Kim Jee-woon, Im Sang-soo, Byun Young-joo, and Choi Dong-hoon
Taste of Money (2012). Rather than exploring genre or experimenting artistically as other contemporary directors do, Im prefers to take a scalpel to the sorest spots on Korea’s body politic. Choi Dong-hoon is a born storyteller with a knack for directing high-octane action/crime movies featuring vivid characterization: The Big Swindle (2004), Tazza: The High Rollers (2006), and most recently The Thieves (2012). His films revolve around criminal rings whose members are crooks, gamblers, and thieves by trade, presenting their lives with a realistic touch that is founded in a gift for observation and painstaking research. After wowing audiences with his grasp of popular storytelling technique in Paradise Murdered (2007), Kim Han-min became one of the top box office draws around with his third film, 2011’s War of the Arrows , an action-packed period piece that sold 7.4 million tickets. The film ushered in a new area of archery action with its stunning use of the zingy natural pace of the traditional Korean bow and arrow. Between his work and Choi’s, the Korean action film has been evolving by leaps and bounds in recent years. On the distaff side, the year 2012 brought a rediscovery of the work of Byun Young-joo. Byun first made a name for herself as an independent filmmaker with her The Murmuring series, which examined the lives of the so-called “comfort women” drafted from Korea to serve as sex slaves to the Going Global 51
K-MOVIE 내지.indd 51
2012-09-27 오후 3:30:55