A Trip Inside The City of Violence: Ryu Seung-Wan and Jung Doo-Hong Talk 짝패

The film stars Ryu himself and his longtime partner -- hence the Korean title, meaning partner, pal -- Jung Doo-Hong, it features the cream of Chungmuro's action crop, with the top tier of the Seoul Action School all working in the film. The script is written by Lee Won-Jae of 혈의 누 (Blood Rain), and a talented cast including Lee Beom-Soo, Ahn Gil-Gang, Kim Seo-Hyung and On Ju-Wan completes the game. The film started well at the box office, beating Tom Cruise and Eom Jung-Hwa's piano escapades, and it's doing pretty well at Cannes, picked up by the Weinstein's for US distributions. But although reception in Korea was very positive, it didn't seem to do THAT well at Cannes, perhaps because Bong Joon-Ho's latest monster 괴물 (The Host) was garnering all the attention. Is this a sign that Ryu is developing his own cinematic world a la Hong Sang-Soo, a world only his legion of fans can really get into, a world which defies genre conventions and in turn disappoints genre fans -- because they're not only getting action, but a story beyond two pages of dialogue? I don't know yet, but 짝패 (The City of Violence) shows something changed for former action kid Ryu Seung-Wan.

Just like he's saying on many interviews, he doesn't really care that much about genre anymore. What had become obvious by watching Crying Fist is that Ryu had finally found the strength to go beyond his clear influences (Shaw Brothers films, Korean action of the 70s, Buster Keaton, Jackie Chan, and much more obviously) and create his own world. And that even though this might be his last 'pure action film', by all intents and purposes it feels like an action film filtered through Ryu's lenses, just like, say, 형사 Duelist was Lee Myung-Se's idea of a wuxia. But more than genre or Ryu's own development as a director, this film is important because the synergy which underlined most of his career finally comes to the forefront: Ryu Seung-Wan vs Jung Doo-Hong, Ryu Seung-Wan + Jung Doo-Hong, Ryu Seung-Wan = Jung Doo-Hong. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Ryu's fantasy clashing with Jung's realism, Ryu's reckless speed clashing with Jung's intensity, Ryu's technique against Jung's street-style smarts. It wouldn't work if the two didn't know each other so well, but by combining those different elements into a whole Ryu Seung-Wan's unique cinematic world is formed.

Even the characters feel more Ryu Seung-Wan than traditional genre heroes: Tae-Soo (Jung Doo-Hong) left his hometown ten years ago, becoming a detective in the big city. All that remained of his past a couple of photos, showing him something really changed back home, something 'pushed' him out. One of those photos is the portrait of an old friend, the same guy who promised they'd celebrate their success with a drink together 20 years later when they were younger. Back then his friend Wang-Jae (Ahn Gil-Gang) was a gang boss with a promising future, who ended up running a little restaurant after cutting ties with the 'family', and eventually hit by the same little thugs he was helping grow under his wing. Meeting old friend Seok-Hwan (Ryu Seung-Wan) at the funeral, the two start investigating Wang-Jae's death, each on his own way, until they find a much bigger nest than a simple killer. There, two partners meet again for the first time in over a decade, and as they say, start kicking and punching their way to the end of the film.

A very traditional story, but looking at all that's been written about the film, it seems to retain the same characters of Ryu's past films, with a touch of irony within the bleakness of the world they live in, modern Xia (errant warriors) in a world they don't understand anymore. The City of Violence is perhaps the most important partnership of Jung and Ryu's career, not so much because it'll change the way they work in the future, but because this could be their last statement, the supreme synergy between their two styles, the perfect combination of what they've been working for years. Of course this doesn't mean Ryu will completely abandon action, as his new Zombie flick 야차 (Yacha) will have plenty of it. But from now on Ryu will simply pick what he needs from several genres. Like he joked in the past, that genre element might end up coming from melodramas. And, knowing Ryu, he might actually make something really fresh out of it. Stepping out of his action kid aura as he matures into one of Chungmuro's most promising directors, here's a patchwork of highlights from three recent interviews he had -- two of them featuring his longtime partner Jung Doo-Hong.

