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Wan, all’epoca primo assistente di Lee, e poco dopo lavora<br />
nuovamente assieme a Sun-woo come aiuto regista di<br />
Choi Ha-won per The Invited Guests. Lo stesso anno si<br />
avvicina al buddismo Mahayana, destinato a diventare un<br />
punto di riferimento indispensabile nella sua vita.<br />
Nel 1982 alcuni amici gli propongono di scrivere critica<br />
<strong>cinema</strong>tografica. Accetta non prima di aver cambiato il suo<br />
vero nome, Jang Man-chul, in Jang Sun-woo “rubando”,<br />
come ha scritto lui stesso, il cognome <strong>del</strong>l’amico Sun-woo<br />
Wan per utilizzarlo come nome. Tra il 1982 e il 1984 scrive<br />
di <strong>cinema</strong> per le riviste “Madang” e “Chosun”, entra brevemente<br />
a far par parte <strong>del</strong> Seoul Film Collective e scrive<br />
alcuni saggi teorici. Nel 1983 completa gli studi. In quello<br />
stesso periodo realizza alcuni filmati video di rappresentazioni<br />
teatrali e <strong>document</strong>ari dedicati al lavoro in fabbrica.<br />
Nel 1984-85 inizia a scrivere sceneggiature e si fa presto un<br />
nome nell’ambiente televisivo. Scrive alcuni sceneggiati<br />
diretti da Sun-woo Wan per la serie Best-seller Theater <strong>del</strong>l’emittente<br />
MBC.<br />
1985-2002<br />
Nel 1985 Jang ha pochissima esperienza pratica di <strong>cinema</strong>,<br />
chiede perciò all’amico Sun-woo Wan di codirigere una<br />
storia basata su una sua sceneggiatura che narra di un<br />
uomo che fugge da un manicomio e crede di essere Gesù<br />
Cristo. A quel tempo, in Corea <strong>del</strong> Sud la produzione indipendente<br />
viene nuovamente legalizzata, a seguito di una<br />
revisione <strong>del</strong>la Motion Picture Law (che precedentemente<br />
consentiva la produzione di film solo alle società che<br />
rispettavano i criteri governativi). I due registi decidono<br />
quindi di sfruttare questa opportunità e di utilizzare il<br />
finanziamento di Kim Won-du <strong>del</strong>la Hyunjin Films, produttore-investitore<br />
indipendente. Benché Jang descriva la<br />
sua collaborazione creativa con Sun-woo “molto soddisfacente”,<br />
la produzione risente <strong>del</strong>la mancanza di fondi.<br />
Altri problemi insorgono sia a causa <strong>del</strong>le proteste dei<br />
gruppi cristiani coreani, sia a causa <strong>del</strong>la censura, dato che<br />
il film contiene riferimenti politici, seppur in forma allegorica,<br />
che il governo non tollera. Durante la post-produzione,<br />
il produttore, accampando difficoltà finanziarie, e al<br />
contempo preoccupato per la polemica incombente, decide<br />
di abbandonare, lasciando tutta la responsabilità <strong>del</strong><br />
lavoro a Sun-woo e a Jang. Senza fondi (alla fine rinunceranno<br />
al loro compenso per la regia) e preoccupati per la<br />
censura, i due registi decidono autonomamente di tagliare<br />
molte scene potenzialmente problematiche e acconsentono<br />
al cambiamento <strong>del</strong> titolo che da Seoul Jesus diventa The<br />
Emperor of Seoul, proprio per riguardo verso i gruppi cristiani.<br />
Pur passando la censura, il film non riesce a essere<br />
distribuito nelle sale e solo nel 1988 viene distribuito in<br />
video.<br />
Intanto, gli scritti di Jang riscuotono l’attenzione di registi<br />
e critici innovatori. L’aspettativa per il debutto alla regia è<br />
grande. Esordio che avviene con The Age of Success, il primo<br />
film che Jang dirige da solo. La satira <strong>del</strong> capitalismo<br />
raccontata attraverso l’ascesa e la caduta di un ambizioso<br />
direttore di marketing, si dimostra azzeccata, anche se la<br />
critica è divisa. In particolare, i detrattori sottolineano la<br />
caduta di tono soprattutto nella seconda parte <strong>del</strong> film,<br />
quella melodrammatica e giudicata “commerciale”. Malgrado<br />
ciò, cominciano ad arrivare i primi riconoscimenti.<br />
Jang viene definito un regista promettente.<br />
