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There is a genre called ‘man’s film’ in Korean cinema. When films are targeting the male audience, or if they have big presence of male characters, or if films have a male centric perspective, it is not clearly conceptualized, nor is it evident exactly since when this term has been used. For these reasons, one can only understand this terminology through implication. Fortunately, there are some clues. First of all, man’s film is on the cross section of several genres. It resides on the intersection of the thriller, action, crime and noir. However, this clue is not enough to define a man’s film. What is missing here is the emotional factor. Man’s film as a genre has to be ruthless, reckless, and often cruel and bloody; and these very rough and bleak emotions are very much crucial for a man’s film. It is a world of extreme violence with a mad impulse, unable to stop their instinctive drive. The themes often dealt with in this genre are mostly negative, including sly betrayal, desperate revenge, collapse of ethics, corrupt society, lonely killers, life and death duels, cruel crime, and so forth.

It is interesting to review the cycle of this genre. The beginning was in early 1990s. Korean cinema was going through an abrupt transformation due to the arrival of big capital from major companies, and generic experiments were also burgeoning at that time. Romantic comedy and John Woo-like action films were attempted, and the horror genre, long time dead, resurrected at the end of 1990s. Melodrama has always been common in Korean cinema but this genre was then blended with other generic elements, and comedy also transformed with a different concept and intensity.

While film genres were becoming identified in Korea, specific genres came to fashion. Once The Marriage Life (1992) made big news, similar “man and woman” stories came in mass. With the success of The Rules of the Game (1994), action films set in the criminal world rushed one after the other. When Two Cops (1993) made a huge success, the comedy genre became popular. As Ghost Mama (1996) and The Contact (1997) hit the box office, Korean cinema was flooded with tear jerking melodrama. In early 2000s, the newest fashion was gangster comedy. Thus, different genres came to fashion taking turns, and in doing so, the presence of man’s film gradually became clear. Man’s film arose on the opposite side of melodrama and romance forming woman’s film and chick flick, and since then, these two trends took turns in leading Korean cinema.

 

 

A change occurred in late 2000s. The thriller genre, since the huge success of Seven Days (2007) and The Chaser (2008), quickly became the central genre in Korean cinema despite the fact that these films were x-rated. Through development, this became one of the powerful drives to establish man’s film in Korean cinema. Based on the criminal world, these films feature kidnapping, murder, and big twists, which became common motifs. Until now, Korean cinema has been governed by the presence of man’s film, and so will 2014. Man’s film is likely to flood the summer and later half of 2014 in Korean cinema.

The beginning was The Target. Remade from the French film Point Blank (2010), it was warmly received in the Midnight Screening section at Cannes Film Festival. It was a rare moment for Korean cinema to be recognized at Cannes as a commercial genre movie, as opposed to an art film or auterist film. A Hard Day shows pretty much the same path. It was screened in the Director’s Fortnight section and did well in the market, and currently, several foreign film studios are competing for the remake rights. These films, boosted by the performance at Cannes, are doing well domestically as well. Some of the advantages of these two films are speedy development of the narrative and the chemistry between male characters. Bound by motifs like false charge, kidnapping, crime and concealment, these films ceaselessly illustrate desperate and complicated moments and how the characters fight against them. Their narrative structures are very much to the point and succinct. 

 

Perhaps it is time to say that the new success formula of man’s film is to deal with heavy themes with a very light style. It wouldn’t be fair to jump to conclusion when we only have The Target and A Hard Day on the table, but if you analyze the less successful Man on High Heels and No Tears for the Dead, it might be quite convincing. JANG Jin, well known for his unique character making, features a harsh cop who in fact wants to become a woman in Man on High Heels. From the same director of The Man From Nowhere, No Tears for the Dead also puts a male character up front, who lived a complicated life. Featuring CHA Seung-won and JANG Dong-gun respectively, who both represent the manliness in Korean cinema, these two films show extremely violent action, and at the same time go deep into the characters’ inner psyche by means of flashback. This type of structure works to emphasize the heroic aspects of these characters, but at the same time keeps on slowing down the narrative. The bright and dark sides of these four films explain that man’s film in Korean cinema is in fact constantly evolving.  

Then how about the latter half of this year? The trend of man’s film will continue, with period films. Currently, For the Emperor featuring two gamblers is making a moderate success, and in July, Good Friends will show three friends engaged in crime, and The Divine Move illustrating the cruel world of go-gamble (featuring JUNG Woo-sung) is to be released. RYOO Seung-wan’s Veteran is to be shown in the latter half of this year, too. It is a crime action movie depicting the war between a cop and the rich, featuring HWANG Jung-min, the newest icon of man’s film, and YOO Ah-in, a young star with an ability to make powerful characters, along with strong supporting actors like OH Dal-soo, YOO Hae-jin, JUNG Man-sik, and JUNG Woong-in. YOO Ha’s Gangnam Blues is an action noir set in the 1970s in Gangnam, and Big Match is an action film featuring LEE Jung-jae and SHIN Ha-kyun as brothers. Finally Tazza 2 (W/T), a sequel to Tazza: The High Rollers (2006), will be coming to the theaters. Along with spectacle period drama, man’s film is definitely in the center of Korean cinema this year, and their mean streets will continue.

By KIM Hyung-seok (Film Critic)