The Angry Young Men of Korean Cinema

Measuring up well to their older American counterparts –- Scorcese, Coppola, De Palma or Friedkin –- the new Korean auteurs likewise seek to integrate the political turbulence of their land, particulaly the trauma of the recent disctatrial regime, into their work. The directors Park Chan-wook (Oldboy), Kim Jee-won (A Bittersweet Life), Bong Joon –ho (Memories of Murder), Ryoo Seung-wan (Crying Fist) and Kim Ki-duk (The Isle) subvert the codes of genre cinema, just as their American predecessors did in the 1970s. In violently evoking the atmosphere of political and cultural decay in a wounded, divided Korea, these young filmmakers experiment with new cinematographic and narrative forms which have begun to take the world by storm.