Lee Byung Hun 이병헌 Byunghun Lee

[Ephoenix]

2 hours ago, Sheen90x said:

@Ephoenix First I find it complicated to reply here cus it’s my first time. So just gonna write down here my reply for two articles.

He’s sexy as hell. And more dashing in black. It well deserved winning.Nothing more to say. Thanks chingu for translating. Your touch with articles is hilarious like him. Good job dear! 

 

Hello Dear Chingu, First of all thank you so much and welcome to the thread. It's so nice to have you here. 

 

About reply and quoting etc, it's completely fine and you are doing great! It took me a while too to know my way around in this website, getting used to the rules and regulations, as well as how to post pictures and things like that. From my experience, if you try too hard, you don't ever feel like coming back here haha so, take it one step at a time. No worries. The fact that you agreed to be here makes me so happy already. 

Yes! LBH deserves that award and more. He is indisputable as Young-tak. Also, I agree, his pictorials are gorgeous. We were starved so much for LBH hot contents so yeah I am loving it. And about my humor, I am glad if made you laugh. It's not as sophisticated as LBH's humor but I am trying not to disappoint him by not laughing and understanding his jokes. He takes that very personally, you see

See you around, Chingu. 

 

PS: I see a hand sign in your profile pic, so I wonder if that's because you are new member and maybe that is the reason I cannot react to your reply yet. Just know that I gave my   reaction already.

[Ephoenix]

October 6, 2023

 

[Lee Byung-hun's IG update] Marie Claire BIFF Edition. 

 

 

LMJ commented: "Wh….who are you?" 

 

Indeed haha.... after constantly watching CU and Kim Young-tak, he suddenly looks 10x hotter lol. Also, in interviews how LBH was afraid his fans would fly away scared after watching his transformation as Young-tak, so I think this might be his way of compensating us all. Lol These days, he is out and about looking so pretty, and blessing us with all these beautiful pictorials. I am not complaining. It is definitely working though!

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Sheen90x]

On 10/6/2023 at 2:30 AM, Ephoenix said:

 

Hello Dear Chingu, First of all thank you so much and welcome to the thread. It's so nice to have you here. 

 

About reply and quoting etc, it's completely fine and you are doing great! It took me a while too to know my way around in this website, getting used to the rules and regulations, as well as how to post pictures and things like that. From my experience, if you try too hard, you don't ever feel like coming back here haha so, take it one step at a time. No worries. The fact that you agreed to be here makes me so happy already. 

Yes! LBH deserves that award and more. He is indisputable as Young-tak. Also, I agree, his pictorials are gorgeous. We were starved so much for LBH hot contents so yeah I am loving it. And about my humor, I am glad if made you laugh. It's not as sophisticated as LBH's humor but I am trying not to disappoint him by not laughing and understanding his jokes. He takes that very personally, you see

See you around, Chingu. 

 

PS: I see a hand sign in your profile pic, so I wonder if that's because you are new member and maybe that is the reason I cannot react to your reply yet. Just know that I gave my   reaction already.

You're welcm, Thanks.

Yeah yeah totally agree, Sometimes I think of not logging in again hehe.

You are no less than him in my eyes with your sense of humor. See ya dear, and thanks again.

I’m not gonna lie I forgot about the reactions if you didn't mention it I wouldn't notice. Lol 

Btw I loved the reaction 

 

On 10/6/2023 at 3:13 AM, Ephoenix said:

October 6, 2023

 

[Lee Byung-hun's IG update] Marie Claire BIFF Edition. 

 

 

LMJ commented: "Wh….who are you?" 

 

Indeed haha.... after constantly watching CU and Kim Young-tak, he suddenly looks 10x hotter lol. Also, in interviews how LBH was afraid his fans would fly away scared after watching his transformation as Young-tak, so I think this might be his way of compensating us all. Lol These days, he is out and about looking so pretty, and blessing us with all these beautiful pictorials. I am not complaining. It is definitely working though!

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

Every detail of him is gorgeous. 

Love LMJ's comment and she’s totally right. The change is huge . Thanks ,You're working hard translating and uploading the pics chingu, 고생했어요.. 

Edited November 23, 2023 by ferily
Please don’t quote images. Thanks!

[Ephoenix]

4 hours ago, Sheen90x said:

Yeah yeah totally agree, Sometimes I think of not logging in again hehe.

You are no less than him in my eyes with your sense of humor. 

 

Love LMJ's comment and she’s totally right. The change is huge . Thanks ,You're working hard translating and uploading the pics chingu, 고생했어요.

 

Thank you again for your lovely words. You are always so sweet to me. I really appreciate it. _/\_ If you need any help, I am always happy to help.  

 

 

Btw LMJ added another comment, and it's a reply to the person who commented that 'He's the person you see at home.' She said, he looks like different person. In comparison to his expression she sees at home. XD Reminds me of what LBH said on Yoo Quiz, that his look at home is like Joha from Keys to the Heart, mostly wearing shorts, watching movies while sleeping on the floor, and not leaving house for days surprising even LMJ.  

 

 

[Ephoenix]

October 6, 2023 

 

The one who made "Apartment," a song that causes excitement, creepy.

 

원본

 

A question and answer with Lee Byung-hun

 

Q. It was very well received. How do you feel?

A. I didn't get a response until this morning. They kept telling me little by little while I keep doing interviews, so I thought, "Everyone really enjoyed watching it." It was the third or fourth time that was suggestd yesterday. The reactions were all different versions. I wondered if it was to our advantage to wait for a long time while watching yesterday. In my case, I took a break, but the director had not stopped working on the post production. So it felt very complete. Music and sound have been constantly evolving. He just didn't leave it there. I thought it was very well-made.

Q. When you first received the scenario, did you feel that it was good? Is that the reason you chose to do it?

A. I did it because It was good even back then. Of course, it was good, but the details were being refined a lot, and since it's a genre called black comedy, there are many scenes and details that were developed while talking with the director during filming. I think that's how it got better.

 

Q. In that case, what was the reason that made you decide on 'Concrete Utopia'?

A. When I heard that director Um Tae-hwa was working on a movie, and learned what kind of movie it was, I thought it would be fun that there was only one apartment left after everything I destroyed because of a big disaster. The initial setting itself opened up so many possibilities, and I was curious about what kind of story would unfold next. I had a good feeling when I received the scenario.The humanity is just revealed in extreme situations.It was not that everyone was absolute evil or absolute good, humans in the real ordinary sense who set rules with each other. But there was a conflict in it and it was fun to see the bottom of humanity.

Q. Director Um Tae-hwa said that the character Young-tak changed three-dimensionally after meeting Lee Byung hun. Did you perhaps give any ideas?

A. I can't point a specific moment, but we talked about this character a lot from the process of preparing for the movie to filming. However, when playing Young-tak and preparing him in my mind, I hoped that he was not an extreme and unusual person. He is what we feel is an average normal person, but his life is miserable struggle and depressing. He is trying to get his own house for his family, but he had been swindled, so he is very miserable. He is a small-town citizen who was oppressed by people in power, but still maintained his common sense and didn’t deviate from it emotionally and characteristically, and I thought it would be interesting to see the process of transformation as he starts tasting immense power later as extreme situations and an unexpected rise in status eventually changes this person.

 

Q. Then, what was the process of  development of the character Kim Young-tak? Did you have any difficulties?

A.I had no choice but to rely on my imagination. When you try to act scenes of extreme situations, you have no choice but to rely on imagination, and there are scenes where it took me long time to be persuaded. For example, there is a scene in front of the fire hose cabinet where he bangs the hydrant while making strange noises.The director asked me to put a spell in that scene. Something like "Suri Suri Masuri"( Korean version of Abracadabra). I wondered what emotion would that be. Rather than understanding it, I thought I knew what he meant, but there were some times when I couldn't express it. So I tried making noises in many ways."Okay, you mean desperation, right?" I wondered what sound meant desperation. Also, as soon as he manages to free himself from the crowd, he pushes Hye-won off the cliff (Park Ji-hoo). It took time to fully understand why the director put the vomiting scene when Young-tak roared and vomited to the point where his emotions exploded and even the intestines popped out. As you know, it's was such a difficult expression to express, so I had a concern about how to express it convincingly because I also need to persuade the audience.

Q. How was director Um Tae-hwa's directing at the scene? Also, turns out the scene of singing "Apartment" was a test cut.

