of a cell phone. That is actually a very innovative, creative take on that. But I do feel that people took that in very well because we often feel that phones are looking at us.
As for me as a writer, the use of Apple Watches actually gave me a lot of creative freedom because it’s difficult to have scenes to incorporate the protagonist in a voiceover out of nowhere. But with the Apple Watch and the recording, it made that so much easier.
You have worked across so many genres with Director Park, vampire, vengeance, melodrama. The Handmaiden is a historical drama, romance. It’s an adaptation. Do you think there’s a consistent theme or tone that you and Director Park always come back to that spans your body of work?
The thing is, Director Park and I actually don’t agree on the themes most of the time. For instance, for Lady Vengeance, the theme was vengeance. But I don’t quite understand why people are so obsessed with vengeance.
So I actually called my friend and asked, “Why do people have to take revenge on each other instead of striving for peace?”
As for Thirst, the theme was guilt or salvation. But the thing is, I don’t feel a lot of guilt in my life. As long as I don’t do anything bad, there is no need for guit or salvation. That’s what I think.
If I were a vampire, I would think to myself, “Oh, this is how the mankind is going to evolve. So I should find a new method of life”.
So in those ways I don’t think the themes quite worked with me, but as we were working together, I didn’t realize we were working toward one common theme. I think it has to do with respect or the dignity of mankind.
In all of these different genres, the protagonists tend to be thrown into very extreme situations. And yet even in these extreme situations, these protagonists try not to lose their sense of dignity. I think when Hae-jun was talking about how Seo-rae had such upright posture, I think it really spoke to her sense of dignity.
That is a common theme throughout films like I’m a Cyborg But That’s Okayor The Handmaiden.
I was wondering, did you ever come up with that alternative finale or like, did you suggest an alternative finale?
The ending is actually something that makes logical sense. This is a story that begins very high up and then ends very low. We start on the mountain and close on the ocean. So conclusively it makes logical sense that it would end up with someone digging a hole.
I actually tend to think that an ending in which a woman dies for love is quite unnatural. But if a man dies, that’s a little more natural. But despite those personal frustrations, I cannot think of any other ending that would work better.
Director Park seems to write a lot of stories featuring female protagonists. What are the difficulties you face when you’re writing about a female protagonist while you’re working with a male director?
It is very easy. I’ve actually written a story in which it only features male protagonists. It’s called Believer. That story is filled with male characters. And I had such a hard time, I thought I was going to die.
I think one of the most difficult parts of being a writer is if a female writer is trying to write a good male character, and when a male writer is trying to write a good female character.
But despite all those difficulties, Director Park actually portrays the female characters very well. He writes characters in such a way that they don’t have to sacrifice their femininity in order to walk their path of life.
Over 20 years of working together, our collaboration has evolved so much that it’s actually difficult to tell which line is written by me and which line is written by Director Park.
In the movie The Handmaiden, one of the most feminine looking lines, was actually written by Director Park. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say that line out loud.
It’s a line by the character Sook-hee and she says, “If I could have milk from my breasts, I wish I could feed you, my lady.”
Can you imagine that?
Well, his female characters are so strong, I’m sure that is your influence, of course, in your writing, but also, in just the working relationship that he has with you.
I wish I could also have developed writing better male characters, but I think I’m a little behind if we have to make a comparison.
Keep writing women, we like it.
I wanted to ask about Seo-Rae’s mother-daughter relationship because I felt like that was such a pivotal moment in the story.
The relationship between Seo-rae and her mother was actually described in more lengthy terms. Because I think the entire story started the moment Seo-rae killed her mother. There is nothing more serious. She doesn’t commit a more serious crime than killing the mother that she loves so much.
So I think in some ways, Seo-rae has already died the moment she had to go through that.
I think she has taken a journey with her mother and her grandfather to the mountain that her mother said belonged to her, and then she starts her journey down. After she has placed the ashes of her mother and her grandfather at that mountain, she starts her own journey towards death down from the mountain. Because I think every animal, including mankind, wants to find death where they were born.