What was the concept behind this film?
Ryu: My priorities when making films have changed in the last few years. Now the key is not style or genre, but what kind of story I want to tell, and the characters inside that story. So this time I went in the opposite direction, forgetting about genre conventions or style. I mean, the opposite of what I did when planning 죽거나 혹은 나쁘거나 (Die Bad) or 피도 눈물도 없이 (No Blood No Tears). At first I wanted a 'sort of buddy movie with a duo', hoping it would be a real action film. And then of course Jung Doo-Hong and I would star in the film, which would emphasize realism, violence and intensity. You know, something really powerful. Then I started worrying about the story, which at the beginning was a really traditional action plot, which then made me reflect on what was the use of shooting just another action film. So what I decided to do wasn't following genre conventions, but trying to find genre elements I could use to create my own cinematic world. That's when something suddenly came to mind, the idea of taking characters from a John Woo or Chang Cheh film, put them in a world similar to Roman Polansky's films, and developing Jackie Chan-style action inside that world (laughs). So using movie titles, that'd be the characters from 英雄本色 (A Better Tomorrow) going to Chinatown or L.A. Confidential and showing you the action in 警察故事 (Police Story).

This started as a HD Project, but then you moved to Super 16mm. Any reason for that?
Ryu: If it was a normal drama then shooting the HD way would have probably been better. But since in a film like this changing the frame rate can have a really huge influence on the film, the only wait to freely go from high to low speed; to move swiftly from 4 fps to 150 and effectively convey all the nuances within the action was using film, HD brought too many disadvantages in that sense. We first tried shooting with 3 different HD Cameras, but considering the frequency and length of the action scenes in the film, we decided to go for Super 16.

Since people think of 'action' when they think about you two, there must have been a lot of pressure to create something new.
Ryu: Of course there was some burden. I think action design and the use of locations walk hand in hand, and looking at my past films there was always a sort of disparity between the film's rhythm and the excitement created by the action's speed, so we tried our best to combine those two elements effectively this time. I wanted to use my action style in ways similar to 장군의 아들 (The General's Son), especially for the scenes with those game character-like teenagers, which give a Kim Doo-Han like feeling. In a way, even before they immerse themselves in the characters, what gives the viewers an instant emotional connection in scenes like the attack at the police station is the visual idea of the restricted space given by that location. Even the last scene reminds of 80s films shot at the Shaw Brothers studios or Samurai action films, but we use katanas and kendo sticks in unique ways. I don't think you've seen the lead strike his foe up to the end in other films. Like in The General's Son or 테러리스트 (Terrorist), even in a situation of crisis throwing down their foes not with action techniques, but with the sentiment buried inside that action, coming from that situation, that's what you could call 'Korean action', in a way.
Jung: What's 'new' anyway? To be honest when it comes to action there's nothing new. It's just that when people see action used in a new environment, they feel something fresh and excited by that consider it something new. To make an example, the scene with the B-Boys might feel creative and new, but it has the same dropkicks I've been using the last 15 years. And I couldn't have learned riding a bike that well in a couple of days, could I? Just think of that Tatami scene: the image of Korean gangsters is Sashimi knives, but when you think of tatami, then the image of Japanese action films and the Katana come to mind. And it's not just action, even the hair and clothes, we just made it a little more stylish.

Today's Korean Films use almost no wirework when in a modern setting. Is it because you can't show any modern action element through the use of wires?
Jung: If you look at it in a technical sense, you can show even more with wires. But isn't showing what sentiment is behind those actions more important?
Ryu: Since nowadays viewers watch a lot more and are accustomed to action, no matter how you shoot they'll know, they can judge real from fake. What Tony Jaa's films brought to the table and why that made people excited again is what he's doing truly feels real. And of course because of all those NG scenes at the end of Jackie Chan films.
Jung: I always get questions like 'can you really jump in the air like that without wires.' Uh... of course I can't. In certain cases people even misunderstand wirework as CG, so wires aren't really that important. We know that better than anyone, after hitting my forties and Ryu injuring his ligaments (laughs).

