Bong Joon-ho and Martin Scorsese Fall for Kim Ki-young's Cinema... 8 Masterpieces Hit the Big Screen

The special exhibition "Reconnect Kim Ki-young," which re-illuminates the cinematic world of original auteur director Kim Ki-young, opens today, September 15, at the Seoul Cinema Center.

Presenting eight of Director Kim's films through 4K remastering, this special exhibition will release two works every week, starting with "The Housemaid" and "Pagye" (A Vowless Woman). Alongside the screenings, newly crafted posters will be unveiled to connect Korean classic cinema with today's audiences.

Director Kim Ki-young is a master of Korean cinema who portrayed human desires and anxieties, as well as the latent fractures within family and class, through his own unique cinematic language. His distinct direction—transforming familiar everyday spaces into unfamiliar stages of tension—unconventional characters, and intense colors and mise-en-scène clearly set his films apart. His works, including his masterpiece "The Housemaid," boldly reveal the social conditions and human psychology of his era while showing originality that refuses to be confined to a single genre or interpretation.

Director Bong Joon-ho has long expressed his deep admiration for Director Kim. His Oscar-sweeping film "Parasite" was heavily influenced by Kim's films. In addition, "Master of New York" Martin Scorsese also heaped praise on "The Housemaid," saying, "I was chilled to the core. It's a film the whole world needs to see," before taking on the film restoration of "The Housemaid" through his World Cinema Foundation in 2007. He also screened this restored version at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

This special exhibition's effort to reintroduce Kim's works carries the intent of broadening the opportunities for audiences to encounter Korean classic cinema.

The organizers shared the significance of the exhibition, stating, "While the re-release of classic masterpieces has led to a viewing culture of rediscovering past films, opportunities to experience Korean classic cinema have been relatively limited within that trend. 'Reconnect Kim Ki-young' focuses on this gap, aiming to create a venue where major works in Korean film history are not just remembered by their names and reputations, but are directly experienced through the screen and sound of a movie theater."

In particular, Kim's films, characterized by unparalleled imagery and unconventional narratives, are works that can arouse curiosity even in audiences unfamiliar with classic cinema and spark intergenerational dialogue. By using the Seoul Cinema Center as a stage to introduce everything from his masterpieces to works that have been relatively difficult to access, the exhibition aims to provide a comprehensive look into a single director's world while creating an opportunity to examine what kind of senses and questions Korean classic films can convey to contemporary audiences.

The meaning of reconnection embedded in the exhibition title "Reconnect" also extends to the way the works are introduced. It provides an opportunity to encounter his signature work "The Housemaid" alongside seven 4K-remastered films in one place, while newly produced posters create another pathway to approach the films. It offers existing audiences a chance to view familiar works with fresh perspectives, while proposing a contact point for younger audiences that can lead from visual interest to actual viewing.

A total of eight films are scheduled to be screened, with "The Housemaid" and "Pagye" (A Vowless Woman) releasing sequentially on September 15, "Promise of the Flesh" and "Muddy Waters" on September 22, "Ieoh Island" and "A Woman Chasing a Killer Butterfly" on September 29, and "Ban Geum-ryeon" and "Woman of Fire" on October 6. The first week will feature two works, "The Housemaid" and "Pagye" (A Vowless Woman), and following the release of all works, the eight films will be variously scheduled and screened continuously.

 

(SBS Entertainment News | Reporter Kim Ji-hye)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.