Director Park Chan-wook picked up his fourth Best Director trophy at the Blue Dragon Film Awards.
At the 46th edition, held at KBS Hall in Seoul’s Yeouido district, Park was honored for "No Other Choice".
Park, currently in the U.S. amid his Oscars campaign, couldn’t attend the ceremony. Accepting on his behalf, actor Lee Sung-min said, “The director asked me to receive this if he happened to win,” before reading Park’s note to the audience.
“It’s the realization of a dream I’ve had since first reading the source material 20 years ago,” Park wrote. “I was proud to bring this story to the screen in Korea. We aimed to make a film that feels simple and comic at first, but grows more tragic each time you revisit it. Thank you for recognizing that.”
"No Other Choice" centers on Mansu (Lee Byung-hun), a company man who thinks he’s got it all―until a sudden layoff upends his life. Determined to protect his wife, two kids, and the hard-won home they live in, he gears up for a personal war to claw his way back to work.
The film has drawn 2.93 million moviegoers in Korea and is eyeing the International Feature Film race at next March’s Oscars.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Ji-hye)