So that is why Seo-rae believed that her mother wanted to be buried in the mountains and Seo-rae goes towards the ocean because she belongs to the ocean.
I think the only way she might have found salvation from her ordeal could have been to leave and go somewhere else with Hae-jun, but that didn’t happen, so inevitably she had to go to the ocean.
And all of that began with the death of Seo-rae’s mother.
Well, thank you all so much for being here. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jiwon. Thank you, Chung Seo-kyung. And thank you for watching this film and talking to us about it.
The film’s producer, CJEnt is also the international sales agent as well as the So. Korean distributor of the film. Internationally it has licensed the film to Mubi for USA, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Latin America, Turkey, India, and Airlines and to Arna Media and Vesta for Russia, Bac Films for France, Cinobo for Greece, Cinéart for Benelux, Golden Village Pictures for Singapore, Happinet Phantom Studios for Japan, Lucky Red for Italy, Madman Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand, Movie Cloud for Taiwan, NonStop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Plaion Pictures for Germany, Purple Plan (2022) (Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore, The Filmbridge for Mongolia, Alambique Filmes for Portugal, Avalon for Spain
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- 12/20/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Park Chan-wook's Decision to Leave is exclusively showing on Mubi in many countries starting December 9, 2022 in the series Luminaries.It's a strange sort of intimacy that develops between a film and its translator. Entering into such close proximity to a work during the frenzied weeks in which the subtitles are made gives the translator a somewhat slanted perspective. In some ways, your ability to step back and objectively assess a film can be affected. Being so close to the work creates certain blind spots. On the other hand, translators must be so sensitive to the nuances of language, performance, and characterization that one starts to feel especially close to the characters and the ways in which they express themselves. It does seem that translators experience a film with different eyes and ears. It was just over a year ago, in late November and early December 2021, that I watched Park Chan-wook...
- 12/16/2022
- MUBI
Click here to read the full article.
Given that any critic’s views are by their very nature subjective, the lists that follow don’t claim to be definitive or even directive. They’re merely my personal favorites and those of my esteemed colleagues on the THR reviews team. If they reflect, clash with or challenge your own tastes and opinions, that’s a good thing; if they inspire you to seek out a title you haven’t yet had time for, or might not even have been aware of, even better. Either way, this was a solid year for movies, albeit one that for me came to an underwhelming close.
While theatrical grosses remain in post-covid recovery mode, the studio blockbuster reasserted itself with bright spots on the box office landscape including Top Gun: Maverick, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, The Batman and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,...
Given that any critic’s views are by their very nature subjective, the lists that follow don’t claim to be definitive or even directive. They’re merely my personal favorites and those of my esteemed colleagues on the THR reviews team. If they reflect, clash with or challenge your own tastes and opinions, that’s a good thing; if they inspire you to seek out a title you haven’t yet had time for, or might not even have been aware of, even better. Either way, this was a solid year for movies, albeit one that for me came to an underwhelming close.
While theatrical grosses remain in post-covid recovery mode, the studio blockbuster reasserted itself with bright spots on the box office landscape including Top Gun: Maverick, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, The Batman and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,...
- 12/16/2022
- by David Rooney, Jon Frosch, Lovia Gyarkye and Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Don Lee’s ‘The Roundup’ led the highest performing titles.
Box office takings in South Korea have topped the KRW1tn (762m) mark for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
From January 1 to November 30 this year, total box office revenues reached 769m (KRW1.01tn) with more than 98.6 million admissions, according to a Korean Film Council report released today (December 15).
This is still only 58 of total box office for the same period in 2019. But for comparison during the pandemic, last year’s entire box office from January 1 to December 31 - which had started a slow recovery to...
Box office takings in South Korea have topped the KRW1tn (762m) mark for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
From January 1 to November 30 this year, total box office revenues reached 769m (KRW1.01tn) with more than 98.6 million admissions, according to a Korean Film Council report released today (December 15).
This is still only 58 of total box office for the same period in 2019. But for comparison during the pandemic, last year’s entire box office from January 1 to December 31 - which had started a slow recovery to...
