hankyoreh

“Hwa-jang”

By Yu Sun-hui, staff reporter in Busan

“It happened a few years ago. I turned on the TV one night, and they had on this old action movie from the 1960s. I thought to myself, ‘What greenhorn director made such a silly, shoddy movie?’ And then I saw it: my name, Im Kwon-taek, listed in the ending credits as the director. This embarrassing movie, I don’t even remember the title - I wish it had gone up in flames.”

Im, 77, laughed as he recounted the episode on Oct. 4. It was his unexpected response to being asked about “Fly High, Run Far: The Making of Korean Master Im Kwon-taek,” a 50th anniversary retrospective staged at the 18th Busan International Film Festival to honor his career. The retrospective features 71 of his films, including “Sopyonje,” “Mandala,” and “Surrogate Mother.”

“This retrospective event is gratifying, but also embarrassing,” Im said.

“I made my first film in 1961, and I mass produced 50 movies in the decade until 1970,” he recalled. “I can’t saw I actually ‘shot’ these movies; I manufactured five to six movies a year. I did it this way just to make money, because the movies that were popular copied the Hollywood pictures and had nothing to do with Korean lives.”

Im may shudder to think of his B-movies being shown again, but he did say he was happy about some of the forgotten gems finding a new audience. “It’s like having a dead child come back to life,” he said.

When asked which of the 101 films he made over the past half-century is his favorite, Im named 1973’s “Weeds” without a moment’s hesitation.

“I was making all those B-movies, and I had an epiphany, the sense that I wasn’t satisfied with my work,” he said. “The first film I made after that was ‘Weeds.’ I had wanted to capture the lives of Koreans, their way of living, and it really was an inflection point in my life in film, the moment when I scrubbed away all the grime that had become a part of me. Obviously, it was a complete flop at the box office.”

The original version of “Weeds” is now lost, and the film could not be screened for the retrospective. Im was dismayed, but added that his second choice would be his 2000 version of the traditional folk tale “Chunhyang.”

“There had been 14 version of the Chunhyang story before that, but I think mine looks really impressive even today, with the way it captured the elegance and flavor of pansori,” he added, referring to a traditional Korean style of singing used for the film.

Im also gave a production presentation at the festival on Oct. 4 for his 102nd film, called “Hwajang.” Based on a 2004 novel by best selling novelist Kim Hoon, it tells the story of a middle-aged man who has spent two years caring for his wife, who suffers from a brain tumor. The man ends up torn when he falls in love with a younger female co-worker. The title is a double entendre that can be read as “cremation” or “makeup.”

The lead is played by Ahn Sung-ki, a veteran actor Im has worked with six times before.

Im said the film would be “completely different from anything I’ve done before.”

“What I wanted to do was strip away all the stuff that’s built up, and become something totally new,” he said. “My films to date have told the stories of people who have been with us through history or share our social background. With Hwajang, I’m going to focus on the shifting consciousness of a middle-aged man living in the modern day, and the texture of those feelings.”

Im added that he is a “huge fan” of Kim Hoon and eagerly awaits his new releases.

“Right now, my main question is how to capture the verisimilitude of Kim Hoon’s sentences on film,” he said.

“Hwajang may end up being the second ‘inflection point’ of my film career,” he added with a chuckle. A continuous hope for something new, even as he approaches 80, is characteristic of Im.

Does the “master” have any regrets or unrealized dreams? Said Im, “If you gave me the opportunity to go back to the 60s to fix those lousy movies I made, I wouldn’t do it. I was doing the best I could in those conditions. And I also think that you make films for however old you happen to be at the time. So whatever it ends up being becomes part of your karma.”

Im added that it would be “presumptuous” of him to hope for anything more after 50 years with his beloved cinema.

“I’ve had a really happy life,” he said.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]