The 75th Cannes Film Festival is set to take place from May 17th.As usual, a number of new films of masters are to be presented, such as Decision to Leave by Park Chan-wook and Broker by Kore-eda Hirokazu. Tom Cruz-starred Hollywood film Top Gun: Maverick, and Elvis starring Tom Hanks are also among those to be screened. All of them deserve the compliment ‘world’s best.’ Along with those grand films on the spotlight is Hunt, the debut film by actor-turned-director Lee Jung Jae. Lee and his old friend / business partner Jung Woo Sung starred in it together.
Hunt, an espionage film with intelligence agents, has been invited to screen at the Midnight Screenings, which presents highly perfected genre movies at midnight. It has been 8 years that a Korean rookie director is invited to the Cannes Film Festival since July Jung for A Girl at My Door in 2014. Lee is also the first Korean actor-turned-director to go to the Festival. Hunt’s screening at Cannes holds symbolic meaning. It has shown that the popularity of actors or actresses as well as directors’ abilities can be the power to send Korean films to big international film festivals. Lee Jung Jae has proven that Korean actors and actresses have stepped up to another level in going abroad.
Hong Kong in late 1960s, they performed actively in the Shaw Brothers Studio, one of the biggest film companies in Asia back then. Based on his experience in Hong Kong, Hah was once almost cast in a Japanese film. Hah and Yoon’s acting overseas has a lot to do with flourishing Korean film industry then. Korean films were booming in the 1960s, and there were often collaborations with Hong Kong and Taiwan. Directors Jung Chang-hwa and Kim Soo-yong were even scouted to join the Shaw Brothers Studio. As the trade in film industry increased, actors and actresses got to have more opportunities to work abroad.
Hah and Yoon, however, had limited experience in acting outside of Korea, not having impressive work. Their films were released only in East Asia. Hah did not finally get to be cast in Japanese films since he had to acquire Japanese citizenship to be in the films. Japanese film market was not ready to accept Korean actors, nor the two countries were in good relationship those days.
The 1970s and 80s were the dark ages for Korean film business. In addition to the TV that started rising as a substitute for cinema in the 70s, the laws changed to require the permission system for establishing film production companies. The industry stayed in slump in the 80s. Still there was some good news from abroad. Actress Kang Soo-yeon won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her role in The Surrogate Woman (1986,)the first Korean to be awarded in a major film festival. She won another award at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1989 for her performance in Come Come Come Upward. Although she eared the title ‘world star’ from the press, the acclaim she received did not lead her to the film market beyond Korea. It only showed that Korea had excellent actors and actresses to the world.
Korean wave leads Korean actors and actresses to the world
Korea’s film market changed in the 1990s. A lot of young competent talents are attracted to the industry, and conglomerates also began investing in films, bringing vitality to Korea’s film business. The ‘Korean wave’ that rose in the mid-to-late 90s served as another energy to the film world. The Korean wave started as Korean TV drama What is Love gained massive popularity in Chinese speaking countries and Korea’s boy bands H.O.T and Clon hit East Asia. The phenomenon set the ground for Korean films to attract the limelight in the global film world. Shiri’s (directed by Kang Je-gyu in 1999) box office hit in Japan proved the possibility of the Korean wave in films. More Korean actors began to advance to the world. Actor Park Joong-hoon who played in The Truth about Charlie (2002) was one of those who stepped in Hollywood.
International collaborations increased as Korea’s film industry revived in the mid-2000. Collaborations between Korea-Hong Kong, Korea-China-Japan, Korea-China, and Korean-Japan produced various films and provided more opportunities to promote Korean actors and actresses to the world. The Korean wave took a leap as actor Bae Yong-joon brought up the ‘Yon-sama craze’ in Japan for his role in Winter Sonata in 2002. Actors Bae Yong-joon, Lee Byung-hun, Jang Dong-gun and Won Bin were even dubbed with honorific title ‘The Four Great Kings of the Korean wave’ and Korean films found more markets to sell in the world. The popularity of Korean film stars in Asia drew attention from Hollywood as well.
Achievement of Korean films in major international film festivals led to higher global recognition, boasting the talent of Korean actors and actresses in the world. After Lee Byung-hun had been invited to the Cannes Film Festival for his acting in A Bittersweet Life (2005,) he debuted in Hollywood at G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in 2009. Actor Don Lee got to star in Hollywood film Eternals (2021) as Train to Busan (2016) where he played a man fighting zombies drew attention when screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
OTT, the highway to reach fans around the world
Korean films have made big hits in Asia for long, but have been seen as marginal in the U.S., world’s biggest film market. Language barrier was an obstacle for Korean film stars to go abroad. Lee Byung-hun and Don Lee was able to make a foray into Hollywood thanks to their fluent English. Korea’s Parasite (2019) winning four Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film) changed the status of Korean films in the U.S. One of the major achievements of it is that it provided an opportunity for Americans to watch Korean films or dramas with subtitles.
Netflix, one of world’s major online streaming services (OTT, Over-The-Top) served a channel for global audience to reach Korean films and drama through. The company invested in Okja (2017) and revealed it to its subscribers around the world. It also produced the Kingdom series (2019) causing the ‘Joseon zombie craze’ among its fans. With streamlined process of exporting and releasing films to get to the audience, OTT has contributed to spreading the Korean wave fast. Korean dramas such as Crash Landing on You (2019-2020) and Itaewon Class (2020) gained popularity in many countries through Netflix that worked as a distribution highway. Actor Park Seo Jun got to be cast in The Marvels (yet to be released) only a year after he played in Itaewon Class. It was a high-speed advance into Hollywood. Global hit of Squid Game last year is grounded on the challenges that Korean films have taken up for decades.
Ra Jegy is a film journalist at Hankook Ilbo. He has worked as a reporter at different departments of Hankook Ilbo such as editorial, local, international and culture since 1999. He has reported news on films for about 15 years. He took his master’s degree in Film Studies at the University of Sussex in England. He was also the chief of the entertainment team, head of the culture department, and editor at Hankook Ilbo.
* 《Cultura》 2022 May(Vol. 95) *
