Director of Netflix’s ‘Yellow Door’ Doc Talks Bong Joon-ho’s Early Days, Evolution of Korean Movie 

For Korean cinema completists, Netflix‘s forthcoming documentary Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-fi Movie Membership will arrive like manna from heaven when it launches worldwide on Oct. 27.  Among the many movie’s many pleasures is the depiction of Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho’s beforehand unknown first movie, a stop-motion animated quick titled On the lookout for Paradise that he made in his residence basement in 1992. However the documentary is finally about far more than that — it’s a love letter to film connoisseurship itself. 

Directed by famous documentarian and editor Lee Hyuk-rae (Stitching Sisters, 2020), Yellow Door takes viewers again to Seoul, South Korea within the early Nineteen Nineties, when movie golf equipment had been popping up on native faculty campuses for the primary time, offering younger college students with new cultural encounters and a platform to review the artwork of cinema. A lot of at this time’s world increase in Korean movie and tv might be traced again to this formative, freewheeling interval. The nation had simply emerged from the trauma of the coed pro-democracy protests of the Nineteen Eighties — and their usually brutal suppression by the previous authoritarian authorities — however the Nineteen Nineties turned a extra carefree interval of increasing inventive freedom and cultural exploration among the many younger.

Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-fi Movie Membership retraces the recollections of one of many period’s many such film collectives, the Yellow Door Movie Membership, which occurred to incorporate the now globally acclaimed director Bong Joon-ho amongst its key members (in addition to the documentary’s director, Lee). A fresh-faced Bong was an integral a part of the group, answerable for cataloging and managing the membership’s library of bootleg VHS copies of cinematic masterpieces from world wide. And the Yellow Door cohort served because the very first viewers for a Bong-directed movie — he nervously introduced his first quick, On the lookout for Paradise, to the group in 1992 — which is described and dissected in amusing trend all through the documentary. However a giant a part of the brand new movie’s appeal comes from the truth that its major curiosity isn’t in exploring the generative position such golf equipment performed within the careers of the members who later turned acclaimed administrators (though there’s a few of that). As an alternative, the movie offers equal voice to the now middle-aged movie geeks whose lives went in far more abnormal instructions — marriage, children, workplace jobs, and many others. — presenting the Yellow Door period as a treasured, shared reminiscence of naive and hopeful aesthetic exploration, no matter whether or not they occurred to go on to win Oscars.  

Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-fi Movie Membership premiered on the Busan Worldwide Movie Competition final week, profitable the occasion’s “Busan Cinephile Award” — which, appropriately, is the pageant’s one honor that’s chosen by a jury consisting of undergraduate and graduate college students from native movie faculties.

The Hollywood Reporter related with Lee to debate the creation of the documentary and the way the love of cinema has developed in Korea.

What was the preliminary inspiration for telling this story as a documentary and the way did the venture get going?

It really started by occupied with how I ought to simply attempt to get everyone collectively for a reunion as a result of it was going to be the 30-year anniversary of The Yellow Door [collective]. And whereas we had been simply chatting amongst ourselves, we talked about how learning movie 30 years in the past — the act itself — was so vastly completely different from at this time. And we had been reminded of a variety of humorous tales that occurred again then. In order that naturally led us to suppose that it could be actually nice if we might create a documentary. 

After we really proposed this concept to director Bong, the very first thing he stated was that he had just one situation. He needed to make certain that he wouldn’t be the focus or essential character, however simply one of many members of the Yellow Door membership. He stated so long as that situation was met, he can be joyful to take part.  The explanation he gave us that situation is as a result of, along with his rising fame, there have been many books and documentaries made about him in Korea that by no means acquired his approval. These documentaries and biographies have a tendency to inform his story as a cliche success story — and in the event you’ve watched Bong Joon-ho’s movies, I’m positive you may guess that that is one thing he actually detests. So he nearly had like a way of PTSD about being the middle of one other documentary. 

How did that situation form how you bought began on the venture?

Nicely, after we first put collectively a synopsis and pitched it to Netflix, Hanna Moon, the content material supervisor who was answerable for this venture, took a have a look at our script and was stunned to search out that it wasn’t about director Bong however concerning the Yellow Door membership itself — and she or he stated this really intrigued her extra. We had been fairly stunned by that, however then it turned out that Hanna had herself been a member of a scholar movie examine group — one which was really created by director Hwang [Dong-hyuk], creator of Squid Recreation. So she had that private nostalgia connected to the idea of scholar movie examine teams and we had touched that inside her. A really massive majority of the trade insiders in Korea —individuals now working in movie, media, or TV — really share this frequent reminiscence of getting been part of these scholar movie examine teams. So we thought this doc might grow to be one thing greater — one thing that was not simply of curiosity to the precise members of the Yellow Door group, however extra common.

I’m curious to listen to extra about that final half…  What sort of thematic worth did you suppose this story would maintain for a normal viewers — each in Korea and world wide?

From the preliminary phases of the planning course of, one theme that all of us agreed very strongly on was the common expertise of falling in love with movies, books, music, or any type of artwork. How, once you’re younger, you may suppose that you simply’re the one one who is so loopy about this stuff — till you discover different individuals who share that very same ardour, which brings you much more pleasure, getting into this group. Some individuals take this ardour and make it the inspiration of a profession — and a few, like director Bong, even go on to attain world success with it. Nonetheless, there are lots of people who simply carry their youthful love of artwork as a really valuable reminiscence — a time that was very nostalgic and romantic of their previous. And that doesn’t imply that turning into Bong Joon-ho is the proper reply. This isn’t to say that you simply’ve betrayed your youthful ardour for movie in the event you didn’t grow to be a director. It’s simply the alternative. I feel this movie will resonate most with individuals who didn’t observe their ardour right into a profession. It’s extra for people who find themselves dwelling lives which might be slightly bit completely different from the trail they initially dreamt of. I hope the movie serves as a chance for them to be reminded of how a lot love they harbored for no matter it was of their previous — and the way valuable that have was. So, when it comes to thematic worth, I felt prefer it may very well be a really common story that’s not restricted to the sphere of movie.

