Jopok Week: Im Kwon-taek's The General's Son (Janggunui adeul) 1990

According to an article from The Korea Times, the first Korean gangster film was Gallant Man, released in 1969.  Following this a flurry of gangland films were released, highly influenced by the contemporaneous Japanese Yakuza pictures made by such prolific luminaries as Kinji Fukasaku and Seijun Suzuki.  Among these was the film series by director Kim Hyo-cheon on Kim Doo-han, a real life prominent Korean gangster in the 1930s who became a politician in the 1950s.  During the heavy censorship of Chung Doo-hwan’s administration (1980-88) gangster films were no longer part of Korea’s movie landscape but they made a comeback in a big way in the early 1990s.

Korea’s revered cineaste Im Kwon-taek has directed 101 films to date, many of those were made in his busier days in the 1960s and 70s, during which time he made a number of action films before attempting more serious works in the 1980s such as Mandala (1981) and The Surrogate Woman (1987), which toured international film festivals and made him, at that stage, the most prominent Korean filmmaker.  In 1990, shortly after the fall of Chung Doo-hwan, Im began his own series on the life of Kim Doo-han with his The General’s Son trilogy (1990-92).  The first film was a huge hit and became the country’s highest grossing film, a record that had been held since 1976 by Winter Woman.  For Im the trilogy was a brief return to action cinema before moving on to the more contemplative Sopyeonje (1993), which once again broke the all time Korean box office record and is considered by some to be the greatest of all Korean films.

The first The General's Son chronicles Kim Doo-han’s unlikely rise to power in the Japanese-occupied Mapo-gu district of Seoul in the 1930s.  The narrative opens with his release from prison, having spent a year behind bars for a petty crime.  With his newfound freedom he returns to a shack under a bridge where a friend of his still resides.  He is a beggar at the very bottom of the social ladder but he is also Korean which makes him equally oppressed by the Japanese occupiers.  He finds work at the local theatre, which is considered the heart of Mapo-gu and his featured prominently in all three films.  He recites lines through a loudspeaker detailing the plots and stars of the theater’s latest offerings as he trudges through the district’s muddy streets with a marching band.  Kim's pay is 10 won a day and two free tickets to the movies.  Proud of himself after receiving his first honest wage he goes to a local bakery only to have two thugs demand to see his film tickets.  Naively, he hands them over and they promptly leave, ignoring his protestations.  Following them outside he continues to demands his tickets back but as they begin to aggress him, he easily fights them away and they scamper off.  Not thinking about what’s just happened he goes back to his table, oblivious to everyone’s stares.  Shortly thereafter a captain in the local gang walks in, slaps him for beating his boys, and offers him a job.  So begins Do-han’s quick ascent in the local gang hierarchy.

It must be said that in some ways the film can seem very tacky.  It looks dated, the sounds in the over-choreographed fights are outrageously loud, and the improbable story is told with little subtlety.  However the film actually has a huge amount to offer and in many respects is very well-made.  Not to mention the fact that its brashness and brevity is positively infectious.  The best elements of the film come together in an extraordinary sequence that mostly takes place in the cinema.

Doo-han now works at the theater, which is gang-controlled, as all sorts of different characters stream in for a screening and we are brought up to speed with many of the relationships in the film as well as how the neighborhood interacts.  The local courtesans, idling their free time during the day, flirt their way in for free while at the other end a group of young boys, in a rather disgusting sequence, try to sneak in through the women’s lavatories only to be caught and beaten, save for one who hides in the isles.  The smell gives him away and Kim grabs him but instead of throwing him out he suggests that he should have brought a spare change of clothes, like he used to do.  A man comes on stage to introduce the film and the lights go down.  He narrates the silent pro-Korean picture as watchful Japanese eyes look on from their censor’s box.  Someone then taps on Kim's shoulder and he rushes outside as a big fight between the top Korean school fighter and a rival is about to start.

Im deftly handles the many elements of this sequence, which reminded me both of Cinema Paradiso, which had just been released the year before, and Martin Scorsese's rich and evocative film style.  There is a great flow, energy, and richness in detail throughout.  It’s pretty electrifying stuff and for me, the highlight of the trilogy.

If you pay attention, there is a lot of attention to detail in the film.  The set of historical Mapo-gu is magnificent though it may not be realistic.  Costumes are very important and also serve to tell the story.  Kim’s attire in particular evolves along with his character.  We first meet him in tattered clothing and as he becomes a member of the gang he begins to wear clean clothes.  One night, after impressing everyone with his fighting skills his boss gives him his leather jacket which Kim then wears with pride.  Soon he his wearing suits and hats, another sign of power, which become flashier and perch higher on his head the more he ascends.

The great strength of The General’s Son is that it is a simple but effective story with plenty of worthwhile subtext that is told with exuberant alacrity.  In effect Im has crafted a film with prescient social commentary within the pleasant trappings of a genre, something that would become very common and be experimented with even more successfully in later years.

