park chan wook

UPRISING Reveals Two Stills For The Busan-Selected Park Chan-Wook-Produced Period Actioner For Netflix

Netflix unveiled a pair of stills for a first look at Uprising, a new period thriller directed by Kim Sang-man, and produced by legendary auteur Park Chan-wook. Uprising is slated for an opening night world premiere at the 29th Busan International Film Festival on October 2. Set against the chaos of war, Uprising takes viewers on a gripping journey through the lives of two childhood friends-turned-adversaries. The cast of the film includes Gang Dong-won, Park Jeong-min, and Cha Seung-won, along with Kim Shin-rock, Jin Sun-kyu, and Jung Sung-il. Kim directs from a script by Park and co-scribe Shin Chul. Check out the stills below!

Park Chan-Wook’s THE SYMPATHIZER Dares You To Pick A Face In The New Series Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

The newest trailer is out for 7-part HBO Original series drama, The Sympathizer, coming exclusively to streaming service Max on the evening of April 14. Of note is the casting led by Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Phanxine, Vy Le, Ky Duyen, Kieu Chinh, Duy Nguyen, and Alan Trong, along with Emmy-winning actress Sandra Oh and the many, many faces of Academy Award winner Robert Downey Jr., who plays multiple roles in the show. Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, THE SYMPATHIZER is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his new life as a refugee in Los Angeles, where he learns that his spying days aren’t over. Park Chan-wook (Vengeance trilogy) and Don McKellar co-showrun and executive produce the series which also has Downey […]

WAR AND REVOLT: Park Chan-wook Boards Netflix Historical Pic From ‘Midnight F.M.’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook is on board as producer for the tentatively-titled Netflix historical pic, War And Revolt. The project is directed by Kim Sang-man (Midnight F.M.), who has enlisted Broker star Gang Dong-won, and reunites producer Park with actor Park Jung-min following his appearance in the multi-award winning Decision To Leave. Penned by Shin Chul, and producer Park, the film will mark the first time actors Gang and Park get to share the screen. It further also signals producer Park’s first-ever collaboration with Netflix. Gang will take center stage as the enigmatic Cheon-young, a character whose remarkable martial prowess defies his humble origins as a slave. Struggling to break free from the chains of servitude, Cheon-young will be brought to life by Gang’s extraordinary talent, exuding charm and delivering breathtaking action sequences that will leave audiences in awe. In the opposite, actor Park assumes the role of Jong-ryeo, […]

OLDBOY: Remastered, Restored And Returning to Hit People With Hammers And Hard Truths This August

Lee B. Golden III

The most prolific of three known incarnations, Park Chan-wook’s 2003 thriller, Oldboy, has stood the test of time. That said, NEON, now twenty years after its initial release, is prepared to release its remastered and restored version of the dramatic psych action thriller featuring Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae and Kang Hye-jung. Oldboy continues its reign to this day as one of the biggest emerging successes of the early 2000s Asia Extreme era of cinema. Based on the work of manga creators Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, the movie tells of a businessman thrust into a nightmare world of mystery and danger after being kidnapped and given only a week to find his captors. What ensues is a series of shocking reveals that elevates the film’s unnerving tension, all violently boiling up to a conclusion rife with chilling fervor. Par for the course with one of the most memorable one-take action sequences […]

ARROW January Attractions: Arrow Shorts Collection, JSA, Tokyo Fist, We Need To Talk About Kevin, And More!

Arrow Review: Park Chan-Wook’s JOINT SECURITY AREA (JSA), A Lamentation Of Peace Through A Darkly Pragmatic Lens

Lee B. Golden III

It was around 2005 or ’06 when I finally managed to observe the work of director Park Chan-wook with an online buy of Oldboy. At this point, Park had already reveled in the ceremony of his previous work, notably with his 2000 film, Joint Security Area (JSA), which still stands on ceremony to this day with film fans as one of the most highly regarded of the last two decades. Set against the backdrop of intense relations between the North and the South, Park’s tale of murder bodes as more of a multi-layered epic drama going about thirty minutes in; The film is set in Panmunjom where soldiers from both Koreas hold the fort on opposite ends of the ‘Bridge of No Return’, initially introducing Swiss-Korean army major Sophie Jean (Lee Young-ae) to the story as the pointwoman for the Neutral Nations Supervisory Committee in its investigation of what happened […]

THE VENGEANCE TRILOGY: Arrow Announces 4-Disc Blu-Ray Pre-Orders For December UK Release

