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| [Christmas Season Preview] Kwak Kyung-Taek's 태풍 (Typhoon) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 21 Apr 2009, 23:15 (13 Views) | |
| crown | 21 Apr 2009, 23:15 Post #1 |
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23 OKTOBER 2005 [Christmas Season Preview] Kwak Kyung-Taek's 태풍 (Typhoon) source : http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/003916.html For many people, Kwak Kyung-Taek's 친구 (Friend) was a very striking introduction to the new and improved Korean Cinema. With touches of Scorsese, using the prototypical traits of the genre as a launch pad for making a bigger statement about Korea in the 80s, kinetic and brutal action far removed from what westerners were used to get from Japanese and HK action flicks, 'Friend' became an instant success. Over 8 Million tickets sold in Korea, with one of the longest theater runs in recent memory - the incredibly long runs of the 60s are impossible now, for obvious reasons - the action film made Jang Dong-Gun a star all over Asia, and brought to the forefront the underrated talents of Yoo Oh-Sung. But it seems like director Kwak Kyung-Taek got the short end of the stick: even though people constantly remembered him for the blockbuster from 2001, that same situation became a double-edged sword continuously hunting him anytime he sat on the director's chair to direct his new projects. Although some critics considered 'Friend' a mere lucky strike for a director who dabbled in creative but still heavily commercial fare, like his previous work 닥터K (Dr. K), it's clear the director from Busan was able to carve a niche for himself, as one of the most unique commercial directors in Korea. Ironically, many of the major directors dealing with commercial cinema in the land of the Morning Calm start with a K: K like the two Kang (Je-Gyu and Woo-Suk), making history with the technical advancements and popularity of their blockbusters; K like Kim Sang-Jin, the undisputed king of Korean Comedies; K like Kwak Jae-Yong, who despite trying to repeat over and over the same formula that made him famous in 엽기적인 그녀 (My Sassy Girl) does have an unique, very 'movie-like' way of dealing with the tropes of melodrama. And then we have Kwak Kyung-Taek, who is the least 'commercial' of them all, for the way he deals with the 'Busan-ness', or - regional identity if you will - of the characters in his films. 사투리 (Saturi, regional dialect) has long been used as a quick way to generate laughter, but there are few people who can treat characters with a clearly 'local' identity without falling into the usual traps. Take 똥개 (Mutt Boy) and Jung Woo-Sung's 'stray dog' character. It may cater to the sensibilities of the new generation of (very young) moviegoers, but it proudly wears its regional identity on its sleeves, not taking the dialect like a device to make people laugh, and treating the peculiarities inherent with people from outside the capital with a careful touch. Characters in Kwak's films might all be from the 지방 (areas outside Seoul), but he never goes the obvious way in dealing with them. Another strong aspect of Kwak's filmmaking is the amount of nostalgia found in his films. From big blocky Betamax Videotape recorders brought from Japan and western styled pop music invading Korean culture in the 80s in 'Friend', to the clothes, hairstyles and especially Robot Taekwon V's song (the one playing while Yoo Oh-Sung runs along the bus) in 챔피언 (Champion). The success of 'Friend' actually started a mini-trend around the beginning of this decade, bringing to the forefront the nostalgia the 386 generation (in their 30s, went to college in the 80s, born in the 60s) was feeling in contrast to the fast moving Korea of the 00s. Films like 품행제로 (Conduct Zero) and 말죽거리 잔혹사 (Spirits of Jeet Kune Do: Once Upon a Time in High School) are a direct consequence of the success of Kwak's action dramas. But then again, 'Friend' is seemingly all Kwak had to his name. His following two films received mixed (gearing towards the positive) reviews, and even did OK at the box office, both coming close to breaking even. But people wanted more, and perhaps the uniqueness of the traits his filmmaking style brought to the theaters didn't completely cut with new sentiments of the viewing population. I might be in the minority here (both in Korea and outside), but I think both 'Mutt Boy' and 'Champion' are flawed but extremely interesting works, with a human warmth and attention to cultural and popular details rarely found in commercial Cinema. Kwak had two years to prepare his chance to avenge himself, to show he wasn't a one trick pony. And that preparation brought fourth 태풍 (Typhoon), the most expensive Korean film ever made. If you look at the most successful blockbusters in Korean Cinema history you notice a trend: Hollywood-styled, 'universally' themed blockbusters always fail. One of the factors which started the investment crisis Chungmuro came out of last year was the reckless spending of money on fancy eye candy and extreme use of CG and special effects. 