Song Kang-ho “Panic at the moment of receiving the award… I want to feel metallurgy slowly”

The movie ‘The Broker’, which gave Song Kang-ho the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, was released to the domestic media through a preview on the afternoon of the 31st.

As is known, the movie stars Kang-ho Song, Dong-won Kang, Ji-eun Lee (IU), and Doona Bae, and other top-star Korean actors come together to form a similar family envisioned by director Hirokazu Koreeda.

A broker duo, composed of Sang-hyeon (Song Kang-ho) and Dong-su (Kang Dong-won), takes the baby So-yeong (Lee Ji-eun) put in a baby box and sells it. However, when So-young comes to look for the baby the next day, she goes on a baby sales journey with So-young.

They depart from Busan in a van and stop by the orphanage where Dong-soo grew up, and when the transaction fails, they spend days and nights together looking for the next buyer. In this process, the characters gradually and naturally come to realize the meaning of family. Just like in Koreeda’s recent works, it is a story of characters with small or large scars in their family relationships finally forming a community close to the ideal.

The family in his film expanded from a family lacking communication to a half-brother and a changed child, but in 2018’s ‘A Family’, it expanded to unrelated relationships. ‘Broker’ is also an extension of the previous work in that similar family members did not mix with a single drop of blood.

When the film was first screened at the Cannes Film Festival on the 26th (local time), some foreign media criticized it for portraying the criminal in a loving way. In fact, Sang-hyeon and Dong-soo do not show much internal conflict while they are selling babies.

With the line that the baby they sold in the past is now an elementary school student, the two seem to have been dealing with the same business for at least 10 years. However, the scenes where even Soyoung, who accompanied her, is angry at the ridiculously low price of the baby and tries to increase the baby’s product value, seems to be a device to maximize the effect of the three people’s awakening.

In the film, director Kore-eda’s trademark simplicity and coolness diminish, and in the second half, scenes that seem to demand specific emotions from the audience appear one after another. The love front, which is suddenly caught between Dong-soo and So-young, feels like a family thing that has nothing to do with the story development or the director’s message.

Under the premise that human nature is basically good, the film says that humans can compensate for individual needs and protect lives. Now, it seems safe to give Koreeda’s work a title such as ‘community movie’ instead of ‘family movie’. This is because the characters in the film, who are not related by blood, want consideration and sympathy among members, not the typical, ‘normal’ family form.

Director Koreeda said at a meeting following the premiere, “Sang-hyeon can be called a criminal, but as a result, she takes action to protect the life of the baby. However, it may seem like a contradictory action in that the choice itself was a crime.” Whether it is accepted or not, I want to leave it up to the audience’s feelings and thoughts.”

In the movie, there is a scene where So-young says, ‘Thank you for being born’. Director Koreeda said, “I met and heard stories from people from childcare facilities, and they have been living with the question, ‘Is it really good that I was born?’ This time, I made the scene so that the lines resonate in the dark.”

Director Koreeda said, “Life is a universal theme that transcends cultural differences,” and “While covering the facilities, I felt that the arrow of criticism was always directed at my mother. What is the essential problem and where is the true responsibility?” I wanted to delve deeper into it,” he said.

When Song Kang-ho received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, he recalled, “I had a strange feeling of panicking for a moment.” Then she said, “I was in a state of whether this was a dream or real time for a few seconds.” “The first text message came from director Bong Joon-ho in England and director Kim Ji-woon in Korea.”

Song Kang-ho said, “I’m getting so much praise, I don’t know where to put my body.” He added, “I want to feel the emotion slowly and metallurgically.”

Regarding Song Kang-ho’s award, director Kore-eda said, “It is not strange to receive an award for a work directed by Bong Joon-ho, Lee Chang-dong, or Park Chan-wook.” It was a happy award,” he said.

[사진 출처 : 연합뉴스]