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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, 06:07:12 PM)
YO Toi San Jai, it's obvious you're not on here to state something important about the the current state hiphop is in, but you're basically just hating koreans for what they're doing. Stop hating cuz your country ain't making it. And let me ask you something, why do you compare korean hiphop to all those groups.mc's you mentioned? Do they look like them? Do they talk like them? Are they them? Are the groups you mentioned supposed to be looked upon by everyone and base their style on? Your selected group of emcees are of your personal preference.Did you listemn to all of the korean hiphop that it out there? Are you even korean? Do you understand the lyrics? And who is you to say anything? I don't see you with a record deal.
DJ Spinn
bklynmint02@aol.com
Friday, June 21, 2002 at 08:03:14 (PDT)
Koreans can no way be the next Hong Kong Cinema. Sorry to Korean folks, but Korean would have difficulty of knowing what is the taste of Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, and other Chinese from abroad, which make the majority of the population who watch Hong Kong Cinema.
Don't flatter yourselves, it ain't gonna happen.
movie fan
Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 17:33:56 (PDT)
Hi everyone! I am looking for recommendation of popular Korean pop or hiphop music. Currently, I have the soundtracks of Il Mare & My Sassy Girl (MUST-SEE Korean movies if you have not seen them yet). Among all the songs, I especially enjoy "Eebyul Joonbee by Kim Jo Han" & "Big Money by X-Teen". So any recommendation would be welcome. Thanks in advance!
Jeon Ji-Hyun Fan
misc@chemstars.com
Monday, June 10, 2002 at 20:28:23 (PDT)
As for me personally, I'd rather suffer from the Hollywood infrastructure which produces talented starts like Harrison Ford or Morgan Freeman, than support the overseas Asian film industry that just produce cookie-cutter, pop-inspired Asian stars. In America, making it in Hollywood comes from a combination of talent, hard work, looks, and TIMING.
As with most of the Asian entertainment machine, it just produces shallow clones of actors.
Look at the East West Players, a prime example of talent for the Asian-American actor, largely unrecognized in the industry. As for Rick Yune, he's just another pretty token face which will fade in a couple of years. Trust me.
If actors like Tony Leong and Philip Rhee have hammered it out in Hollywood for years, what makes a no talent, good looking guy like Rick Yune make it. Makes you say hmmm.
Yeah, I did not watch Rick's Fast and Furious. Even though Snow Falls on Cedars was great (because of Ethan Hawke) - It was becase Rick was not allowed to speak...
Come on - putting a hunk as a represenative to the rest of us Asians struggling in Hollywood is a blaspemy...
EChang
Sunday, June 09, 2002 at 22:47:06 (PDT)
Man of Lha-sa(mancha),
Well artists of the past have always found ways to circumvent censorship, just as burgulars always find ways to get past even the most modern security systems. Not sure if in either case who's the good guy and who's the bad guy however.
I think there are already some writers and directors who may set their art in a different time period--but the issues are thoroughly modern and political. some are even to a point, anachronistic. Hopefully many of the younger members of the audiences are able to pick up on these subtle messages. As long as the censors are sleeping or stupid, artists will find ways to convey their ideas.
Multiplication is better than Division
Tuesday, June 04, 2002 at 22:10:34 (PDT)
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