This is an introductory guide to Jang Sun-woo, one of the most controversial and talented Korean film directors. Written by Tony Rayns, a critic and also a film director himself, this book contemplates JangSun-woo films with a scholarly passion and delves deep into Jang’s contradiction—that he knowingly and happily situates himself in the margins of the Korean film industry, producing work with popular appeal, a contradiction that exactly mirrors the rapid evolution of the film industry itself.

From the Preface

For me, Jang has proved himself the most consistently interesting and surprising of Korean directors during these roller-coaster years. In film after film, each of them radically different from the others in tone, style, and film language, he has challenged himself, his audiences and the prevailing current or mood in Korean culture. Examining his work often feels like engaging in a series of paradoxes or contradictions, but the central paradox is this: a director who knowingly and happily situates himself in the margins of the Korean film industry produces work with popular appeal that exactly mirrors the rapid evolution of the film industry itself.