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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Is Corean (Korean) Cinema the New HK Cinema?
t the peak of its Golden Era between the mid-80s and early-90s Hong Kong cinema was defending nearly half its domestic box office turf against Hollywood imports, thanks to an unusual concentration of mega-talents like John Woo, Chow Yun-Fat, Jackie Chan and Tsui Hark. No other film industry in the world had been able to claim that for a half century. What's more, some HK kung-fu and gangster flicks outdrew Hollywood thrillers in many international markets.
Corean heartthrob Won Bin
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Hollywood's strategy for coping with the HK threat? Simple and devastatingly effective -- buy up the biggest box-office draws. The result has been an epic shift: the top HK talents have been reduced mostly to coolie-ing on Hollywood formulaics while HK cinema has become a parched gulch with bounding tumbleweeds and half-hinged screen doors banging forlornly with every hot gust.
Corean American Shiri star Kim Yoon-jin
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But just as Asian Americans resigned themselves to having screen images hijacked by a remarkably Asian-unfriendly Hollywood, Corean cinema began throwing off heat. Beginning in the early 90s a hardy new generation of Corean filmmakers made themselves fixtures at the award ceremonies of Cannes, Venice and other international film festivals. By the turn of the century Corea's Pusan Film Festival emerged as Asia's premiere celluloid bazaar. But that was small potatoes, not enough to catch the notice of an industry whose real lifeblood is box office.
Then came Shiri (1999), Kang Jae-gyu's lovingly-wrought, haunting thriller about a deadly North Corean female terrorist who falls in love with exactly the wrong guy. It became the first domestic film in history to break the 2 million ticket mark for the Seoul metropolitan area (which accounts for about 25% of the Corean market), and went on to outgross Hollywood blockbusters like The Mummy, The Matrix, Titanic, Star Wars Episode One and Toy Story. Its $5 million budget is less than a tenth of what Hollywood spends at the drop of a dime but was considered a daring gamble. It paid off. Domestic box office receipts ultimately spiked past $60 million, ensuring an unexpected profit for the film's backer Samsung Entertainment -- and more importantly, whetting the appetites of investors for more "big-budget" projects.
Director Kang took pains to point out that Shiri's success was founded on a painstakingly crafted screenplay -- something few Corean directors had bothered with before then.
In 2000 and 2001 alone, two Corean films surpassed Shiri's box office benchmarks: Joint Security Area (DMZ military mystery/drama, 2000) and Friend (male-bonding, 2001). These blockbusters have stimulated a general upsurge of interest in domestic films. Films like Friend and My Sassy Girl (romantic comedy) outgrossed Hollywood megapics like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. They helped make Corea the only market in which domestic films captured over 50% of box office receipts, with Hollywood fare attracting 40%.
As the saga of Hong Kong cinema has shown, nothing yanks Hollywood's chain like being kicked at the box office. Major studios have begun importing Shiri, Musa (co-starring Zhang Zhiyi as a Ming princess rescued by Corean swordsmen) and other Corean films for limited U.S. theatrical release and video distribution. More significantly -- or ominously, depending on your perspective -- they have begun signing Corean talent. One is actress Shin Eun-kyung who starred in the popular comedy My Wife Is a Gangster (2001) which outgrossed Lord of the Rings. Shin will play the female lead opposite Andy Garcia. Miramax even paid $1.1 million for the remake rights to My Wife Is a Gangster.
Is Corean cinema the new Hong Kong cinema? Or will an Asian version of Hollywood ultimately emerge in Corea?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:07:23 PM)
Hey Ms. Kwan, what do you think about this famous Taiwanese actress named Hsu Chi? Me, I think she's pretty. Who do you think is prettier, Hsu Chi or Cecilia Cheung?
RubyRed
Friday, March 22, 2002 at 04:27:14 (PST)
I think Takeshi Kaneshiro and Takenouchi Yutaka look soooooo much alike.
Kaneshiro
http://beststar.com/cc/1/20507,3.shtml
Yutaka
http://beststar.com/cc/1/29355,3.shtml
It's probably because of their hairstyles.
Beijing Angelique
Thursday, March 21, 2002 at 20:36:42 (PST)
The way to get American audiences to watch a Corean movie (or an Asian movie in general) is to team up a white American co-star with an Asian one. This is sort of the strategy used early on in Eddie Murphy's career, in such films as 48 Hours and Beverly Hills Cop. In the early eighties, it was still not known how predominantly white American audiences would receive Murphy, so he was teamed up with Nick Nolte, to spectacular box-office success. It is not clear, even now, how such movies would have fared in the box-office if it was Eddie Murphy alone in the starring role, despite his tremendous comedic talent and provocative style.
Likewise, Hong Kong and Korean actors and actresses must team up with white or black American actors. This was done with Chow-Yun Fat in the Replacement Killers and The Corruptor, but these did not do well because the directors, both novices, did not appreciate the scope of Chow's appeal. If directed by someone like John Woo or Quentin Tarantino, his unique skills and charisma would have come out and the movies would have been successes. So the director, preferably someone who is familiar with the Korean or HK actor's skills, is equally important. Otherwise, teaming up an American with an Asian talent is pointless.
blabbermouth
Thursday, March 21, 2002 at 13:54:27 (PST)
Crazy woman--
actually, Chinese celebrities have always been popular in Korea. Korea has been importing HK mafia movies, Taiwanese wuxia dramas, mainland art films, etc etc for a long time now. What's "new" is the relatively new "han-ryu" that's going on throughout asia.
Just as a sidenote, there has been a lot of cross-national films and dramas being made in Asia, which is new. Just to name a few, Song Seung Hun is making a film with Vicki Zhao, Shu qi, and somebody Mo. Won bin just made a 4 part TV drama with Kyoko Fukada. Wong Kar Wai, who seems to express disatisfaction of the government's hand in the film industry, is filming in Korea and hiring Korean as well as other asian actors and actresses. Other less known cross-asian dramas include, "One more Kiss"(don't know spelling) with Yoon Sona and a very popular Japanese actor. This same actor filmed in a Japanese movie called, "Go," which was based on the novel by a Korean Japanese about growing up with an identity question. Korean actor Jang Dong Gun is more popular in Vietnam then in Korea. I can go on and on.
I think the Korean film industry became more like the HK film industry in the 70's-80's. Korean government has repealed many censorship laws, and now they are allowed to address issues about North Korea or show Japanese pop-culture. This in contrast to Hong Kong movie industry where Beijing probably dissuades any film makers from making movies that might cause trouble--probably is a bad news for the Hong Kong people.
I don't know if the editor of the website don't want me to post other websites on the forums, but if you are interested in Korean films, you should visit Darcy's website: www.koreanfilm.org.
ka
Thursday, March 21, 2002 at 11:26:22 (PST)
Hehe... If I was Won Bin and saw Park Ji Yoon performing "sung in shik" I would be *dead*
Spread leg dance move! Wonderful! Sexy dancing! Empower me as a woman? Err anyway, America should see Corea... they are advancing like a Confucian scholar studying calligraphy on a sunny morning! Music Videos... hot hot... Taiwan also... hot hot music videos... better cameras... surprassing american media!!
Ms.Kwan
Thursday, March 21, 2002 at 11:25:08 (PST)
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