Yim Pil-sung | |
|---|---|
 Yim in 2019 | |
| Born | May 13, 1972 |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter, actor |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 임필성 |
| Revised Romanization | Im Pil-seong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Im Pilsŏng |
Yim Pil-sung (born May 13, 1972) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed Antarctic Journal (2005), Hansel and Gretel (2007), and Scarlet Innocence (2014). [1]
Yim Pil-sung began directing short films in 1997, with Souvenir as his first. Brushing (1998), about an overweight teenage boy who is left home alone with his senile grandfather, was invited to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. [2] [3] Baby (1999) screened at the Venice Film Festival and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. [4] Mobile (starring Park Hae-il, Yoon Jin-seo, and Yoon Je-moon) was included in the 2003 omnibus Show Me. [5]
In 2005, he made his feature film debut with Antarctic Journal , a tale of six South Korean explorers on an expedition to reach one of the remotest points in the South Pole, until mysterious deaths begin to occur as the human psyche preys on itself amidst the icy, barren landscape. The big-budget film starred Song Kang-ho and Yoo Ji-tae, and was shot in New Zealand. [3] It won the Best Feature Film award in the Orient Express-Casa Asia section of the 38th Sitges Film Festival. [6]
Yim then played a small supporting role in Bong Joon-ho's monster movie The Host (2006), as a white-collar worker who betrays his college friend. He had agreed to appear in the film in exchange for Bong co-writing the screenplay to Antarctic Journal. [7]
With his second directorial feature, Yim established himself as a genre filmmaker whose works explore the depths of horror and fantasy. [8] [9] Inspired by the titular fairy tale, in Hansel and Gretel (2007) a young man (Chun Jung-myung) gets lost in a forest and stumbles into a house inhabited by three strange children (Shim Eun-kyung, Eun Ji-won and Jin Ji-hee) who refuse to let him leave. [10] It received a Special Mention at the 12th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in 2008 and won two awards at the 29th Fantasporto in 2009, the Special Jury Prize in the Fantasy competition and Best Film in the Orient Express sidebar. [11] [12]
Despite praise for their striking visuals and surprising narrative twists, both of Yim's films were unsuccessful at the box office, which led to him having difficulty finding financing for his succeeding projects.
In 2007, Yim and Kim Jee-woon (as co-directors) began filming the sci-fi omnibus Doomsday Book . But financing problems halted production; it resumed in 2010, and the film was released in 2012. [13] Yim wrote and directed two of the film's three segments. Both black comedies, the first segment A Brave New World is about a zombie invasion caused by contaminated meat (starring Ryoo Seung-bum), while the third segment Happy Birthday is about a family hiding in an underground shelter as an 8-Ball-shaped asteroid wipes out mankind (starring Jin Ji-hee). Doomsday Book won the top prize at the 16th Fantasia Festival, the Cheval Noir Award for Best Film. [14]
Yim had next planned to direct a suspense drama about a married American expat who falls for a Korean femme fatale. Titled Flower of Evil, it entered pre-production in 2009 but was eventually shelved. [15] [16] Weekend Prince, a comedy about three men in their thirties who get roaring drunk one weekend (which had Park Hae-il and Song Sae-byeok attached), similarly did not come to fruition. [17]
In 2010, twelve Korean directors and cinematographers shot short films using the iPhone 4 for the iPhone 4 Film Festival (later renamed the Olleh Smartphone Film Festival). [18] [19] Yim's short Super Nerds: No Pain No Gain is a comedy about two die-hard iPhone fans and their journey to find someone who can attach a protective film to their newly purchased iPhones without causing air bubbles to form (in the Korean title Super Deokhu, "deokhu" originates from the Japanese word "otaku"). [20]
Yim then starred in two mockumentary-style films in 2013. In E J-yong's Behind the Camera, an absentee filmmaker attempts to direct a film remotely via Skype. [21] Then in Bong Man-dae's comedy Playboy Bong, Yim played a director shooting an erotic-horror film in Bali who gets replaced when the film's producer is disappointed in the sex scenes. [22]
Seven years after Hansel and Gretel, Yim returned with his third feature in 2014. Scarlet Innocence is a modern-day retelling of the classic Korean folktale Simcheongga ; in the original, a virtuous girl named Shim Chung sacrifices herself so that her father's sight may be restored. But in Yim's film noir, a university professor gradually succumbing to blindness moves to a rural town and begins an obsessive affair with a young woman 17 years his junior (played by Jung Woo-sung and Esom, respectively). [23] Scarlet Innocence made its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. [24]
| Year | Title | Credited as | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Original | Director | Screenwriter | Planner | Editor | Producer | ||
| 1996 | A Bit Bitter | 생강 | — | Yes | — | |||
| 1997 | Souvenir | 기념품 | Yes | Yes | — | |||
| 1998 | Brushing | 소년기 | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | |
| 1999 | Baby | 베이비 | Yes | Yes | — | — | Yes | |
| 2003 | Mobile | 모빌 | Yes | Yes | — | |||
| 2010 | Super Nerds: No Pain No Gain | 슈퍼 덕후 | Yes | Yes | — | |||
| 2012 | Doomsday Book – "A Brave New World" and "Happy Birthday" | 인류멸망보고서 | Yes | Yes | — | [25] [26] [27] | ||
| 2019 | Persona | 페르소나 | Yes |
| — | [28] | ||
| Year | Title | Credited as | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Original | Director | Screenwriter | ||
| 2005 | Antarctic Journal | 남극일기 | Yim Pil-sung | Yim Pil-sung Bong Joon-ho Lee Hae-jun | [29] |
| 2007 | Hansel and Gretel | 헨젤과 그레텔 | Kim Min-sook Yim Pil-sung | [30] | |
| 2014 | Scarlet Innocence | 마담 뺑덕 | Yim Pil-sung Jang Yoon-mi | [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] | |
| Year | Title | Role | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Korean | |||
| 2015 | The Red Dance | 적 (赤) | Director | [36] [37] |
Jung Woo-sung is a South Korean actor and the first Korean UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. Jung started his career as a fashion model, rising to stardom and teenage cult status with the gangster film Beat (1997), for which he won Best New Actor at the 17th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards.
