Park Chan-Wook

Park grew up in Seoul and studied philosophy at Sogang University, where he started a cinema-club called the 'Sogang Film Community' and published a number of articles on contemporary cinema. Originally intending to be an art critic, upon seeing Vertigo he resolved to try to become a filmmaker. After graduation, he wrote articles on film for journals, and soon became an assistant director of films like Kkamdong, directed by Yu Yeong-Jin, and Watercolor painting in a Rainy Day, directed by Kwak Jae-yong (My Sassy Girl).

His debut feature film was The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream (1992), and after five years, he made his second film Trio. Park's early films were not successful, and he pursued a career as a film critic to make a living.

In 2000, Park directed Joint Security Area, which was a great success both commercially and critically, even surpassing Kang Je-gyu's Shiri as the most-watched film ever made in South Korea. This success made it possible for him to make his next film more independently - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the result of this creative freedom.

After winning the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for the film OldBoy, a journalist asked, "in your film, why is the vengeance repeating?". According to Park, he decided to make three consecutive films with revenge as the central theme. Park said his films are about the utter futility of vengeance and how it wreaks havoc on the lives of everyone involved.

His so-called Vengeance Trilogy consists of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, OldBoy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. It was not originally intended to be a trilogy. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, shortened to Lady Vengeance, was distributed by Tartan Films for American theatrical release in April 2006.

After the DVD release of Lady Vengeance in the UK, the three films were re-released, packaged together into a 6 disc boxset with a 2 disc special edition of each film. These included previously unavailable additional features including a 3.5 hour documentary on the making of OldBoy and the "Fade to Black and White" version of Lady Vengeance. A "deluxe" version of the boxset was also released, packaged in a box with the same design as the boxes used in OldBoy, and in addition to the films, contained an OldBoy hammer/bottle-opener and Lady Vengeance gun poster.

Despite extreme violence in his films, Park is regarded as one of the most popular film directors in Korea, with three of his last five feature films (Joint Security Area, OldBoy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) all drawing audiences of over 3 million. This makes Park the director of three films in the thirty all-time highest grossing films in South Korea. (9th, 29th, 26th respectively as of January 2007).

In addition to being a film director and screenwriter, Park is also a film critic with several published editions to his name. none have been translated into English as yet.

Famed American director Quentin Tarantino is an avowed fan of Park. As the head judge in the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, he personally pushed for Park's OldBoy to be awarded the Palme d'Or (the honor eventually went to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11). OldBoy garnered the Grand Jury Prize, the second-highest honor in the competition. Tarantino also regards Park's Joint Security Area to be one of "the top twenty films made since 1992."

He was offered the chance to remake The Evil Dead but he turned it down.

In 2006, he was the member of official section jury at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival.

In February 2007, Park won the Alfred Bauer prize at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. The award, named after the festival's founder and in praise of movies opening up new perspectives, went to Park for his film, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK.



News | What members say | Filmography

Park Chan-Wook - news / articles

Park Chan-Wook - what members say

Park Chan-Wook - filmography

5 most recent films

Thirst - Blu-ray - 3.0 stars
Thirst - 3.0 stars
Cinema 16 - World Short Films - 3.5 stars
I'm a Cyborg - 3.5 stars
I'm A Cyborg - Blu-ray - 3.0 stars

5 highest-rated films

OldBoy - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
Sympathy for Mr Vengeance - 3.5 stars
OldBoy - 3.5 stars
Lady Vengeance - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars
Sympathy for Mr Vengeance - 3.5 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Cinema 16 - World Short Films - 3.5 stars
Thirst - 3.0 stars
Thirst - Blu-ray - 3.0 stars
Three Extremes - 3.0 stars
I'm A Cyborg - Blu-ray - 3.0 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Song Kang-ho - 11 times - show films
Yeong-Ae Lee - 7 times - show films
Choi Min-Sik - 6 times - show films
Kang Hye-jeong - 5 times - show films
Ha-Kyun Shin - 5 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Fruit Chan - 2 times - show films
C - 2 times - show films
Chan-wook Park - 2 times - show films
Takashi Miike - 2 times - show films
Andrea Arnold - 1 times - show films