- 12/15/2022
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
Filmmaker Bong Joon Ho said it perfectly: “Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”
His golden quote had somewhat of a ripple effect on how major voting bodies approach films in awards contention that are not in the English language. These films reach across boundaries both physical and psychological, touching hearts and minds.
Looking at last year’s Academy Awards alone, we saw some Best International Feature nominees also secure nods in other categories – such as “Flee”, “The Worst Person in the World” (best original screenplay), and “Drive My Car”. This year, with all of its incredible international releases marketed to mainstream domestic audiences, has been gearing up for a potential repeat of cross-category nominees.
Germany’s submission, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” sports impeccable craftsmanship, from the magnificent debut of lead actor Felix Kammerer to its explosive sound design.
His golden quote had somewhat of a ripple effect on how major voting bodies approach films in awards contention that are not in the English language. These films reach across boundaries both physical and psychological, touching hearts and minds.
Looking at last year’s Academy Awards alone, we saw some Best International Feature nominees also secure nods in other categories – such as “Flee”, “The Worst Person in the World” (best original screenplay), and “Drive My Car”. This year, with all of its incredible international releases marketed to mainstream domestic audiences, has been gearing up for a potential repeat of cross-category nominees.
Germany’s submission, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” sports impeccable craftsmanship, from the magnificent debut of lead actor Felix Kammerer to its explosive sound design.
- 12/14/2022
- by Courtney Howard
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Park Chan-wook, the world-renowned South Korean auteur best known for the floridly violent films referred to as his “Vengeance Trilogy,” wanted to tell a gentler story. It was 2019 and Park was ruminating on ideas for what would become Decision to Leave, his 11th film and first feature in six years, following a period of television work and fine art creation. He began with two competing ideas.
“Over the years, I’ve watched lots of detective dramas and police procedurals, and I love these kinds of films,” he says. “But I’ve always thought the depiction of the protagonists is quite far from reality, because they’re either really tough and violent, or some kind of genius detective.” Examples in this genre are particularly prevalent in Korea, where the highest-grossing movie just this year is Lee Sang-yong’s The Roundup (101 million and counting), a...
Park Chan-wook, the world-renowned South Korean auteur best known for the floridly violent films referred to as his “Vengeance Trilogy,” wanted to tell a gentler story. It was 2019 and Park was ruminating on ideas for what would become Decision to Leave, his 11th film and first feature in six years, following a period of television work and fine art creation. He began with two competing ideas.
“Over the years, I’ve watched lots of detective dramas and police procedurals, and I love these kinds of films,” he says. “But I’ve always thought the depiction of the protagonists is quite far from reality, because they’re either really tough and violent, or some kind of genius detective.” Examples in this genre are particularly prevalent in Korea, where the highest-grossing movie just this year is Lee Sang-yong’s The Roundup (101 million and counting), a...
- 12/13/2022
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tang Wei is intense, intimidating, delectable as a woman being investigated over her husband’s mysterious death, in Park Chan-wook’s gorgeous Hitchcockian thriller
50 best films of 2022 in the UKMore on the best culture of 2022
Our addiction to Korean cinema intensified this year with this gorgeous movie from Park Chan-wook, who has recently pivoted to luxurious suspense thrillers, away from the gonzo-ultraviolent revenge pictures that made his name.
It is a sensational black-widow noir, featuring a cop called Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) who is investigating the mysterious death of a man whose body is found at the bottom of a well-known climbing rock. Did he fall? Was he pushed? In pursuing the case, Hae-joon finds himself falling for this man’s widow, delectably played by the Chinese star Tang Wei – feelings that may well be getting more intense the more he suspects that she is guilty.
50 best films of 2022 in the UKMore on the best culture of 2022
Our addiction to Korean cinema intensified this year with this gorgeous movie from Park Chan-wook, who has recently pivoted to luxurious suspense thrillers, away from the gonzo-ultraviolent revenge pictures that made his name.
It is a sensational black-widow noir, featuring a cop called Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) who is investigating the mysterious death of a man whose body is found at the bottom of a well-known climbing rock. Did he fall? Was he pushed? In pursuing the case, Hae-joon finds himself falling for this man’s widow, delectably played by the Chinese star Tang Wei – feelings that may well be getting more intense the more he suspects that she is guilty.
