NY Times Singles Out NA Hong-jin as Director to Watch

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YELLOW SEA Director Included in List of 20 Emerging Talents

The New York Times ran a feature last week called ’20 Directors to Watch’, compiled by the critics A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis. Among the young talents, all aged 40 or below, that were singled out by the duo was NA Hong-jin, the director of The Chaser (2008) and The Yellow Sea (2011), both starring KIM Yun-seok and HA Jung-woo.

Referring to The Yellow Sea’s initial screening at Cannes, Dargis mentioned that the festival’s harsh audiences ‘were soon levitating, energized by Mr. NA’s kinetic filmmaking and a story about a hapless South Korean taxi driver turned tragic assassin.’ Meanwhile, she called his debut The Chaser ‘One of those singular movies that bridge the divide between the art house and the multiplex’ and referred to him as a ‘heavyweight talent.’

In her piece on the director, she went on to point out how Hollywood are already well aware of the 39 year old’s talent. Warner Brothers picked up the remake rights to The Chaser for USD 1 million in 2008 while 20th Century Fox part funded his sophomore film and plan to remake The Yellow Sea for the US. As of yet, no firm plans are in place for either of these films to go into production, nor has NA revealed what his next project might be.

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