CJ ENM 'Visionary' Commemorative Talk with the Audience
Park Chan-wook: "Made with a Desperate Heart"
Song Kang-ho: "My Unforgettable First Prime Time"
The main cast of the film Joint Security Area (JSA), which attracted 5.8 million viewers in 2000 and became a sensation, gathered in one place to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its release.
Director Park Chan-wook and actors Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, Lee Young-ae, and Kim Tae-woo attended a talk with the audience (GV) held on the 4th at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Director Park said, "It is somewhat sad that the content of this film can evoke the same emotions in the younger generation today," adding, "I hope that by the 50th anniversary of the release, the environment will be such that it can simply be talked about as a story from the past."
Joint Security Area (JSA) is a work depicting the friendship between soldiers from the North and South Korean guard posts separated by the Bridge of No Return, and the tragedy that befell them. It is considered one of the masterpieces representing Korean cinema, with its narrative capturing the pain of division and the humanism that blossomed within it, as well as its solid structure unraveling the clues of the incident.
For Director Park, who had consecutively failed at the box office with his debut The Moon... the Sun's Dream (1992) and Trio (1997), this film became a turning point in his directing career. After the success of Joint Security Area (JSA), he was able to create works with a distinct personal style such as Sorrowful Secret (2002) and Oldboy (2003). Director Park recalled, "I made it with a desperate heart and solemn determination, thinking that if I missed this third chance, it would be my last work."
The lead actors also reached their prime with this film. In particular, Song Kang-ho and Lee Byung-hun later appeared in significant works that gained worldwide attention. Song Kang-ho said, "It is my unforgettable first prime time (a beautiful time like a flower)." Lee Byung-hun reminisced, "It was the first time I tasted success at the box office," adding, "I loved crying and laughing with the audience so much that I watched the film more than forty times in theaters."
Lee Young-ae, who formed a connection with Director Park through this film and played the protagonist Geum-ja in Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005), laughed and said, "It is a miraculous work. I feel like I could act better if I performed it again now, so I want to shoot and edit it again."
The event was held to commemorate CJ ENM’s 30 years of entry into the cultural industry by selecting Joint Security Area (JSA) as one of the 'Visionary' works that changed the paradigm of popular culture among its contents. Other films chosen in the movie category include Director Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer (2013) and Parasite (2019).
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