A. Dir. Uhm Tae Hwa doesn’t give directions. So It cant be a bit challenging. Some directors show their version of acting in front of them and say, "I think it's better to do this," but since he’s the opposite character, I deliberately lead the conversation with him first.”Director nim, what is it that you are trying to express here?","Is this your intention to do this?" And we talked. I would ask, "How about this?" I tried this and that and found new things. In the meantime, he went out and made it. 

A. The singing scene was also a test cut and rehearsal. Director Um Tae-hwa also doesn't say, "Do this, do that," He seems to be nice and quiet, but he has his own set rules and thoughts. I think I've never seen such a way before. He said, "Let's go do the rehearsals," but then the camera started rolling, and the sequence of test cut of singing ended up being used in the movie.There is ingenuity in the unexpected.

 

Q. The scene where you sang 'Apartment' was even more exciting and scary. How did you prepare this scene?

A. It was an important sequence in the movie. It was very helpful when acting because there was an intention of the scene where Young-tak, who had already transformed a lot sings the song after going through the flashback in the middle. At first, I learned the nonchalant uncle dance part from one of my juniors because I had a non-celebrity friend who was good at that uncle dance. I asked him to do it a few times in front of me, so I copied him a little.

Q. I don't think you are afraid of having a broken image .Also, when I think of Lee Byung-hun, I think of Japanese fan meeting dance, and Iris meme and Lee Min-jung's SNS.

A. It didn’t ruin a lot.(laughs) I was just worried that the fans won't like it at that time, but I thought I'm going to try it. Dancing at a fan meeting in Japan, there is "No" in "Iris." I feel embarrassed thinking about it but people who watched it said they liked it. I always wanted to be a mysterious actor. I talked about it as a joke when it started to come out, thinking ‘what if I voluntarily post it on social media pretending to be cool?’ They seem to enjoying it, and it's already out. I think that's why it happened unintentionally  Lee Min-jung was surprised at first, too. (laughs)

 

Q. It seems that the character Kim Young-tak needed to be adjusted at an accelerated pace. In particular, the sequence unfolding while singing the song "Apartment" was a shock itself.

A. The director had already included everything in the script. ‘They are having a great time at the party and someone says,"Sing a song." A flashback comes out as Young-tak sings while dancing the uncle dance...’ Since the sequence itself, which slowly escapes from Young-tak's close-up and changes the atmosphere very rapidly, was in the screenplay, I understood what emotion he was trying to give and show, so I acted according to the screenplay. I thought it was well-made.

Q. "Concrete Utopia" is set in cold weather, but in reality, it had to be acted in the heat wave weather.

A. All the air conditioners are brought in. Like a generator and a hose. Some actors and staffs had some cooling device in the waiting room, so it was bearable there. So I often went to monitor.(*because it was cool there*) (laughs) I wasn’t curious, but I went to the director and asked, "Can I monitor it?"

 

Q. Is there anything in common between Young-tak and Lee Byung-hun?

A. Whenever I take on a character, I think about the commonalities that character has with me.There are certain points of common traits or your ways of choice or words will make them similar with me. Young-tak however, seemed to be different from me. In such a case, in the end, I have no choice but to act this person, and have to get immerse in his character. So, I had to do it quickly, to understand and sympathize with him so that I can act with confidence. I think that's why it was very hard. Despite all that, he still felt very different.

Q. There may have been some difficult points in the process of Young-tak's gradual change.

A. There are several situations in which extreme actions were performed, such as extreme retching and vomiting. It took some time for me to convincingly express those parts, especially killing someone and throwing up while continuously retching. As for how I convinced myself, I thought it was because the injustice, rage and anger had completely stripped me off my senses. it seems to have convinced me that he could act like that and that things could get better now because he was in a situation where he lost his reason enough to lose himself.

Q. In that sense, what emotions did you realize while understanding such behavior?

A. The thought that it's very unfair. First of all, the character Young-tak begins with a person who has lost everything to a swindler. His wife and his child, who are innocent, are being tormented by debt collectors because of what he did, and in the end, I think  that person's life itself is based on anger and resentment.

 

Q. That is not really Kim Young-tak. There may have been concerns about hiding this and acting.

A. I was very worried about my first appearance. At that time, when there is a fire, it begins by us looking at the back of Young-tak. Until then, he thought he was neither dead nor alive. Aren’t accident caused by a unintentional fights due to anger? He has already let go of the string of reason, after his families die in disaster. He started as someone being scammed, but he became a murderer, and he thinks he’s only breathing helplessly at the end of despair, but the fire scene that we saw from Young-tak's point of view is his unconscious behavior. A conditioned reflex action that shows the meaning of an apartment or a house to a person named Young-tak. First of all, that's my building, my house, and I think he started off with the idea of saving the house that he should live in. I thought it was his mental state as well, although he would come off as foolish and stupid, he starts it with a state of stupor. He has to go up front and say something, but he doesn’t know what he is saying, and he can't even finish it well. People will think it's silly and funny at first, but he becomes the representative of the residents when he doesn’t even know his mind. When the head of the women's association meets the residents, she says,”The world has been reset. It's the world where both the murderer and a pastor are same. This is where we all start again,", at that moment, the focus comes to Young tak, I tried to give that “Hmm?’ feeling even though I don't do anything. There were many times when the audience missed that specific moment. (Okay now I understood, this is what he meant during stage greetings when he wanted audience to laugh at the scene, but he was disappointed because they didn’t. Hahaha) 

Q. On the other hand, I think you must have felt the pleasure or fun of acting.

A. The greatest pleasure was when I wrote my name. He is Mo Se Beom, but he pretended to be Kim Young tak. It was my idea. The one with the letter "M”. Since I became a representative of a resident, and as they were writing down the resident lists, they say, “Resident representative, you sign your name first!”, as there are people going around. At that time, I asked the director, “Since he is Mo Se beom, he is used to writing his name starting with ‘M’ for decades. So, why not writing like ‘Opps’ feeling before writing “K”?, and the Director really liked it. The idea was sudden so we did a close up shot of it. 

Q. The part where many people laugh is also the part of the "Strength of a nation ‘deviates from this integration’ of the home…." Is that part of the original screenplay? Or Is it an ad-lib?

A. There are a lot of ad-libs. Isn't there something like that normally? There's a lame humor if you do something wrong. In some cases, if you look at the scenario and think it will be humorous, you can change it in the field. So I told Director that I will try everything, and when Min-sung asks, "Strength of nation ‘derives from integrity’ of the home?", I say "Um…that’s what I just said.", and it was an ad-lib. Aren't there adults like that who are just vague and skip it? I thought we can move on more naturally while doing that.

Q. How did you feel about being with Park Seo-joon, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young, Park Ji-hoo, and Kim Do-yoon?

A. A character has a lot of relationships. The fun part of being an actor is that the changes that comes from acting out different relationships, the attitude that comes from relationships, and other various changes ultimately create this person. It was also fresh and fun when I clashed into the Geum-ae character. She is a very good actor. It was my first time acting together, and it was a very unique experience.

Q. A large number of summer masterpieces will be released this time, so if you want to appeal to "Concrete Utopia?"

A. I think the sentiment of our movie is something that makes you laugh out loud. You can watch it chillingly than any other movie.

 

[From a different interview] 

Q: There was a rumor of eye ball change after the actors you’ve worked with mention it several times. (In reference to the anecdote PBY shared on his instant immersion in the character as if he has changed his eyeballs.) 

 

A: I think that an actor should be immersed in the situation of the character, the status of the character, and the emotions until the work is finished. During filming period, there is a three-day break, so no matter who you meet and how much you hang out with family, eating delicious foods, there is a work in the back of your mind. It is very difficult to have a long gap during the work because I have to keep my emotional string intact. That’s why I keep the characters emotions throughout the filming. Sometimes, even when you joke and laugh on the set, you don’t forget the character’s feelings. It comes up like a conditional reflex when the camera starts rolling. Making jokes and maintaining emotions, I have been acting as well as living. I have always done like that. 

(He also joked in some other interviews that he does carry around 3-4 set of eyeballs with him. Haha. )

 

Finally, LBH also ended one of his interviews jokingly saying that Kim Young tak may not have a died and may actually get up again in the 2nd installment of Concrete Utopia.  This better not be just a joke I mean its not entirely impossible. Kim Young tak said he is just going to go rest and come back after all. It was implied that he may have died but it was never confirmed. And we know he is one heck of a tough cockroach. XD Surviving all the odds. Please just a cameo would be nice in the installment with Ma Dong Seok one. Park Chang yi needs to reunite with his bear buddy. 

