Park Chan-wook

[DarkImbecile]

Park Chan-Wook (1963- )



"Certain subjects may no longer be taboo in cinema... but there are ways to treat them that still create shock."

Filmography

Features
Daleun... haega kkuneun kkum / The Moon is... the Sun's Dream (1992)
Saminjo (1997)
Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA / Joint Security Area (2000)
Boksuneun naui geot / Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
Oldeuboi / Oldboy (2003)
Chinjeolhan geumjassi / Lady Vengeance (2005)
Ssa-i-bo-geu-ji-man-gwen-chan-a / I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
Bakjwi / Thirst (2009)
Stoker (2013)
Go-jin-gam-rae / Bitter, Sweet, Seoul [documentary, co-directed w/Park Chan-kyong] (2014)
Ah-ga-ssi / The Handmaiden (2016)
Decision to Leave (2022)

Shorts
"Simpan / Judgement" (1999)
"Never Ending Peace and Love" [segment, Yeoseot gae ui siseon / If You Were Me] (2003)
"Cut" [segment, Sam gang 2 / 3 ... Extremes] (2004)
"Paranmanjang / Night Fishing" (2011)
"Untitled" [segment, 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero] (2011)
"Day Trip" (2012)
"A Rose Reborn" (2014)
“Life is But a Dream” (2022)

Television
The Little Drummer Girl — S01E01
The Little Drummer Girl — S01E02
The Little Drummer Girl — S01E03
The Little Drummer Girl — S01E04
The Little Drummer Girl — S01E05
The Little Drummer Girl — S01E06

Books
Korean Film Directors: Park Chan-wook by Kim Young-jin (2011)

Web Resources
2006 interview with Esther K. Chae, BOMB Magazine
2008 interview with Virginie Selavy, Electric Sheep
2013 interview with Beth Accomando, KPBS
2016 interview with Britt Hayes, Screen Crush
2016 interview with Emma Brown, Interview
2016 interview with Goran Topalovic, Film Comment
2017 interview with Ryan Lambie, Den of Geek
"Park Chan-wook, the Man Who Put Korean Cinema on the Map" by Alexander Chee, New York Times Style Magazine (2017)

Forum Discussion
Oldboy
Three... Extremes (Chan/Miike/Park, 2004)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance / Oldboy / Lady Vengeance (Park Chan-wook, 2002/2003/2005)
I'm a Cyborg, But That's O.K. (Park Chan-wook, 2006)
Thirst (Park Chan-wook, 2009)
Stoker (Park Chan-wook, 2013)
The Ax (Park Chan-wook, 202?)

[Michael]

Forget the Ultimate Edition or Final Edition or Special Editions from Korea....

This UK disc looks much more definitive (and english subs on the extras to boot)



-2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen PAL
-Korean DTS-ES 6.1 and Korean Dolby EX 6.1
--(Korean SE has DTS 5.1, UE and FE have DD 5.1 only....)

Extras :
-Exclusive Interview With Mark Salisbury (not on Korean discs)
-Director Commentary (from the UE)
-Cinematographer Commentary (from the UE/FE)
-Cast Commentary (from the UE/FE)
-Film Critic Kim Yong Jin Commentary (from the UE)
-Original Theatrical Trailer
-UK Theatrical Trailer (not on the Korean discs)
-Making Of Documentary Part 1 (appr 50min) (from the SE)
-Making Of Documentary Part 2 (appr 50min) (from the UE/FE)
-9 Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary (from the UE/FE)
-Cannes Film Festival Gala Premiere Footage (from the FE)
-Memory Of Old Boy Short Film (from the UE)

great extras all subbed in English,
4 commentaries subtitled too,
this seems to be an incredible and affordable option for english speakers.

Its a good thing I waited.....

£19.99 is the SRP, 2/21/05 the release date.

Looks great. But how is the film? It has such an amazingly high rating on imdb.com.

[kazantzakis]

I thought it was fantastic, perhaps the best film I saw all year. Hilarious, visually fascinating, complex, intelligent. But still, that doesnt guarantee it will live up to the hype, which often makes it sound as though it was the best film ever made...

[DDillaman]

Undoubtedly backlash will start kicking in soon, and it's probably worth taking the hype with a grain of salt just because it's hard to sit down with a film that's overhyped.

But OLD BOY is my third favorite film of the year (just behind THE RETURN and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND). It's hard watching at points, but I just found it to be an endlessly captivating experience, both from a story and a film-making perspective.

I'm a little disappointed this one doesn't have the Harry Knowles commentary. I was kind of curious to hear it, after seeing a hysterical quote from it in someone's sig (that goes something like

Spoiler

I love the idea of a movie where somebody gets revenge by going from restaurant to restaurant. If you've ever seen me, it looks like I've been seeking revenge for a very long time.

Anyway, despite that, and even though the pound is clobbering other currency right now it looks like this is the version to get.

[chaddoli]

I was worried that this version would be cut, but i just checked http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ (search for Oldboy) and it passed as "18" with NO cuts!

"This work was passed with no cuts made."

Looks like this is the one then.

[colinr0380]

I would watch out with the BBFC rating - it means that the BBFC did not impose any cuts themselves, they do not take into account any edits made by the distributor prior to submitting the work for classification (e.g. Tartan's Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...and Spring had a minute or so missing from the end, but not because of the BBFC, who according to their website passed unedited what they were submitted).