- 12/12/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Police officers have to be prepared to take risks to investigate deaths, but sometimes those risks feel completely unreasonable. Struggling to reach the summit of a rocky outcrop from which a climber fell, Jang Hae-joon’s asks why on earth people do these things. At the summit, the answer becomes clear. The whole city and surrounding area are spread out below like a map. From here one might see anything. Seeing is believing in Park Chan-wook’s haunting tale of complicity and obsession, but it’s not enough. In his apartment, Hae-joon (the always dependable Park Hae-il) has a whole wall covered in pictures from cold cases, the faces of people whose murders he has been unable to solve. Their stories haunt him, and although he has built up a reputation in his department, one gets the sense that he is drifting further and further out of touch with the work he should be.
- 12/10/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Slow is the new action that only few proven masters can pull off, and Park Chan-wook is one of them. In “Decision to Leave”, his marvelous detective drama that competed in Cannes official selection, he has proven that the film’s length has nothing to do with the degree of the comfort of a chair. And trust me, I know what I am talking about, because I watched the film from one of the most uncomfortable sitting opportunities in the Salle Debussy, those reserved for the late-commers, right at the end of the regular sitting rows.
Decision to Leave at Red Sea International Film Festival
How is it possible that the time flows so smoothly when drama takes over action, and there is less going on from minute to minute, but we still feel like there is so much happening that we can barely hold our breath? I have no answer to this question,...
Decision to Leave at Red Sea International Film Festival
How is it possible that the time flows so smoothly when drama takes over action, and there is less going on from minute to minute, but we still feel like there is so much happening that we can barely hold our breath? I have no answer to this question,...
- 12/6/2022
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Click here to read the full article.
Please Note: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter’s executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and industry insiders, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.
* * *
*Best Picture*
Frontrunners
The Fabelmans (Universal)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)
Tár (Focus)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)
Women Talking (Uar)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
Babylon (Paramount)
The Woman King (Sony)
Major Threats
She Said (Universal)
Thirteen Lives (Amazon)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney)
Rrr (Variance)
Triangle of Sadness (Neon...
Please Note: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter’s executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and industry insiders, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.
* * *
*Best Picture*
Frontrunners
The Fabelmans (Universal)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)
Tár (Focus)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)
Women Talking (Uar)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
Babylon (Paramount)
The Woman King (Sony)
Major Threats
She Said (Universal)
Thirteen Lives (Amazon)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney)
Rrr (Variance)
Triangle of Sadness (Neon...
- 12/5/2022
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Decision to Leave is the latest film from South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, the same director of some truly amazing movies like Oldboy, Thirst and The Handmaiden (the last one being my favorite from this director).
It stars Tang Wei and Park Hae-il and it tells a surprisingly tender, yet dangerous love story between Park, a police detective who is only driven by his obsession with solving murder cases, and Wei, a mysterious Chinese-born immigrant with very ambiguous goals and motivations.
Chan-wook won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival for the movie, and it’s clear why because the directing is easily the best part of this film. The actual look and presentation of Decision to Leave are just mesmerizing. The way the film communicates not just its characters, but how it presents them and how they choose to interact with each other proves why Park is a master of his craft.
It stars Tang Wei and Park Hae-il and it tells a surprisingly tender, yet dangerous love story between Park, a police detective who is only driven by his obsession with solving murder cases, and Wei, a mysterious Chinese-born immigrant with very ambiguous goals and motivations.
Chan-wook won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival for the movie, and it’s clear why because the directing is easily the best part of this film. The actual look and presentation of Decision to Leave are just mesmerizing. The way the film communicates not just its characters, but how it presents them and how they choose to interact with each other proves why Park is a master of his craft.