See also:

The General's Son 2 (1991)
The General's Son 3 (1992)


Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Jopok Week: Top 10 Korean Gangster Films

This post was updated on August 14, 2014 and expanded to a Top 12 in order to make room for some more recent Korean gangster classics.

To get us started in this week's celebration of Korean gangster cinema (Jopok Week on MKC), I've compiled my top 10. However, an interesting question is what constitutes a gangster film? There are a number of films which may have made it onto this list but I wasn't quite sure that they fully fit the bill, such as Tazza: The High Rollers (2006), The Yellow Sea (2010), The Unjust (2010), and Moss (2010).  

So what makes a gangster film a gangster film? And more importantly, what are your favorites?

Scroll through the below gallery to find discover our favorites and let us know if you agree.

Intro - 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 - Best of the Rest

Top 10 Lists

Year  2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016
2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010

2010s (Top 50) - All Time (Top 25)

Genre

Gangster - Horror - Revenge

Jopok Week: Introduction - Gangster Films in Korea Cinema

Gangsters are among the most common characters in cinema.  We fear them, respect them, are disgusted by them, and want to be them.  They have power, strength, confidence, authority, and they get to do what they want.  They are eminently cinematic, a gangster's tale can be romantic and elegiac while at the same time brutal, sadistic, and depraved.  As a template for the silver screen's adventures we crave to be enthralled by, few genres can encapsulate conflict, narrative, characters, style, and entertainment so effectively.  Although, because it is one of the richest formats for films, it is also one of the most frequently mined.

Look at any national cinema and you will likely find a rich history of gang films.  Hollywood has graced us with innumerable films from the early efforts of Mervyn LeRoy (Little Caesar, 1931), Howard Hawks (Scarface, 1932) and Raoul Walsh (The Roaring Twenties, 1939; White Heat, 1949) featuring such icons as Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Jimmy Cagney, to the more modern masterpieces of Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, 1972; The Godfather Part II, 1974) and Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, 1990; Casino, 1995; The Departed, 2006) which immortalized Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and the Cosa Nostra.  Japan has churned out countless yakuza pics like Kinji Fukasaku's pulpy Battles Without Honor and Humanity Series, Seijun Suzuki's eccentric Tokyo Drifter (1966) and Branded to Kill (1967), Masahiro Shinoda's artful and cool Pale Flower (1964), Takeshi Kitano's delighfully droll Sonatine (1994) and Hana-bi (1997), and many more.

South Korea also has its history of gangster films.  A number of low-budget actioneers were produced in the late 1960s and early 70s but few are available today (and none in English as far as I know).  Im Kwon-taek brought the genre back with a vengeance in his The General's Son trilogy (1990-92) and in the mid-late 1990s a flurry of stylish and thoughtful gangster pictures emerged.  As the Korean film industry bloomed at the end of the decade, the gangster genre has soared along with it.  There are many gangster films, even more comedy hybrids, and gangsters appear in an enormous amount of other films.

In America, gangster films do not have the same popularity that they used to.  There have been a few successes, such as Scorsese's The Departed and Ridley Scott's American Gangster (2007) but by and large audiences no longer seem to be craving them.  So why are they so popular in Korea?

Aside from being a great storytelling device there are many reasons including the gradual shifting of authority in modern Korean society:  gangsters were once a symbol of fear and power and though they still can be today, a lot of the time they are figures of ridicule, take the Marrying the Mafia, My Wife Is a Gangster, and My Boss, My Hero series for example.  The resurgence of popularity has also been labeled as an aftermath of the 1997 IMF crisis, when the Korean economy nearly shut down after a number of corporate bankruptcies:  high unemployment and unstable futures led to a collective male crisis of identity, youth frustration in particular manifested itself in violence, such as in Ryoo Seung-wan's Die Bad (2000).

I'm thrilled to be hosting this 'Jopok Week' on Modern Korean Cinema where I hope we will explore the genre through a number of examples and features.  'Jopok' is a Korean word which refers to organized criminals/mafia.  There are in fact a number of other words used to describe the korean mafia, including 'Gundal' and 'Kkangpae'.

During the week I will be taking a look at Im Kwon-taek's The General's Son trilogy, No. 3 (1997), Beat (1997), Lee Chang-dong's Green Fish (1997), and I will also offer up my top 10 Korean gangster films (it's been a while since I've done a list!).  I am very grateful to have contributors Connor from the Rainy Day Movies blog who will be taking a look at Korean gangster comedies, Kieran Tully from the Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) who will be covering Born To Kill (1996), Rowena Santos Aquino, writer for Next Projection and Subtitled Online, who will be considering male personas in A Bittersweet Life (2005) and The Man From Nowhere (2010), and Darcy Paquet of koreanfilm.org who will also be examining the rise and fall of the Korean gangster comedy.

I hope you will enjoy this week's content and that you will take part in the discussion, comments are very much welcome and I encourage anyone to submit something during the week.  In addition please join in the discussion on facebook and on twitter using the hashtag #jopok (we'll see if that takes off).

