When Korean action drama Uprising opens the 29th Busan International Film Festival tonight (October 2), it will mark the first time a streaming title has opened Asia’s largest film festival.
Netflix, which has recently come under fire in Korea for its disruption of the production landscape, is behind the lavish period film that is directed by Kim Sang-man and both produced and co-written by Park Chan-wook, the Cannes award-winning director of Oldboy, The Handmaiden and Decision To Leave.
Ahead of its world premiere, Kim told Screen: “I know that Netflix has been more focused on drama series, but I believe this investment [in Uprising] shows how much they continue to be interested in the format of film. I think that Netflix sees potential in the world of film.”
The feature will be released worldwide on the streaming platform on October 11, meaning Busan will represent a rare opportunity to see the film on the big screen. “I think it’s partly inevitable,” says Kim of the film skipping theatres. “There are now less and less opportunities for people to enjoy films on the big screen. That has just become a major trend, especially after Covid. But I also think it’s time we consider how we can change that a bit.”
It marks Kim’s first feature as director in a decade, after 2014’s The Tenor, and reunites the filmmaker with Park, for whom he worked as a production designer on 2000 action drama Joint Security Area.
“I had actually been writing a lot, and wrote over 10 scripts, but they just never got made,” he says of the hiatus. “You could say that I am almost re-entering the film scene with this feature. It was a great opportunity.”
Originally titled War And Revolt, it was a script written by Park with Shin Chul (who also worked on the production team of Joint Security Area) that had remained unproduced for several years before being resurrected in 2019. It also marks Park’s first collaboration with Netflix.
Uprising is set in the late 16th century during Korea’s Joseon period after a seven-year war with Japan left the country in ruins. The story follows a slave and a nobleman who were once friends despite their disparate social status but have become enemies over the course of the war. The cast is led by Korean stars Gang Dong-won of Broker and Peninsula as the slave who rises up to become a hero and Park Jeong-min of Decision To Leave and Hellbound) as the son of the king who turns to the dark side.
Class struggle
Filmed from June to November last year over 87 days, the feature is packed with martial arts, sword fighting, fiery scenes of destruction and bloody action sequences.
But Kim says his ultimate goal was to explore themes of class. “The characters have a moment of awakening due to a chaotic war,” says the filmmaker, “At the time, the Joseon dynasty had a class system under royal authority. In modern society, we see new classes being formed through economic power. In a way, the social systems of these two periods are not that different.”
Park’s love of complex characters and approach to storytelling are clear to see. “While the film has a backdrop of war, it is more about the nuances and subtleties of the characters who are dealing with very sensitive issues,” says Kim. “Another thing that is quintessentially director Park is how he always manages to sprinkle a little humour into a scene, no matter how serious it may be.”
In one darkly comic moment, a recently felled soldier shouts: “Bring me my foot. Shit!”
Reflecting his two leading men, Kim says: “Gang Dong-won has been long known to be great with action, in particular with sword action and I saw that to be true. He is also an actor that can see the big picture and knows how to have a perspective that really penetrates the entire film.
Aas for Park Jeong-min, his character was always going to be extremely challenging for the person playing it, because he starts as this very naive and childish young master and becomes someone who crosses over to the dark side. Just as I thought he would, he did an amazing job portraying that huge character arc.”
Now back in the director’s chair, Kim is shooting a six-part mystery thriller series titled Pig Pen, staring Jang Ki-yong as a man stranded on a desert island with memory loss. It is being produced by Studio N and is aiming for a release in 2025.
On his return to filmmaking and selection as Busan’s opening film, Kim adds: “I feel relieved because being selected seems to say to me that the result was not so bad.”
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