August 29 - September 5
NAKED EMOTION & HUMAN FRAILTY: THE FILMS OF LEE CHANG-DONG
A key figure of the new generation of Korean cinema, Lee Chang-dong (1954-) is building an undeniably impressive career in his home country & on the international festival circuit. Graduating with a degree in Korean literature, & after working as a novelist, Lee began making films without any prior experience & education in the field. This has obviously had no hold on his skill or flair as a filmmaker: all of his directorial works, including his most recent film, the widely-celebrated Poetry (2010), have been awarded a slew of international accolades, & his films have featured prominently at the Venice & Cannes film festivals.
Lee has held several varied positions of prominence, including as Minister of Culture & Tourism in the South Korean Government from 2003 to 2004, & as a jury member at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. After writing 2 screenplays for other directors, Lee turned to writing & directing his own films in the mid-1990s. The political turmoil that plagues South Korea, as well as the self-doubt, uncertain identities &, above all, the threat of an uncertain future, certainly affect Lee’s films. His cinema is concerned with time, memory, desire & the textures of intertwining lives.
This season of 35mm prints features the first 4 films written & directed by Lee: his debut Green Fish; the drama of a misdirected life, Peppermint Candy; the tale of a forbidden romance, Oasis; & his strikingly emotional return from the realm of government to the cinema, the celebrated & extraordinary Secret Sunshine.
Presented in conjunction with:
August 29
7:00 – SECRET SUNSHINE
Lee Chang-dong (2007) 142 mins
Lee’s extraordinary & intense breakthrough film features Jeon Do-yeon – in her brilliant & fearless Cannes award-winning role – as a mother who has to come to terms with the disappearance & murder of her young child. This potent & often intimate examination of fate, guilt, faith, anger & forgiveness is unflinching in its dissection of the mother’s relentless attempts to find meaning in her tortured experience & grief. One of the great films of the last 10 years, it also won Best Film & Best Director at the 2008 Asian Film Awards. With Song Kang-ho (The Host).
35mm print courtesy of the Korean Film Council.
9:35 – GREEN FISH
Lee Chang-dong (1997) 111 mins
After years of military service, Makdong returns home to find his family (& the family house) in disrepair. To do the right thing & get them back on track, he becomes a gangster. An early film of the Korean New Wave, & indeed Lee’s feature debut, this striking film impresses with its strong characterisations, sense of social justice & visual style (alternating tenderness & violent flourishes). The film was a hit with both audiences & critics – doing excellent local box office and winning a Dragon & Tigers award at the 1997 Vancouver Film Festival.
35mm print courtesy of the Korean Film Council.
September 5
7:00 - PEPPERMINT CANDY
Lee Chang-dong (1999) 129 mins
Lee’s 2nd feature tells the story of Yong-ho’s life against a background of historical & culturally significant Korean events, conflating the fate of an everyman with that of his country. Lee’s film aches as it travels through time & across space, emerging as a poignant tale of a life that somehow ended up as a mess of broken dreams. Filled with loss, desperation & a search for self-worth, it features a notably delicate attention to sound. With Sol Kyung-gu & Moon So-ri.
35mm print courtesy of the Korean Film Council.
9:20 – OASIS
Lee Chang-dong (2002) 132 mins
Transgressive & disturbing in equal measure, Lee’s powerful film is a love story revolving around 2 young people who have been abandoned by families unwilling to give them the affection & attention they require. Gong-ju (Moon So-ri) is a woman whose life has been paralysed by cerebral palsy. Jong-du (Sol Kyung-gu) is a repugnantly obnoxious man, possibly intellectually disabled. The 2 meet, he sexually assaults her, & a passionate bond develops. Lee deftly conjures a dense social context for his lovers. Unflinchingly moving, it won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2002 Venice Film Festival.
35mm print courtesy of the Korean Film Council.
Backdrops:
Lee Chang-Dong
SECRET SUNSHINE
GREEN FISH
PEPPERMINT CANDY
OASIS