 

Main translated interview from MBN link part1 part2 

other related interviews: here here here 

[Ephoenix]

 October 6, 2023 

 

[Marie ClairexBIFF] Congratulations Lee Byung Hun for winning ‘Actor of the Year’ at the Marie Claire Asia Star Awards 2023 for ‘Concrete Utopia.’

 

 

Marie Claire: Actor Lee Byung-hun is the recipient of the 'Actor of the Year Award', which is given to the actor who showed courage in difficult situations last year, debuted a new movie, and showed a passionate moves. He played the role of Young Tak in the movie <Concrete Utopia> and showed an impressive performance. Source: here 

 

LBH’s Award Acceptance speech highlights: 

 

He went on stage to receive his award with champagne in his hand lol. I didn’t realize this award show is so chill. 

 

“Merci. There are a lot of guests from France tonight. So I was going to make a speech in French, but all of a sudden I realized I do not speak French. So, I was going to make a speech in English, but, I just heard Yoo Tae Oh’s English. So I changed my mind. I will speak in Korean from now on. *cut to the end of his speech in Korean*  I will work hard to bring another great stories in the future, so please give me this award again next time.” 

 

LBH must’ve really loved that cheeky “Give me award next time as well.”by Camera director Cho Hyung Rae that he used it again here in Marie Claire. He laughed out lout when he first heard that speech. No wonder! Also, how I wish I had heard this acceptance speech 2 years ago. I’d have gone crazy with happiness watching LBH  mentioning Teo Yoo, posing for pics, and them having any connection. I am still happy but it is a lot toned down compared to back then. Hope I get to see them work together in the future, too.

 

 

Nothing just this adorable Golden man confirming his Golden plague live on naver Tv. It’s just reminds me of his message and description about himself. An adult. Sometimes a boy. 

 

His award acceptance speech: 

https://youtube.com/shorts/8qF2hRF2kUs?si=88khnlueSnPI-LUj

 

Thank you for the clip @milkzywayz 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Ephoenix]

October 7, 2023 

 

The Good, The Bad, The Weird Reunion at the 28th BIFF, the same place they had Open Talk for TGTBTW 15 years ago. 

 

Tae-goo, Chang-yi and Do-won with their creator Director Kim Jee Woon at one of the BIFF parties today. 

 

Jung woo sung was there for his movie Man of Reason. Song Kang Ho and Director Kim Jee Woon had "Open Talk" for Cobweb, and LBH for his awards. The stars have finally aligned for these people. I don't even remember when was the last time they were all together like this!

 

Pic: Jung Woo Sung IG

 

15 years ago, at the 13th Busan International Film Festival. 

 

Fetus NomNomNoms with fetus Dir KJW 

[Ephoenix]

October 7, 2023 

 

Another addition to our “Fake it till you make it” Club: Mo Se Beom as Kim Young Tak 

 

 

• Hwang Dae-Jin as Hwang Ho-Jin (Addicted 2002) 
• Prince Yi Seol as Crown Prince Sunjeong (The Infuence 2010)
• Clown Haseon as King Gwanghae (Masquerade 2012)
• Mo Se-Beom as Kim Young Tak (Concrete Utopia 2023) 

I can’t believe there has already been 4 characters of LBH that played imposters in their respective movies, and they are such sad sad characters who are just forced out of their situations or by someone else into pretending. 

 

With Dae-Jin, I just couldn’t buy it that whole possession theory and thought it was creepy but after knowing his reasons and maybe trying to put myself in his situations, I realized he’d loved her that much to willingly abandon himself altogether and live as someone else. Fortunately, the end implied that she may have decided to accept him as he is, and love him for his real self. 

 

With Prince Yi Seol, even though he was revived by J after she sacrificed herself to Jubilee, and he became an immortal W, he indeed managed to save his half brother by faking as the crown prince and fooling the Japanese empire by dying on his behalf. But I am still curious how their story ended because I think the movie ended with a cliffhanger with evil White trying to kill J and take the power of Jubilee for himself. LBH played not just two but three characters here, Prince Yi Seol, W and Evil White, and I remember being distraught as a new fan of LBH because Yi Seol dies in the same year as Eugene Choi in 1907. 

 

With Haseon, I just hope he lived happily telling stories and eventually met Queen later like the undisclosed version of the ending. He is the most precious man and I have a special place for him in my heart. Even though he was forced into it in the beginning, he changed the whole course of the palace, even nation in just 2 weeks, and somehow managed to open the eyes of the real King Gwanghae into becoming a great king afterwards, regardless of how short Gwanghae’s reign period was. LBH playing King Gwanghae, the only king in the history of Joseon, who was not given a posthumous title is already depressing to think about. Fictional or non-fictional, his characters all share this common aspect of melancholy in them I don’t know why. 

 

With Mo Se-Beom, well, he was the most oppressed character of all to begin with, but what became of him after he pretended to be Kim Young-tak, and transformed into this oppressive tyrannical leader was even more horrifying as it was heartbreaking. He’s the most ordinary and realistic character among all, and someone you can deeply relate to considering the times we currently live in. While we think many of us might not make the same decision as him or turn out to be like him now, but do we really? The thought itself is deeply harrowing. 

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed compiling these. It only makes you admire LBH more as an actor who has offered such varieties for the audience that you barely see elsewhere. It is possible there could be some more but since I haven't watched his very early works and I cannot sit myself to watch some of his Hollywood projects (which I deserve fandom jail for lol), these are the only ones I remember and possibly feel connected to as well.  

[Ephoenix]

October 8, 2023 

 

Marie Claire BIFF special edition cover protagonist, actor Lee Byung-hun pictorial and interview 

 

Another very insightful interview of LBH like that A-Room one back in 2019, when his theater was opened for the first time. And I agree with the interviewer here, no matter how I think I understand LBH as an actor or maybe as a person to some extent, there is always this freshness about him and his humble thoughts regarding himself and his craft as an actor. It’s kind of intimidating, maybe because of the mystique that surrounds him, but at the same time, very intriguing and charming. More pictures in the link. Interview1 Interview2 

 

 

Every year in late summer, movie officials and management people we meet on set ask who the cover actor of <Marie Claire BIFF Special Edition> is. When I told them that Lee Byung-hun is the actor this year, they all agreed. A cover actor without any disagreement. It truly dominated the theater scene this summer. 

LBH: Is that so? (Laughs) As an individual, I am grateful and happy. On the other hand, I am not at peace. Not only me, but probably many film industry people are feeling this right now, but the number of moviegoers visiting theaters has decreased significantly due to COVID-19. When <The Round Up 3> attracted 10 million viewers, I thought things had recovered for a while... On a local level, producers and officials are suffering and having a hard time. In fact, all filmmakers are watching the situation with regret.

 

Meanwhile, the film <Concrete Utopia> is being invited to leading overseas film festivals one after another, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, and Zurich Film Festival. I heard you returned from Toronto this morning. Even though you have been to countless overseas film festivals so far, are film festivals still an exciting place for actors? 

LBH: I'm very excited. When you start producing a movie, the long process from filming to promotion is difficult, and  you worry about how the audience will view the movie. Meanwhile, being invited to a film festival feels like a bonus reward. Looking back, it has already been 7 years since I went to the Toronto International Film Festival for the movie <The Magnificent Seven>. I also went to Toronto for the movie <The Good, the Bad, and The Weird>, and it's been an indescribably long time. (Laughs) What I felt again this year is that people all over the world, regardless of race, are shouting and cheering for our actors' names. I felt with my own skin that K-content was loved by people around the world more than we realized.

 

Nowadays, it has become familiar for Korean actors and staff to work and be recognized overseas, but as a pioneering actor who entered Hollywood 15 years ago with <GI Joe: Dawn of War>, it must be a special feeling. 

LBH: At that time, he felt lonely, as if he was floating alone like an island. But now it feels like everyone can recognize it. I came back after having a good time. 

 

This year, when you met ‘Young Tak’, you once again renewed your life character as an actor. Director Uhm Tae-hwa said that the character Young-tak was a straight-line character, but actor Lee Byung-hun changed it and gave it a three-dimensional feel. 

LBH: I remember developing it based on a small idea and discussing it with the director. What made Young Tak interesting from the beginning was the cinematic situation in which a character who has lost everything and has no reason to live anymore is suddenly given great power against his will and the character changes. Isn’t he a person whom you can’t tell whether he’s a good guy or a bad guy? At least Young Tak has an ambiguous side that cannot be seen as a villain in that he does not act for personal desires or interests when he is in power. We felt he was someone worthy of being around us. However, I think this movie is one in which you can empathize with not only Young Tak but also each character. The people who live in this apartment, and even outsiders, are all gathered together and make you  think, 'There are people like that around me.' So it's more realistic.

