kdrama and kpop

By Gary C.W. Chun


Hollywood has already recognized the achievements of director Kim Jee-woon in its own way. His atmospheric box-office horror hit of 2003, "A Tale of Two Sisters," has been remade in English into "The Uninvited" that stars Elizabeth Banks and Emily Browning and is scheduled to hit theaters in late January.

Kim followed up "Sisters" with 2005's noir-like "A Bittersweet Life," and the director brought the film to the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival.

He returned this year with "The Good The Bad The Weird," his entertaining homage to Sergio Leone's classic "spaghetti Westerns," in particular the Clint Eastwood classic "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."

Festival Executive Director Chuck Boller described the film as Kim's "kim-chee Western."

Kim and one of the film's stars, Jung Woo-sung, flew to Hawaii on Friday morning and, after some late-night karaoke, according to Boller, were ready to appear the following morning at a press conference at the Garden Terrace of the Halekulani Hotel.

There, Jung was presented with the festival's Achievement in Acting Award, and Kim received the Maverick Award. They later attended a screening of "The Good The Bad The Weird," followed by a reception at the O Lounge.

Kim has built a reputation as the rare filmmaker whose projects consistently win over both audiences and critics.

The man obviously likes to work in different genres, but he half-jokingly said that, after the taxing experience of making his last film on location, "my next film will have no horses, no three main characters, and not another Western."

Later, in a private interview, Kim quickly answered "Yes!" and laughed when asked if this was the most difficult film he had ever done.

"With this movie, there were two big problems that I was constantly dealing with, mainly creative and budget concerns. ... I know that Woody Allen has said that, 'If I can get 60 percent of what I originally wanted from making a movie, I'm happy.' I'm not trying to compare myself to him, but a director's satisfaction is not necessary for a movie like this one, that was mainly made for a large audience."

But Kim did enjoy trying to replicate Leone's camerawork and artistic sensitivity, as well as the performances that he got from his lead actors (who also included popular stars Song Kang-ho and Lee Byung-hun).

"I gave three different missions to my actors," he said. "With Kang-ho as The Weird, his comic role as the robber had to carry the plot throughout the movie. The Bad, as played by Byung-hun, had to bring tension and emotion to his role as the killer. And with Woo-sung, I wanted him to bring a sense of elegance and 'visual pleasure' as The Good as represented by the bounty hunter."

Source: Honolulu Star Bulletin

http://www.starbulletin.com/features/featuresstories/20081020_hiff_pt2.html