During the 1960s and 1970s a genre of films known as “Manchurian Westerns” were very popular in Korea. Around 2010 Korea saw box office figures decrease at home and abroad despite being known for their fantastic cinematography, love stories and historical dramas. In order to revive the film scene with a budget of 10 million USD, a risk was taken to create a remake of “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly’ to bring back the Manchurian Western genre. “The Good, The Bad, The Weird” directed by Kim Jee-Woon mimics the Sergio Leone classic becoming the first “Kimchi Wester” a play on words from Spaghetti Westerns.
The film is based in the desert wilderness of Manchuria 1939 a few months before the beginning of WW2. The plot follows “The Bad” (Lee Byung Hun) who is hired to acquire a treasure map for a Japanese official however “The Weird” (Song Kang-Ho) gets in his way. With graphic shootouts, chases and explosions it is said to have been a part of bringing Korea out of it’s depression within the film industry.
For a bit of context, Manchuria is a name for several regions overlapping within China, Russia and North-East Asia. The term was first used in the 17th century by the Japanese, now the majority of the land sits within Northeast China.
Despite being an incredibly risky project the film received extremely positive reviews and even premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. This in turn lead to investors feeling more secure investing in Korean films especially due to success at home and internationally, challenging even Hollywood blockbusters.
The director Kim Jee-Woon has had a varied career within the film industry, initially starting out in cinema and becoming increasingly successful from film to film. He has had significant success directing Korean films however also debuted in the US in 2013 with ‘The Last Stand’ featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. For his work on “The Good, The Bad, The Weird” Kim Jee-Woon received a Cinematography Award from the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Best Supporting Actor for Jung Woo-sung at the 2009 Asian Film Awards as well as winning Best Director and Best Special Effects at the 2008 Sitges – Catalan International Film Festival.
Korean Cinema 