 

What kind of conversations did you have with the director while making Young Tak? 

LBH: I like the scene where Young tak sign and write his name after the voting, and how he writes the letter M (ㄆ) first. Since he is a person who has lived his whole life under the name ‘Mo Se-beom’, wouldn’t he unconsciously use M ‘ㄆ’? A close-up shot of the signing scene was made on site. But not many viewers noticed. In some ways, I'm glad I didn't notice everything in that scene.

 

One of the impressive clues is that Geum-ae, the apartment women's association president played by actress Kim Seon-young, says, “Both pastors and murderers are equal. When she says “everything has been reset,” the focus is momentarily focused on Young Tak. It passed by at the time of the viewing, but after the movie, it was revived. The fun of watching was doubled as clues like this were repeated over and over again. 

LBH: That scene was also created after discussion on site. This is the scene which is connected to the part that I worried about the most. After Yeong-tak commits murder and the earthquake occurs, he is devastated and asks, ‘What am I doing being alive?’ Then, when he hears a popping noise outside, he runs out without realizing it and puts out the fire. He is a person who is pathologically obsessed with home. When he reflexively jumped in and put out the fire, he instantly became a hero and a representative of the residents. The situation must have been confusing. I thought he might need some kind of stimulation. Actress Kim Seonyoung's line came out while discussing with the director what would be the stimulus that made the previous murder seem like nothing. However, we organized it by briefly focusing and removing it without giving too much meaning. We refined it by adding small details like that.

 

This has such a classic James Dean vibe, I love this so much! 

 

Isn’t Young Tak’s climax the scene where he sings the song ‘Apartment’? Actor Lee Byung-hun plays every work and every scene flawlessly. He lives immersed in stories. He gives the impression that he has innocently loved his job as an actor for over 30 years. What do you think the secret is? 

LBH: As I've been acting for a long time, in front of certain characters or scenes, I think, 'Oh, this?' There are times when you reflexively bring up old acting skills and use them. So, I am most wary and refuse to act out of habit. I try to act as if I am accepting that feeling and emotions for the first time and as if I were acting for the first time. I am trying to consciously shake off things that have accumulated without me knowing. It’s not like you just pull it off the list and say, ‘Oh I know how to do it.’

 

Haven't you accumulated a vast filmography that leaves you with a lot of things to grasp even if you don't try to retrieve it? It won't be easy to avoid. 

LBH: The moment I act with such inertia, I will stop on the spot. The amazing thing is that a new mind can be created on its own without any effort. When you try to choose a familiar method, you suddenly get startled. 'Why am I doing this?'. That’s why acting is always difficult. There are even times when acting itself feels unfamiliar. How do I do this? How should I express it? Like that.

 

Are you feeling at a loss? Actor Lee Byung-hun? 

LBH: Sometimes something like the habits of a artists who has been making one thing for a long time emerges. It must be the ‘know-how’ accumulated knowingly or unknowingly. But isn’t acting a technical profession? At least expressing one person's emotions means living as a different person, but that is not something that can be trained like a skill. So how do I do this? What should I do? There are times when, even if it's only for a moment, you face a moment of despair where you think this way. It's like I've completely returned to nothingness. If you are a swimmer or a taekwondo player, your body and muscles remember something, so it will come out right away, but expressing a person's life in a new way is different. So there are times when I feel embarrassed. Fortunately, that embarrassment doesn't last long.

 

Interview #2

Aren’t there certain actors that are often mentioned when choosing the title ‘God of Acting’? What makes actor Lee Byung-hun different among those names is that he started acting as a publicly recruited talent at a broadcasting station. Actors who started out in theaters have been well-received in movies, so the theater stage is seen as a place to train actors. Isn't there a way in which TV mini-series and daily dramas train actors as well? Actor Lee Byung-hun is also a representative witness. 

LBH: Right. The current TV drama production environment is similar to the movie shooting process, but it was very different in the past. The drama back then was created as if its a gag , as if it were produced in a factory. We film dozens of scenes a day, and if its possible, it is okay. (Laughs) For example, there were times when we were filming a scene where two people were talking, and the background light was different for each person. It was afternoon when my face was taken, but the sun had set in the meantime, so the background of the other person's face was night.  Even when the lights are turned on, the background is dark. If you shoot like that without hesitation, you will gain a lot of agility without being swayed by any number of variables that arise in the field. So, when an actor who has only done TV dramas comes to a movie set, he asks, 'Why is it so slow here?'  I also felt it. You have to keep taking your emotions with you, but if the waiting time gets longer, they get diluted. Once you get used to the fast pace, it is difficult to maintain your emotions for a long time. (I lol’d so hard reading this, LBH, you really came such a long way!) 

 

An irony in the film industry is that actor Song Kang-ho failed the theater and film department major three times, and actor Lee Byung-hun passed the KBS public talent test in the last place. There is even an anecdote where a director told actor Lee Byung-hun, when he was a rookie, that he could not act, and made him repeat, “This work is my debut and retirement work.” Did you ever think a time like today would come? 

LBH: I had no idea, absolutely nothing. I guess I was so scolded that I didn't really want to act. Even when I passed the talent test, I didn't think I would continue doing this as a career. I don’t think the thought ‘I’ll become a great actor’ ever crossed my mind. It was just, 'I'm having an amazing experience right now, I'm appearing on TV.' Even after a year, I did not recognize myself as an actor. Are you talented? I couldn't even think about that. I felt like I just had to do it. I was in a rigid state, not confident in my acting and unable to tell whether I was doing well or not.

 

What was the reason for the change? 

LBH: I spent a year like that without thinking much about it, but one day I filmed a very long scene. If you look at the ratio between reason and emotion in the acting, it was a moment filled with only emotion. Even after the Director said ‘Cut!’, I couldn't come to my senses and snap out of it. I don't even know how I acted. But at that moment, I felt indescribably good. Ah, moments like this made me wonder if I'm acting. As I received compliments on set and later watched broadcasts and had the experience of thinking, ‘I did a good job,’ I gradually began to feel attracted to this job. That was the beginning. It got better little by little. Only then did I think that this could be a job worth putting all my passion into.

 

 

Although there are differences in the evaluation of actor Lee Byung-hun's works so far, the evaluation of his acting is consistent. There is no work in which his acting was flawed. You seems to be proud of that as an actor. On the other hand, didn't the experience of not being able to do well alone cause frustration for the actor? 

LBH: hmm… I think it's because I haven't seen my old works. (Laughs) Since it is something that many people do together, I feel very sorry as an actor if my work is not loved. My heart is heavy when I think about how disappointed and difficult it must be for those who put all their effort into those film. However, there is an innate tendency to think in a direction that is beneficial to oneself. I think, ‘How can things continue to be good? I can only accept it because it is inevitable.’ If you think of it as an irresistible event destined to happen, you will feel a little more at ease. I just have to do better in my next work, so I don’t think I’m obsessed with that. I don't get very attached.

 

At this moment, if you could go back in time among the countless characters you have played so far, who would you like to go back to?

LBH: I guess ‘Sun-woo’ from <A Bittersweet Life>... .(Laughs) I think the atmosphere of today’s filming was like that. I think the music was also similar to OST (In that work).

 

Right. I see, somehow. (Laughs) While filming, I thought it sounded like music from ‘My movie.’ I, too, would like to choose <A Bittersweet Life>. In some ways, it's the movie that means the most to me. If I had to choose one more movie, it would be <Bungee Jumping Of their Own.>.

 

Why did you choose these two movies? 

LBH: First of all, the sentiment of both movies is really good. <A Bittersweet Life> had no choice but to follow one man's psychology from beginning to end, so I was in a situation where I had to shoulder everything. So I fell deeper emotionally. <Bungee Jumping of their own> was filmed right after <Joint Security Area (JSA)>, and that movie was director Kim Dae-seung's debut film. All the actors who appeared there were students, and (Lee) Eun-ju ssi was also a rookie. At that time, it was embarrassing for me to say, ‘This is actor Lee Byung-hun.’ All four films I previously appeared in were flops, and I had one success with <Joint Security Area>. However, since everyone but me was a rookie, I think a lot of people depended on me. I felt like I had to do something while feeling the pressure of the director who was about to enter the industry. At that time, the director asked me to come on the filming set while the students were filming, so I went to the scene even on days when there was no filming. He said something while watching from the side. (Laughs) Anyone who saw it would have thought that I invested in that movie. I am particularly attached to this work because it is a work that was put a lot of thought into it. Although it wasn't a huge hit, I'm glad it became a movie that was loved for a long time. I guess I can talk about it like this now because I was loved for a long time.