was an assistant director for Choi Ha-won on The Invited<br />
Guests. That same year, he began practicing Mahayana Buddhism,<br />
which became a vital point of reference in his life.<br />
In 1982, several friends offered him the opportunity to write film<br />
critiques. He accepted, but not before changing his real name,<br />
Jang Man-chul, into Jang Sun-woo, “stealing,” as he himself<br />
admitted, his friend Sun-woo Wan’s surname to use as a name.<br />
Between 1982 and 1984, he wrote about film for the magazines<br />
Madang and Chosun, joined the Seoul Film Collective for a<br />
short period of time and wrote several theoretical essays. He finished<br />
his studies in 1983. In that same period, he made several<br />
videos of theatrical works as well as <strong>document</strong>aries on factory<br />
work. From 1984-85, he began writing screenplays and soon<br />
made a name for himself in the world of television. He wrote several<br />
screenplays, which were directed by Sun-woo Wan, for the<br />
series Best-Seller Theatre for the MBC channel.<br />
1985-2002<br />
In 1985, Jang had very little practical <strong>cinema</strong> experience, and<br />
therefore asked his friend Sun-woo Wan to co-direct a film with<br />
him based on his screenplay about a man who escapes from a<br />
mental institution and believes himself to be Jesus Christ. At<br />
that time in South Korea independent films were once again<br />
legalized, following a revision of the Motion Picture Law (which<br />
previously allowed for the production of films of only those production<br />
companies that respected government criteria). The two<br />
directors thus decided to take advantage of this opportunity and<br />
to use the financing offered by Hyunjin Films’ Kim Won-du, an<br />
independent producer/investor. Although Jang describes his creative<br />
collaboration with Sun-woo as “very satisfying,” the production<br />
suffered from lack of funds. Other problems arose, both<br />
as a result of protests from Korean Christian groups as well as<br />
censorship, seeing as how the film contained political references,<br />
albeit in allegorical form, which the government did not tolerate.<br />
During post-production, the producer, citing financial difficulties,<br />
and at the same time worried about the impending controversy,<br />
decided to abandon the project, leaving all of the work, and<br />
responsibility, in Sun-woo’s and Jang’s hands. Without any<br />
money (they ultimately waived their directors’ fees) and worried<br />
about censorship, the two directors decided themselves to cut<br />
many potentially problematic scenes and also agreed to change<br />
the film’s title from Seoul Jesus to The Emperor of Seoul,<br />
specifically in reference to Christian groups. Although the film<br />
passed the censorship committee, it did not manage to get distributed<br />
in the <strong>cinema</strong>s and was not even released on video until<br />
1988.<br />
In the meantime, however, Jang’s writing earned him the attention<br />
of innovative directors and critics. Expectations for his<br />
directing debut were great, and it came with The Age of Success,<br />
the first film that Jang directed alone. This satire on capitalism<br />
as depicted through the rise and fall of an ambitious marketing<br />
director proved to be right on the mark, yet critics were<br />
divided. In particular, its detractors emphasized its faltering<br />
tone, especially in the film’s second, more melodramatic half,<br />
judged to be “commercial.” Nevertheless, Jang began to receive<br />
initial recognition and was deemed a promising director.<br />
For his next project, the director decided to shed the ironic tone<br />
of his previous film and make Lovers in Woomuk-baemi,<br />
based on the eponymous novel by Park Young-han. It is the story<br />
of an illicit affair that takes places in Seoul’s poorer suburbs.<br />
41 a <strong>Mostra</strong> Internazionale <strong>del</strong> Nuovo Cinema 39