'Korea's Antonioni' Director Kim Su-yong Passes Away at 94 Years Old

Central Figure in 1960s Korean Cinema
Films like 'Angae', 'Sanbul', and 'Jeo Haneul-edo Seulpeumi'
Retired Megaphone After Resisting Military Regime Film Censorship

Director Kim Soo-yong, known as the "Michelangelo Antonioni of Korea" and a pioneer of Korean literary cinema, passed away on the 3rd at the age of 94. According to the film industry, he died of old age around 1:50 a.m. that day.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Director Kim was a central figure in Korean cinema during the 1960s. Born in 1929 in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, he entered the film industry in 1954 while working in the Ministry of National Defense's film department. His debut work was the 1958 film "Gongcheoga." After establishing himself with a series of comedy films, he explored various genres including historical dramas, melodramas, and social dramas.

He marked the beginning of the youth film wave in the mid-1960s with "Cheongchun Baedal (Youth Delivery, 1959)" and set the highest box office record for black-and-white films with "Jeo Haneul-edo Seulpeumi (Sadness Even in That Sky, 1965)." He demonstrated fresh visual aesthetics and excellent directorial sensibility in "Gaetmaeul (The Seaside Village, 1965)" and "Angae (Fog, 1967)." Working alongside top stars such as Nam Jeong-hee, Moon Hee, Yoon Jeong-hee?who were the troika of the era?as well as Shin Seong-il, Um Aeng-ran, Shin Young-kyun, Ko Eun-ah, Kim Ji-mi, Jung Dong-hwan, Kang Seok-woo, and Geum Bo-ra, he made a total of 109 films.

Movie 'Angae' Still Cut

Director Kim was also a victim of relentless film censorship under the military regimes. The Public Information Office objected to the title "Byeongsin-gwa Meojeori (The Idiot and the Moron)" claiming it insulted the audience, forcing the film to be released under the absurd title "Sibaljeom (Starting Point, 1969)." His film "Yahaeng (Night Journey, 1977)" was cut in as many as fifty-five places, and "Hwaryeohan Oechul (Splendid Outing, 1978)" was investigated by the police because the Blue House main gate appeared in it. When his film about the life of Monk Junggwang, "Junggwang-ui Heotteun Sori (Junggwang's Nonsense, 1986)," faced deletion threats, he confronted the Performance Ethics Committee. Seeing no signs of improvement, he declared his retirement from the film industry.

Movie 'Sanbul' Still Cut

Director Kim once said, "Films already existed before I was born. And even after I leave, films will continue." Regarding the cinema to which he devoted his life, he defined it as "something vaguely intertwined deeply with people, leaning more towards sadness than joy, leaving memories rather than the future."

Movie 'Late Autumn' Still Cut

The funeral will be held as a film industry memorial. His eldest son, Kim Seok-hwa, a plastic surgeon at Seoul National University Hospital, along with directors Jung Ji-young and Lee Jang-ho, and actors Ahn Sung-ki and Jang Mi-hee, will serve as joint funeral committee chairs. The wake is at Seoul National University Hospital Funeral Hall Room 1, and the funeral procession will take place at 1 p.m. on the 5th.