 

An actor’s sense of accomplishment is difficult and complicated. It is difficult to say that a person is a successful actor just because he or she receives a few awards or has a pile of unread scripts. Nevertheless, many people say that actor Lee Byung-hun is a successful actor. How would you define yourself as a successful actor? 

LBH: It seems difficult to attach the term ‘success’ to an actor. Nevertheless, when a work is finished and someone calls me on the street by the character's name instead of my name, at least I won't be an actor who failed in that work. Rather than saying that his life as an actor was successful, you could say that he was a successful actor at least in that work.

 

It's been a while since I was preparing for an interview, and I suddenly felt nervous. After hearing what you just said, I think I understand why. Since actor Lee Byung-hun exists as a character, his human side cannot be guessed. You don't really know what kind of person he is. However, this is also in line with the mystique of the actor that you often mentioned before. If so, wouldn't it be possible to say that you are living the life of the successful actor  you just mentioned? 

LBH: I had many such experiences. At a restaurant, the waiter was pouring water for me, but he dropped his hand so much that more water spilled around the cup than inside the cup. (Laughs) Sometimes I say, “I’ll pour it,” and take it. Also, a close friend of mine said, “Hyung, my friends are really your fans, so please meet them sometime.” So we met and had a meal together, but I was so nervous that I couldn’t eat properly. At times like that, I think, ‘Did I just film noir too much? Have I filmed many action movies? ' (Laughs) If you put in that prospective, I think I am a successful actor. A life fit for an actor.

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

[willenette]

On 10/7/2023 at 12:26 AM, Sheen90x said:

Every detail of him is gorgeous. 

Love LMJ's comment and she’s totally right. The change is huge . Thanks ,You're working hard translating and uploading the pics chingu, 고생했어요.. 

 

@Sheen90x  like it, too. I'm delighted to see their interaction on social media, it shows how playful they are in real life. This is not the first time that Lee Min Jung pokes fun at his Instagram post. She always teases him on Instagram. She did not only hit the like button but also left a funny comment.  

[willenette]

*** "Our Blues" has received the prestigious nomination in the 'TV Series' category in the Venice TV Awards 2023.  This is an annual award ceremony. This year, the drama has earned the distinction of being a nominee in the 'TV Series' category. It's thrilling to see the continued global recognition of this drama. I hope this will continue the triumph of this drama in more global award ceremonies.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

source : Hancinema

[Ephoenix]

10 hours ago, willenette said:

*** "Our Blues" has received the prestigious nomination in the 'TV Series' category in the Venice TV Awards 2023.  This is an annual award ceremony. This year, the drama has earned the distinction of being a nominee in the 'TV Series' category. It's thrilling to see the continued global recognition of this drama. I hope this will continue the triumph of this drama in more global award ceremonies.  

Thank you @willenette for this wonderful news! :). The awards selection has been completed already and the winner has been announced it seems..right? At least thats what I collected from their website. It’s a great news nonetheless and an honor to be a nominee among all those great works. Our Blues drama having global recognitions and touching more and more people’s lives is what we want to see.  

 

“All nominees will be awarded with the Venice TV Award Nominee Certificate which recognizes and rewards the companies and individuals responsible for their outstanding creations. The Nominee certificate will be given to the entrant company and includes credits. Exhibited to remind the success, victory and achievement winning.” 

 

—From Venice TV award website. Link 

[Ephoenix]

October 9, 2023

 

We have more pictures of the grand reunion of the TGBW trio with Dir. KJW, shared on IG by former Warner Bros’ exe Jay Choi @j_1, who was also one of the producers for TGBW and is a co-founder of Anthology studios. Apparently, we have Vice President of Paradise city to thank for making it all happen which makes it possible the venue might be paradise hotel in Busan. 

 

 

Funny how this picture gives ‘Mama Duck with her 3 chaotic Ducklings’ vibe, trying to teach them something, or more like ‘Who is going to do the dishes?’ vibe. The oldest(SKH)looks so done thinking, “Here we go again…!”, the loud and chaotic middle one (LBH) who is acting like a maknae, who always have something to say, and the actual maknae (JWS), just patiently listening while trying to secretly tell his brother to keep his mouth shut lol because mama looks so ready to throw his little behind out the window. 

 

Spoiler

 

They all look like they are about to do the “holding hand’ ritual of President JIn in master.  

 

Also, Marie Claire released highlight clips from their Asia Star Awards on their IG— https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyLcktLrOtO/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[willenette]

*** This year, the London East Asia Film Festival (LEAFF) will be held at Odeon Luxe Cinema at Leicester Square for 12 days from October 18th to 29th (local time). 49 notable films from 8 Asian countries, including Korea, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and the Phillippines have been invited to the festival to exchange Asian culture through movies. “Concrete Utopia” selected as closing film while opening film is “The Boys”.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

source : https://v.daum.net/v/20231013091410438

 

[Ephoenix]

October 16, 2023 

 

Concrete Utopia Analysis: 

“Look at all the interesting things I found!!!" ... I am using  cute LBH as bait, so, please read it. 

 

This is going to be a pretty long read because I am somewhat incapable of summarizing the facts but I must tell you that you won’t regret it. I cant help but continuously be amazed how much thought the director has put into perfecting this movie.

 

1. Main Character Mo Se-Beom (Moses+Beom): It has been often talked about how this name is reminiscent of Moses, who is revered as the greatest prophet and teacher in Christianity which we will further talk about superficially in Bible references, but something I feel like many missed was how the director cleverly added another equally contradicting word in the name which is just as significant to describe this character. It is ‘Beom’, which could also mean ‘crime’ alone in Korean, but the way it is used here as if like a —suffix completely criminalizes the first word.

 

 A God’s prophet—a criminal. It was so cleverly done and throughout the movie, we often witness this conflicting nature in the character after being chosen. A courageous, realistic and a devoted leader who created a proper system out of chaos, who has also committed a murder. As a person himself, he was constantly having a battle with it both outside and within himself as it simultaneously started progressing on his actions and expressions. LBH did such a marvelous job portraying this layered character of a tormented man walking on those thin grey lines, who also lost all his sense and reasons being intoxicated by the immense power, and created such a riveting and multi-faceted character. 

 

2. Power Dynamics: Imperial Palace Apartment is the only vertically standing apartment after the earthquake. In that sense, we can directly connect how the higher apartment numbers of our main characters are also representative of their power status within the group.

o   Kim Geum-ae of #1207 (Head of Women’s Association): It is clearly evident that she is the one who instigated this whole reign of terror in the first place, and had the most authoritative power above all, especially in the beginning. A master manipulator. 

o   Kim Young-tak of #902 (Resident Representative): ‘The Chosen one’ to put it simply—by the manipulative power of Geum-ae herself to take the lead. She had her eyes set on him as her ‘pawn’, who she thought had a strong sense of self-sacrifice and someone who can take all the blame and responsibilities. 

o   Moon Hye-won of #903: She didn’t hold much power like Young-tak but she is still in equal position with even a slight higher number because she held his biggest secret that could bring his entire Kingdom to doom. 

o   Do-kyun of #809 (Furniture Designer): Even though Do-kyun committed suicide as a result of the violence and humiliation he was subjected to by Young-tak, he is the one who dared to resist the cruel system with his good deeds and kept his belief in the humanity until his death. And it is one of the significant reason he was above Min-sung but was less powerful than Young-tak. 

o   Kim Min-sung and Myeong-Hwa of #602: Since Min-sung was the right hand man of Young-tak, and head of crime prevention team, he was under the direct order of Young-tak. Myung-hwa however, despite her beliefs, didn’t go against the system and always followed her husband. 

