However the year 2006 is ultimately remembered - as the commercial peak of the modern day Korean film renaissance, or as a year in which the environment for making films sharply deteriorated - it was a year of extremes for Korean cinema. The all-time box office record was broken twice, and Korean films as a whole sold a record number of tickets. But at the same time, the overseas market for Korean films collapsed (due mostly to slackening interest from Japan), and the vast majority of films failed to turn a profit because of rising budgets. Many smaller film companies found themselves on the verge of bankruptcy. Last year’s bitterly fought reduction of the local screen quota system to 73 days per year only added to a creeping sense of pessimism.
The mood among Korean filmmakers in early 2007 is one of deep concern. The word “crisis” is now thrown about with abandon in the local press. But if there is indeed a crisis, it’s of a different kind to the problems faced by most film industries. There’s little sense that the industry is running out of creative ideas. A look back on the films produced last year confirms this. Although it’s hard to see any sure-fire commercial hits lined up for the second part of 2007, there is a lot to look forward to. In addition, the problem is clearly not the audience, which is as supportive of local films as ever. The problem is inside the system itself. The worry is that if it is not fixed, it will deal a blow to the long term potential of Korean cinema.
First, it’s worth taking a look at the films produced over the last year. Several directors took big steps forward in 2006. Most obvious, perhaps, is the case of Bong Joon-ho, whose ambitious creature movie The Host triumphed over initial skepticism and established its director as the most respected filmmaker in Korea. After opening to a warm reception in the Directors Fortnight section at Cannes, the film went on to sell 13 million tickets (worth US$97 million) in Korea, setting a new local record. Some viewers took issue with certain elements of the film (such as a much-criticised CGI shot of the monster on fire), and critics did not afford it the same level of praise as Bong’s previous film Memories Of Murder. But The Host confirmed Bong’s prodigious cinematic talent and gave him new visibility abroad.
Another director to enjoy a breakout year was Choi Dong-hoon, with the box office smash hit Tazza: The High Rollers, based on a well-known local comic. It was a spirited showcase of gambling, fast talk, betrayal and innuendo that earned $47 million at the local box office. Tazza confirmed its director’s expert feel for witty dialogue and ensemble acting, first displayed in his 2004 debut work The Big Swindle. Choi also has a knack for great casting, and Tazza won particular praise - and several high-profile acting awards - for actress Kim Hye-soo’s standout performance as a sultry, manipulative femme fatale. With two breakout hits to his credit and a clearly recognisable visual and narrative style, Choi can now count himself among the upper ranks of Korean directors. Whether his films will eventually cross the translation gap to gain a reputation among international audiences remains to be seen.
Although the box office success of The Host and Tazza could in some ways have been foretold, one success that surprised everyone was Kim Yong-hwa’s 200 Pounds Beauty. Based on a Japanese comic book about an overweight singer who undergoes extreme plastic surgery to become thin and beautiful, the mid-budget film benefited from strong word-of-mouth and a showstopping performance by young actress Kim Ah-joong. After grossing $16 million with his 2003 debut film Oh! Brothers and a further $45 million with this latest work, director Kim Yong-hwa can rightfully consider himself one of contemporary Korean cinema’s most successful directors of comedy.
On a smaller scale, one of the best-loved films of the year among critics and filmmakers was Kim Tae-yong’s Family Ties. Told in three separate but related segments about people struggling with familial and romantic relationships, the film was named Best Picture at the Busan Film Critics Awards and went on to find festival success at Toronto and Thessaloniki, where it took Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (shared among four members of the cast) and the Audience Award. Kim was previously best known as the co-director of the 1999 cult horror film Memento Mori. With Family Ties he established himself as a highly skilled director in his own right.