튜브 (Tube), 예스터데이 (Yesterday) and 아유레디 (R. U. Ready) all unceremoniously bombed, becoming big headaches for the people who invested on those films. Although I liked some aspects of 'Yesterday' (the look, Kim Seon-Ah's character) and 'Tube' had some decent moments, 'R. U. Ready' was a complete mess and all three lacked what makes Korean Cinema great: a soul. Of course the biggest bomb of them all was Jang Sun-Woo's 성냥팔이 소녀의 재림 (Resurrection of the Little Match Girl), selling a mere low 6 figures when 13 Billion Won were spent on the project. Of course the film was Jang's way of laughing in the face of the idea of blockbuster itself, and is still one of the most madly ingenious and energetic Korean films of the last decade, but most people weren't impressed (unlike myself, who quickly raced to write a crappy review praising its charm on the now defunct Koreanfilm Weekly at koreanfilm.org). The trend continued until the outskirts of 2003, when 내츄럴 시티 (Natural City)'s failure made investors realize that people weren't interested in this type of action-melodrama-CG ridden potboilers. That is, they weren't interested unless they changed a few elements. For starters, developing the film with a story Korean people could relate to could change things. 태극기 휘날리며 (Taegukgi) and 실미도 (Silmido) might not have been masterpieces, but the people raced to the theaters to watch those Korean-themed films. The painful history of the peninsula, all the tragic events which lead to today's 'Dynamic Korea' are still a hot topic for the entire population, which is why a large portion of the Top 10 most successful Korean films of all time deal in some way or form with the Korean division. Even this year's huge hit 웰컴 투 동막골 (Welcome To Dongmakgol) dealt with the issue, which is why for the first time Kwak considered the idea of abandoning for a moment his 'regional characters' to focus on the North/South divide, at least as a dominating element for his new film. When watching 'Taegukgi', Kwak thought that was the kind of film he was supposed to shoot. Why? Because his own father became a displaced person, leaving behind many brothers after crossing the border during the 1/4 (1951) retreat. Using that experience Kwak drew three characters who could embody those personality traits. Elite soldier Kang Se-Joong (Lee Jung-Jae), pirate Shin (Jang Dong-Gun) and his sister Choi Myung-Joo (Lee Mi-Yeon) are embroiled in a tumultuous succession of events, involving love, revenge, betrayal and national identity. Waahhh... sounds like 'Deep Throat' on US Trailers, right? But such is the scale of 'Typhoon' that they had to make something which had a quick impact on people. Because if you look at the budget (15 Billion Won, 20 after marketing), then things get a little scary: the film will have to sell a good 7-8 Million tickets to see a decent return on its initial investment. Starting its shoot last November 1 in Busan, 'Typhoon' traveled all over the region, even facing natural disasters (Tsunami) delaying its shoot. Bangkok and Vladivostok were just two of the locations the film shot in, and the scale of the project shows anytime you look at still shots from production. A big portion of the crew who made 'Taegukgi' a huge success was brought on board for 'Typhoon' as well, including DP Hong Kyung-Pyo, Special Effects Director Jeon Do-An and the CG Team Insite Visual. All tried to upgrade the technology and scale Korean Cinema could achieve, through their talent and imagination. In a mere two months, we'll get a chance to see if that will be supported by a decent story, good acting, and Kwak's familiar directing style. Discussing his latest film up for release on December 15 (although it could be pushed to the 23 to avoid competition from other blockbusters), Kwak Kyung-Taek answered a few questions regarding the film. Press: Many people have high expectations regarding the confrontation between Lee Jung-Jae and Jang Dong-Gun's charisma. Director Kwak Kyung-Taek: If Jang Dong-Gun is fire, Lee Jung-Jae is ice. Jang might be a pirate, but we gave the character a sort of romantic code, and a lot of followers. As for Lee Jung-Jae, personally I think 'Jae-Hee' from 모래시계 (The Sandglass) [The character played by Lee in the series, which made him a star in 94] just came back. Even the name on his fake passport is Baek Jae-Hee. After playing Jae-Hee he [Lee] could have used his charisma a lot more, and I was curious why he never took advantage of it, but in 'Typhoon' I made sure he brought back that lonely charisma to the role. Press: How did you decide about the shoot on foreign locations? Kwak: We planned to show the repercussion of typhoons in all the places that come out in the film. So we didn't only think of Vladivostok and Korea, but also Japan and Hong Kong. But back when we were shooting 'Champion', it looked like shooting in big cities in countries like Japan would inflate the budget significantly. So we decided to give more importance to shooting in cheaper places like Thailand and Vladivostok. Just like I tried to find the places in Busan that reminded me of my childhood in 'Friend', this time - even if it was Busan again - we went for more dynamic places, with a bigger scale. That's what we tried to do in making 'Typhoon.' Via Film2.0 --------------------------------------------------------------------- terjemahan menyusul --------------------------------------------------------------------- source: http://www.twitchfilm.net credit to: Adonis International Penterjemah: |
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2:20 AM Jul 12