Park Chan-wook

Park Chan-wook read philosophy, worked for a time as a film critic, and his first years of directing passed in stops and restarts. Joint Security Area is a Rashomon-like film, building a fatal clash in the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas out of accounts that contradict one another. Oldboy came from a manga: a man is abducted, held prisoner fifteen years, then released without warning. With Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance it became a trilogy of revenge. The Handmaiden carries Sarah Waters's Victorian novel Fingersmith over into the Korea of the 1930s under Japanese occupation. His films are an ardent opera and a cold distance at the same time. Decision to Leave won him the screenplay award at the 16th Asian Film Awards.