Im Sang-soo | |
|---|---|
 Im Sang-soo, 2004 | |
| Born | April 27, 1962 |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 임상수 |
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | Im Sang-su |
| McCune–Reischauer | Im Sang-su |
Im Sang-soo (born April 27, 1962) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He has twice been invited to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, with The Housemaid in 2010 and The Taste of Money in 2012. [1]
Im was born in Seoul. He studied sociology at Yonsei University in Seoul before making a move to the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) in 1989. He began working in film that same year, landing his first job as Park Jeong-won's assistant director on Kuro Arirang (was coincidentally also the first film of actor Choi Min-sik).
Following graduation from KAFA, Im worked as an assistant director under Kim Young-bin on Kim's War (1994). In 1995 Im wrote the screenplay for The Eternal Empire , and also the screenplay A Noteworthy Film , which won him the Creation Prix at the Korean Motion Picture Promotion Scenario Competition.
In 1998 Im landed his first directorial gig. Girls' Night Out , a drama about three women in Korea, caused a controversy upon release due to the frank and sexually driven dialogue and has received mixed, almost polarized, reviews.
Tears , a hard drama about the lives of four runaway teenagers in Seoul, came next. Im spent five months in the Garibong-dong district of Seoul amongst homeless runaway teens before writing the script for the film. This film was shot in 2000 on miniDV to save the budget. To achieve greater realism, Im opted to use non-actors.
2003's Good Lawyer's Wife was Im's first film to reach #1 at the South Korean box office, thanks in large part to the suggestive poster and trailer campaign centered on star Moon So-ri (who was cast after Kim Hye-soo dropped out to pursue a TV career). This film was also screened in the main competition program at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival.
Next in Im's string of controversial films was 2005's President's Last Bang , about the night President Park Chung Hee was assassinated by his KCIA Director. The controversy started before it was released to the public (a press screening had already been held), with President Park's family suing MK Pictures over the film's content. A Korean court ordered the removal of 3 minutes and 50 seconds' worth of documentary footage from the film as it was thought the documentary footage might confuse the public into thinking the film was based on hard facts, which Im admits is not the case.
The Old Garden , Im's fifth film, was released theatrically in fall 2006. It debuted at the 2006 San Sebastián Film Festival. His 2010 film, The Housemaid , competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. [2] In 2012 The Taste of Money competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. [3]
Actress Youn Yuh-jung, a constant collaborator, has noted that "many actors shy away from working with him because he is provocative and daring, but that is how he views the world". [4]
All of Im's films have been controversial, but his film The President's Last Bang , centered on the assassination of Park Chung Hee, has been the most controversial due to its negative portrayal of the Korean president. In 2005 a South Korean court ordered the removal of 3 minutes and 50 seconds of the film before it could be shown to the public. The offending scenes were made up of documentary footage, part of which showed President Park's funeral.
In August 2006 this ruling was overturned, with the court confirming the "right of free expression concerning the depiction of public historical figures". The court has also ordered MK Pictures, the production company that had financed the film, to pay President Park's family 100 million won (roughly US$105,000). [5]
The film has been released in South Korea and America on DVD in 2005. Both discs contain a plain black screen where the footage was removed. There has been no release date set for a DVD containing the cut footage. However, the British and French releases contain the fully uncut version.
| Year | Film | Credited as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer | Producer | |||
| 1994 | Eternal Empire | Yes | |||
| The Pirates | Yes | ||||
| 1998 | Girls' Night Out | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2000 | Tears | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2001 | Indian Summer | Yes | |||
| 2003 | A Good Lawyer's Wife | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2005 | The President's Last Bang | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2006 | The Old Garden | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2010 | The Housemaid | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2012 | The Taste of Money | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2015 | Intimate Enemies | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2021 | Heaven: To the Land of Happiness | Yes | Yes | ||
| Year | Film | Segment | Credited as | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer | |||
| 2014 | Rio, I Love You | O Vampiro do Rio | Yes | Yes |
| 2015 | Color of Asia - Masters | The Vampire Lives Next Door | Yes | Yes |
A Noteworthy Film
Park Chan-wook is a South Korean film director, screenwriter, producer, and former film critic. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of South Korean cinema as well as 21st-century world cinema. His films, which often blend crime, mystery and thriller with other genres, have gained notoriety for their cinematography, framing, black humor and often brutal subject matters.
Joint Security Area is a 2000 South Korean mystery thriller film directed and co-written by Park Chan-wook and based on the novel DMZ by Park Sang-yeon. It is Park Chan-wook's third film as director; as he largely disowned his first two films The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream (1992) and Trio (1997), Joint Security Area is frequently regarded as his first film with creative control, and Park himself prefers the film to be regarded as his directorial debut.
The 58th Cannes Film Festival started on 11 May and ran until 22 May 2005. Twenty movies from 13 countries were selected to compete. The awards were announced on 21 May, the Palme d'Or went to the Belgian film L'Enfant by the Dardenne brothers.
