South Koreas Success In Hollywood Can Be Traced Back To One Shocking Thriller
At the end of the twentieth century, South Korean cinema was revived. Previously, censorship laws made filmmaking a strict process, with additional laws placing restrictions on the exhibition of foreign films in the country. Once these laws were relaxed, South Korea entered into a cinematic renaissance. The success of this boom period brought the country onto a wider stage; Since the 1980s, South Korean films have steadily entered the international market and won awards around the world.
The new focus on South Korea reflects a broader trend. The ubiquity of the Internet, an increasingly receptive foreign audience and a thriving domestic video market have meant that Asian films that were once mere film magazine clippings, such as Takashi Maika's The Terrible Ordeal , are becoming increasingly familiar to Western enthusiasts and relatively easy to find. find. . . But one name, Park Chan Wook, led the team from the very beginning, and this era of success was embodied in the now classic old man.
Park's 2000 film Joint Security Area became the highest-grossing South Korean film of all time and was a critical favorite at events such as the Seattle and Berlin international film festivals. He followed it up with Mister Vengeance in the gritty revenge drama Sympathy , and then in 2003 with Oldboy , which many consider his best. The film tells the story of Oh Da Soo, a man who was mysteriously imprisoned in a cell for 15 years and then suddenly released. He then has to literally fight his way through the conspiracy to find the culprit behind his imprisonment.
It is filled with brutal and devastating tragedy, culminating in a surprise ending that leaves viewers stunned and deeply disturbed. It also features one of the most impressive fight scenes in modern cinema. At one point, Oh Dae-su is forced to fight his way through a hallway full of private prison guards, and his ruthlessness and intelligence are reflected in everything from low-budget adventure films to big-budget Marvel films. If anyone thought that major film festivals offered only one impenetrable drama, Oldboy quickly reminded them otherwise.
In 2003, it peaked at number five at the South Korean box office and topped the awards charts, peaking at the Cannes Film Festival where it won the Grand Prix and was nominated for the Palme d' Or. The Korean film won an award, but Park found the screening a harrowing experience, and she admitted that she didn't like the film herself. "The first time I saw the film at Cannes, I was in front of a real audience and was worried about their reaction, so I didn't really focus on the film," he told IndieWire .
Just as important as the award itself is who is competing for it. Quentin Tarantino has long been a strong advocate for Asian films that have been overlooked in favor of American cinema. He was happy from the moment he heard about Oldboy and began campaigning for her. He won the Palme d'Or, and although his vote was for the documentary Fahrenheit 11/9, directed by Michael Moore, this did not diminish the director's enthusiasm. Park expressed surprise and delight at the interest shown by Tarantino, which made him "want to see his own film" after a troubling moment among festival audiences. Ultimately, Tarantino is credited with supporting the eventual distribution of Oldboy in North America.
However, Oldboy did check some of Tarantino's boxes. Roger Ebert gave it four stars and said, " Oldboy is a powerful film not because of what it portrays, but because of the depth of the human heart that it reveals." The BBC called it a "sadistic masterpiece" and Salon called it "astounding". Its legacy is such that almost 20 years after its limited original US debut, it easily surpassed its box office gross upon re-release. It's no wonder that it is often cited as one of the greatest films of all time, foreign language or otherwise.
Oldboy isn't the only South Korean film to achieve worldwide acclaim, including 2003's The Package . A Tale of Two Sisters , a terrifying psychological horror film that was a box office success, became the first South Korean film to be widely released in American theaters. Memories of Murder received rave reviews from The New York Times , The Washington Post and Variety magazine. Your boss? Bong Joon Ho.
Just over 15 years later, Parasite of Bong became the first South Korean film to win the Palme d'Or, an award that Oldboy narrowly missed out on, as well as the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and International Feature Film. . movie. . movie. Since then, Park's career has blossomed with such stunning films as Thirst , Stoker , The Handmaiden and The Choice to Live . In this impressive filmography, Oldboy remains a stunning example of how a remarkable film can take the world by storm and how South Korea, a country that once seemed at odds with its own art, can create a series of masterpieces.