2006 was a breakout year for director Lee Joon-ik as well. After grossing $84 million with record-breaking hit King And The Clown earlier in the year, Lee quickly shot a much more modest follow-up that, while only ranking as a mid-level hit, enjoyed the strongest word-of-mouth of the year. Radio Star is the story of an aging rock star (Park Joong-hoon) and his loyal manager (Ahn Sung-ki) who move out to the country to work as a radio DJ. The synopsis does not inspire confidence, but Lee’s storytelling skills ultimately make the film surprisingly engaging. In an online poll held at the end of the year, the film topped The Host to be named the best film of 2006 by the public.
Other directors who saw their careers advance in 2006 included Yoo Ha with his well-reviewed epic gangster drama A Dirty Carnival; arthouse director Hong Sang-soo with his acclaimed seventh feature Woman On The Beach; Ryoo Seung-wan with the low-budget action extravaganza The City Of Violence (which premiered internationally in a midnight screening at Venice); Lee Yoon-ki, whose low-budget art film Ad Lib Night won attention from festivals including Berlin; Song Hae-sung, who followed up the disappointment of Rikidozan with a major hit in melodrama Maundy Thursday; Choi Ho, who won over both critics and audiences with his Busan-set drug ring drama Bloody Tie; and independent directors Shin Dong-il and Min Boung-hun, whose low-budget films My Friend & His Wife and Pruning The Grapevine won critical praise at the Pusan International Film Festival.
For an industry in which over 50% of new releases are by debut directors, it won’t be a surprise to hear that there were several accomplished debut films in 2006 - though admittedly, first-time directors in Korea generally hold less artistic control over their work than established filmmakers. Son Jae-gon’s My Scary Girl may not technically be a debut film, since he made an earlier independent work that never screened in theaters, but as a first commercial release it was a hugely influential success. Shot for $700,000 on HD video, the film was originally conceived more as for TV than theatrical release. But a strong reaction from viewers ensured it secured a wide release which beat out Ice Age 2 and grossed $16 million. Having proved that a low-budget comedy can succeed without big-name stars, My Scary Girl now ranks as a case study for film companies that wish to make good films on a cheap budget.
Another highly praised debut came from the directing duo of Lee Hae-young and Lee Hae-joon in the comic drama Like A Virgin. Best known previously for their screenwriting credit on the 2002 hit film Conduct Zero, the Lees portrayed the story of a gay high school boy from a rough neighborhood who ends up joining the local ssireum (traditional Korean wrestling) team. Filled with a deadpan, wistful humour, the film is in high demand from festivals following its international premiere at Berlin earlier this year.
Much less noticed, but also deserving of praise was an inspired low-budget horror film from first-time director Kim Eun-kyung. Roommates is set in a sort of study academy from hell, which is all the more disturbing and vivid because such places actually do exist. In Europe and North America, Asian education systems are often held up as a model for other countries to follow. Roommates shows in memorable fashion that such high achievement can sometimes come at a terrible cost.
Meanwhile, director Lee Jeong-beom debuted with an unusually-structured story about a gangster who ends up befriending the mother of a man he has been ordered to kill. Cruel Winter Blues debuted at the Pusan International Film Festival in October and took many viewers by surprise with its earthy realism and accomplished acting. Two other noted debuts from 2006 include No Regret, an acclaimed gay-themed drama by Leesong Hee-il that enjoyed a surprising commercial success considering its low-budget origins; and Byeon Seung-wook’s Solace, a simply-told but highly engaging story about a pharmacist and a clothes designer who find much to get in the way of their growing attraction to each other. Although not a box office success, the latter work boasts two great performances by Han Suk-kyu (Shiri) and Kim Ji-soo (This Charming Girl).
Of course, the year had its share of disappointments as well. Kang Woo-suk’s big-budget political drama Hanbando hoped to turn a hypothetical tale of Japanese aggression into a box office smash along the lines of the director’s earlier Silmido (2003). However a scathing critical reception and a lukewarm response by audiences meant that even with one of the biggest marketing campaigns of the year it fell well short of 4 million admissions. At the end of the year, a similar fate would befall the big-budget martial arts fantasy The Restless, although the film’s technical accomplishments in CGI imagery, costumes and mise-en-scene were widely acknowledged. Finally, the 1969-set romance Once In A Summer became the apparent victim of a viewer backlash against films featuring hallyu (Korean Wave) stars. Ironically, Once In A Summer was unusually successful in showcasing the charm of its leads Lee Byung-heon (A Bittersweet Life) and Soo Ae (A Family). It was not that the film suffered poor word of mouth - instead, it was simply skipped over by viewers who were more interested in watching something else.
