"Mr. Vengeance" Back for Romance

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter (The Korea Times)

After the completion of a trilogy on the theme of revenge, director Park Chan-wook has taken an unexpected turn _ toward romantic comedy. But his new film will be different from the ordinary sweet and cute romantic melodramas.

Park, who was once nicknamed "Mr. Vengeance" by New York Times Magazine, said that the film is not only to cool himself down, but also to try to experiment more boldly.

"This was originally something light between big movies," Park said Friday during a news conference after the preview screening of his new film I Am a Cyborg, but That’s OK at CGV Yongsan multiplex theater in Seoul.

"But it doesn’t mean I was going to make it without doing my best or something. I just wanted to make it without feeling much pressure about commercial success, which I believed could allow me to do more experimental and bold things so that it could be a kind of movie in which a lot of people may not understand what’s going on," Park said.

The film, which Park introduced as "a kind of romantic comedy," is set in a mental institute, where a male patient and a female patient fall in love. The couple is played by two big stars _ Rain, who is one of the most popular singers in Asia, and Lim Soo-jung, who gained huge popularity throughout Asia with the television drama series Sorry, I Love You.

Rain plays Il-sun, who believes he can "steal" other people's characteristics, and Lim’s character is Young-gyun, who thinks she is a cyborg.

The two stars' huge popularity seems to be an advantage for the film, but Park said that they were an obstacle to his experimentation.

"When Rain and Lim were cast for the film, the planned experiments were screwed up," Park said, laughing. "The two actors said that they didn’t understand the script, and I had to deceive them with sweet and kind words _ everything will be OK.

"But I started worrying about what would happen if the audience didn’t get it or got confused. So I tried to be kinder, to help the audience understand it better," Park said.

Through the trilogy _ Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Old Boy (2003) and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005) _ he explored human nature and the complicated emotions related to hatred, revenge and atonement for sins.

In his new film, what does he want to tell?

"This is a love story between patients, not between a patient and a doctor. A doctor tries to cure a patient, but the patient just understands diseases that other patients have. Il-sun loves Young-gyun as she is, along with her illusion and fantasy. I think love is something that makes you love problems that your loved one has even though you can’t fix them," Park said.
e3dward@koratimes.co.kr
Source: The Korea Times

doozy: Park Chan Wook had to "dumb down" the script in order for the audience to understand the movie? That's hilarious. I can't say that I'm a fan of his previous works because I leave them feeling very disturbed. Or maybe I just don't have a high enought IQ to understand what the hell it is that he was trying to portray. Nonetheless, like I've said before, I'll definitely watch this movie to support that certain someone.