 

3. Characters’ Profession and behavior according to their Ethics: 

o   Mo Se-beom — Taxi Driver: Once the destination is decided by the passenger, their job is simply to take the initiative and drive to the destination. Here, Geum-ae and the residents set the destination, and MSB took the lead and the responsibility to fulfill his duties without having any say in it. 

o   Kim Min-sung — A Civil servant: As a public servant, you are required to obey your superiors and handle the work given to you, as well as manage your subordinates well. So, even if it is an act of aiding a murder, he performed it because it was required of him in that given situation regardless of it being against his own beliefs. However, as soon as he realized he is not the legitimate superior, he immediately turned against him and threatened him. 

o   Myeong-Hwa — A Nurse: As a medical professional, it’s their job to treat and save people regardless of their nature and status, and it should be their foremost priority. That’s why it is obvious that she showed a strong opinion to save and care for people even if they were outsiders. Even though, it went against the propaganda at that time, she remained and maintained her firm stand on her beliefs. 

 

4. Biblical references: I will only go briefly since this isn’t the topic I am confident at and these analysis were mostly collected from fans’ interpretation and reviews.

 

 

o   Moses: A prominent figure who was a leader, liberator, intercessor, lawgiver and prophet. Our main character Mo Se-beom is heavily inspired from him.

o   Moses’ 10 commandments: The set of rules for residents they set outside the apartment board was also reminiscent of the 10 commandments established by Moses in the Bible. 

o   Declaration of being chosen: Kim young-tak referring to the apartment being chosen and how the residents going around referring each other as chosen ones are similar to the ideology that they are chosen by God. 

o   Moses’ staff or his walking stick: Mo Se-beom always carried that walking stick he got from real Kim young-tak’s house, which was like a symbol of his power, his crime and also a weapon, just like how Moses also had his staff that he always carried around. And Kim Young-tak losing his stick during the attack by outsiders also symbolized his loss of power. 

o   Pillar of Fire and Cloud: In Bible, pillar of fire and cloud were considered manifestation of God, which said to have illuminated and guided his followers through the desert. Here in the movie, it guided Young-tak and his crime prevention team to conduct search during the night and eventually find that convenience store.

o   Discovery of water in dried land: The scene where the stream of water appeared after the rock burst open was like that of how Moses struck his staff into the rock and provided water for his followers. Just like in the Bible and in the movie, it signified how God still provides and nurtures, even when you disobey him. It also means that a sin has far more deadly consequences than we may foresee. 

o   Painting red on the door: This act of painting the door red was also references to the commands of Moses, where the ones who had their doors painted with sheep’s blood escaped God’s punishment. However, contrary to the Bible, in the world of Concrete Utopia, it was used as a symbol of punishment. This clear contradiction itself is one of the many anecdotes used in the movie to show how Imperial Palace Apartment is anything but an Utopia. 

 

There’s more on the biblical references from the ending of the movie, but that also depended on how you interpreted the ending. The one shown in the movie, goes with the interpretation of Noah’s Ark. However, I also don’t think it is what it seems. If I go by what Director said about Homeless man’s suspicious look seeing injured Min-sung, and how he proceeded to follow them, I doubt his corpse remained safely buried under those rocks.(Remember why they cremated Do-kyun’s body in the first place) Yikes! I know! Also, we are aware of the contradicting nature of this whole movie and the character itself, and that homeless man being the first to speak about cannibalism while later being shown eating a large bone(supposedly his friend’s) makes it even more disturbing. Sorry Min-sung! And then, there is another theory that what we saw with the collection of people happily living and feeding was actually unrealistic because of lack of water and rice in winter. But even if it is true, there’s a suspicion that someone is deliberately fattening them up to later consume them. Honestly, after watching what could become of human in times of crisis, that ending feels too much of a dream than the actual reality. 

 

5. Heart shaped symbol: Among the countless paradoxes that is dramatically presented in this movie, I find the contrary of this symbol and the situation to be the most hilarious as well as terrifying. The use of a big heart-shaped bulb which illuminated their main room, and the heart-shaped tattoo that was on the ring finger of a corpse that Min-sung encountered in one of his searches was displayed not so subtly in my opinion to convey its irony. 

T/W: 

Spoiler

 

6. What goes around, comes around and Parallelism: 

 

o   In the beginning, when the residents were trying to evict the outsiders, they threw heavy things from higher places in order to scare them to stay away from their apartment. So in that sense, everything besides the apartment naturally belonged to the outsiders. So, towards the end, when residents went for hunting of foods, they were attacked by outsiders in exactly the same way they did before from the higher places, throwing concrete chunks and fire balls. 

o   I am not sure if this is suitable here but when Min-sung retrieved his can of fruit from under the pile of junks at the apartment, flood of cockroaches came out, and residents were trampling and killing them in disgust and fear. Same as at the end, when they came back with tons of foods from outside, cockroaches/outsiders flocked inside the apartment and started attacking the residents. And if you pay close attention to the barrier they made at the gate, it almost looks like the pile of junks at the apartment in the beginning. 

o   When Mo Se-beom was killing real Young-tak, he picked and hit him with a baduk bowl with white stones in it, and shoved those stones down his throat as he killed him. In that sense as well, we know white stones = Evict/death just like the rule of the voting in the movie. So, when the truth of Young-tak being a cockroach/outsider was exposed, he was attacked and dragged by crowd of residents, who in a sense were collectively representing that white stones (Rejection of outsiders) pushing to kill him like that white stones he used to kill real Kim Young-tak. So, based on LBH’s interview on the scene, when he vomited and retched severely, he was expelling all the baduk stones that real Young-tak was holding. He was also disgusted by the overwhelming rejection, what he did to Hye-won, and the realization of what he has become as he seemed to finally came back to his senses. 

 

 

7. Gemini Meteor shower: Besides tactfully applying this real life phenomenon into the movie, there seems to be another reason why this specific phenomenon was chosen in the first place. The Gemini constellation represents twins Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology. However, unlike Castor, Pollux was immortal, and in this movie, they were represented by Kim Young-tak and Mo Se-beom — with them having and not having true ownership of the apartment. 

 

8. Canned Silkworm pupae: This was actually explained by Director in one of the GV. He mentioned that he used the can of silkworm pupae specifically because it looked like cockroaches, and Young-tak who we already knew was a cockroach chose and ate every last bit of it so deliciously as he went to confront Do-kyun in his house. Silkworm pupae was given to only the hardworking residents especially crime prevention teams, and the fact that it came from Myung-Hwa when she brought food to Do-kyun and his hidden outsiders, who eventually was the person to reveal that Young-tak is a cockroach makes all this far more interesting on how far the director have thought through to tell his story. 

 

9. Grave Diggers: It was shown very briefly but Do-kyun and those people who hid outsiders in their apartments were mostly residents who were assigned a digging duties in the apartment. The purpose of digging was not clarified in the movie, but it both felt like director wanted to tell us that they were someone who had secrets they wanted buried, or they were someone who were digging their own grave because keeping outsiders is against the apartment law and could bear severe consequences for them. 

 

10. Having toilet disposals in front of the apartment: It was said that back in the day, when poverty was extreme, people would actually poo in front of their own house and the act was encouraged to show off that they are well-fed. It was a symbol of their status of being able to feed and rich among the poor who had nothing to feed. And in the Concrete Utopia world, where everything is destroyed, and being the residents of the apartment was considered high status and it maybe being one of the ways to show it off to the outsiders makes me think humans will just never change, even if the world is turned upside down. This also goes well with how Min-sung found poo when he went behind the shop to find entrance. Contrary to the apartment people, shop owner definitely didn’t want to show off and let people to know there’s a sign of food. 

 

Lastly, I have this two scenes that are stuck in my mind, but I just couldn’t seem to organize my thoughts to find its meaning. The way it was presented both times seemed to hold bigger meaning to the story though because Director really took time to show it on screen. I’m sharing the pic of the scenes here, so if you guys have any thoughts, please share with me. I am dying to understand it.  

 

Spoiler

 

There are some more and I realized you always discover something new as you watch it. This makes Concrete Utopia one of the best Korean movies I’ve watched and enjoyed the process of learning more about it. I believe what I have assembled here is just the tip of the iceberg, and there are so much more to this amazing movie. If you have your analysis or something you thought otherwise, please feel free to share here. I’d love to read your thoughts on it. I’ll link the post I took references from under the post. Thank you for reading this painfully long post.  

 

Some DC inside and Qoo sources: here here here here 

[Ephoenix]

October 16, 2023 

 

Barista Lee Byung-hun's IG update: "Dot drip" [Coffee] 

 

Must be a promotion video for "Little Cali coffee", filmed and directed by LMJ most likely because that kitchen counter design looks like from their home. 

 

LBH on Yoo quiz back in August

 

Q: What's your morning routine? 