It was partly due to such commercial flops, and partly due to an unusually large number of films released (108, the most since the early 1990s), that overall profitability in the industry took a steep dive. At first glance, it seems odd that an industry with a 60% market share that recorded 100 million ticket sales to local films alone in 2006 should be losing money. But the cost of making, marketing and releasing films has steadily risen over the years, so that an average commercial film now needs to sell upwards of two million tickets, or about US$14 million, simply to break even.
The biggest cloud over the economics of filmmaking in Korea is the weakness of DVD and other ancillary markets such as cable TV. (Indeed, illegal downloading of films on the internet has become a way of life). Whereas a country like Japan can release 200-300 films annually, with many smaller titles getting most of their revenues from DVD sales, Korea’s over-reliance on theatrical admissions places a practical limit on the number of films that can be made each year. Competition at the box office was particularly fierce last year, due to a production glut brought on by a host of stock market listings and new companies moving into the industry. So while the producers of The Host, King And The Clown and several other titles enjoyed a very good year, most of the other 100+ films that were released in theaters lost money.
The mood among investors in early 2007 is a 180-degree turn from last year, when the industry was swimming in cash. Producers hoping to make new films are struggling to attract investment, and most observers predict that from the second half of this year there will be a sharp drop in the number of films made.
In a classic case of bad timing, several other developments have emerged just as the industry is trying to deal with the after-effects of the production glut. One is a sharp drop in the level of international sales, from US$76 million in 2005 to US$24.5 million in 2006. The prime reason behind this was a return to earth by Japanese buyers. In 2004-5, fierce competition between buyers led to a string of high profile Korean films selling for astronomical prices ranging from US$4 million to US$7 million per picture. However, despite a few notable exceptions like April Snow and A Moment To Remember, most of these films later flopped at the Japanese box office. As Japanese films gain increased popularity in their own market, it now appears that the “Korean Wave” has lost much of its sheen. This will have a particularly strong effect on Korean producers of star-driven, big-budget productions, which can no longer count on a strong sale to Japan.
Another internal development is the Korean film industry’s first ever labor deal, which is currently in the last stages of negotiation and scheduled to go into effect in July. There is widespread agreement among the Korean film community that lower-ranking crew members and other production staff have been treated in horrendous fashion throughout the modern-day boom. In general, such crew members receive very little pay and are compensated on a project basis, so that if a production fails to finish on schedule (as often happens), crew members work overtime for no extra pay. In worst-case scenarios, crew members have finished shooting a film and then never been paid for their work. The new labor deal will establish industry-wide standards for overtime pay and give workers increased leverage in settling disputes. It is a highly welcome development. But it is sure to result in a further rise in budgets, so Korea’s “profitability problem” may get worse before it gets better.
Producers are currently working hard to find solutions for the industry’s problems, ranging from incentive-based pay to limiting the amount of money distributors spend on prints and marketing costs. More and more productions are being shot on HD video (such as My Scary Girl or Roommates) or super 16mm (such as Family Ties) to help reduce costs. Still open to question is whether the salary demands of the industry’s biggest stars will fall in response to the worsening environment. Indeed, many of the biggest star-centered productions of 2006 failed to excite viewers, suggesting that a strong story is what audiences really care about.
Korea has faced crises before, notably in 2002 after the spectacular crash of the big-budget films Yesterday, R U Ready? and Resurrection Of The Little Match Girl. But many insist that this time is different. If there’s any optimism to be gleaned from the current situation, it’s that there is widespread agreement in the industry that its current problems need to be addressed. That, and the fact that Korean directors are as inspired as ever, and audiences still like to line up for the latest hot film.
Darcy Paquet