LEE Myung-se is considered far and away the best stylist of the Korean cinema world. Lee set his foot in the door by working on the directing team of [LEE Jang-ho], and worked as an assistant director on movies by [KIM Soo-yong], [BAE Chang-ho], and other directors. He was recognized for his extraordinary style and directing skills and grabbed international attention with <Gagman>(1988), starring [AHN Sung-ki] and [HWANG Cine], which the British film critic Tony Rayns a...More

LEE Myung-se is considered far and away the best stylist of the Korean cinema world. Lee set his foot in the door by working on the directing team of [LEE Jang-ho], and worked as an assistant director on movies by [KIM Soo-yong], [BAE Chang-ho], and other directors. He was recognized for his extraordinary style and directing skills and grabbed international attention with <Gagman>(1988), starring [AHN Sung-ki] and [HWANG Cine], which the British film critic Tony Rayns also praised as “one of the most unique debut films in the history of filmmaking.” Bringing original imagination and a beautiful sense of formality to each of his films, LEE fused his actors’ most familiar sides and the least expected aspects in each piece of work. <Nowhere to Hide>(1999), which one of the cast, [JANG Dong-gun], picks as a turning point in his acting career, received the highest acclaim from critics in Korea as well as overseas and was the most loved Korean film among foreign cinephiles before [PARK Chan-wook] and [KIM Ki-duk] came on to the international scene. <Duelist>(2005) and <M>(2006), which showcased [GANG Dong-won], known to be one of the actors that have the most cartoon character-like appearance, illustrate the quintessential beauty of imagery and formality that are uniquely LEE’s. Less