I knew Director Ryu was an avid HK film fan, and that Jung Doo-Hong doesn't like them, so I'm really curious how you were able to create a synergy and what were the most difficult points in this process.
Jung: It's not that I don't like Hong Kong films, I just am not interested in the traditional action style brought to fame by Hong Kong (action) films, and why I've always tried to distance my work from that. I didn't like Hong Kong action films, and Ryu Seung-Wan liked Jackie Chan (laughs). That synergy always begins from trying to combine my rough and crude style with Ryu's simplicity and 'pure' action. To be honest, my action is really realistic and cruel, but there's no 'beauty' inside it. Looking at the movements in Zhang Yimou's films like 英雄 (Hero), I always wanted to try something like that.
Ryu: I'm from the generation who experienced action films in theaters through sound and visuals, and Jung Doo-Hong is someone who matured using and developing his body on the set. So in a way, when designing action sequences there's an element of fantasy that I take care of, and Jung focuses on the more realistic elements. If our approaches were similar, then it would have been hard making something like 짝패 (The City of Violence) or working together for so long. Don't you always need someone to complement your skills when working on a film, a kind of partnership? That's our synergy: thesis, antithesis and synthesis.
Jung: When I shoot action scenes in other films, I always think of him (Ryu). If he was next to me, how would I shoot this scene? When I end up doing something right, I'm reminded of Ryu Seung-Wan. We might give each other a hard time, and sometimes our feelings don't match, but we can certainly rely on each other for many things, that's why we work well together.

This is the first time Jung Doo-Hong acts in a leading role. It feels like you trusted him enough to give him such an important part.
Ryu: I was confident he'd be able to to portray the character in the most natural of ways from every side. And then I remember telling him something like this, while shooting the film, that this might be the last chance he and I have. This might be Jung's last chance to show all his athletic talent as an action star and stuntman, I mean, he's in his forties now. And of course as my excitement for films is moving away from the action genre, this might be my last chance to star in a film like this.

Compared to his past films, it feels like Jung Doo-Hong's acting improved a lot. It feels much closer, or better, the closest to the real Jung Doo-Hong compared the characters he played in films like 성냥팔이 소녀의 재림 (Resurrection of the Little Match Girl), 피도 눈물도 없이 (No Blood No Tears) and 아라한 장풍대작전 (Arahan).
Jung: Up until now, whenever I'd have a line of dialogue, people on the set would start getting nervous. Looks like I tired them a little too much (laughs). Even Director Kim Sung-Soo of 비트 (Beat) and 무사 (Musa: The Warrior) said he didn't like my acting. But then when he saw 짝패 (The City of Violence) he said it looks like a professional 'action actor' might have finally come out in Chungmuro, and he was happy for me. He said when you look at people like Donnie Yen in Hong Kong Action films, he makes an impression the moment you see him, and he felt the same for me here. Hearing such words from people who looked at my acting in a negative way makes me think I can always improve if I really give my best. And Sung-Soo also said that he didn't like my acting in the past because of my age, but then said if I keep doing this for another five years I'll still be fine. It doesn't need to be a lead like in this film, even if it's just a supporting role that will help us create something similar to what Jet Li and Donnie Yen were doing in Hong Kong, then I couldn't possibly ask for more.
Ryu: Until now Jung Doo-Hong has acted in very 'traditional' genre roles, and if on those occasions the genre elements were at the forefront, I tried to focus a little more on the real Jung Doo-Hong for this film. While preparing the film, I always thought of 'characters from a John Woo film entering the world of Roman Polansky's films, doing action Jackie Chan-style edited like a Sam Peckinpah film'... something like that. The start was about real people not able to adapt to the cold-hearted world they enter in, coming into contact with genre-specific locations and stretching their action inside this world. It's the kind of association you rarely see and it might not even fit all that well, but that looks like my kind of cinematic world, you always see those clashing elements in my past films. And the character Jung Doo-Hong plays here is perhaps the closest to reality.

Regarding the actors playing your 'younger' versions, people were joking that 'since it's Ryu Seung-Wan's role they cast Kim Shi-Hoo who's the better looking of the two, and then Jung Doo-Hong's younger version went to On Ju-Wan'. What's the truth behind all this?
Ryu (laughing): Actually I was a little worried about that, of course we couldn't act ourselves as two high school students, could we? (laughs). I knew Ju-Wan, and I think he looked similar to Jung Doo-Hong in many ways. Kim Shi-Hoo was added to the film by our producer, both because he's from Chungcheong Province and could handle the dialect, and since I'm a little pale just like him we thought he'd look similar from afar. I was a little worried about that myself. One day Park Chan-Wook called me, after hearing about Shi-Hoo's casting, and he said: "Would you believe it if Kim Shi-Hoo became Ryu Seung-Wan all of a sudden?". Then I just replied: "When people are suffering, they're all the same. Why, you don't think I was called 꽃미남 (handsome young man, roughly) too back in the days?". Actually I could have ended up acting Kim Shi-Hoo's part in 친절한 금자씨 (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance), and I always feel really bad about that (laughs). I told him: "Man, you chose two similar Geun-Shik, you're just too much", and he said: "Yeah, sure, fine, but just one thing: how can you actually become shorter growing up?" (laughs).
Jung: I haven't worked with Ju-Wan before, but I think there was always something between us. I haven't seen him working on the film, but after a VIP screening we were fooling around and the guy just grabbed my hands... (laughs)

