The director’s second film has its New York City premiere!
The Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center was sold out last night for the showing of South Korean movie Secretly,Greatly. The moviegoers assembled together comprised a nice mix of females and males of all ages, although the females showed more enthusiasm for getting to see flower boy actors Kim Soo Hyun, Lee Hyun Woo, and Park Ki Woong on screen. This was the first time the film was being shown to an international audience according to the festival folks and the director who greeted us just before the lights were dimmed to start the viewing.
The director actually sat down among the crowd to watch the reactions of the audience. The moments that really had the crowd reacting the loudest were the comedic ones. This film is pure comedic gold in it’s first half with Kim Soo Hyun prat falling like a champ in order to keep his undercover identity as the village fool. I had a personal fangirl moment when JYP Entertainment actor Choi Woo-shik first made his appearance as a trouble making high schooler.
Then the film hits its second half and the reality of being a North Korean spy comes into the story line. The action sequences were cool, especially the rooftop chases. The inner conflict of the main characters is portrayed with sympathy. I won’t lie, I shed a few tears during the movie.
After the movie ended, Director Jang came back onto the stage for a Q & A session. The MC compared the film to the director’s first (Bedeviled). While the tones of the two films were different, the director still kept his directing style consistent especially when dealing with the emotional conflicts of the characters. The director was surprised at this since in South Korea, the two movies were viewed as being so different.
Jang Cheol-soo went on to reveal that he was offered the job of directing this film while the web cartoon was being adapted into a screenplay. Continuing with the analysis of his two films, the MC pointed out how both films deal with two different kinds of insular communities (trust me that you’d rather live in the Secretly,Greatly village than the isolated island in Bedeviled). The director agreed and also added that both films deal with individuals that are trapped and can’t live the lives that they truly want.
The subject of the popularity of using North Korean spies as the main characters in films was brought up (The Berlin File, another film screened at the 2013 NYAFF this year also has North Korean spies). The director shared that when they were developing this movie there were a total of 7 other projects that dealt with North Korean spies. All the spies were different but the way these characters are treated or viewed has changed in the South Korean movie industry. There’s been a shift at giving these characters respect.
The director wanted to show the differences between the North Korean and South Korean mentality as he felt that North Koreans showed their pride and patriotism more. The audience was then allowed to ask questions. The first dealt with the end of the movie and if the director had shot an alternate ending. Jang Cheol-soo did not shoot one but he felt he left the ending ambiguous enough that the audience could draw their own conclusion.
Another moviegoer asked about the differences in the reaction of the South Korean crowd and our foreign one. In South Korea there was more reaction to scenes that dealt with the young actors, especially the Kim Soo Hyun shirtless scene. The director named Kim Ki Duk and Kim Ji Woon as directors that he looked up to and influenced him.
Jang Cheol-soo also felt that the web cartoon format was an excellent way to share great stories with an audience. Having a web cartoon adapted into a movie helped expand their reach to a bigger audience. The writers help fill in the space of many film-writers that leave for a better paying job in television writing. It took about 3 years total to finish the film from script writing to post production. The movie was actually shot in Incheon because they couldn’t find the kind of setting they wanted in Seoul.
The director was nice enough to take pictures with fans even though by then it was past 11pm at night. The 247 Asian Media staff would like to thank the 2013 NYAFF and Subway Cinema for inviting us to attend and cover this event.
SOURCE: 247 Asian Media
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