Having said that I think that there is a pretty good chance that it will be released uncut. From what I heard the only really contentious scene in terms of it being edited by the BBFC when it was released at the cinema was the live squid eating, which would have been looked at under the The Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937, which states that "It is illegal to show any scene ‘organised or directed’ to involve actual cruelty to animals" (the same one which Amores Perros had to be judged under, and passed; and it is also the reason why the horse fall in Andrei Rublev had been edited). I guess since it was released without cuts the squid would have been eaten anyway, whether a film camera was there or not, or it was faked (I haven't seen the film yet, but from what I've read in reviews it is probably real).

[Pinback]

It seems this release has been delayed by a week, and will now be released on Feb 28th.

[Napoleon]

I would personally prefer an editted cut without the squid eating. Not because I'm a great animal lover. But because I think that watching said scene will make me throw up.

[DrGerbil]

A friend purchased the Tartan and having seen this film several times, the PAL speedup was very noticeable. I didn't get to enjoy the extras, but heard they were illuminating.

[Pinback]

For anyone interested in Park Chan-Wook, Tartan wil follow their Special Editions of Oldboy and Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance with the release of JSA: Joint Security Area on 23rd May...

Tartan Video have announced the UK DVD release of Joint Security Area for 23rd May 2005 priced at £19.99. A shooting in a village leaves two North Korean soldiers dead and one South Korean wounded. Both sides have conflicting reports as to what happened. A neutral Swiss military officer is asked to conduct an investigation but she finds no-one on either side is willing to answer her questions. What is the dark secret they are keeping? A mystery drama from Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy), JSA is one of Korea’s most successful films.

Also, just to clarify the first post of this thread, the Tartan UK edition of the film does not contain the Film Critic Kim Yong Jin Commentary (from the UE).

It does have the other three audio commentaries though.

[Lino]

Seeing as his latest is getting a DVD release next December and then early next year we'll get the whole of The Revenge Trilogy in a nice boxset (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Old Boy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance), why not start a thread, right?

Here's what Twitch has to say about the upcoming Lady disc:

[quote]How long did we wait... but it's finally here. Park Chan-Wook and Co. are in the process of adding their finishing touches to the upcoming DVD release of 친절한 금ìž

[Andre Jurieu]

I have one question, though: what's with the whole full color/fade to Black and White on the Lady Vengeance film? I have not seen it yet but for those who have, how did it originally played theatrically?

It played in color at TIFF. No fade to black & white that I can recall.

I can see why he may have wanted to do use this technique based on the morality of his film, but why add further fuel to the "it's like Kill Bill" fire (and, yes, I know that despite their similarities, that they are two different films and Park Chan-Wook did not actually copy Tarantino, so spare me the lecture).

[Lino]

DVDTalk [url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=18878takes a look[/url] at Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance:

[Lino]

Here are the specs for the upcoming South Korean release of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (english subs are included):

This sounds really good but for my part, I'm waiting for the kick-ass box for the trilogy that is sure to come sooner or later.

[Pinback]

This sounds really good but for my part, I'm waiting for the kick-ass box for the trilogy that is sure to come sooner or later.

It'll be sooner.

Confirmed for January:
Revenge Trilogy Boxset - CJ Entertainment
Boxset containing Park Chan-Wook's three revenge films:
친절한 금ìž

[Lino]

Great news, Pin! At least I won't have to wait 3 or 4 months to get it (fingers crossed because korean street dates are known to be unreliable).

As I still haven't bought any of the Revenge Trilogy films yet (was waiting for the boxset announcement to appear any month after the release of the third and final film), this set is heaven sent for me (even though it won't probably have any english subs on extras).

[htdm]

This is good news. I was just thinking of picking up Tartan's R1 of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance since the reviews say it looks better than the Korean version but now...

[Pinback]

This is good news. I was just thinking of picking up Tartan's R1 of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance since the reviews say it looks better than the Korean version but now...

I'd say the Tartan Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is still worth getting, for the subtitled audio commentary from Park Chan-wook and Ryoo Seung-wan, which really is excellent.

[chaddoli]

Is there ANY news on The Moon is the Sun's Dream and Trio, Park's first two features?

[Lino]

Is there ANY news on The Moon is the Sun's Dream and Trio, Park's first two features?

Don't know but what I do know is that you can already pre-order Lady Vengeance. Read all about it here.

Go here for a first look at the korean DVD cover for Lady Vengeance

[Galen Young]

The soundtrack for Sympathy for Lady Vengeance has been available for awhile now, Yesasia.com has it for a very reasonable price, considering the lovely presentation -- a jewel case sized hard bound book with seven poster images, photos, sheet music, director's notes... The music is terrific!

[Anonymous]

Since you have thee soundtrack... I've been wondering since I saw the film what the song was that plays over the opening credits. Is it a song composed specifically for the film or is it a piece of classical music?

Thanks.

[Galen Young]

Since you have thee soundtrack... I've been wondering since I saw the film what the song was that plays over the opening credits. Is it a song composed specifically for the film or is it a piece of classical music?

Sorry, I haven't seen the film yet so I couldn't say. In addition to the original score there are a handful of Vivaldi pieces and one by Paganini. Plus one song with lyrics printed sung by soprano Montserrat Figueras that comes from this record. (the "Mareta No'm Faces Plorar" track) Since the first track is a Vivaldi -- maybe it's that? Really looking forward to that Korean DVD release coming soon...

[Anonymous]

What is the title of the first vivaldi track?

[Galen Young]

What is the title of the first vivaldi track?

Cantata 'Cessate, Omai Cessate' , RV.684: Aria: 'Ah, Ch'infelice Sempre'. You can hear a sample of it here, same piece, different performance. The soundtrack version has a violin plucking the strings in addition to regular violin playing.