Korean New Wave

The resistance movement arose in June 1987. The people rebelled against the military dictatorship that had continued for 26 years since 1961 and won themselves a system of direct election of the president. However, at the presidential election in December of that year, the opposition party’s candidates divided, extending the military dictatorship. With the extension of the military dictatorship, full democracy and freedom were postponed, but the great momentum could not be stopped. Korean society was rapidly changing.

The 6th revision in the Motion Pictures Act in 1986 liberalizing foreign film imports made it possible for foreign companies to conduct the film business in Korea. This action meant film companies in Hollywood could distribute films directly in Korea and earn profit, unlike before when only Korean film companies imported and distributed films. In September 1988, an American distributor UIP released Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne, 1987), Korea’s first directly distributed film. Rigorous censorship and absurd film policies nearly destroyed the foundation of the film industry during the military dictatorship, so the people in the Korean film industry felt threatened by American film companies’ free access to the industry. They resisted the showing of Fatal Attraction and demanded the blockage of direct distribution and revision in the Motion Pictures Act. The people of the Korean film industry who resisted direct distribution by Hollywood were joined by the anti-American movement of the Korean intellectual society following the June Democracy Movement in ‘87 and grew powerful. The June Democracy Movement and resistance against direct distribution by Hollywood introduced the Korean intellectual world and the art world’s progressive and nationalistic view, which later became an important background in understanding the emergence of the Korean New Wave.

Around this time, a new movement appeared in the Korean film industry. A new generation seeking to recreate the relationship between films and society by utilizing the expansion of materials and topics since democratization and contemplating on the art of cinematography aroused. Some of the most famous directors of this generation include Park Kwang-su, Jang Sun-woo, Chung Ji-young and Lee Myung-se. They tried to reinterpret the historical events that were considered taboo during the military dictatorship, including conflicts between the leftists and the rightists before and after the Korean War or the changed significance of the Vietnam War. They also attempted to draw prospect towards the changes in Korean society that continued to experience suppression and create an aesthetic convention for Korean cinematography that was appropriate for the new era. In the history of Korean films, they are called the Korean New Wave.

"If Park Kwang-su and Jang Sun-woo never gave up experimenting with cinematic language while engaging sensitive social issues, Chung Ji-young relied on traditional cinematic language to address important issues of modern Korean history. Meanwhile, Lee Myung-se focused on exploring the essence of film media outside the ground of social criticism. So, the Korean New Wave Directors are difficult to group into a single disposition or tendency outside the large category of auteur/art films."
- Jeong Jonghwa

Park Kwang-su during the 1990s had been of a preservative for Korean films and the label of an inventor. In terms of style, he was an explorer who experimented with various methods. And in terms of content, he was an intellectual who dug deep into the irony of Korean society without making any compromises. In “Chil-su and Man-su,” he connected the two characters’ tragic family history with Korean history and expanded the domain of Chungmuro. With “Black Republic,” he became one of the top figures in the Korean film industry with new cinematic aesthetic. “To the Starry Island” was a fine piece that comforted the tragedy of national division with resolving bitterness and making efforts for coexistence. And “A Single Spark” was a masterpiece which was a result of the encounter of an artist’s belief and the spirit of the times.

- Lee Dongjin

While majoring in sculpture at Seoul National University, he joined the cinema club ‘Yallashyeong’ and started to make films. Afterwards, he also did some theater work. 

He studied in France and graduated from Ecole Supérieure d'Études Cinématographiques (School of Film Studies) and made his debut in 1988 with Chil-su and Man-su (Won the 2nd runner up prize for the Young Critic’s Award at the 42nd Locarno International Film Festival).

He directed films such as Black Republic (1990, winner of the Judges’ Award at the 12th Festival of the Three Continents), Berlin Report (1991), To the Starry Island (1993), A Single Spark (1995) and The Uprising (1998).

His movies portray heavy social nature in picturesque Mise-en-scene. He preferred cinematic intervention into reality from a progressive position, but later, moved towards a more in-depth perspective on modern Korean history.