Reviews:

Im Kwon-taek's The General's Son (Janggunui adeul) 1990

Im Kwon-taek's The General's Son 2 (Janggunui adeul 2) 1991

Im Kwon-taek's The General's Son 3 (Janggunui adeul 3) 1992

Born to Kill (Bon tu kkil) 1996

(by Kieran Tully)

Kim Sung-su's Beat (Biteu) 1997

No. 3 (Neobeo 3) 1997

The Alice in Wonderland Trajectory and Other Thoughts on Lee Chang-dong's Green Fish (Chorok mulkogi) 1997

Marrying the Mafia IV (Ga-moon-eui Yeong-gwang 4 – Ga-moon-eui Soo-nan) 2011

Features:

Top 10 Korean Gangster Films

Comedic Representations of Gangster Culture in Korean Cinema

(by Connor McMorran)

Korean Gangster Films at the Box Office (1996-2003)
Korean Gangster Films at the Box Office (2004-2011)
Masculinity and Beauty in A Bittersweet Life and The Man From Nowhere – Part I

Masculinity and Beauty in A Bittersweet Life and The Man From Nowhere – Part II

(by Rowena Santos Aquino)

The Rise and Fall of the Korean Gangster Comedy

(by Darcy Paquet)

Conclusion and Korean Gangster Films on the Horizon

Enjoy!

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Box Office Update (12/2-12/4, 2011)

Weekend of December 2-4:

	Title	Release Date	Weekend	Total
1	Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (us)	11/30/11	482,384	775,522
2	Spellbound	12/1/11	420,806	487,861
3	SIU	11/24/11	201,264	838,983
4	Punch	10/20/11	150,737	5,046,804
5	Arthur Christmas (us)	11/25/11	144,574	367,274
6	Real Steel (us)	10/12/11	58,945	3,521,389
7	Moneyball (us)	11/17/11	39,267	602,465
8	Immortals (us)	11/10/11	27,951	1,322,363
9	50/50 (us)	11/24/11	17,663	100,940
10	You're My Pet	11/10/11	4,234	541,356
-	Penny Pinchers	11/2/11	1,560	422,686
-	The Houseguest and My Mother (1961)	10/27/11	1,543	1,985
-	Perfect Partner	11/17/11	1,162	89,371
-	Dancing Cat	10/20/11	937	7,150
-	King of Pigs	11/17/11	774	17,526

Despite a huge new Hollywood release, Korean films remained very competitive this weekend, managing a 50% market share.  It was a big weekend with 1.56 million tickets sold which was better than last year's 1.25 when Petty Romance opened.  As Darcy Paquet noted in his biweekly box office evaluation for KOBIZ, Korean cinema will have to face off with a number of American tentpole releases in December but this is a very encouraging start to the holiday season.

The new Twilight opened in first place as was expected, the first non-Korean film to do so since October (Real Steel) and only the second since July (Harry Potter).  However its 482,384 opening was a little soft, certainly coming in below my expectations.  From here on out, this frontloaded pic should drop very fast.

Spellbound opened to a very healthy 420,806 this weekend giving Twilight a run for its money.  The multi-genre pic has been garnering some strong word of mouth and may play well throughout December if it can distinguish itself from the many new offerings that will become available.

Last week's one-time champ SIU fell two places, slowing about 40% to 201,264.  The buzz has not been fantastic surrounding the film and it will likely drop relatively quickly out of the top 10 though it will shoot well past the 1 or even 1.5 million admissions mark in the process.

Punch is finally starting to show some vulnerability as it dropped another two spots and lost nearly 50% of its business in the interim.  However its 150,737 take was enough to push it past the 5 million mark and get it to No. 3 on the yearly chart.  It remains to be seen whether it can cross the 6 million milestone, which may or may not be a bridge too far.

The next five spots were all held by Hollywood releases beginning with Arthur Christmas which held onto most of its opening as it added 144,574 to its total.  Real Steel finally saw a substantial drop but it has had a phenomenal run and the 58,945 tickets it sold brought it over 3.5 million admissions.  Brad Pitt's Moneyball dove 60% to 39,267 while Immortals fell 70% to 27,951 and 50/50 also shed 60% for 17,663.

At No. 10 was You're My Pet, which this week secured releases in China and Japan.  It made 4,234 this weekend for a 541,356 to date.

Outside of the Top 10:  Penny Pinchers added another 1,560 to its total; Shin Sang-ok's classic The Houseguest and My Mother (1961) sold 1,543 tickets in re-release; Perfect Partner fell hard to 1,162 and all but guaranteed it won't be crossing the 100,000 mark; Dancing Cat sold another 937 tickets; and King of Pigs added an additional 774 admissions.

The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Weekly Review Round-up (11/26-12/02, 2011)

A number of high-profile reviews for Na Hong-jin's sophomore feature The Yellow Sea as it opens in major cities across the US.  A number of new of other pieces including on current Korean hits Punch and SIU.

CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES

Amen

(Joong Ang Daily, December 2, 2011)

Punch

(abs-cbnnews.com, November 28, 2011)

S.I.U.

(The Korea Times, December 2, 2011)

RECENT RELEASES

Blind

(hancinema.net, November 26, 2011)

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, November 30, 2011)

Clash of the Families

(Modern Korean Cinema, November 29, 2011)

Haunters

(Flight of the Fangirl, November 27, 2011)

Late Autumn

(Anikor, November 28, 2011)

Pained

(Seen in Jeonju, November 30, 2011)

Poetry

(National Post, November 25, 2011)

(Total Film, November 26, 2011)

Red Vacance, Black Wedding

(Film Business Asia, November 27, 2011)

Talking Architect

(Film Business Asia, November 27, 2011)

The Cat

(Asian Movie Pulse, November 27, 2011)

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 1, 2011)

The Front Line

(hancinema.net, November 26, 2011)

The Yellow Sea

(Film Journal, December 1, 2011)

(LA Weekly, December 1, 2011)

(The Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2011)

(The New York Times, December 1, 2011)

(Time Out New York, November 29, 2011)

PAST FILMS

Going By the Book, 2007

(searchindia.com, November 29, 2011)

Heaven's Postman, 2009

(Otherwhere, November 30, 2011)

Into the White Night, 2009

(iloveasian-movies.blogpsot.com, November 30, 2011)

Secret Sunshine, 2007

(japancinema.net, December 1, 2011)

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring, 2003

(Cine-International, December 1, 2011)

The Fox With Nine Tails, 1994

(Hangul Celluloid, December 2, 2011)

The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Cinema News (11/24-11/30, 2011)

Another big edition with lots of sales and Korean film festivals news this week with a number of great features and interviews to boot!

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Finecut Adds AFM Deals
Germany's Ascot Elite and Brazil's Conquest Filmes became the latest distributors to acquire rights to South Korean animation film Leafie.  Handled by Korean sales firm Finecut, the film has been widely sold following its breakout hit status in Korea.  The company say that international distributors are planning theatrical releases next year targeting a family audience.  (Film Business Asia, November 23, 2011)

Animation Leafie, a Hen into the Wild Wins Award Overseas
The animated feature film Leafie, a Hen into the Wild  has grabbed another award overseas.  The South Korean animation won the Best Animated Feature Film Award at the Fifth Asia-Pacific Screen Awards held in Australia on Thursday, beating other promising nominees, such as Eric Khoo’s Tatsumi and Makoto Shinkai’s Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below. (KBS, November 25, 2011)

Soft Content, Strong Messages
The film Wandeuk or Punch in English is about high school student Wandeuk, who lives with a hunchback father and a mentally-challenged uncle in Seoul.  Nothing about his life shines, and adding to his miserable existence is that his teacher lives right next door to his “oktapbang” or roof-top housing unit that is largely synonymous with poverty in Korea.  (The Korean Times, November 23, 2011)

A Teacher Finds Movie Stardom in South Korea
The best chance an English-language teacher in South Korea has of acquiring military experience, it appears – outside of creating an incident at a checkpoint near the border – is working for Kang Je-gyu, one of the country‘s top movie directors.  (Asia Sentinel, November 24, 2011)

Breaking a Taboo, First Major Film About the L-Word Opens in Korea
There have been many boy-meets-girl or boy-meets-boy love stories in mainstream cinema in Korea, but none about lesbians.  So when director Kim Su-hyeon’s Life is Peachy was screened for the press on Nov. 16, it certainly attracted attention.  (Joong Ang Daily, November 25, 2011)

Director Kway Kyung-taek's Movie Picks

Busan native Kwak Kyung-taek, who has directed such hits as Friend (2001), Typhoon (2005), A Love (2007), and most recently Pain (2011) chooses his five favorite films, you may be surprised by his choices.  (10asia.co.kr, November 25, 2011)

Beyond Extreme? The London Korean Film Festival

While the late Tartan Films’ successful ‘Asia Extreme’ sub-label gave many Western viewers in the Noughties their first – perhaps only – taste of the Korean New Wave, it also created an impression of the national cinema that was doubly narrow.  The sixth London Korean Film Festival went some way towards redressing this imbalance.   (Sight & Sound, November 2011)

Highest Grossing Korean Films of 2011
2011 has produced a range of successful Korean films that have captured the public's imagination, tugged at their heartstrings, caused a few laughs, and asked some serious questions.  Although the year is not quite done, the big films of the year have largely had their say at the box office.  This week I wanted to take a look at the top domestic films of 2011 and see just what type of films captured the public's interest in 2011.  (hancinema.net, November 26, 2011)

