Three years after "Parasite" won the highest awards in Cannes and the Oscars, Korean movies once again shined in Cannes.
"The Determination to Break Up" won the highest score of 3.2 points in the Cannes screen, and Park Chan-wook won the Best Director Award.
Song Kang-ho won the Cannes Film Emperor with Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Broker", the first in Korean film history and the fourth in East Asia.
The other three Cannes emperors in East Asia were Ge You, Liang Chaowei and Liu Le Youmi
Cannes, which has returned to normal from the epidemic, also conveys a message: the film industry is recovering, and the art of film has not yet declined.
At this moment, the internal entertainment is plunged into endless nostalgia.
Taiwan puppet remakes, re-screenings of old films, withdrawal of new films... The more pressing question than when domestic films will return to Cannes is when will the film market recover?
01 It's a korean movie again
After "Parasite" won big victories at Cannes and the Oscars, Korean entertainment did not stop moving forward.
In terms of marketing, Korean filmmakers and Netflix cooperated to produce the global hit "Squid Game". Actress Jeong Ho-yeon also managed to break into Hollywood, and her next work was the series "Disclaimer" directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
In terms of awards, Korean filmmakers continue to compete in the three major film festivals.
In 2020, Hong Changxiu won the Best Director Award at the Berlin Film Festival for "The Woman Who Ran Away". In 2021, Bong Joon-ho served as chairman of the jury of the main competition section of the Venice Film Festival, the first time a Korean director has held this position.
In 2022, in Cannes, which is gradually returning to blood, Park Chan-wook and Song Kang-ho have won awards one after another, and Song Kang-ho has also set a precedent and won the first Cannes film emperor in South Korea.
After "Parasite", Bong Joon-ho became more and more courageous in Hollywood. His new film was co-starred with Warner, with science fiction themes joined by famous Hollywood stars such as Robert Pattinson and Mark Ruffalo.
It is foreseeable that Korean films will occupy an increasingly important position in the world film industry.
Why Korean movies? In fact, a large part of the reason why Korean entertainment actively goes to sea is the market.
After the promulgation of the Film Promotion Law in the 1990s, Korean films blossomed and their quality soared. In the past twenty years, the degree of industrialization has been very high, especially in the field of genre films, and the development is very mature.
Jiang Digui's "Life and Death Spy Change"
But their market size is not large. Even though the per capita number of movies has reached 4 times (before the epidemic), ranking among the top in the world, and the people have developed the habit of watching movies, the total population of South Korea is only 51.75 million (2021 data), and the ceiling is very low.
They not only have the ability and freedom to "go out" type creation, but also need overseas markets and funds. In contrast, the domestic film market, which can be self-sufficient, lacks market pressure and urgency to go to sea.
Initially, the overseas market that South Korea targeted was China. In the last decade, Korean artists came to China to develop, and It is not uncommon for Chinese and Korean co-productions to make two films. But the "honeymoon period" ended in 2016.
After losing the Chinese market, South Korea turned its focus to the United States – idol groups appeared in Coachella, actively cooperated with foreign streaming dramas, and movies attacked the Oscars.
The girl group Aespa performing on Coachella
Behind this is the support of policies and the help of consortiums - South Korea's funding and policy assistance to the film industry, as well as the efforts of film companies such as CJ in distribution and award public relations.
At the same time, there is also the east wind of the times.
Rising streaming media such as Netflix need to expand their global business, spread money, and collect more fish. As of 2020, Netflix has invested 770 billion won (about 4.2 billion yuan) in Korean film and television content; at the end of February last year, Netflix announced that it would invest 550 billion won (about 3.2 billion yuan) to produce Korean dramas.
Hollywood has also become more diverse and inclusive, constantly absorbing talents from all over the world, the market for Asian themes is getting bigger and bigger, european and American audiences are more receptive to subtitles, and Korean movies have been pushed onto the historical stage.
The high demands of the audience are also forcing the progress of Korean filmmakers.
Park Chan-wook said in an interview at Cannes that Korean audiences are always very harsh and not satisfied with specific types of movies, even thrillers, but also include touching, showing social problems, and the audience urges filmmakers.
02 Nostalgic internal entertainment
At this moment, the internal entertainment is addicted to archaeology.
11 years ago, "The Biography of Zhen Huan" was often on the hot search; variety shows and interviews such as "You Are My God" and "Sheep Placenta" were turned over and spread repeatedly; Sun Yanzi and Luo Dayou's nostalgic concerts brushed the circle of friends.
The recent popular stars are also from the last era. Liu Ruihong became the top stream by relying on fitness live broadcasting, and Wang Xinling's masterpiece "Love You" 18 years ago became popular again.
It's like a subconscious psychological defense. As we face an uncertain future, those memories from the past seem to provide some sense of security.
However, entertainment can only be obtained through archaeology, which also shows the "backwater" of internal entertainment, and there is no fresh and excellent work that can provide spiritual satisfaction.
The variety show that lost the draft is no longer lively, and a blockbuster drama in the drama market is still a matter of the beginning of the year; new films have been withdrawn, and the cinema has directly spent the winter.
On the day of the Cannes awards, the mainland film market grossed less than 30 million in a single day, and among the films released, only one new film was released , "Doraemon: Nobita Universe Small War 2021", which was released on May 28. At the same time last year, the single-day box office reached 170 million, and the types of films released were more abundant - "Fast and Furious 9", "A Quiet Place 2", "I want us to be together".
At present, a number of new films in the Dragon Boat Festival have also announced the postponement of release, leaving only one "Crush orange sheng Huainan".
In 2019 before the epidemic, we also had "The Party at The South Station" shortlisted for Cannes, and with the blessing of famous directors and stars, the discussion and attention of the movie and Cannes were quite high. We also saw the work in the cinema later.
At the beginning of this year, "Hidden in the Dust" was shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival, but due to the epidemic, the main creator could not communicate at the film festival site, and later the film was withdrawn.
In the three years of the epidemic, we have fewer and fewer reporters reporting on the front lines of the three major film festivals, fewer and fewer filmmakers going to the market, and the audience's attention and discussion have become lower and lower.
We seem to be getting farther and farther away from the movie, and the movie is getting farther and farther away from us.
But it's not without good news. Young director Chen Jianying's "A Cliff Rises by the Sea" won the Palme d'Or for Best Short Film, and "Di'er" directed by Li Jia won the second prize in the cornerstone unit.
When she took the stage to receive the award, Chen Jianying's speech was moving. She thanked the producer for the freedom and trust she had given her, and she said, "Thanks to the land of my motherland China, what I describe in the film is actually the poetry and affection I feel when I stand on the land of China." ”
Grasp the stage, stand on the stage, make a sound, it is powerful, it can be heard. If we give up, reject, and leave the stage, then it is naturally someone else who stands up and speaks.
Park Chan-wook's speech when he received the award was also moving.
"After the epidemic, the borders are closed, and it is difficult for everyone to communicate with each other. Everybody's scared, the theater is empty, it's tricky for us, but now maybe everyone will slowly return to the cinema... We will also overcome the fear of entering the theater, we will return to the theater! ”
Hopefully we'll be back in cinema too.