Lee Chang-dong’s first two movies are featured this month:
Green Fish
초록 물고기, 1997, Cast: Han Seok-kyu, Shim Hye-jin, Moon Sung-keun
Cert 15 | 114 mins
KCCUK, 10 September 2015, 7:00 pm
When Mak-dong returns to his hometown of Ilsan after two and a half years of military service, he finds that it has been transformed into a satellite town. Struggling to adjust and desperate to find work, he unwittingly becomes trapped in a dangerous war between rival underworld gangs. In his directorial debut, Lee wastes no time challenging the conventions of genre verisimilitude – whilst Green Fish could play like a dark gangster film, Lee instead pursues the traits of realism that often characterise Korean cinema.
Peppermint Candy (+Intro by Anton Bitel)
박하사탕, 1999, Cast: Sul kyoung-gu, Moon So-ri, Kim Yeo-jin
Cert 18 | 129 mins
KCCUK, 24 Sep 15 7:00 pm
Lee reflects on South Korea’s turbulent political history, through the eyes of man who has just committed suicide and a reversed narrative that allows the viewer to determine what drove the man to take his own life. Crowned by a pitch perfect performance from star Sol Kyung-gu, Lee’s third film is recognised as a masterpiece by critics and academics alike, and is a landmark film in contemporary Korean cinema.
