KANG Je-kyu is namely a pioneer of Korean-style blockbuster movies. His first film, <The Gingko Bed>(1996), was one of the first Korean commercial movies that utilized computer graphics-based special effects to a respectful level of completeness. <Swiri>(1999), an action thriller depicting a tense confrontation between South and North Korean intelligence agents on the divided Korean peninsula, was a Korean-style blockbuster that cost then-unheard-of 2.4 billion wo...More

KANG Je-kyu is namely a pioneer of Korean-style blockbuster movies. His first film, <The Gingko Bed>(1996), was one of the first Korean commercial movies that utilized computer graphics-based special effects to a respectful level of completeness. <Swiri>(1999), an action thriller depicting a tense confrontation between South and North Korean intelligence agents on the divided Korean peninsula, was a Korean-style blockbuster that cost then-unheard-of 2.4 billion won that spectacularly beat <Titanic> in a battle for audience. This movie gave Koreans the confidence then that even politically sensitive issues such as South-North Korean conflict can be melted into the realm of commercial filmmaking. If <Swiri> helped catapult KANG Je-kyu onto the movie scene, it was <Tae-guk-gi>(2004) that earned him membership into the “10 million audience club” for Korean directors, following none other than [KANG Woo-suk] of <Silmido>(2003). KANG Je-kyu had subsequently sought to work in Hollywood, but now he is back in Korea, working on a multi-nationally produced film called <My Way> with [JANG Dong-gun] in the leading role. Putting his blockbuster credentials aside, KANG next made the short period drama <Awaiting>, with KO Soo and MOON Chae-won, which screened in Busan in 2014, before embarking on his next feature <Salut d’Amour>. Released in 2015, the film followed the love and troubles of an elderly couple played by PARK Keun-hyong and YOUN Yuh-jong.Less