Hansel and Gretel is a 2007 South Korean dark fantasy horror film directed by Yim Pil-sung. It achieved a box office run of $2,206,625.
Season of Good Rain, also known as A Good Rain Knows, is a 2009 film by Hur Jin-ho. It stars South Korean actor Jung Woo-sung and Chinese actress Gao Yuanyuan. The film was released to South Korean theaters on October 8 and had a total of 287,887 admissions.
Doomsday Book is a 2012 South Korean science-fiction anthology film directed by Kim Jee-woon and Yim Pil-sung. It tells three unique stories of human self-destruction in the modern high-tech era, while displaying an alternative form of genuine humanity and compassion. A Brave New World is a political satire about a viral zombie outbreak; The Heavenly Creature philosophizes on whether a robot can achieve enlightenment; and in Happy Birthday a dysfunctional family bonds in the midst of an apocalypse.
Rough Play is a 2013 South Korean film about an actor who becomes a superstar overnight then hits rock bottom. It is written and executive produced by Kim Ki-duk, and directed by Shin Yeon-shick. It screened at the 18th Busan International Film Festival, and was released in theaters on October 24, 2013.
Top Star is a 2013 South Korean drama film directed, co-written and produced by veteran actor Park Joong-hoon, in his directorial debut. It stars Uhm Tae-woong as the manager of a top actor who dreams of someday becoming famous like his client, but when a twist of fate grants his wish, his life completely changes. The film premiered at the 18th Busan International Film Festival.
Norigae (Korean: 노리개) is a 2013 South Korean legal drama thriller film based on the story of Jang Ja-yeon. The film depicts the darker side of the Korean entertainment industry including the casting couch and sexual abuse.
The Target is a 2014 South Korean action thriller film starring Ryu Seung-ryong, Lee Jin-wook, Yoo Jun-sang and Kim Sung-ryung, and directed by Yoon Hong-seung. It is a remake of the 2010 French film Point Blank.
Inside Men is a 2015 South Korean political action thriller film written and directed by Woo Min-ho based on Yoon Tae-ho's webtoon The Insiders that dissects the corruption within Korean society. Starring Lee Byung-hun, Cho Seung-woo and Baek Yoon-sik, it began filming in July 2014 and was released in theaters on November 19, 2015. Inside Men and the director's cut Inside Men: The Original have sold a total of 9.1 million admissions at the box office, thus becoming the top grossing R-rated movie of all-time at the Korean Box office.
Scarlet Innocence is a 2014 South Korea erotic thriller film co-written and directed by Yim Pil-sung, starring Jung Woo-sung and Esom. It is a modern-day retelling of the classic Korean folktale Simcheongga.
Revivre is a 2014 South Korean drama film directed by Im Kwon-taek and starring Ahn Sung-ki. It premiered in the Out of Competition section of the 71st Venice International Film Festival in 2014, and was released in South Korean theaters on April 9, 2015.
Whistle Blower is a 2014 South Korean film directed by Yim Soon-rye.
Hill of Freedom is a 2014 South Korean arthouse film written and directed by Hong Sang-soo. It premiered in the Orizzonti ("Horizons") section of the 71st Venice International Film Festival, and won Best Film at the 34th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards and the 36th Three Continents Festival. Hill of Freedom also made The New Yorker's list of Best Undistributed Films of 2014.
C'est si bon is a 2015 South Korean musical drama film written and directed by Kim Hyun-seok. It was released on February 5, 2015.
Assassination is a 2015 South Korean period spy action thriller film co-written and directed by Choi Dong-hoon. The film, mainly set in 1930s Seoul and Shanghai during the Japanese occupation of Korea, depicts a group of Korean resistance fighters' plan to assassinate a highly ranked Japanese officer.
The Shameless is a 2015 South Korean neo-noir crime drama film starring Jeon Do-yeon and Kim Nam-gil. It is written and directed by Oh Seung-uk, who described it as a "hardboiled romantic noir thriller.