"Man-su’s father is an unconverted long-term political prisoner. So, he’s intimidated by the conflicts caused by division like red complex. However, Chil-su’s character is a combination of social consumption which appeared after the Fifth Republic and trauma due to foreign powers. You can assume I portrayed the issues of Korean society through these two characters."
- Park Kwang-su 

"Black Republic was planned from the black color of a coal mining village. A wanted political activist enters a society that is a collective image of the black land. He meets a woman there and learns something, and by the time he leaves the village, snow has covered the mines, turning it white. That was the initial motif. But the film company kept delaying the filming because there were afraid it wouldn’t sell, and I had to begin shooting in April. I lost the snow scene."
- Park Kwang-su

"Berlin Report is the starkest film of Park Kwang-su and it conveys the director’s message to the world. Park is asking what is right when caught between the Western world and Asia, the South and North Korea, and love and lust."
– Lee Hyoin

"What I wanted to say was that the divided state of Korea isn’t just an issue for Korea, but it’s also a global issue."
– Park Kwang-su

"The theme of my films is the ‘current state of Korean society.’ Because that is what I’m trying to portray, the issue of the division keeps appearing on my films."
- Park Kwang-su 



 

"The film was about Jeon Taeil, who was a real person, but rather than just covering his life, I wanted to compare the intellectuals of the 60s and 70s to current intellectuals and ask what they were going to do about this."
- Park Kwang-su 

"Jang Sun-woo is probably the director who has stirred the most controversy and created most topics of issue in the history of Korean films. He had the freedom that allowed him to make fun of social taboos and struggled continuously with society and himself. … His films were always avant-garde, political in the comprehensive sense, and represented a cross section of reality caught between satire and criticism."
- Kim Hyeongseok 

Jang Sun-woo was arrested in the mid-1970s for protesting against the dictatorship, drafted into the army and imprisoned. Afterwards, he worked as a film critic and aesthetic activist, and in 1986, he debuted as a director by co-directing Seoul Emperor.

He then directed The Age of Success (1988), A Short Love Affair (1990), The Road to Race Track (1992), The Avatamska Sutra (1993), To You from Me (1994), A Petal (1996), Timeless, Bottomless (1998), and Lies (1999). Beyond The Age of Success , which allegorically criticized the success story of the age of capitalism, he captured the everyday lives of the people or double lives of intellectuals rather than directly criticizing reality. Also, affected by the Buddhist view of the world, he often showed a futile perspective. The films he made in the 1990s were always at the center of controversy both inside and outside the Korean film industry. He hasn’t made any films since the failure of the 2002 film “Resurrection of the Little Match Girl,” which took on a massive budget. He is one of the most controversial directors in the Korean film industry. 

"In the beginning, I pursued satire, humor, and allegory. There were outside reasons, such as censorship, but that was also the result of emotional training from being in the outdoor play (Madang play ) for a long time. And even now, I still want to embrace it in a critical manner and portray it in my films again."
- Jang Sun-woo 

"In A Short Love Affair, I focused on the honesty of the portrayal instead of the social or class model or their prospects."
- Jang Sun-woo

"When looking at the world, there is no ultimate objectivity. In other words, there is no objectivity outside the subjective observer. Even in the novel, the literary style showed R’s subjectivity and the narrator’s objectivity simultaneously."
- Jang Sun-woo 

The Road to Race Track (1991)

It is based on the novel with the same title which brought on post-modern controversy in Korean society. After returning to Korea from studying in France, R can’t seem to get used to the reality of Korea’s frustrating society. He plays tug of war concerning sex with J, who wants to stay away from him, unlike in France. Self-reflectivity toward the hypocrisy of intellectuals and the self-critical view in the novel is also portrayed in the film. Beginning with this film, Jang Sun-woo started deeply experimenting with films. 

"I’m not a Buddhist, but I’m fascinated by Buddhism as a philosophical and cognitive system… As long as I continue to believe in the world of Hwaeom which transcends subjectivity and objectivity, accepts both stillness and movement, and pursues tragedy and comedy at the same time, I plan to continue to carry on these type of experiments."
- Jang Sun-woo

"By sticking to his own unique lightness which comes from refusing to be locked in a certain tendency towards ideology, Director Jang Sun-woo is attempting to convey the overall irony of the current era."
– Lee Jeongha

"He falsely believes he is challenging suppression while taking away the reason to fight against suppression by mixing satire or criticism for the betrayal of sincerity with suspicions on sincerity itself."
- Kim Jongyeop

"I hate repeating the same thing. I wiped To you from Me cleanly from my head and started working on A Petal. I never even looked back. I’m only interested in what I’m going to do next. I do my best at all times, and I do that out of desperation."
- Jang Sun-woo

"I started working on this film not only because I wanted to work on this topic. It was more out of my personal and selfish desire to wash myself clean and escape from the weight of Gwangju."
- Jang Sun-woo

