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- The Yellow Sea (Korean Films at Cannes 2011)
- by JU Sung-chul / May 06, 2011
- Un Certain Regard Directed by NA Hong-jin Cast HA Jung-woo, KIM Yun-seok, JO Seong-ha
The success of <The Chaser> has lingered in the aftermath for a long time. Since the huge hit of <The Chaser>, a number of thriller genre films, <The Man from Nowhere>, <I Saw Devil> and <The Unjust> have been introduced and the desire of directors and actors on making a firmer and stronger films has been a trend in the Korean industry. And <The Yellow Sea> seems to complete the trend and flow in the industry at peak done by NA Hong-jin himself, who started the trend.Gu-nam (HA Jung-woo) who drives a taxi in Yanbian, China, living in a desperate situation with debts and a wife who went to Korea 6 months ago to earn money. Meeting Myun (KIM Yun-seok) at a gambling room, Gu-nam is offered a job to kill a man in Korea which will pay off his debt. So he decides to cross the Yellow Sea in hopes of finding his wife and paying off his debt. From then on, the storyline goes almost into real time as similar as NA did in his debut film <The Chaser>. While Jung-ho runs through the city night-long to stop a murder in <The Chaser>, <The Yellow Sea> follows Gu-nam practicing several times for planning his hit and chasing the traces of his wife at the same time almost in real time. So, the tension increased by employing the real time technique is one of the crucial elements making up NA’s style.The most different aspect between <The Chaser> and <The Yellow Sea> or the most impressive virtue of <The Yellow Sea> is a unfamiliarized viewpoint. Gu-nam has no longing to go to Korea, no relatives or memories, and doesn’t even listen to Korean music. No sense of belonging to his “Homeland” and Korea is a just dirty land to him, where his innocent wife got lured and into having an affair.So, compelling violent scenes in the film are not horrible moments, rather, the most horrible moment is the bewildered feeling of desolation when he looks up a map to find a way to Ulsan in the mountain covered with snow as being chased by police. The film follows how Gu-nam changes in a desperate situation and adapts to it to survive. Who else would treat their characters with as much brutality? <The Yellow Sea> goes the full distance.Interview with NA Hong-jinQ: You started to prepare the production of <The Yellow Sea> right after <The Chaser>.
A: I was thinking of having a rest for a while, but one of my seniors told me, “keep working, you are young.” So, I felt to do something. But, I didn’t have a special interest in the matter of Yanbian or the ethnic Koreans. Using <A Murderer> as its working title and as a research process went on, I realized the atmosphere and reality of the society over there.Q: What was your first impression on Yanbian? How did you research about the ethnic Koreans?A: I just picked up a backpack and went to Yanbian by train. And then I lived there for 2 months. I had to sit long in a stifle train to get there, like the scene Gu-nam sleeping in a train to Dalian, during the long travel, I was able to feel something an overall mood or emotion. And I was more surprised upon arriving Yanbian, because I imagined something “yellowish” like “the Yellow Sea”, but it was grayish all over the city. But it seemed to make me more interesting. I begun to listen to ordinary people there, they looked to me at the first time, as we met more often and drink together, they begun to open and told me many stories.Q: How was the production in China?A: In fact, the portion of the scenes shot in Yanbian is not that much in the film. Due to an unexpected situation, we moved to Qiqihar, 2 hours from Harbin, to shoot the most of the scenes. There are many ethnic Koreans living in the city too, the city has more decorations and a more cinematic feeling like noir than Yanbian.Q: While preparing <The Yellow Sea>, were there any images or instant strong impressions you felt or that captured you?A: I was captivated by the eating scenes. I think all basic instincts come from a matter of eating after all. For example, the scene while long waiting for the crucial moment, Gu-nam goes to a convenient store to eat a cup noodle, the scene when he devours kimchi from the refrigerator after starving a couple of days, and the scene where Myun and his team eat beef. Those eating scenes still remain fresh in my mind.Q: How Gu-nam ended up in the Southern city of Korea, Ulsan, from China remains unexplained?A: People usually assume that the illegal immigrants might end up in Inchon, or Gunsan, the western cities of Korea. But that wasn’t true. Due to too many coast guards in the west, many illegal immigrants usually go around to the south. Also, there is an intention not to inform the illegal immigrants of their destination. They have to stay about 10 days stuck in a fish room (a storage room for fish caught) from China to Ulsan. I heard once that all illegal immigrants died from suffocation due to the fish room window being mistakenly closed.Q: From the scene Myun steps into the hotel room naked, with a violent expression.A: I wanted to make that scene something odd by combining a viewpoint shot with a third point of view. I wanted to change the entire tone of the film from that scene, like a flash moment that changes the track, and replaces it with another emotion by getting removing reality from the film. It looks a little too excessive, but I must have the scene to explain the nature of Myun character. I wanted to make the scene like one from an old samurai film or yakuza film. I was told the scene reminds people of <2001: Space Odyssey> when Myun picks up a bone, instead of an axe.Q: It looks like there were many different styles in the action sequences?A: I worked with YOO Sang-sub, a martial art director from the Seoul Action School, once again after <The Chaser>. His contribution to <The Yellow Sea> was huge, so a third component of this film was YOO’s. Q: While working on <The Yellow Sea>, did you ever think you would do what you didn’t do or finish from <The Chaser>? A: Never, it’s like an already finished game. I rather thought that I’d never repeat what I did in <The Chaser>. The actors are the same, HA Jung-woo, KIM Yoon-suk, but I thought there was no similarity between the two movies. And I thought that I only needed to focus on <The Yellow Sea> itself.Korean Films at Cannes Film Festival
The Day He Arrives
Dir. HONG SangsooUn Certain RegardDirector HONG Sangsoo’s latest work <The Day He Arrives> follows a regional college professor and occasional filmmaker on a trip to Seoul, taking place mostly in the Bukchon district of Seoul, which is known for its traditional Korean-style houses.
The Yellow Sea
Dir. NA Hong-jinUn Certain RegardDirector NA Hong-jin’s second feature <The Yellow Sea> seems to complete a trend and flow of thriller genre films in the industry at peak done by NA Hong-jin himself, who started the trend since his previous film <The Chaser>.
ARIRANG
Dir. KIM Ki-dukUn Certain RegardDirector KIM Ki-duk returns with his first documentary <ARIRANG> after his latest feature <Dream>(2008). Through <Arirang> he can understand human beings, be thankful of nature, and acknowledge his life as it is now.
Ghost
Dir. Dahci MaShort Film in CompetitionLEE Jeong-jin (aka Dahci MA)’s <Ghost> talks about slums that are about to be re-developed where a rape murder case occurs, featuring grotesque looks, mixing up foreign factors that refuse to be put together.
Fly by Night
Dir. SON Tae GyumCinefondationSON Tae-gyum questions the true meaning of sexual identity through the eyes of a young boy experiencing a difficult adolescence.
Finis Operis
Dir. MOON Byoung-GonInternational Critics' Week"If you are willing to survive, you will die. But if you're willing to die, you will survive." As captured in this Korean saying spoken by Admiral...
In Front of the House
Dir. Lee Tae-HoInternational Critics' WeekThe film starts off like any other romantic movie about two inseparable love birds in their twenties...
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