Martin Scorsese Gives a Thumbs Up to UCI Professor Kyung Hyun Kim's Cinema Book

It's not often that an academic tome--even one related to film--snags a forward written by legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese.  But Kyung Hyun Kim, UC Irvine's associate professor of East Asian languages & literatures and film & media studies, won those bragging rights, and like else everything in Hollywood it all started with the right connections.  (OC Weekly, November 25, 2011)

Korean Film Festival: Islamabad Gets a Taste of Korean Cinema
A Barefoot Dream is high on emotions, but then Pakistanis love their drama.  And besides, the melodrama in the Korean 2010 entry for Oscars consideration is unmistakably East Asian, which is entirely different (if ever slightly so influenced) from Hollywood and Bollywood (sorry, no sappy love stories here).  The film played at the Korean Film Festival at Pakistan National Council of the Arts on Friday.  (The Express Tribune, November 27, 2011)

What Is the Genealogy of Box Office Record Breaker in Korea?

The Korean Movie Database runs down Korean cinema's box office record breakers, past and present.  A great feature on Korean film history.  (KMDB, November 27, 2011)

From Late Autumn to Countdown, This Year's Disappointing Top 3
Now that the Blue Dragon Film Awards are over, all the major award shows for 2011 are done.  Several movies were released in 2011.  While there were big office hits like Detective K, Sunny, Arrow, The Ultimate Weapon and Punch, there were also movies that just came and went without any sound but were just as strong in quality and lingering imagery.  (hancinema.net, November 28, 2011)

Korean Film Festival in Sri Lanka
The embassy is also in the process of organizing the 2011 Korean film festival which will be held from December 5 to 9 at the National Film Corporation Theatre.  All five movies selected for the festival are box office hits in Korea.  This would be a great opportunity for Sri Lankans to become familiar with the Korean culture and lifestyle in the 21st century while enjoying the benefits of a quality movie at the same time.  (Sri Lanka's Daily News, November 28, 2011)

Spike Lee’s Version of Oldboy Has New Elements Meant to ‘Throw Off’ Audiences Familiar With Original
The possibility of an American remake of South Korean revenge film Oldboy (2003) has been a worrisome thing for a few years now.  But this year Spike Lee was tapped to direct, which immediately made the new Oldboy a more attractive, or at least a more interesting proposition.  With Josh Brolin set to star and Colin Firth rumored to be playing the film’s revenge-seeking antagonist, things are looking petty damn good.  (slashfilm.com, November 28, 2011)

Canada's 108 Media to Distribute Korean Toon Leafie
Toronto-based 108 Media Group has picked up distribution rights for the Korean hit animated feature Leafie: A Hen Into the Wild for Canada, U.S., Australia, U.K., and New Zealand from Finecut.  Leafie also sold to German-speaking territories through Ascot Elit and Brazil’s Conquest Filmes.  (animation Magazine, November 28, 2011)

Korean Documentary Wins Top Prize at IDFA 2011
Korean documentary Planet of Snail won the top prize at the world’s largest documentary film festival in the Netherlands on Saturday, becoming the first Asian film to win the award.  (The Korea Herald, November 27, 2011)

Kim Starts Film Grad School at Dankook Univ.
Busan International Film Festival’s founding and honorary director Kim Dong-ho is launching a graduate school specializing in film contents at Dankook University in South Korea.  Starting in the first semester of 2012 which starts in March, the graduate school will admit 25 students to teach them in the fields of directing, producing, and screenwriting.  (KOBIZ, November 25, 2011)

Journals of Musan and Arirang Win at Tokyo Filmex
The 12th Tokyo Filmex awarded its Special Jury Prize and $8,000 of Kodak film stock to Park Jung-bum’s The Journals of Musan and the Agnes B Audience Award to Kim Ki-duk’s Arirang.  Park’s feature film debut The Journals of Musan has won a raft of awards since its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) last year where it picked up the New Currents and International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) awards.  (KOBIZ, November 29, 2011) 

Hello Ghost Walks Through Walls, Opens in China
Korean comedy Hello Ghost became the third South Korean film this year to get a theatrical release behind the Great Wall of distribution barriers in China when it opened Nov. 24.  Mega Films, which is in charge of Hello Ghost’s Chinese distribution, released the film on about 4,000 screens in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities large and small.  (KOBIZ, November 29, 2011)

Korean Cinema on the Park in Sydney: Controversial Classics
Hey Sydney! You like free movies don’t you?  Yeah, you do.  If you also like Korean cinema, and listening to a series of guest speakers (including us!), then why not check out the KCO’s Cinema on the Park series?  On every Thursday night throughout the year, the current program is Controversial Classics. It’s a bit saucy!  (The Reel Bits, November 29, 2011)

Korean Film Week in Cape Town
The Cape Town leg of the Korean Film Week will take place at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Cinema Nouveau from 5 to 11 December.  Organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, the Korean Film Week is currently running in Pretoria at Brooklyn Cinema Nouveau until 4 December.  Films shown at the festival include Scandal Makers (2008), Le Grand Chef (2007), Take Off (2009), Beyond The Years (2007), and A Barefoot Dream.  (Screen Africa, November 30, 2011)

