(Yonhap Interview) Renowned film critic says Korea 'fine example' for world cinema

(ATTN: photos available)
By Shin Hae-in
JEONJU, South Korea, May 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korean director Bong Joon-ho is many
things, including the country's first filmmaker to surpass the 10-million viewer
mark at the domestic box office ("The Host"). To film critic Adrian Martin, he is
someone who gave him an opportunity to say, "I told you so."

Seeing Bong's first feature "Barking Dogs Never Bite" at the Melbourne Film
Festival about 10 years ago, Martin saw signs of a brilliant director. But not
all agreed.
"Half the audience walked out. Some people absolutely hated the film. Friends
laughed when I said it was a great film," the Australian film critic said in an
interview with Yonhap News Agency. "But in the end, I was right and they were
wrong. I was vindicated."
One of the most respected movie critics in the world, with his views and comments
translated into more than 10 languages, Martin is participating as a jury member
of the international competition section of the Jeonju International Film
Festival, which runs through May 8. Five jurors, including Martin, will select
the best among the 15 films up for competition including Germany's "City of the
World" and Thailand's "Agrarian Utopia."
"The Jeonju festival is very progressive. It's not a festival that wants to give
an award to the most conventional film," he said. "So jurors will be thinking
about that, feeling free to pick something that's more challenging or unusual --
something 'out of the box.'"
Writing about films for almost 15 years -- 11 years of which he spent as a film
reviewer for Australia's respected "The Age Newspaper" -- Martin has written
about several Korean filmmakers, including Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook and Hong
Sang-soo.
"There are a lot of excellent filmmakers in Korea," the 50-year-old critic said.
"What really interests me about Korean cinema is the interesting link between
popular genres and more experimental, artistic genres."
"It seems the two fields are not totally split a part like in many other
countries," he said. "Korea actually leads the world in building the bridge and
finding the link between the two sectors."
Martin also praised Korean films' power to draw national audiences.
"In many countries, Hollywood is (regarded) the best and national product is way
below in people's minds, but Korean audiences will go to Korean films and don't
think of them as second-grade product," he said. "In that sense, Korean cinema is
ahead of a lot of cinemas in the world."
Martin added he was impressed by the Korean cinema's skillful use of digital
technologies.
"It is a big challenge to use digital technologies in a creative way, not just
Hollywood blockbuster-wise," he said. "I think some Korean filmmakers are a good
example in the use of digital effects. Korean cinemas can teach some other
cinemas."
Martin, who harbored dreams of becoming a film reviewer as a teenager and was
already a published critic by the age of 19, said he sought "whatever is unusual,
surprising and inventive" in a film.
"If a film has something strange, new and unfamiliar to it, even if it's not
totally well done, I think it's a seed of something new, something interesting
there," he said. "I have never gotten sick of watching films for the past 15
years, because I always give myself a challenge to find at least one interesting
idea about the film. I truly believe every film usually has at least one minute
that's interesting."
Martin said he had "liked very much" "Short! Short! Short! 2009," the opening
film of the Jeonju film fest, comprised of 10 shorts made by emerging South
Korean directors.
"For 10 very cheaply made short films, the quality was really high," he said. "I
thought 'Neoliberal Man' was brilliant, and the director of 'Anxiety' was also
very impressive. Sometimes you see a short and think that director really has
talent. I thought so about him."
Choosing the late U.S. filmmaker John Cassavetes, dubbed the father of
independent cinema, as his all-time favorite, Martin will also present a lecture
on film criticism during the festival's "Masterclass" program on May 6.
"There's a great response. Apparently, people have been really hungry to learn
and write about films," he said. "I will be talking about U.S. filmmaker Manny
Farber, taking his ideas and using them on other films he never wrote about."
Martin is currently co-editor of the online international scholarly film journal
"Rouge" and senior research fellow in Film and Television Studies at Monash
University, Australia.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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