[Gracious Gold] is the end of Park Chan-wook's "Revenge Trilogy".
In this film, for the first time, he uses women as the protagonist, simplifies the theme of revenge, and bluntly draws a conclusion for "revenge".
After watching it, his wife told him, "This is the best movie written because it's Happy Ending."
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > [kindness of gold] 친절한금자씨 (2005).</h1>
Director: Park Chan-wook
Starring: Lee Young-ae / Choi Min-sik / Kim Shi-ho / Nam Il-woo / Kim Byung-woo / Oh Dae-so
Genre: Thriller/Drama/Crime
Producer: CJ Entertainment, South Korea
Release date: 2005.7.29
[Kindness of gold]
When Park Chan-wook made [Gracious Gold], the audience's first reaction was "How is it revenge again?" Here, director Park needs to explain first, "In fact, change is the eternal theme of my film."
The reason why "revenge" is chosen is because people will have a change in cognition in the process, that is, they have realized that they have become evil, but they have to act evil.
In [I Want Revenge], Song Kang-ho kills his daughter knowing that his death has nothing to do with deaf and mute; in [Old Boy], Liu Ji Tae-ming knows that his sister's death has nothing to do with Choi Min-sik, but still decides to imprison him for 15 years.
[Old Boy]
After realizing evil, people struggle, suffer, and decide to commit evil, which is the theme of Park Chan-wook's film.
In [Gracious Gold], the children's families decide to take revenge on him even though they know that killing Choi Min-sik will not bring the child back to life, and the process does not seem joyful, and the parents are not relieved, but they raise their knives without hesitation.
"After the revenge, the parents eat cake together and have a party. They're happy, or they're just pretending to be happy," is the cruelty Park wants to express.
Similarly, choosing the theme of "abduction" again is also Park Chan-wook's "cruelty".
In [I Want Revenge], the little girl is abducted, and in [Kindness Gold], five children are abducted and killed.
"Killing is a matter of moments, the pain is fleeting, and the pain of snatching a child away from the parents is continuous and more cruel. This can touch the deepest revenge psychology in the human heart. ”
Even in Happy Ending, Park Chan-wook did not miss the opportunity to crush the audience's psychology, and the plot of the children's abduction tape in the film is to highlight this sense of cruelty.
Compared to the first two "Revenge" works, [Gracious Gold] presents many changes, including the choice of female protagonists, the use of a large number of supporting roles, and Choi Min-sik's blank space as a villain.
The whole process of the experiment involved many considerations of Park Chan-wook.
First of all, the female protagonist was previously set by Park Chan-wook, on the one hand, to refute the misunderstanding of his "machismo" in the critics, and on the other hand, out of the advice of his colleagues.
Park Chan-wook considers himself not a "male rights activist", but when [I Want Revenge] was released, some film critics commented that "women are dead, men are taking revenge", causing the outside world to misunderstand him.
At that time, the arrogant Park Chan-wook formulated a female-dominated direction, intending to use his works to attack "rumors".
After Kaneko is released from prison, through the help of his fellow inmates, he gradually perfects his revenge plan, which is Park Chan-wook's unique design, interesting and very fairy-tale.
Park Chan-wook's adventurous spirit is also reflected in this section:
"The heavy use of supporting actors is the most dangerous place for [gracious gold]. The supporting roles are not many but very mixed, the level of acting skills is uneven, and I can't figure out what they can show. This experimental atmosphere makes me mixed."
In the film, except for Jinzi, there are not many other characters, such as the killer played by Song Kanghao and the bakery manager played by Oh Dasu, although it is a glimpse.
But it is these soy sauce scenes that combine to form this movie, which also satisfies Park Chan-wook's psychological intention of "making an attempt every time a movie is made".
Using Choi Min-sik as a supporting role, it is estimated that he can do such a thing on Chungmuro, although people insist that "this character is not the protagonist, but like the protagonist".
Compared with the role of Liu Zhitai in [Old Boy], the "White Teacher" played by Choi Min-sik is really a bit thin. His appearance time is only about ten minutes, scattered in all corners of the movie, and the lines are so few that the audience can memorize them.
Originally, when writing the script, Park Chan-wook wanted to simplify the script, wanted to use a "pure evil" as the object of revenge, and the plan was to find an unknown actor to play, so that the audience had a sense of substitution.
However, the more you write later, the more the whole plot focuses on this person, "He does not have many opportunities to appear, but he always appears in everyone's life, and there is a gap between him and Liu Zhitai in the proportion of [old boy], but the status and effect are equal."
Because of this positioning and consideration, Park Chan-wook believes that this is still a role that requires acting, so he dials Choi Min-sik's phone and continues the [old boy] frontier.
Park Chan-wook said it all over the place, but Choi Min-sik still had a lot of criticism of his own role, "'Teacher Baek', director, are you sure you didn't want to find Baek Young-sik (a Korean actor) to shoot it at the beginning?" "It made Park Chan-wook look embarrassed.
White run plant
After the release of [Cordial Gold], the eccentric B-grade style made Park Chan-wook inevitably become the target of public criticism again.