The President's Last Bang: is a 2005 satirical black comedy film by South Korean director Im Sang-soo about the events leading to and the aftermath of the assassination of Park Chung Hee, then the South Korean President, by his close friend and Korean Intelligence Agency director Kim Jae-kyu.
South Korean films have been heavily influenced by such events and forces as the Korea under Japanese rule, the Korean War, government censorship, the business sector, globalization, and the democratization of South Korea.
Kang Soo-yeon was a South Korean actress. An internationally acclaimed star from the mid-1980s to the end of the 1990s, she is often honorifically nicknamed Korea's "first world star".
Jeon Do-yeon is a South Korean actress. She won Best Actress at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, making her the first Korean actress to win an acting award at Cannes, and Best Performance by an Actress at the 1st Asia Pacific Screen Awards for her performance in Lee Chang-dong's 2007 film Secret Sunshine. Many young actresses have cited Jeon as a role model.
Park Chul-soo was a South Korean film director, producer, screenwriter and occasional actor. He was one of the most active filmmakers in Korean cinema in the 1980s and '90s.
Seo Woo is a South Korean actress. She made her breakthrough with the film Crush and Blush (2008). She is best known for her roles in the films Paju and The Housemaid, as well as her roles in the TV dramas Tamra, the Island, Cinderella's Stepsister and Flames of Desire.
Poetry is a 2010 South Korean-French drama film written and directed by Lee Chang-dong. It tells the story of a suburban woman in her 60s who begins to develop an interest in poetry while struggling with Alzheimer's disease and her irresponsible grandson. Yoon Jeong-hee appears in the leading role, which was her first role in a film since 1994. The film was selected for the main competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay Award. Other accolades include the Grand Bell Awards for Best Picture and Best Actress, the Blue Dragon Film Awards for Best Actress, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, and the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Achievement in Directing and Best Performance by an Actress.
The Housemaid is a 2010 South Korean erotic psychological thriller film directed by Im Sang-soo. The story focuses on Eun-yi, played by Jeon Do-yeon, who becomes involved in a destructive love triangle while working as a housemaid for an upper-class family. Other cast members include Lee Jung-jae, Youn Yuh-jung and Seo Woo. The film is a remake of Kim Ki-young's 1960 film of the same name. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
The Taste of Money is a 2012 South Korean erotic thriller film about a conglomerate-owning family.
In Another Country is a 2012 South Korean comedy-drama film written and directed by Hong Sang-soo. Set in a seaside town, the film consists of three parts that tell the story of three women, all named Anne and all played by French actress Isabelle Huppert. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. The film was selected as part of the 2013 Hong Kong International Film Festival.
Jo Eun-ji is a South Korean actress. She debuted in the gritty Im Sang-soo film Tears, and has since become better known for her supporting roles on film and television, such as in The President's Last Bang, My Scary Girl, Forever the Moment, The Concubine and The Villainess. She was also the leading actress in the indies Driving with My Wife's Lover, and Sunshine Love.
Jo Sung-hee is a South Korean film director. He directed the box office hit A Werewolf Boy (2012).
Kim Soo-hyun is a South Korean screenwriter and novelist.
Lee Hye-young is a South Korean actress. She is the daughter of celebrated film director Lee Man-hee, who died in 1975 when she was in middle school. Lee began her acting career in 1981 at the age of 18 through a local musical theatre production of The Sound of Music. Since then she has performed in theater, feature and short films, and television. She was one of the most prominent South Korean actresses in the 1980s, starring in films such as The Blazing Sun (1985), Winter Wanderer (1986), Ticket (1986), The Age of Success (1988), North Korean Partisan in South Korea (1990), Fly High Run Far (1991), Passage to Buddha (1993), and No Blood No Tears (2002). Lee also played supporting roles in the Korean dramas I'm Sorry, I Love You (2004), Fashion 70's (2005) and Boys Over Flowers (2009).
In Front of Your Face is a 2021 South Korean drama film written and directed by Hong Sang-soo. The film was selected to be shown in the Cannes Premiere section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
Broker is a 2022 South Korean drama film written, directed and edited by Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, and starring Song Kang-ho, Gang Dong-won, Bae Doona, Lee Ji-eun, and Lee Joo-young. The film revolves around characters associated with baby boxes, which allow infants to be dropped off anonymously to be cared for by others. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened on 26 May and won Ecumenical Jury Award and the Best Actor Award for Song Kang-ho. It was released on June 8, 2022, in theaters in South Korea.
Cobweb is a 2023 South Korean period black comedy-drama film directed by Kim Jee-woon starring Song Kang-ho, Im Soo-jung, Oh Jung-se, Jeon Yeo-been, and Krystal Jung. It premiered in the non-competitive section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The film was released theatrically on September 27, 2023, coinciding with Korean Chuseok holidays.
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