Korean Film Archive: Theater, Museum, and Library
Long before Korean film developed its indie rep for extreme violence (Lady Vengeance, 2005), dark sexuality (The Housemaid, 2010) and swallowing live octopus (Oldboy, 2003), there was a golden era of bouffants and pensive romance that has since been forgotten.  Forgotten by everyone that is, except by cinematic treasure hunters combing the vaults of the Korean Film Archive (KOFA).  (CNN Go, November 30, 2011)

Funimation Adds Live-Action Korean Athena: Goddess of War Film
The North American distributor Funimation acquired the rights to distribute the movie spinoff of the South Korean espionage television series Athena: Goddess of War.  Distribution rights were also sold to China's New View TV & Media and Germany's Tiberius Films.  (Anime News Network, November 23, 2011)

Pioneering 'Personal' Documentary Attempts to Break Down Prejudice
On Nov. 19 at Art Space C in Jeju City roughly 40 people, mainly Westerners, were on hand to watch Miracle on Jongno Street, the first Korean documentary about homosexual men.  In his debut as director, Lee Hyuk-sang has created a film that shows the daily lives of four gay Korean men living in a society that has yet to accept them as equals.  (The Jeju Weekly, November 26, 2011)

Now Is The Time To Buy Oldboy, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance And Sympathy For Lady Vengeance
Pallisades Tartan are selling Blu-rays of Chan Wook Park’s superb Vengeance Trilogy – Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003) and Sympathy For Lady Venegance (2005) – from their Amazon store at the wonderful price of $17.99 for the set. That’s less than $6 per film.  (Bleeding Cool, November 24, 2011)

Actor Jang Keun-suk Makes $1M Donation to Hanyang University
Actor Jang Keun-suk, 24, made an anonymous 1.2 billion won donation on Nov. 22 to Hanyang University, where he is currently enrolled.  The donation, which he did not announce to university officials, was revealed on Nov. 24 through the university website’s automated system that posts the name and donation amount.  Jang is currently a senior at Hanyang University, majoring in theater and film studies.  (The Hankyoreh, November 24, 2011)

INTERVIEWS

My Way Documents Korean Soldier in the Battle of Normandy
It all started with the photograph of a young Korean man.  Drafted into the Japanese army [under the Japanese Colonial Rule] and then dragged off by the Soviet military, he was captured again after being sent to fight in German uniform in the fierce Battle of Normandy during the Second World War in 1944.  Seeing a documentary about the photograph at the National Archives in the United States, Director Kang Je-gyu got goosebumps.  (The Hankyoreh, November 26, 2011)

Kim Hye-sun Ditches Innocent Image with Saucy New Role
Kim Hye-sun (42), once known for her innocent image, is heating up the silver screen with her new movie Perfect Partner.  She became a teen sensation after debuting as a model for TV ads but retired from show business after getting married.  As she periodically returned to acting in subsequent years, she opted for roles that suited her age, often portraying a middle-aged mother.  (The Chosun Ilbo, November 26, 2011)

Korean-American Director Rediscovers Roots
Tammy Chu was adopted by an American family at the age of nine and raised in rural New York state. She never saw another Korean until she went to college.  "I remember what my birth parents looked like, but I forgot how to speak Korean and memories of Korean culture also disappeared from my mind," she recalls.  (The Chosun Ilbo, November 28, 2011)

Director Explores My Father’s House
It took making a film for director Kang Yu Ga-ram to understand her father’s life.  The two did not share much in common to begin with.  Her father is a firm supporter of the conservative Grand National Party; KangYu has worked with progressive NGOs and film production houses.  He spent most of his life on construction sites; she obtained her master’s degree in women’s studies.  (The Korea Herald, November 28, 2011)

Doctor-Filmmaker Probes Capitalist Exploitation in Medical World
A doctor has stepped up as an ombudsman for patients who cannot afford proper treatment due to what she calls the “capitalist exploitation of the medical world” and has made a movie to make sure her voice is heard.  White Jungle by occupational environmental physician Song Yoon-hee has been creating a buzz online, even before its theatrical release Thursday, as it documents the darker side of the current healthcare system.   (The Korea Times, November 29, 2011)

TRAILERS

Life Is Peach (aka Ashamed - eng sub)

Perfect Game

The Angel's Breath

The Show

Too Many Villains

POSTERS

Never Ending Story

Papa

Perfect Game

Red Vacance Black Wedding

The Final Blow

White Jungle

BOX OFFICE

Korean Box Office Update (11/25-11/27, 2011)

(Modern Korean Cinema, November 28, 2011)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Gangsters: Next week is Jopok Week on MKC!

