Director Jung Ji-woo, center, and actors Park Hae-il, left, and Kim Hye-soo appear at a promotional event for the film "Modern Boy" in Seoul, Wednesday. /Yonhap
``Modern Boy'' (모던보이, S. Korea)Directed by Jung Ji-woo (정지우). Starring Park Hae-il (박혜일), Kim Hye-soo (김혜수).
The critically acclaimed director of ``Happy End'' (starring ``Old Boy'' hero Choi Min-sik and ``Secret Sunshine'' heroine Jeon Do-yeon) brings a dramatic love story set in 1930s Gyeongseong or old Seoul, when Korea was under Japanese colonization (1910-45). With years of pre-production for the period detail, the film also utilizes the most blue screen shoots for computer graphics imagery(CGI) used in a Korean movie.
``In trying to recreate the period, I realized how little remains of the past because Korea was so focused on economic development,'' director Jung Ji-woo told reporters. The film resurrects via CGI the recently burnt down Sungnyemun and other landmarks.
``Unlike the black and white documentaries we're familiar with, 1930s Gyeonseong was a thoroughly modern city, very colorful with neon lights,'' he said, explaining that while it was a time of tragedy, it was also very dynamic with culture thriving and modernization in full gear. Like recent success ``The Good, the Bad, the Weird,'' which is set in the 1940s, this particular period, which had in the past been the subject of depressing documentaries, becomes a backdrop for crafting rich, exciting drama.
``The point here is not making a story about the colonial era but taking a character who could well exist in 2008 and displacing him in the past,'' he said. Park plays the role of a ``modern boy,'' a suave, rich young man who is unaffected by the fact his country was colonized. With his Japanese best friend, he struts around with his fashionable perm and customized linen suits, womanizing while flirting with a civil servant position. One day, however, he becomes mesmerized by a sexy singer/dancer (Kim), and becomes implicated in this mysterious woman's schemes to bomb a building. >>More
