The Korean Cultural Center New York is proud to announce a new film series as a part of its online Korean movie screening program for 2022, featuring one of Korea’s most well-known and revered actors, Song Kang-ho. Korean Movie Night at Home’s Master’s Series: Actor Song Kang-ho will be held for one month from October 28th to November 27th, presenting a collection of 6 films that showcases his diverse and wide range as an actor, from historical dramas to action hits: Joint Security Area, Secret Reunion, The Face Reader, The Attorney, A Taxi Driver, and The King’s Letters.
Song Kang-ho, who was the first Korean male actor to win the “Best Actor Award” for his latest film The Broker at the 75th Cannes Film Festival this year, may be most internationally recognized for his role in the Oscar and Cannes-winning Parasite, but he has already garnered a reputation as a “national treasure” of Korea having starred in many of Korea’s most acclaimed films across decades of his career.
Song Kang-ho is often praised for his ability to capture incredible depth for his wide range of characters with the smallest of details; he is an actor with a wide spectrum who can perform serious and heavy roles to comic, lighthearted ones with the same level of meticulousness and fluidity. His expressiveness is further heightened by his ability to ad-lib and to quickly move between different colors and tones for the characters he plays.
Korean Movie Night at Home: Actor Song Kang-ho presents a collection of films for all movie lovers to enjoy, providing a glimpse into the immense range of skill of Song as one of the most respected actors of today.
This online film screening is presented as a part of the Korean Movie Night at Home’s Master’s Series of 2022, featuring Korean actors who have distinguished themselves as masters of their craft. Following the success of Korean Movie Night New York’s Master’s Series featuring directors Park Chan-wook and Lee Joon-ik, this year highlights the Korean actors who have captured the hearts of audiences around the world.
Film List
Joint Security Area (공동경비구역 JSA)
Director: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Song Kang-Ho, Lee Byung-Hun, Shin Ha-Kyun, Lee Young-Ae, Kim Tae-Woo
Running Time: 110 min
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2000
Synopsis
Set along the ‘Bridge of No Return’ in Panmunjom, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. One day, a border guard is killed by a rifle bullet; the suspected marksman is a South Korean soldier (Lee Byung-Hun), who is found wounded in the middle of no-man’s-land. This incident will have grave repercussions. Both North and South Korea regard the incident as an act of deliberate provocation. The North accuses the South of having committed a ‘terrorist attack’, while South Korea suspects the North of having attempted an ‘abduction.’
(Synopsis courtesy of 815 Pictures)
Secret Reunion (의형제)
Director: Jang Hun
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Kang Dong-won
Running Time: 116 min
Genre: Action, Drama
Release Year: 2010
Synopsis
A shoot out in the middle of the city brings together North Korean spy Ji-won and National Intelligence Service agent Lee. The operation to capture an assassin spy known as ‘Shadow’ ends in disaster and the agent Lee is dismissed from his post. Ji-won is also abandoned by his organization after being framed as a traitor.
6 years later, the two men run into each other but they hide their identities and decide to work together. As they live under one roof, they maintain a tight-rope tension and gradually develop an unusual friendship all the while trying to uncover each other’s true motives. However, Ji-won receives an order from the organization that brings out Shadow for another mission. Lee and Ji-won must now choose whether to execute their orders or save one another from the inevitable.
(Synopsis courtesy of Showbox)
The Face Reader (관상)
Director: Han Jae-rim
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Jung-jae, Baek Yun-shick, Kim Hye-soo
Running Time: 139 min
Genre: Period, Drama
Release Year: 2013
Synopsis
Nae-kyeong is the greatest face reader Joseon has ever known. He can see through people by looking at their faces. He lives with his son Jin-hyeong and his brother-in-law Paeng-heon in the mountains. After alluring courtesan Yeon-hong proposes an offer, he moves to Hanyang to read faces in the courtesan house. Nae-kyeong quickly becomes the “go-to face reader” in town and even the Vice Premier hears about the new face reader. He appoints Nae-kyeong to the government’s Inspection Board. During his inspection, Nae-kyeong finds out about Prince Su-yang’s plan to take the throne of his nephew. He decides to change the destiny of the country by changing what’s written on Su-yang’s face..
(Synopsis courtesy of Showbox)
The Attorney (변호인)
Director: Yang Woo-seok
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Oh Dal-su, Kwak Do-won, Kim Yeong-ae, Song Young-chang
Running Time: 127 min
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2013
Synopsis
This story is based on true events.
Song Woo-seok has no clients, connections, or a college degree, but his eye for business and appetite for money make him the most successful lawyer in town. But at the peak of his success, a local teenager is falsely accused of a crime, then beaten and tortured while waiting in jail. Shocked by these conditions, Song takes the case no one else will, and changes the course of his life.
(Synopsis courtesy of Well Go USA)
A Taxi Driver (택시운전사)
Director: Jang Hun
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Thomas Kretschmann, Yoo Hae-jin, Ryu Jun-yeol
Running Time: 137 min
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2017
Synopsis
In this powerful true story set in 1980, a down-on-his-luck taxi driver from Seoul is hired by a foreign journalist who wants to go to the town of Gwangju for the day. They arrive to find a city under siege by the military government, with the citizens, led by a determined group of college students, rising up to demand freedom. What began as an easy fare became a life-or-death struggle in the midst of the Gwangju Uprising, a critical event in modern South Korea.
(Synopsis courtesy of Well Go USA)
The King’s Letters (나랏말싸미)
Director: Cho Sung-kyu
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Park Hae-il, Jeon Mi-seon
Running Time: 110 min
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2019
Synopsis
In the Joseon Dynasty, despite so many accomplishments he has made for the people, King Sejong’s biggest goal is still remaining: the invention of original letters that can be read and written by all the people. But courtiers, who want to dominate knowledge and power, are against his will and discourage his belief. The frustrated King Sejong hears about a monk from Sinmi, a phonogram expert, and secretly brings him to the palace…