I did discover myself interested in how most of the authentic Yellow Door members went into the movie trade in some capability. There are clear examples of each within the documentary. 

It’s robust to present a precise proportion, as a result of there are 12 former members who seem within the movie, however there have been so many others who got here and went as short-term members. So it’s robust to rely all of them. Among the many 12 individuals who seem within the movie, 4 of them — together with director Bong — are within the movie enterprise and one different is educating movie. So, even amongst this group, greater than 50 % are main lives that don’t have anything to do with the films.

Except for his request to not be the primary character of the story, did director Bong give you every other inventive enter all through the method of constructing the movie?

Earlier than the ultimate edit got here out, we confirmed a model to director Bong and he had some considerations that possibly the film can be one thing that solely former Yellow Door members might get pleasure from. However after we confirmed him a model that was near the ultimate edit, he informed me he felt it could actually resonate with lots of people who don’t have anything to do with filmmaking, and he congratulated me. 

Total, director Bong intentionally didn’t wish to give any type of directorial recommendation. I feel if it had been a venture that had nothing to do with him, he in all probability would have been very useful and given me a variety of recommendation. However since he was one of many topics of the documentary, I imagine he felt like it could have been an invasion of my position as director to supply me too a lot of his personal ideas. However I really actually wished he would have given me extra recommendation! (Laughs) However his interviews had been really the very first that we did, as a result of he was scheduled to depart for London to shoot Mickey 17. So we interviewed him with none preparation in anyway. However later, trying again on the footage of his interviews, it what was actually fascinating to see how a lot he gave us as supply materials for the general construction of the documentary. He remembered a variety of humorous tales, and he talked about varied individuals in a deliberate method, which gave us concepts of who to incorporate. So, trying again on it, he really did give us a variety of assist.

The movie additionally has historic worth for lovers of Asian cinema, in the best way that it explains among the generative background to the Korean movie trade’s explosion of creativity within the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s. How has the tradition of movie appreciation in Korea modified since then and what do you suppose it would say concerning the future creativity of your trade? 

Okay, I first wish to provide you with a disclaimer that I would digress or get slightly bit misplaced in my try at a solution (Laughs). 

Completely perceive. It’s a ridiculously broad query.

When you check out the general technique of how this movie took place, the way it was made, the way it premiered, and the way will probably be launched to the general public, there’s something very peculiar about the entire course of. To start with, it’s a story of people that believed that solely movies proven on the large display screen are actual cinema, but it surely reveals these individuals dwelling in a time when the one method they might get entry to valuable cinema was by way of low-quality, illegally copied VHS tapes. After which this documentary itself was created via a platform known as Netflix, which creates a variety of high-quality content material that’s overtly and legally distributed worldwide. However the movie had its world premiere on a giant display screen in a cinema on the Busan Worldwide Movie Competition. So, it’s a really unusual and complicated course of, tracing the currents of movie tradition via these realities. I feel that strangeness symbolizes the present modifications we’re experiencing in movie tradition, each globally and in Korea. 

To attempt to reply your query from the enterprise aspect of issues, through the course of of making this movie, as a companion director with Netflix, I’ve to say that I used to be capable of get pleasure from a variety of inventive freedom. If I had achieved this venture with a smaller firm, the stakes would have been a lot larger for them, and so they in all probability would have requested us to focus extra on director Bong. However at Netflix, as a result of this was only one movie amongst their many tasks, they gave us the room to actually uncover the true appeal and delicate enchantment of this story.

Nonetheless, the extent of inventive freedom that I used to be capable of get pleasure from throughout this course of, and the truth that it comes from the size of an organization like Netflix, does give me some combined emotions — since you by no means know if that is going to result in features or losses for Korean cinema general. We simply can’t inform. So, I do have some considerations about whether or not it’s okay for me to speak freely and nonchalantly about having that inventive freedom because of Netflix. 

Talking from a director’s perspective, the largest concern I’ve as of late is that the viewers [of these streaming platforms] have full management to cease, quick ahead or watch your movie at 2x occasions pace — or simply utterly go away the movie.

Some time again, I watched 2001: A Area Odyssey on the large display screen on the Korean Movie Archive. On the large display screen, irrespective of how bored you get, you may’t run away, or have a look at your telephone. I needed to sit there and succumb to the tempo and rhythm that was determined by Stanley Kubrick. There are certainly scenes in that movie which might be very boring, however they’re important to what makes the movie so intriguing and emotionally shifting. You recognize, the ability of Kubrick, the ability of the good masters, is the ability that each one filmmakers aspire to — however I query whether or not administrators with that potential will even be capable to successfully ship it to an viewers at this time with these new viewing circumstances.

Nonetheless, I acknowledge that there’s a enormous irony right here. My documentary is all concerning the first technology of Korean movie lovers who studied movie on VHS because of the rewind operate — and 30 years later, these of us who’ve grow to be administrators reside in concern of the truth that our viewers has the ability to regulate the tempo of the movies we create.