Interview with Yang Ik-June ( 양익준)

I would like to thank the following for making this interview possible: Joey Leung (Terracotta Films), Paul Smith (The Associates), Seh-hyun for translating and of course Yang Ik-june himself.

Breathless is being released on Friday 29 January at the ICA and other sites over the UK. For my review, please click here.

I thought Breathless was fantastic and I wanted to know how you came up with the story and what influenced you.

Living within a Korean family structure was the reason and the sort of motivation why I made this film. Living in Korea, although I didn’t intend to make the story as such, over that long period, this is what came through and this it what influenced me. It came through that way.

A lot of it seems to be shot on handheld camera and I was wondering whether it was shot on digital camera. What kind of camera did you use?

Initially I didn’t think that the actual camera type was a matter of importance. It was the storyline that was more pertinent. I had a lot of good people around me and they advised me, although it doesn’t matter if you do use a DV camera, when you actually screen it in the cinema it’s not good quality and suggested using HD. And of the HD cameras, I chose the cheapest and rented it. Renting a HD camera in Korea usually costs about £350 a day, but the one we used cost £20 a day. You can see what the quality is like. It was a very cheap camera.

I thought it added to the rawness of the film and made it more potent.

I really wanted to use a small camera and so, literally, I would pour the actors’ emotions and facial expressions they were trying to express into the camera  - this is something I insisted upon. Although you film the exterior of the actors, I wanted to go within their heart and soul as well.

Your film seems to put entertainment aside and instead focus on difficult issues – domestic violence, family breakdown – in the form of what I would call ‘raw realism.’ I was wondering whether you have been influenced by the Korean realist directors like Park Kwang-su, Lee Chang-dong and of course, Yu Hyun-mok.

I don’t think particularly. Though, if something or someone has influenced me, it is from different films I have seen as opposed to a particular director or film. The directors you mentioned are Korean directors and that is why they could evoke certain emotions as to what it is like to live in Korea and that is what we have in common. With regards to the ‘raw realism’ that you mentioned, as an actor myself, I consider myself as portraying some realism in its pure sense as long as I don’t over extend myself into the boundary of documentary style. This is what I want from the actors and that is what I tried to get from them. 

What are the messages that you are trying to convey through your film? Are you trying to address the issues of family breakdown and domestic violence? Would you say this is a problem in Korea?

I wasn’t intending to deliver a message as such. It was what came through naturally through my writing; it was something I really wanted to express and what I felt frustrated about.
In Korea there is a lot of physical, verbal and physiological violence. There was in the past and there is a lot going on now but it is all secret and hidden and no-one talks about it to each other because it is embarrassing and shameful. But like physical wounds, you have to observe it and talk about it in order to treat it in a healthy manner. You might cut yourself with a knife or scold yourself with hot water, but you need to look at it directly and acknowledge it and that is what I wanted to do through this film. We have prescribed and predisposed medicine for all these different physical wounds and if there are no suitable medicines we have to ponder and make our own. By making this film and by showing this story, possibly this is one-way towards a cure and treatment to heal ourselves.

Yang Ik-June at the Korean Film Festival, London.

As you know Korean cinema is so vast:  you have the commercial film directors like JK young, Kwak Kyeong-taek, Kim Young-wha; and then you have the more international film directors like Park Chan-wook, Kim Ki-duk; and then you have the art-house like Hong Sang-soo and Lee Chang-dong. Obviously there is some overlap, but I was wondering where you place yourself amongst these directors. Do you see yourself as an independent film director, or do you like to become more commercial, or more international?

Wherever my heart takes me. I haven’t been a director long, so I don’t know. Whatever takes my fancy. 

With regards to my future directions, I’m not certain. I think the script will dictate that. Once I write my next project, if it takes a lot of budget, I will have to become commercial. But, personally, I want it to be a sort of independent film director. Whatever film I make will be based on my own story and my own past, but I’m going to have to struggle with the people and the film business to get the budget, though ideally, I want to have a free spirit and do what I want.

This may sound like a bit of self-boasting, but after making Breathless, I got lots of offers from Korean companies to make a film with me, but I rejected all of them. Everybody around me asked, “why did you reject, why did you refuse? You should grab every opportunity you can.” But, personally I feel that I don’t want to use Breathless as a platform or stepping stone to make the next project and to leave Breathless as it is. And maybe in the future when the audience and public have forgotten Breathless and me, that is when I want to come with my new project and I think that is a healthier way to do it when I am in a more rested state of mind to do it. Although I rejected all those offers, after making Breathless I have a strange sense of confidence and self-belief. I even sold my house when I was making Breathless and now, since I have some of my own money, I can now buy a better place, a more expensive place. And when I make own film next time, I can sell that place and get even more money. I’ve done this all before and it can all work out and whilst people think it is a frightening thing to be forgotten; for me this is a better place to bring my next project.

I personally think this is a great example of a thriving independent sector in Korea, which is all too often over looked by the commercial film industry and I am guilty as anyone for this. I was wondering whether is it your hope and wish that your film can provide the independent sector with more awareness?

I think you just have to make films. I’ve got a friend of mine who is another director and it was a very low budget and other independent film and it got invited to Vancouver and won the best prize there. This makes me wonder whether films should be made for the audience. If I just make the film for myself, it will resonate with some members of the audience and that it will deliver. Although commercial films think you have to make a film that is accommodating for the audience and that is the only way you can make money, making a film from a more selfish perspective and conveying what you really want to say, in my opinion, is what a real film should be.

Have you got any plans for the future? What kind of film would you like to make? Have you got any ideas, or are you just resting?

I am not really in the right state to write a script right now, so I’m going to take some time out. I’ve got some filming starting next month and I just want to jot down some ideas and do some more acting. And next year – the second half – I will start getting seriously ready for my next project.