Chung Ji-young debuted with Mist Whispers Like Women in 1982. In his early days, he directed a few films with leading female characters. His view of films and society changed because of the changed social atmosphere after the June Democracy Movement, and most of all, after protesting against the direct distribution of Hollywood films. He was devoted to the protest against direct distribution, and in 1990, he received attention for his film regarding Communists who were partisans in South Korea during the Korean War, North Korean Partisan in South Korea. Afterwards, he directed White Badge (1992) about the cruelty of the Korean military in the Vietnam War and their trauma experienced through the war and Life of Hollywood Kid (1994), which criticized the psychological effects of Hollywood films on Koreans. His works in the late 1990s didn’t receive much interest, but his recent films, Unbowed (2011), which criticized the Korean judicial system, and National Security (2012), which exposed the torturous acts carried out by the military government, have put him in the spotlight once again.

"The students questioned how it was possible to portray partisanship as individuals instead of as a group united under a common belief. But I couldn’t agree with that. I don’t think it’s possible for any group or organization to unite only under a common belief. If I were to join such an organization, I would always be skeptical about the organization, trying to grow with it by checking it."
- Chung Ji-young

"In the novel, the concept of mercenary soldiers isn’t quite clear. So, while researching for the film, I thought I should make the government’s intention of using it as a springboard for economic development more apparent and show how participating in a war without any righteous cause could affect the soldiers in the war."
- Chung Ji-young

"South Korea is No. 6 in the world in the direct distribution of Hollywood films, and Seoul provides the second largest profit for Hollywood films in the world. So, what historical foundation were the films of ‘Korea’s Hollywood’ Chungmuro founded on? Director Chung Ji-young’s ‘Life of Hollywood Kid’ is a film of self-examination while following the chronicles of failure, and at the same time, the devastating and degrading yet heart-wrenching sentimentalism of self-criticism of the Chungmuro kids."
- Jeong Seongil 

"I tend to look for universality. I don’t consider an individual’s unique experience or a certain group’s common experience. When telling my story, I leave out the time and historical situation. I might be greedy, but I want them to still exist 100 years from now as a living being by doing do."
- Lee Myung-se

Lee Myung-se is different from the rest of the Korean New Wave directors. Unlike other directors who started filmmaking by intervening critically through social movements or cinematic movements, he developed within the existing Korean film industry and showed an artistic tendency and tendency towards escaping reality. After majoring in film in college, he studied under Director Bae Chang-ho in 1982 and became his assistant director in key films. He debuted with Gagman in 1989 and directed films such as My Bride My Love (1990), First Love (1993), Affliction of Man (1994), Their Last Love Affair (1996), and Nowhere to Hide (1999) in the 1990s. Afterwards, he underwent a 4-year hiatus in the U.S. He directed the Dualist in 2005 and M in 2007. Instead of being a realistic, his films were more stylistic, expressive, and oneiric. These traits made him stand out among the group of Korean film directors during the second half of the 1980s where realism had been the major trend.

"The film ended with Ahn Sung-ki’s narration,“Is all that we see a dream in a dream, or do they just appear like a dream in a dream?” In “Gagman,” Director Lee Myung-se tried to express “the feeling of a mirage of films which must remain a part of the popular arts” and “life and film.”
- Kim Hyeongseok 

"Cheerful rebellion against the dreary reality and the Korean film scene which pays respect to heavy and serious films."
- Kim Hongsuk 

"If Director Bae Chang-ho’s “Our Joyful Young Days” was the most romantic Korean film in the 1980s, that position during the 1990s would be taken by “First Love.”"
- Lee Dongjin 

"I think I try to capture the time that I have lost. I want to capture time by leaving traces of the things that are disappearing."
- Lee Myung-se

During the second half of the 1990s, formal democracy had settled in Korean society. And in 1997, Korea had been faced with a financial crisis that required assistance from the IMF, leading to the emergence of neo-liberalism. Meanwhile, the Korean film industry witnessed rapid growth during the second half of the 1990s and established a new industrial system. The age of Korean blockbusters had arrived along with next-generation directors such as Kang Je-kyu, Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, Kim Jee-woon, Hong Sang-soo, Lee Chang-dong, and Kim Ki-duk. The Korean New Wave came to an end around this time, approximately 10 years after the June Democracy Movement in 1987.

References

이효인, 『한국의 영화감독 13인』, 열린책들, 1994. 외