LBH: I have a Barista license and this is something I do every morning for Lee Min-jung ssi. No matter how much I am tired, have had a drink the night before and have a hangover, I always make sure to make a cup of coffee for Min jung ssi. Both Min jung ssi and I don't use creamer in our coffee. We like just black coffee or iced black coffee. 

 

[Ephoenix]

October 16, 2023 

 

Loved reading this interview of Director Uhm Tae-Hwa and his thought processes while making Concrete Utopia. It just makes me anticipate more on what he is going to bring in his next work. It might be a horror genre like he mentioned before but I wish LBH would work with him few more times in the future. Their dreamy personality and working codes matches well with each other, and the outcome is just fantastic. I am officially a fan of Uhm brothers now.  

 

[BIFF Marie Claire] <Concrete Utopia> Director Uhm Tae-hwa interview

 

Leaving a little hope even in a world full of despair. Dreaming of a utopia that does not  exist. Something that director Uhm Tae-hwa wants to somehow achieve through the film.

• 

 

In the movie <Concrete Utopia>, if you peel away one layer of disaster, you can see a group of people and yourself within them. The standard for judging the choices and actions of ‘Young-tak’ (Lee Byung-hun), ‘Min-seong’ (Park Seo-joon), and ‘Myeong-hwa’ (Park Bo-young) in order to survive, protect their family, and not give up their beliefs is a question asked to the audience themselves. Come back. After blurring the boundaries between good and evil, justice and injustice, director Uhm Tae-hwa says, let's now look into the heart of the person on the other side. I hope that such a utopia exists somewhere.

 

In a world where everything collapsed due to a major earthquake, an apartment building stands alone, and the people inside it. The story of the movie <Concrete Utopia> begins here. While there is no way to know how the earthquake occurred or how far the city collapsed, people face another disaster after the disaster. 

Even the original webtoon does not explain where and to what extent it collapsed. There is only a setting such as ‘We are closer to the moon’. I also thought I should start from that point and make a movie. We decided to start from the perspective of those who had no choice but to stay in the city without knowing how much it had collapsed. Some people asked what magnitude the earthquake was, and while I was making it, I was reminded of a situation where a collapse occurred not only in Korea but around the world. In other words, the work was done under the assumption that there was a huge problem on the entire planet.

 

What was the most important part in completing the story of the people in this apartment into a movie? 

The first was made with reality in mind, the second one with reality, and the third one as well with only reality in mind. While watching the original, I thought about why I found this story interesting, and at the core of it was the ‘apartment’. In Korean society, doesn’t the existence of an apartment mean more than just a living space? I thought it was a place of love and hate that was both a home and an asset for many people. So, it was most important to create pictures that would allow people to empathize with this story more realistically, and I put a lot of effort into the set work. Although it is not mentioned in the movie, the set was created while considering what neighborhood in Seoul the Imperial Palace Apartment would be in if it were real . Newlyweds Min-seong and Myeong-hwa thought about a few neighborhoods that they could get into and that were not far from the Han River, and ultimately came to the conclusion that the area near Yaksu subway station would be the most suitable. We actually looked at the topography of the Yaksu-dong area and went through a simulation before building an apartment. While building an imperial palace apartment building, I went hunting countless times and collected quite a bit of data.

 

It is impressive that the interior of each house, as well as the exterior, captures the character's characteristics so well that it feels 'real'. 

I thought of each house as a character and shaped it that way. If you watch a Korean documentary called <Times at Home>, no people appear and the camera continues to focus on various parts of the house, and that alone gives you an idea of what kind of people live there. With that in mind, we came up with a detailed plan with the goal of being able to tell whose house it is just by showing the inside.

 

Now let’s shift our gaze to the people in the apartment. After a major earthquake, the survivors first select a leader (temporary resident representative). After that, they establish laws (disciplines) and act according to them. It was like watching the process of forming a society. 

The psychology that is most focused on is fear. In reality, when people feel fear in an unpredictable situation, don't they tend to set up someone they can trust and hope that person will guide them? Furthermore, it can lead to blind trust in the leader. In this process, there are people who naturally follow, people who doubt, and sometimes people who rebel, and I wanted to clearly show the moment when the conflict between them arises and the psychology at that time. Some people interpreted it as the birth of a small nation, but I had no intention of dragging it to such a macro level. Rather, it was important to focus on human psychology, how different characters make choices, and what results those choices lead to.

 

Perhaps because of this, a wide variety of characters appear, including men and women of all ages.

I wanted to let the audience choose who they would sympathize with. Depending on the generation, beliefs, and what they want to protect, someone will sympathize with Yeong-tak or Min-seong, Do-gyun, Myung-hwa, or Geum-ae. At the same time, there are words that unite these diverse people. The line by Myeong-hwa, “They were just ordinary people,” makes me think about my connection with a character I could never understand. I think that ‘ordinary’ is a word that includes both altruistic and selfish, good and evil. It is also an expression of wanting to bring in the concept of ‘the banality of evil.’ In fact, if you look at human history, isn't there a record that even people who were considered extremely evil people were surprisingly turned out to be so ordinary when faced closely? It is also a line written with the hope that it would be good for people to think that a righteous choice can become a blade that can harm someone.

 

So, I cannot solely criticize or support the choices made by the people of the Imperial Palace Apartments. Even when you wonder how he could do that, it’d make you ask, ‘What if it were me?’ If you ask yourself this, you won't be able to come up with an easy answer. 

Since I'm hungry, that person must be hungry too. We need to change our position and think like this, but isn't this a difficult world to live in? Because ‘eating and living’ is particularly important in Korea. As a result, protecting your family and home is important, and if you only focus on that, it's easy to end up thinking 'I don’t care whatever happens to others'. I think these feelings accumulate and lead us to make choices that we call evil. Nevertheless, the ultimate goal was to have the characters in this film ultimately move towards compassion rather than evil. Because that could be me and my family.

 

Numerous characters appear in the movie. I think one of the concerns was how much of each character's story would be shown. 

That’s why the actors were very important. As it was impossible to show each character's warriors one by one, there was a lot of convincing that the actors had to do. It was a very difficult mission that you should feel like you understand who you are just by looking at one scene, and the actors expressed this brilliantly.

 

The acting skills of each actor, including Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young, and Kim Do-yoon, are said to have raised the level of perfection of the film, to the extent that one wonders whether the numerous concerns mentioned above may have been resolved through their meeting. 

I often think that movies are like living organisms. What you initially thought of and the finished result may never be the same. In that difference or change, my unconsciousness will also be reflected, and numerous variables will also be included, and above all, the part created by the actor is the biggest one. After filling in the owner of each character one by one, we have a talk with the actors to change the tone or lines, and try other things while filming. And in this process, I achieve my own balance. I really enjoyed the process of changing things together with actors, and the pleasure of working with good actors in this movie was doubled. Not only actor Lee Byung-hun, but also actors Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young did not settle for what was given, but continued to work hard to find out more from their characters. In particular, actress Park Bo-young did not fear anything and poured all her energy into Myung-hwa. Myeonghwa was clearly an altruistic person who was sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, but she was also trapped within the framework of the imperial palace apartment. I wanted to capture the moment when the choices she makes to protect her husband cross a certain line and reach madness, and actress Park Bo-young expressed that point very well.

 

There is an actor who has appeared in every work since your first feature film <Ingtugi> and adds to the power of the story. The presence of your younger brother, actor Uhm Tae-gu, cannot be left out. 

I am not very sociable. But shouldn't the director be able to talk a lot with the actor and draw out something from it and put it into the work? That was always a difficult part while filming, but it was easy because I didn't have to go through the process of getting to know my younger brother, and at the same time, I was able to rely on him. It's also good to do difficult things. In fact, the role of a homeless person in this movie was also difficult to ask someone just as a friendship appearance, but I finished the casting by simply asking, “Please do it.” (Laughs) I am waiting for the day when I will see a movie with my younger brother as the main character again.(Hello Director-nim! I am waiting for that day, too! )

 

Can we understand it to mean that Uhm Tae-gu will always appear in future movies? 

Yes. I want him to appear in my movie no matter whichever the character. 

 

I also wanted to ask about the ending. Is it hope or another despair?

Both are implied. However, I feel that it would be better to find a little hope if possible. However, I didn't want it to look forced, so I thought more deeply than ever about the actor's facial expressions, background music, and angles.

 

So, was the Imperial Palace Apartment truly a utopia? I also asked these questions: 

In fact, doesn't the word utopia itself mean a place that exists nowhere else? That's why I like the title <Concrete Utopia>.