Next week will be Jopok (Korean Gangster) week on Modern Korean Cinema!  I'm currently panning an essay on Ha Yu's exceptional A Dirty Carnival (2006) and in seeking to develop my arguments I have gone back to rediscover older Korean gangster films.  Sadly I have not been able to get my hands on any of those made in the 1960s and 70s but next week I plan to review some of the following significant Korean gangster films of the 1990s:

The General's Son (1990)

The General's Son 2 (1991)

The General's Son 3 (1992)

Beat (1997)

Green Fish (1997)

No. 3 (1997)

If anyone would like to contribute a feature or piece on any Korean gangster films please feel free to drop me a line at pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com.

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Clash of the Families (Wi-heom-han Sang-gyeon-rye) 2011

Korea’s violent history features many atrocities, injustices, and infamous milestones but, aside from the separation of the peninsula, none is more present in the national psyche than the awful Gwangju massacre of 1980, in which students activists were mowed down by the military at the behest of a paranoid and brutal authoritarian regime.  30 years later and it still features prominently in film and television, cineastes can’t help but scratch the itch.  It’s a little like Lady Macbeth’s imagined blood stain which she can never rid herself of, “out damned spot!” she often cries.  Similarly, the Gwangju massacre is a psychological trauma that’s here to stay.

The Busan family

Clash of the Families, the second most successful Korean film of the first quarter of 2011, holds no pretense of being a great Shakespearean tragedy.  Instead, it owes a lot to the Bard’s great comedies, though it does begin as a variation of his Romeo & Juliet.  Here, instead of the Montagues and the Capulets, the warring, disapproving factions of the couple's families are caricatured emblems of the rival Jeolla and Busan regions.

Gwangju is, of course, a major city in the Jeolla province, and it still bears the mark of the massacre it suffered.  Around the nation, natives of the area are sometimes stigmatized because of it, though maybe not consciously.  Similarly to this year’s Sunny, the protagonists from Jeolla are looked down upon by other characters, though they exemplify a hardiness absent from the urbanites.  In both films, strong women hid their Jeolla roots, since they are seen as a source of shame.  Perhaps people would rather not be reminded of one of the country’s lowest points, even more so for those that concealed their identities.

Who's the boss?

Early on in the film we are introduced to the Jeolla contingent of the narrative as they work in a regional nightclub.  A group of young women sitting at a table are harassed by some cocky military recruits who ask that they join them.  Despite being emphatically rebuffed they continue to insist and become increasingly more physical, clearly they believe there status in the military affords them the respect of women, traditionally lower down the pecking order.  Conversely the men are so quickly rejected that perhaps it symbolizes a latent wariness of the military in the region as well as the progressive empowerment of women in recent times.  In any case, the film’s romantic lead, Hyeon-joon (Song Sae-byeok), who is tall, feminine, wiry, and far from dashing, intervenes and when he announces that he was an officer in the marines, the soldiers quickly become apologetic and obsequious.  He is a sign of a superior authority, despite his less than imposing physique, and thus must be respected.  The women also begin to show an interest in him.  Hyeon-joon is in fact not a marine but it serves to demonstrate how Korea is still a country in which citizens fear authority and frequently prostrate before it.

Lovebirds

Clash of the Families begins with an innocent romance, Da-hong and Hyeon-joon are penpals who have fallen in love, they are very pure and traditional.  She is from a wealthy family in Busan and he is somewhat poorer and from Jeolla.  They meet in Seoul to go on dates and finally decide that he should meet her parents, but he must pretend to be a Seoulite.  He goes over for a weekend and meanwhile his father sends his brother to spy on him.  Much of the action subsequently takes place in Da-hong’s family home and Busan as Hyeon-joon must be careful to hide his identity from Da-hong’s domineering father (Baek Yoon-shik), who despises Jeolla.

The film was very popular in Korea but foreign viewers will likely have some trouble since a lot of the comedy arises from differences in regional dialects and customs.  I would be curious to examine a breakdown of the box offices returns to see if it was markedly more successful in the Busan and Jeolla regions.

Baek Yoon-shik as the father

As can be expected from this kind of narrative, it is fairly moralistic.  The conclusions are readily evident as the film plays through the habitual cornucopia of contrived machinations, including: playing off of rivalry, role reversal, parallel characters, misunderstandings, inopportune interruptions, hypocrisy, secret identities, etc.  A lot of hidden identifies nevertheless come out before long.  You can anticipate the ‘remaining true to yourself’ conclusion from a mile off.

Melodrama lies at the heart of Clash of the Families and despite never approaching subtlety and being populated by two-note characters, the film manages to be engaging and somewhat endearing, even in its most ridiculous scenes.  Melodrama used to be the most prominent genre in Korean cinema (it still is on TV) but some say that it has fallen from grace.  I believe it is just as entrenched and important as it once was, however, it has been repositioned.  No longer the main genre of most movies, it now serves as part of a balancing act of generic devices.  I would also go as far as saying that it is the glue that holds it all together.