- 12/5/2022
- by Timothy Lee
- Uinterview
In an uncertain world, cinema has chosen to look inwards. Perhaps there’s a dose of narcissism there. But so many of this year’s films have been propelled by natural, vulnerable impulses: to return home, to think back on youth, to reconsider art’s purpose. They’re present in James Gray’s autobiographical Armageddon Time, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s self-reflective Bardo, the dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherin, and Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of Don DeLillo’s White Noise. Even the biggest blockbusters, Top Gun: Maverick and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, seem weighted with self-reflection. My own favourite 15 films, all released in the UK over the past year, have each themselves proven that the medium still has the power to heal the soul.
15. Happening
Audrey Diwan’s Happening tore into cinemas this April on the back of an oracle’s cry. The film follows Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei), a student...
15. Happening
Audrey Diwan’s Happening tore into cinemas this April on the back of an oracle’s cry. The film follows Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei), a student...
- 12/5/2022
- by Clarisse Loughrey
- The Independent - Film
Fresh from its success at the Cannes Film Festival where it won Best Director, Decision to Leave marks the first time a film by Park Chan-wook — long believed to be one of South Korea’s finest contemporary filmmakers — has represented his country at the Oscars. A friendly rivalry with Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, who won in 2019 with the first Korean film ever to be nominated, only heightens the anticipation for its chances.
Starring Park Hae-il as Detective Jang Hae-jun and Tang Wei as the mysterious widow Song Seo-rae, Decision to Leave is a slow-burn thriller that repays repeated viewing. Speaking during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International award-season event, Park laid out the film’s premise.
Related: The Contenders International – Deadline’s Full Coverage
“This is a story about a detective,” he said, “and he is in charge of a case in which a man has fallen from a mountain and died,...
Starring Park Hae-il as Detective Jang Hae-jun and Tang Wei as the mysterious widow Song Seo-rae, Decision to Leave is a slow-burn thriller that repays repeated viewing. Speaking during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International award-season event, Park laid out the film’s premise.
Related: The Contenders International – Deadline’s Full Coverage
“This is a story about a detective,” he said, “and he is in charge of a case in which a man has fallen from a mountain and died,...
- 12/3/2022
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
The following is an excerpt from screenwriter and critic Karen Han’s new book “Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema,” now available from Abrams Books. The book includes a survey of Bong’s work, ranging from “Barking Dogs Never Bite” to “Parasite,” and this excerpt comes from a chapter on his film “Memories of Murder” from 2003.
Bong has said that as he began storyboarding “Memories of Murder,” it became clear that the film was a “road movie for faces,” beginning with Doo-man’s claims about being able to read a suspect by face alone. “The actors’ faces and how we shot them inevitably became a very important aspect of the film.” Park Hae-il, for instance, was cast for his “innocent face with his doe eyes,” which Bong believed would only make the idea that he might be a killer even scarier.
The face upon which the camera focuses the most frequently is that of Song Kang-ho.
Bong has said that as he began storyboarding “Memories of Murder,” it became clear that the film was a “road movie for faces,” beginning with Doo-man’s claims about being able to read a suspect by face alone. “The actors’ faces and how we shot them inevitably became a very important aspect of the film.” Park Hae-il, for instance, was cast for his “innocent face with his doe eyes,” which Bong believed would only make the idea that he might be a killer even scarier.
The face upon which the camera focuses the most frequently is that of Song Kang-ho.
- 11/30/2022
- by Karen Han
- Indiewire
“In any relationship between two people, there’s always misunderstanding and there’s always chaos created from those misunderstandings,” declares Korean actor Park Hae-il about some of the core themes explored in “Decision to Leave.” For our recent webchat he adds that the film essentially contemplates “the very pure and innate feelings that anyone would have, but also those instincts and feelings that they’re not always allowed to portray and really express. The internal wounds and internal traumas that one may have as an adult, but that our society doesn’t allow us to really be okay with expressing.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See ‘Decision to Leave’ rave reviews: Watch out for it at the Oscars
“Decision to Leave” is a genre-bending film noir mystery romance drama, produced, co-written (with Jeong Seo-kyeong) and directed by acclaimed Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook (“The Handmaiden”). Park stars alongside Chinese actress...
