Park Chan-wook

In this Korean name, the family name is Park.

Park Chan-wook
박찬욱
Park in 2013
Born (1963-08-23) 23 August 1963 (age 61)
Seoul, South Korea
Other namesBakridamae (박리다매)
Alma materSogang University, Seoul, South Korea
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, producer
Years active1992–present
Notable work
Spouse
Kim Eun-hee
​
(m. 1990)​
Children1
Relatives
AwardsBest Director at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival
Honours Eun-gwan Order of Cultural Merit (2022)
Korean name
Hangul
박찬욱
Hanja
朴贊郁
Revised RomanizationBak Chanuk
McCune–ReischauerPak Ch'anuk

Park Chan-wook (Korean: 박찬욱; IPA: [pak̚ tɕʰanuk̚]; born 23 August 1963) is a South Korean film director, screenwriter, producer, and former film critic. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of South Korean cinema as well as 21st-century world cinema.[1] His films, which often blend crime, mystery and thriller with other genres, have gained notoriety for their cinematography, framing, black humor and often brutal subject matters.[2][3]

After two unsuccessful films in the 1990s which he has since largely disowned, Park came to prominence with his acclaimed third directorial effort, Joint Security Area (2000), which became the highest-grossing film in South Korean history at the time and which Park himself prefers to be regarded as his directorial debut.[4][5] Using his newfound creative freedom, he would go on to direct the films forming his unofficial The Vengeance Trilogy: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), a financial failure that polarized critics, followed by Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005), both of which received critical acclaim and were financially successful. Oldboy in particular is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and helped establish Park as a well-known director outside his native country.[a]

Most of Park's works following The Vengeance Trilogy were also commercial and critical successes both in South Korea and internationally, such as Thirst (2009), The Handmaiden (2016), which earned Park the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and Decision to Leave (2022), which won the Best Director award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.[11] He directed the English-language miniseries The Little Drummer Girl (2018) and The Sympathizer (2024).

  1. ^ Chee, Alexander (16 October 2017). "Park Chan-wook, the Man Who Put Korean Cinema on the Map". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Watch: Bold, Beautiful 7-Minute Supercut Tribute To The Films Of Park Chan-Wook". Indiewire.com. 25 August 2015. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  3. ^ "Cannes 09: Park Chan-Wook's 'Thirst' Is An Absurdist Treat That Becomes Muddled; Overstays Its Welcome". Theplaylist.net. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  4. ^ Cotter, Padraig (29 September 2020). "Why Park Chan-wook Has Disowned His Debut The Moon Is The Sun's Dream". ScreenRant. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  5. ^ Lah, Je-gi (29 January 2017). 박찬욱 "여배우 강압 노출? 노동현장 인권문제" (in Korean). Hankook Ilbo. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  6. ^ "/Film's Top 100 Movies Of All Time". /Film. 22 May 2023. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  7. ^ "The 100 greatest foreign-language films". www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  8. ^ "The 100 Greatest Movies Of The 21st Century". Empire. 18 March 2020. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  9. ^ "The 100 best films of the 21st century (so far)". Time Out Worldwide. 6 February 2022. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  10. ^ Sciretta, Peter (5 October 2008). "Empire Magazine's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time". /Film. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  11. ^ "The Handmaiden". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.


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