Lee B. Golden III

Among a raft of new titles announced on Friday, Arrow is reviving a trio of contemporary classic revenge tales for a December 9 re-release of celebrated auteur Park Chan-wook‘s highly-acclaimed gems, The Vengeance Trilogy. The four-disc Blu-Ray collection boasts a massive array of extras with details and purchase info now available at Arrow Films‘ official website, as well as U.K. outlets for Amazon, HMV and Zavvi. This collection presents Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance, the lauded trilogy of revenge films directed by internationally acclaimed Korean director Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden). Sympathy for Mr Vengeance tells the harrowing tale of a young deaf-mute man, Ryu, who kidnaps a wealthy businessman s daughter in an attempt to extort money to pay for his sister’s kidney transplant. A terrible accident sets the child s father on a fateful path of revenge. Oldboy tells the grisly story of Oh Dae-su, a […]

THE BRIGANDS OF RATTLECREEK: Park Chan-Wook And S. Craig Zahler Pair Up For The Long-Gestating Revenge Western

Lee B. Golden III

S. Craig Zahler’s new crime thriller, Dragged Across Concrete, is currently making the rounds in theaters. For anyone keen on his work these days and just recently learning of his latest collab efforts with Park Chan-wook’s now-titled The Brigands Of Rattlecreek, it’s a clear-cut sign that this ought to be just the kind of crowdpleaser at festivals and for niche moviegoers. Collider broke the news this week of the film’s development since making The Black List in 2006 under a different title. Recently acquired by Amazon Studios with Bradley Fischer slated to produce and with Park on board since 2012, The Brigands of Rattlecreek, Park will direct from a script by Zahler which sets in an ultra-violent western tale about a sheriff and a doctor on a mission of vengeance against a gang of bandits who decide to use the cover of a torrential thunderstorm to rob and terrorize the […]

LEAFF 2016 To Host A Park Chan-Wook Retrospective Outlining THE HANDMAIDEN, THE VENGEANCE TRILOGY, And More

Lee B. Golden III

Events in the UK where the London East Asia Film Festival took off late last year are keeping the pace a bit with an upcoming retrospective look into the work of filmmaker Park Chan-wook. At the moment, I am reminded of Hollywood’s once ambitious attempts at translating Park’s work for an American audience with the hopes of adapting the remaining two of the aptly named Vengeance Trilogy. Sure, that probably won’t happen after the demise that was Spike Lee’s Oldboy, but it’s amply good to see Park still on his toes. His latest, The Handmaiden, generated quite the buzz at Cannes this summer with a possible nod for the Palme d’Or before it went to I, Daniel Blake helmer Ken Loach, and has since gone on to a theatrical release in South Korea in June, and with plans for an October 17 U.K. release, LEAFF will be obliging its attendees […]

The Late Project Itoh's GENOCIDAL ORGAN Lands Park Chan-Wook To Direct For Live-Action

Lee B. Golden III

Fans of Park Chan-Wook may be delighted to learn that he’ll be reportedly directing a live-action adaptation of the popular novel-turned-anime slate, Genocidal Organ. The Tracking Board writes that The Sean Daniel Company who is producing the film, is the latest to finally succeed toward a live-action adaptation after efforts from the now-bankrupt Manglobe and currently-running Geno Studio now working on an animated project with Shuko Murase directing for release later this year. Genocidal Organ takes place in post-apocalyptic Sarajevo where the detonation of a homemade device has marked the Bosnian captial ground zero for the remaining world’s downward spiral into chaos and looming genocide. At the center of it all, a mysterious American man by the name of John Paul with intelligence agent Clavis Shepherd now tasked with finding him in order to locate the true heart of darkness: a genocidal organ. The novel was the debut work of […]

Now Available: SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE (2002)

Lee B. Golden III

CJ Entertainment It’s easy to see why Park Chan-Wook has become such a favorite over the years, particularly with his Vengenace trilogy dating back to the 2002 release of Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance. I had only been familiar with the 2003 release of Oldboy, the second of all three Vengeance titles with each film telling a different tale, and so it’s only a matter of time before I set out to catch Lady Vengeance in the process. For now, I speak of the first film which centers on Shin Ha-Kyun as Ryu, a jobless deaf mute who, after a failed attempt to sell his kidney to the black market to acquire the funds for his ailing sister’s own kidney operation, hatches a plan with his girlfriend, Cha, to get the money he needs. However, secrets be damned, the truth unfolds in a plot that deals in kidnapping, murder, mystery, and […]