See ‘Decision to Leave’ rave reviews: Watch out for it at the Oscars
“Decision to Leave” is a genre-bending film noir mystery romance drama, produced, co-written (with Jeong Seo-kyeong) and directed by acclaimed Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook (“The Handmaiden”). Park stars alongside Chinese actress...
- 11/9/2022
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
Click here to read the full article.
Please Note: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter’s executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and industry insiders, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.
* * *
*Best Picture*
Frontrunners
The Fabelmans (Universal)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)
Women Talking (Uar)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
She Said (Universal)
Tár (Focus)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
The Woman King (Sony)
Major Threats
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
Triangle of Sadness (Neon)
Till (Uar)
Armageddon Time (Focus)
Living (Sony...
Please Note: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter’s executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and industry insiders, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.
* * *
*Best Picture*
Frontrunners
The Fabelmans (Universal)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)
Women Talking (Uar)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
She Said (Universal)
Tár (Focus)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
The Woman King (Sony)
Major Threats
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
Triangle of Sadness (Neon)
Till (Uar)
Armageddon Time (Focus)
Living (Sony...
- 11/8/2022
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea Iff), in partnership with Vox Cinemas and the Mbc Group, has unveiled the program for its second edition, which will run from 1-10 December in Jeddah, nestled on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. The Festival will welcome filmmakers, talent, media, industry professionals, and film fans for a 10-day celebration of global cinema.
The Red Sea Iff is thrilled to announce the opening night gala, What’s Love Got to Do with It? directed by Shekhar Kapur, written by Jemima Khan and produced by Studiocanal and Working Title. The film stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Asim Chaudhry and Academy Award winner Emma Thompson. Sliding between London and Lahore, love and friendship, tradition and iconoclasm, What’s Love Got to Do with It? is a cross-cultural British romantic comedy that follows a filmmaker who decides to...
The Red Sea Iff is thrilled to announce the opening night gala, What’s Love Got to Do with It? directed by Shekhar Kapur, written by Jemima Khan and produced by Studiocanal and Working Title. The film stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Asim Chaudhry and Academy Award winner Emma Thompson. Sliding between London and Lahore, love and friendship, tradition and iconoclasm, What’s Love Got to Do with It? is a cross-cultural British romantic comedy that follows a filmmaker who decides to...
- 11/5/2022
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
The Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff) recently unfolded, offering the Second City a sneak peek at an assortment of film festival premieres and early screenings of awards contenders that made waves at festivals such as the Venice International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival. Since I'm situated in the Midwest, far away from the plentiful "For Your Consideration" screenings in New York and Los Angeles, Ciff offers yours truly a chance to get a jumpstart on some of the most acclaimed titles that will be vying for Academy Awards next year. This year offered plenty of stellar cinema to sink my teeth into.
The crown jewel of the special presentations at Ciff this year was undoubtedly "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," Rian Johnson's murder mystery sequel with an all-star cast. The film may not be up for many awards (though "Knives Out" was nominated for Best Original...
The crown jewel of the special presentations at Ciff this year was undoubtedly "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," Rian Johnson's murder mystery sequel with an all-star cast. The film may not be up for many awards (though "Knives Out" was nominated for Best Original...
- 10/27/2022
- by Ethan Anderton
- Slash Film
Decision to Leave is one of the best films of the year so far, and to mark its release we had the immense pleasure of speaking to the esteemed filmmaker Park Chan-wook alongside his leading man, the compelling Park Hae-il. We spoke to the duo via Zoom when they were in London for the film festival last week, as the latter explains why this was a project he’d have said yes to before ever reading a script, such is the masterful storytelling of Director Park.
The filmmaker has a meticulous way of bringing his films to life, and we asked about his process, and also to Actor Park about his research into the world of detectives. They both talk about the film’s sub-text, how so much is told in the unspoken moments, and we ask Director Park about crafting a film a little less violent than we’re used to,...
The filmmaker has a meticulous way of bringing his films to life, and we asked about his process, and also to Actor Park about his research into the world of detectives. They both talk about the film’s sub-text, how so much is told in the unspoken moments, and we ask Director Park about crafting a film a little less violent than we’re used to,...
- 10/24/2022
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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