 

What does utopia look like outside of the story and to the filmmaker? It is something that is best dreamed of even if it does not exist . 

In 2005, I went to the Busan International Film Festival and attended the GV for the film <Princess Raccoon> by the now deceased director Seijun Suzuki. The director, who was over 80 years old, went on stage wearing an oxygen respirator to talk to the audience, and the scene was so shocking. And when one of the audience members said that his dream was to become a director and asked if he would share the know-hows of becoming a director, the response he received was, “You can’t reveal that to your future competitors.” Wouldn’t it be a utopia for a director to continue making movies until the end of his life?

 

What is the journey towards utopia like? 

You can move forward in reality, or you can go swimming in a dream. I guess I'm not very realistic. In other words, it borders on idealism, and I think that aspect has helped me continue my film career. My personality is inherently optimistic, but lacks solution. (Laughs) In this movie, there are lines like “What are you going to do?”, “We have to do it no matter what”, “How are we going to do?”, and that’s what I say often. This may sound very irresponsible, but I think I just continued with the belief that I could make a movie. This phrase appear in my first feature film, <Ingtugi>? “It’s a strength to be able to keep going.”

 

I think that the score achieved by <Concrete Utopia> repaid that belief to some extent. Even though the situation was not as lively as before, the number of viewers exceeded 3.8 million. 

Of course. Movies are a manifestation of personal dreams, but at the same time, we must not lose sight of the fact that they are also commercial activities. In that sense, the current score is like gaining great energy for the next work.

 

What kind of film do you hope will be remembered after the hot summer of 2023? 

When I was making <Intoogi>, I thought it would be nice if this story could become a movie like <The March of Fools>. If <The March of Fools> is a story that shows youth in the 1980s, I hoped that <Intoogi> will remain as a film that records the concerns of youth living in 2012. I hope that <Concrete Utopia> will one day exist as a movie where people’s concerns and the context of the times can be read when looking back in 2023. 

 

Source: Marie Claire

[Glenn Dixen]

On 10/16/2023 at 9:23 PM, Ephoenix said:

October 16, 2023 

 

Loved reading this interview of Director Uhm Tae-Hwa and his thought processes while making Concrete Utopia. It just makes me anticipate more on what he is going to bring in his next work. It might be a horror genre like he mentioned before but I wish LBH would work with him few more times in the future. Their dreamy personality and working codes matches well with each other, and the outcome is just fantastic. I am officially a fan of Uhm brothers now.  

 

[INTERVIEW] <Concrete Utopia> Director Uhm Tae-hwa interview

 

Leaving a little hope even in a world full of despair. Dreaming of a utopia that does not  exist. Something that director Uhm Tae-hwa wants to somehow achieve through the film.

 

In the movie <Concrete Utopia>, if you peel away one layer of disaster, you can see a group of people and yourself within them. The standard for judging the choices and actions of ‘Young-tak’ (Lee Byung-hun), ‘Min-seong’ (Park Seo-joon), and ‘Myeong-hwa’ (Park Bo-young) in order to survive, protect their family, and not give up their beliefs is a question asked to the audience themselves. Come back. After blurring the boundaries between good and evil, justice and injustice, director Uhm Tae-hwa says, let's now look into the heart of the person on the other side. I hope that such a utopia exists somewhere.

 

In a world where everything collapsed due to a major earthquake, an apartment building stands alone, and the people inside it. The story of the movie <Concrete Utopia> begins here. While there is no way to know how the earthquake occurred or how far the city collapsed, people face another disaster after the disaster. 

Even the original webtoon does not explain where and to what extent it collapsed. There is only a setting such as ‘We are closer to the moon’. I also thought I should start from that point and make a movie. We decided to start from the perspective of those who had no choice but to stay in the city without knowing how much it had collapsed. Some people asked what magnitude the earthquake was, and while I was making it, I was reminded of a situation where a collapse occurred not only in Korea but around the world. In other words, the work was done under the assumption that there was a huge problem on the entire planet.

 

What was the most important part in completing the story of the people in this apartment into a movie? 

The first was made with reality in mind, the second one with reality, and the third one as well with only reality in mind. While watching the original, I thought about why I found this story interesting, and at the core of it was the ‘apartment’. In Korean society, doesn’t the existence of an apartment mean more than just a living space? I thought it was a place of love and hate that was both a home and an asset for many people. So, it was most important to create pictures that would allow people to empathize with this story more realistically, and I put a lot of effort into the set work. Although it is not mentioned in the movie, the set was created while considering what neighborhood in Seoul the Imperial Palace Apartment would be in if it were real . Newlyweds Min-seong and Myeong-hwa thought about a few neighborhoods that they could get into and that were not far from the Han River, and ultimately came to the conclusion that the area near Yaksu subway station would be the most suitable. We actually looked at the topography of the Yaksu-dong area and went through a simulation before building an apartment. While building an imperial palace apartment building, I went hunting countless times and collected quite a bit of data.

 

It is impressive that the interior of each house, as well as the exterior, captures the character's characteristics so well that it feels 'real'. 

I thought of each house as a character and shaped it that way. If you watch a Korean documentary called <Times at Home>, no people appear and the camera continues to focus on various parts of the house, and that alone gives you an idea of what kind of people live there. With that in mind, we came up with a detailed plan with the goal of being able to tell whose house which build by Aluminium Kozijnen it is just by showing the inside. 

 

Source: Marie Claire

Thanks for giving that detail interview i watch video but not getting that much detail. Thanks again.

Edited November 23, 2023 by ferily
Please don’t quote images. Thanks!

[Ephoenix]

October 18, 2023

 [A Little Throwback with LBH]

I had these made when LBH was one of the guest speakers for Yoshiki’s hand foot printing ceremony at the Graumann Chinese theater, but it may have been misplaced among the crowd of CU updates we had at that time. Among the pictures released, there was this moment of LBH alone where it looked as if he was taking a stroll down memory lane of his own hand and foot printing ceremony in 2012. His nostalgic expresssion, so deep in thoughts, and with these two pictures together, it feels like a scene from a fantasy movie as if 2012 LBH and 2023 LBH are looking directly at each other. They have come such a long way indeed. 

 

 

And this beautiful picture of him with Kim Young-tak at the background. Initially, I had thought “Wow.. Beauty and the Beast”, before I had watched the movie…but now I am not entirely sure if I can call it that. Maybe “Beauty and The Beauty inside” is more like it lol. You just can’t seem to judge these characters in terms of black and white at all, and it’s a very reflective movie as it never fails to make you realize that when you point a finger at someone, there are other three fingers that are actually pointing back at you. The moral dilemma you get watching and thinking about it fascinates me to no end. 

 

Pic: @hino2033 IG from CU VIP premiere 

 

My ramblings aside, LBH just looks so beautiful here, and the contrast with Kim Young-tak’s eyes makes it even better. And It’s been very quiet past few weeks as it seems LBH is back to filming Squid Game 2, as there has been news of him attending one of the restaurants with his coworkers ISW, TOP and others. Hope the filming goes smooth and safely until the end.  

 

On 10/17/2023 at 3:11 AM, Glenn Dixen said:

Thanks for giving that detail interview i watch video but not getting that much detail. Thanks again.

@Glenn Dixen You’re welcome  

[willenette]

Film/TV Actor/actress brand value rankings for October based on big data analysis of Korea Brand Reputation Research Institute

Period : September 19 through October 19

 

According to the analysis results, Kang Dong Won ranked 1st place for the month of October with a total of 9,928,065 brand value points, followed closely behind by actress Go Yoon Jung in 2nd place with 8,312,332 points. Actor Jo In Sung came in 3rd place this month with 5,681,887 brand value points. 

 

The top 30 film/TV actors/actresses in terms of brand value ranking for October are: Kang Dong Won, Go Yoon Jung, Jo In Sung, Song Joong Ki, Han Hyo Joo, Kim Nam Gil, Kang Ha Neul, Jung So Min, Lee Yoo Mi, Jeon Yeo Bin, Yoon Kye Sang, Lee Byung Hun, Lee Seo Jin, Han Ji Min, Gong Yoo, Ha Jung Woo, Lim Siwan, Son Suk Goo, Ryu Seung Ryong, Kim Hye Soo, Park Bo Young, Uhm Jung Hwa, Park Seo Joon, Hyun Bin, Lee Jong Suk, Lee Jae Hoon, Nam Joo Hyuk, Jung Woo Sung, Jung Hae In, and Ma Dong Suk.