Film critics and audiences think that he is "extreme in style and too fancy in his skills", and the director helplessly said, "Although it is working with the staff of [Old Boy] again, this time we really did a very simple job, the shots have not moved, and there are many fixed shots."
However, the combination of criticism and praise is the regular treatment of Park Chan-wook's films, and his elderly should also get used to it.
In addition to Park Chan-wook, [Gracious Jinzi] ushered in the return of Lee Young-ae. Li Ying'ai, who is well-known at home and abroad through "The Great Changjin", reversed his image in this film and played the avenger.
On the one hand, it is a breakthrough in her own career, and on the other hand, it is also a challenge to the audience. Lee Young-ae has also become another sign of interpretation of [gracious gold].
When Park Chan-wook was looking for Lee Young-ae, she just ended the filming of "DaeChangjin" and was crowned by the majority of Korean audiences as "Oxygen Beauty" and became the main force of the Hallyu.
But as an actor, what she needs at this time is not popularity and false fame, but affirmation of acting skills.
"Want to try a very stylized, staged work", Lee Young-ae, who is in a state of hunger for artistic performance, immediately agreed to act after receiving Park Chan-wook's invitation, which is natural.
Before confirming the appearance, Li Ying'ai also thought about the feelings of fans and the direction of his career.
Lee Young-ae, who has been questioned about her acting skills since the beginning of her debut, is ambitious in her career, and she also firmly believes that actors who dare to discover themselves will get long-term support from the audience.
What's more, Park Chan-wook also found Choi Min-sik to play for her, which is an opportunity for her who has always been eager to cooperate with powerful celebrities.
Therefore, it is imperative to make a comeback in order to [gracious gold].
Before filming started, [Kind Gold] didn't have a complete script.
Park Chan-wook used a synopsis to fool Lee Young-ae and Choi Min-sik, and then discussed the complete script with the actors during the filming process, so it is not an exaggeration to say that "Lee Young-ae participated in the creation of the script".
"Director Park Chan-wook very much dislikes what actors have hidden, and his favorite way of creating is that the director fully communicates with the various staff and actors and comes to a unanimous conclusion, and the feeling based on this will make people feel very happy."
At first, Li Ying'ai, who saw the synopsis, was also confused and hesitant because the character's personality was too strong, but this kind of deliberative shooting method made Li Ying'ai gradually have the confidence to take risks and the ambition to challenge in the process, she said: "As an actor, the process of playing Jinzi is like playing a very serious and interesting game. ”
"Ordinary films and TV dramas will follow the principle of inheritance and transition or six ho (i.e., who, when, where, what, why, how to happen), but [intimate gold] jumps out of the traditional confinement and uses a detached narrative way to let the audience and actors have a new movie-watching experience."
At the beginning of [Gracious Kaneko], the crowd's description of Kaneko's kindness contrasts with her indifferent sentence "You live well yourself", stepping out of the suspense style; then flashbacks, interludes, and narration explanations use the suspense to make the suspense mysterious (Park Chan-wook was filmed in the chronological order of the story).
During the six months of filming, Lee was obsessed with the character's emotional changes, and even sometimes when she looked at the monitor, she was surprised by her natural expression.
She completes her self-breakthrough through the breakthrough of the film, although in the process, she also has many uncertainties, "Gold as she gets older, the role is also constantly changing. From the bad girl of 13 years ago to the incarnation of revenge, the personality change is too big, and it is difficult to embody this transformation in me."
But with years of experience and park Chan-wook's help, she was finally able to face Lee Young-ae's version of "Gold" when the film was released.
"Until the end of the shooting, I was nervous, but after the press conference, I finally realized that it should be interesting to see myself in the picture."
And Park Chan-wook also gave Lee Young-ae praise, "Lee Young-ae performed the effect that Jeon Do-yeon and Moon So-ri did not have." She does not eat human fireworks, coupled with hateful feelings, and the contrasting interpretation creates a mysterious comedic effect."
For the expectation of the movie, Li Ying'ai answered very bluntly:
Although it is not possible to make all the audience 100% satisfied, at least everyone should recognize the part of Li Ying'ai's efforts. After watching the movie, the audience can think about the person of gold, which is considered to be the success of the movie. ”
Before the film's release, Lee Young-ae also expressed her desire for box office, which she considered to be an affirmation of her acting skills.
At the same time, she also hopes to be well received by the audience, she once laughed and said: "Although from my mouth to say a little shy." But I want to get a similar evaluation of 'actor with a very strong personality, actor with multiple possibilities and energy'. ”
Lee Young-ae, who grew up in Chungmuro, suffered the same problem as actresses of the same age, that is, the female actors in the male film-dominated market had a narrow path.
Therefore, [kind gold] is also a key to Lee's attempt to open the door to the actress's new career, "female actors can not only exist in erotic films, romantic comedies, but also in more types of films."
Lee Young-ae, who came out of the doubts about her acting skills, dreamed of becoming an actor with deep roots in the tree, no matter what kind of adversity she encountered, she would not waver, and she has been working hard to learn acting, and unconsciously finally has her current status, and [Kind Gold] has become one of her most stylish film works.
"Revenge Trilogy", which one is your favorite?