There has been a lot of talk of late about Korean cinema heading into a Second Wave, comparable to the boom several years ago that witnessed the emergence of such by now internationally renowned auteurs as Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, Kim Ki-duk, and Kim Ji-woon, and that saw films such as The Host (2006) and Oldboy (2003) become not only cult classics, but also massive box office successes, not to mention international trend-setters in their respective genres. Admittedly, much of this hype focuses on a fresh outlook that the new generation of filmmaking talent in Korea is thought to collectively represent, which loosely distinguishes them from the auteurs in whose shadows they work. This outlook, while still committed to high production-value and innovative technique, is alleged to be one that is more amenable to low-budget production and less reliant on big investments from the major Korean studios. More pointedly, these new talents are emerging at a time when the Korean film industry is exploring more flexible and financially feasible means to produce films. And so the hype concerning a possible Second Wave is largely if not primarily focused on associating this new generation of filmmakers with a fresh set of filmmaking strategies – strategies that promise to bring an independent-minded sensibility into closer alignment with the prevailing interests of major Korean studios and distributors.
Nevertheless, as intriguing as the question of a new Korean cinema can be when properly flushed out, the excitement about this new generation of filmmakers reaches deeper than a strictly market-oriented view can hope to capture, and is ultimately rooted in the quality of the films that are being debuted. Simply put, these are films to get excited about. The stylistic and thematic range alone should turn heads. There is Lee Kyoung-mi’s complete overhaul of the romantic comedy, Crush and Blush (2008), and Noh Young-seok’s Daytime Drinking (2008), which weaves an ensemble comedy piece through the everyday ritual consumption of Korea’s national drink, soju. Park Dae-min’s detective story Private Eye (2009), meanwhile, moves almost entirely outside of the horizon of modern crime-thrillers, returning to the classical era of Sherlock Holmes-styled whodunit. Lee Seong-han’s Spare (2008) has, in turn, quite radically revised the gangster genre, putting it in dialogue with traditional Korean theatre. And for a meticulously stylized gangster film, there is Kim Ki-duk’s protégé Jang Hun, who has come out with Rough Cut (2008). On the other side of the spectrum entirely is Yang Ik-june’s gritty, character-driven ‘anti-hero’ gangster film Breathless (2008). And finally, leading the pack is the second highest grossing film in Korea last year, Na Hong-jin’s masterful suspense film The Chaser (2008), the rights to which have already been bought up by Warner Bros. who have hired none other than William Monahan to adapt it for the Hollywood screen (Monahan won the Academy award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2006 for his adaptation of Infernal Affairs (2002), The Departed). These are all debut films, which means that regardless of how critics decide to sketch the broader trend, South Korean cinema is currently experiencing a promising explosion of creative activity.
And while my inclination is to emphasize the consistency of Korean cinema over the past decade – each year, regardless of the numbers, Korean filmmakers have been coming out with future-classics, films with real staying power – and while, above all, I can’t easily pinpoint any definitive stylistic or thematic break between these two generations of filmmakers, I still think that the ‘Second Wave’ kind of hype that has accompanied the success of these new talents, if nothing else, does help shine a light on their actual films. Moreover, it can ultimately help take these new talents out of the shadows of their predecessors, and get their films greater exposure in the international film markets. All signs indicate that this is already happening, and in the coming days and weeks as the dust settles over this year's Fantasia film festival, it will be time to examine in greater depth what each of these debut films has yielded. In the meantime, believe the hype.
All of the debut films listed here are screening at this year's Fantasia film festival.
For screening dates & times go to: http://www.fantasiafest.com/2009/