The brilliant Kim Soo-mi

A lot of Korean films will follow a path recognizable to Western audiences until taking a huge detour into melodrama.  Clash of the Families follows this same route:  It goes through the three acts which you expect, culminating in a large event where everything is revealed, but instead of quickly tying everything up, it adds a full fourth act to gently thread the many loose ends.  As is usual for Korean films, this “4^th act” is a melodramatic departure.  Perhaps a tough sell for uninitiated foreign audiences, 4^th acts seems very common these days in Korean cinema, it’s like a repository for excess melodrama.

While sweet, the main couple is nearly insufferable in their caricatured and cloying naivety.  This was a tough pill for me to swallow at first but as I warmed to the film and its colorful, albeit simply drawn, characters, enough suspension of disbelief set in for me to enjoy the film.  Baek Yoon-shik as the patriarch and Kim Soo-mi as his wife are the standouts in the cast.  They are very reliable comic actors who manage to rein in some of the unbalanced performances of the younger members of the cast.  

Will he or won't he?

The film derives a lot of its laughs from scenes which are independent of the narrative.  This more or less worked because the narrative itself can be at times superfluous, though I’m not sure if this is a good or a bad thing.  My favorite part of the film was the inevitable scene where Hyeon-joon may or may not confess his origin to Da-hong's father.  They are on a fishing hut in the middle of a lake and the fact that Hyeon-joon can’t swim comes up in discussion.  You know he is debating whether to come clean but the father’s strictness and the surrounding body of water add a nice tension to the scene.  It may not sound like much but it’s little moments like this that allow Clash of the Families to rise above the sum of its less than appealing parts.

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Box Office Update (11/25/11/27, 2011)

Weekend of November 25-27:

	Title	Release Date	Weekend	Total
1	SIU	11/24/11	346,875	419,042
2	Punch	10/20/11	288,874	4,745,131
3	Arthur Christmas (us)	11/25/11	180,315	187,475
4	Real Steel (us)	10/12/11	119,490	3,398,026
5	Moneyball (us)	11/17/11	117,661	501,195
6	Immortals (us)	11/10/11	103,727	1,241,104
7	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (us)	11/30/11	88,116	90,650
8	50/50 (us)	11/24/11	43,390	53,378
9	You're My Pet	11/10/11	30,600	519,726
10	Penny Pinchers	11/10/11	24,552	407,914
-	Perfect Partner	11/17/11	8,943	82,073
-	Chilling Romance	12/1/11	5,867	6,147
-	Dancing Cat	11/17/11	2,046	8,057
-	Secrets, Objets	11/17/11	1,569	6,808

A new champion was crowned this weekend at the Korean box office and business was up over last weekend and last year.  A total of 1.43 million tickets were sold over the frame and Korean market share was an even 50% which represented gains over last years 1.22 million admissions and 44% share.  Despite only holding 4 of the top 10 spots and facing some tough competition from Hollywood, the Korean films fared impressively.

The new king of the box office is the new Korean film SIU which opened with a strong 346,875.  Besides the very present marketing I have not heard much about the film so it is hard to say where it might go from here.  In any case it will most certainly be a one-trick pony in the top spot as it will do battle with Twilight next weekend.

Punch way have gone down a notch after five No. 1 weekends in a row but it only slowed about 20%, leaving it with a 288,874 weekend and a 4,745,131 total, which was enough for it to surpass Silenced for no. 4 on the yearly chart.  It will cross Detective K and clinch no.3 in the coming day or so but any further climbing of the chart will require an additional 2.6 million tickets to catch up with Sunny.  This probably won't happen, especially given some strong competition ahead, but if this year's Korean box office stories have taught us anything it is that it is certainly possible.

The next 6 slots were all occupied by American fare, starting with the seasonal children's movie Arthur Christmas which had an okay start with 180,315.

At No. 4 Real Steel continued to show very impressive legs as it lost less than 15% of its business for a 119,490 weekend.  The Brad Pitt critical darling Moneyball was off a little under 40% for 117,611 and already has half a million admissions, a good result not doubt due to the star presence of Mr. Pitt and the locally popular baseball theme.  Immortals slowed under 50% for 103,727 as it leaped over the one million mark.  Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I banked 88,116 during its very strong previews.  Finally 50/50 opened to a low but predictable 43,390.

You're My Pet took the penultimate spot with 30,600, a sizable drop from last weekend but it has amassed a decent 519,726 to date.  Finally Penny Pinchers also took a fall to 24,552 for a reasonable 407,914 total.

Outside the top 10:  Perfect Partner crumpled after its lackluster debut and wound up with 8,943.  Chilling Romance took in 5,867 during its previews ahead of next week's opening.  Documentary Dancing Cat stayed nearly level adding 2,046 to its total.  Secrets, Objects sold 1,569 tickets over the weekend, about level with last weekend.

Next weekend:  A big test ahead for domestic films as the new Twilight will open wide after it's already successful previews.  I'm expecting a slightly better opening than the previous installments and then a steep drop-off so look for a opening in the region of 850,000, which will be more than enough for first place.


The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.