Park Jin-pyo (born 1966) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He directed Too Young to Die (2002), You Are My Sunshine (2005), Voice of a Murderer (2007), Closer to Heaven (2009), and Love Forecast (2015).

Park Jin-pyo
Born1966 (age 57–58)
Alma materChung-Ang University
Occupation(s)Film director,
screenwriter,
producer
Years active1991–present
Agent(s)Mega Monster
(since 2021)[1]
Korean name
Hangul
박진표
Revised RomanizationBak Jin-pyo
McCune–ReischauerPak Jinp'yo

Career

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Park Jin-pyo was born in Seoul in 1966. Upon graduation from Chung-Ang University's Film Department, he began working in television in 1991 as a documentary producer and director, eventually making over 30 documentaries for SBS and ITV.[2]

In 2002, he made his narrative feature film debut with Too Young to Die, based on the real-life story of Park Chi-gyu and Lee Sun-ye, a man and woman who fell in love in their early seventies then rediscovered sex.[3] It became controversial for its sensitive yet honest depiction of sex between the elderly couple (who played themselves), and was initially banned from release by the Korea Media Rating Board.[4][5][6] Park said, "I wanted to break the preconception about the elderly. Even if the body ages, desire for sex and thirst for love do not fade away. I wanted to capture the "moment of love," and the audience accepted it as a cinematic expression of pure love. Some sees the (seven-minute sex) scene as a challenging of taboos, but I just wanted to deliver a love story."[7] Too Young to Die drew praise domestically and internationally, and was invited to various film festivals, including Critics' Week at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.[7]

Park was among six directors who participated in the 2003 human rights-themed omnibus If You Were Me. His short film Tongue Tied focuses on a young boy whose education-obsessed parents want him to undergo tongue surgery that will purportedly enhance his ability to speak English.[8]

His second feature You Are My Sunshine (2005) was a humanistic tearjerker about an innocent yet awkward farmer who falls for a dabang sex worker, then they later discover that she's HIV/AIDS-positive (the characters are again based on a real-life couple).[9][10] Jeon Do-yeon and Hwang Jung-min won several acting awards for their lead performances, and Park was named Best Director at the 26th Blue Dragon Film Awards.[11] Aside from the critical acclaim, the film ranked ninth overall on the year's box office chart, and became the highest grossing Korean melodrama at the time.[12]

Park continued to blend reality and fiction in Voice of a Murderer (2007), based on an actual 1991 kidnapping case of a young boy whose distraught parents (played by Sol Kyung-gu and Kim Nam-joo) receive threatening phone calls for 41 days.[13] The boy's parents granted Park permission to make the film, with which he hoped to advocate extending the statute of limitations for child abduction-murders to longer than the current 15 years. Regarding the perpetrator, Park said, "You know what, I really hope he gets to watch this film. We want to tell him that we have not forgotten his wrongdoings. I focused on expressing what the parents might have gone through. So that 'he' can watch it and feel something."[14]

Closer to Heaven, another unconventional romance between a man with Lou Gehrig's disease and his funeral director wife, also became a commercial success in 2009 and garnered acting awards for Kim Myung-min and Ha Ji-won.[15][16]

In a marked change from his previous work, Park's Love Forecast (2015) was a romantic comedy about a feisty weather reporter and her best friend of 18 years, a mild-mannered elementary school teacher (played by Moon Chae-won and Lee Seung-gi). He said he made the film in the hopes that it will "encourage young people to think more deeply about romantic relationships."[17]

Filmography

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Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "AUTHOR & DIRECTOR - Park Jin-pyo". megamon.co.kr (in Korean). Mega Monster Corporation. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  2. ^ "PARK Jin-pyo". Korean Film Biz Zone. Archived from the original on 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  3. ^ Lee, Dong-jin (22 November 2002). "Too Young To Die Gets Critics Award". The Chosun Ilbo. Archived from the original on 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  4. ^ Kim, Myung-hwan (23 July 2002). "Film Board Bans Too Young to Die". The Chosun Ilbo. Archived from the original on 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  5. ^ Paquet, Darcy (24 July 2002). "South Korean film banned from screening in home territory". Screen International. Archived from the original on 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  6. ^ Paquet, Darcy. "Too Young to Die". Koreanfilm.org. Archived from the original on 2015-09-16. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  7. ^ a b Shin, Yong-gwan (21 May 2002). "Brothers Both Get Cannes Invites". The Chosun Ilbo. Archived from the original on 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  8. ^ Lee, Ho-jeong (19 March 2003). "Top directors tackle tough topics". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 2014-12-17. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  9. ^ "너는 내운명 (You're My Sunshine) Press Screening Report". Twitch Film. 7 September 2005. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  10. ^ Paquet, Darcy. "You Are My Sunshine". Koreanfilm.org. Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  11. ^ "Lady Vengeance Bags Korea's Top Movie Honors". The Chosun Ilbo. 30 November 2005. Archived from the original on 2015-03-05. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  12. ^ "The Best Selling Films of 2005". Koreanfilm.org. Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  13. ^ D'Sa, Nigel (13 December 2006). "Voice of Murderer: New Feature from PARK Jin-pyo". Korean Film Biz Zone. Archived from the original on 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  14. ^ Lee, Min-a (8 January 2007). "Time for boy's killer to repent". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 2014-11-16. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  15. ^ Lee, Hyo-won (25 August 2009). "Kim Myung-min Sheds 20 Kilos for Role". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  16. ^ Lee, Hyo-won (3 December 2009). "Closer to Heaven Couple Win Best Acting Nods". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 2024-08-27. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  17. ^ Jin, Eun-soo (2 January 2015). "Latest movies are labors of love for directors". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
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