100 years of Korean cinema: part two - the 60s to the 90s.

Feb 16

Feb 16 100 years of Korean cinema: part two - the 60s to the 90s.

Food, drama, and music have propelled South Korea onto the global stage over the last two decades. Now, South Korean cinema has also earned its own loyal following thanks to a handful of globally successful pictures, including Old Boy, Okja and, most recently, Parasite. Film buffs may remember the late 1990s and early 00s as a golden age of Korean cinema, during which many South Korean films were just as popular among cinema fans as their Japanese and Chinese counterparts.

South Korean films released before the 1990s are often harder to access and enjoy relatively limited space in our collective knowledge of Korean cinema. However, many of these films are exceptional displays of talent and are accompanied by a rich history that can help us further understand Korea's modern history—the turbulent process of turning a Confucian kingdom-turned-Japanese annexation into the fast-paced metropolis of modern Korea that we see today.

Here is the second instalment of our three-part series guiding you through South Korea's modern film history.

We begin at the start of the 1960s. Some of Korea's most influential filmmakers grew up in the volatile years after the violent conflict of the Korean War that tore the peninsula in half. Urban discontent was rampant, and the media was especially critical of the American-imposed government headed by Syngman Rhee. Students struggled to get jobs, and if they found work, it was usually unrelated to their qualifications. South Korea was plagued by instability.

Syngman Rhee was eventually overthrown, and Park Chung-hee came to power on 16 May 1961 by means of a military coup. Korea was placed under military rule, and economic development was his first priority. On 17 October 1972, Park declared a state of emergency under the pretext of a communist threat from the North and imposed the Yusin order, suspending all democratic rights and civil liberties, cementing his dictatorial position. Park implemented martial law over the whole country, shut down all university campuses, and implemented new censorship over all media outlets. Park's brutal suppression also included making criticism of the president a criminal act. This became the direct cause of rioting and revolt.

Park was eventually assassinated by Kim Chae-gyu, head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. But the conflict was far from over. General Chun Doo-hwan took over Korea with another military coup. The oppressive government system was the cause of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, during which a peaceful student protest became a violent battleground over nine days between citizens and soldiers, leading to the horrific massacre of hundreds of citizens. The military was sent into the city to suppress the demonstrations and acted with total brutality towards the students. Regular citizens joined the protests in solidarity with the students, and together they managed to force the military out of the city. Chun's soldiers, however, moved their way back in and killed indiscriminately, bringing an end to the standoff. Despite national outrage, the government refused to apologise and did not accept responsibility nor offer compensation to victims. Anger surged across the nation, aimed at the Chun regime and government systems that continually failed to support citizens. The inhumane slaughter of citizens by the government at Gwangju remains a harrowing memory in South Korea.

Student bodies continued to demonstrate against the regime despite facing repeated suppression in the form of suspensions, arrests and, in the most extreme cases, injury and death. The largely left-wing directors of the Korean New Wave, many of them students, saw first-hand the turbulent events of this era as they grew up.

The Korean film industry was under strict control by the government during these years. In 1973, the Park government only allowed 12 companies to release films and only increased the allowance to 20 companies by 1981. In 1985, the Korea-US Film Agreement was introduced, which made it easier for American film companies to work in Korea and contributed to the increased number of imported films. This sparked protest from some Korean filmmakers because the increase in US films imported into Korea perpetuated the fear that Hollywood production companies would eventually dominate the Korean film industry and put them out of work.

However, many directors were keen to see a change in the film industry in Korea. They wanted independence from the government, especially in order to compete with the recent influx of Hollywood companies, but they were still reliant on the government to maintain the film industry. Rather than allowing the saturated genre flick market to continue, these independent filmmakers saw their opportunity to enter the industry through new funding.

Some filmmakers also welcomed the entrance of large companies into the film industry in the late 1980s because these firms wanted to lay their business practices onto the film industry and profit from it. This afforded filmmakers the independence to produce films external from government funding. The financial support allowed production budgets to grow and gave auteurs the means to experiment. However, the conglomerates were keen to invest their money in productions that would create profit, so filmmakers often had little choice but to produce low-risk genre films. Korean cinema became more mainstream and less artistic. The government had moulded cinema production into its own form of propaganda, and the large conglomerates had otherwise completely monopolised it, neautralising its creative potency. Any form of socially conscious filmmaking had become almost extinct.

Ha Gil-jong was one filmmaker who refused to silence his opposition to the oppressive government. He grew up protesting against Park's regime and saw many of his friends and colleagues killed in the student demonstrations. Ha produced several politically-charged films during the 1970s after studying film at UCLA. His film The Pollen (1972) was highly censored by government officials, who went on to completely destroyed the negatives of the film after deeming them 'too sensitive' to be seen. The Pollen weaves political allegories through a story of a business person's crumbling personal and work life. The film is notable for the first portrayal of bisexuality in Korean cinema. Ha's film was so controversial that it flopped both financially and critically. Today it is considered a treasured piece of Korean film history. While far less research has been conducted on Ha's work than on his counterparts, such as Lee Chang-ho, there has been a renewed interest in him since the Busan International Film Festival held a retrospective of his work in 2009.

Lee Chang-ho was another politically combative filmmaker who grew up during the turbulence of the Park regime and the governments that followed. He co-founded the Young Sang Shi Dae, a group of artists who wanted to push the boundaries of cinema, inspired by the Nouvelle Vague movement in France.

While some of Lee's films were too controversial for wide audiences, his film, Heavenly Homecoming to Stars (1974), was well-received. The film marries subtle revolutionary tones with classic melodrama tropes, making it palatable for young and old audiences. It tells a non-linear story of a young woman who is used and abused by four different men in her life, leading her to a lethal reliance on alcohol. Strict censorship limited what the film could say, so while the story is overflowing with remorse and lament, it barely demands the need for change in society that Lee hoped to see.

Im Kwon-taek earned a mention in the previous instalment of this cinema series for his tribulations with censorship. By the 1970s, he was particularly fed up with making "senseless" genre pictures and decided to change his approach to filmmaking. Wang Sib Ri, My Hometown (1976) turns the classic 'gangster homecoming' trope on its head. The protagonist, estranged from the place he grew up and avoiding an impending violent gang brawl back in Japan, spends the film slowly losing grip on his authority. On the other hand, the two main female characters are independent and have agency. Free from pressure from the government and corporate interests, Im explores his relationship with his home country through this nostalgic gangster melodrama.

The filmmakers of this era battled with a harsh political environment, heavy censorship, and, in some cases, abrupt ends to their careers. Lee Chang-ho was arrested in 1975 for marijuana use, and banned from filmmaking until Park was assassinated. Shin Sang-ok revoked his filmmaking license in 1975 and was kidnapped and taken to North Korea. Ha Gil-jong died at the premature age of 38 in 1979, leaving many wondering what the era's greatest talent would have gone on to achieve. In the face of extreme adversity, the filmmakers of the 1970s managed to produce many works that are now critically valued as some of South Korea's best cinema.

While the quality of most films produced in Korea declined in this decade as a result of commercially-minded investors and right-wing censorship, there are still plenty of cinematic gems to seek out and enjoy.