I've heard there were several different versions of the script.
Ryu: At first it started as a two-man 用心棒 (Yojimbo) protecting a village a la 七人の侍 (Seven Samurai), you know, something like that. Someone comes to a place, and here's another stranger. Then once they're 'branded', the two would work together to prove their innocence. But then we started changing around the script a few times, and the final result was what you're seeing today. While developing the script, there was even a little role for [Ryu] Seung-Beom, enough to make an interesting cameo for him, but eventually it was taken off. And Seung-Beom really wanted to do this, since obviously he's from Chungheong Province too, so he can speak the dialect really well. Even Yang Dong-Geun always said he wanted to do some action as well. Of course I would have loved to have them join the film, but then something came to mind. If famous actors appeared in this film, then it wouldn't surprise people as much. I decided against it, fearing that our initial intentions regarding the film would slowly fade away. We needed to preserve that excitement we wanted from the beginning, but I didn't want to make something frivolous out of this.

As a director, what's the aspect of this film that helped you the most through the shoot?
Ryu: What I wanted to do through this film was show what Ryu Seung-Wan's cinematic world really was about. People always tried to label and describe what that world was, but I don't think they've been able to do so in the past. But then again, I wanted to discover it myself, so this was a good chance. Even when we were designing the storyboards and recklessly trying to fit with those plans on the set, we thought of what would be the best possible approach, something only Ryu Seung-Wan would want to do, in a really simple way. I wasn't spending time thinking one day I'd pay homage to Tarantino, another that De Palma's films would help me, or John Woo and Jackie Chan. No, I was solely relying on Ryu Seung-Wan and my experience as a filmmaker, along with my fellow crew and cast members, that's all.

Watching the entire film, it looks like the initial complaints about similarities with Kill Bill will disappear. There's a couple of scenes in the climax giving a similar vibe, but it almost feels like the film is trying to distance itself from Kill Bill on purpose.
Ryu: That's because I hated hearing the film looked like Kill Bill. Yeah, it might remind of its last action scene, but that's just because with the set we were shooting at there were no alternatives. It wasn't structured like Bruce Lee's 死亡遊戱 (Game of Death), where you'd go up a Tower of Death, I rather wanted to descend more and more into the underworld as the film progressed, and I worked on the last scene with a maisonette (compound/duplex apartment) structure in mind. Even just thinking about the Tatami (Japanese floor mats) scene might remind you of Suzuki Seijun's 刺靑一代 (Life of a Tattooed Man), Kill Bill, サムライ フィクション (Samurai Fiction) or countless other similar films, but I disagree. If you look at the structure of the house inside, you don't get a Japanese feeling, but more like inserting a Western Style design inside a 한옥 (traditional Korean house) setting, and that's quite expensive, I'm not kidding you. That's why it couldn't help but look similar to those films in the Trailer. As I said before, that last scene with the maisonette/duplex apartment style reminds of Lee Du-Yong's indoor sets or Jackie Chan-style indoor action, you could say it resembles even more to Chang Cheh's indoor sets in 報仇 (Vengeance). And again, the scene in closeup behind Lee Beom-Soo reminds of a scene with Jimmy Wang Yu in Chang's 金燕子 (Golden Swallow). But people still keep talking about Kill Bill. What's even worse, those people watch Kill Bill and they probably never talk about the films it paid 'homage' to, like Suzuki's Life of a Tattooed Man. Why? Probably because Kill Bill is all they've seen. So since those complaints would certainly emerge when the film releases, I made sure there would be no misunderstandings. What was important to me was building a sort of cinematic world fitting my own logic, not trying to up the ante compared to all those films. So while all those films might have influenced me, I tried my best to do something different.

Because the film is so violent and powerful, it almost feels like you didn't even consider female viewers into the equation while making it.
Ryu: I don't know, if women watch it and like it, that's great. I've never shot movies with target demographics in mind, so I can't really say I'm leaving them out on purpose. If I had shot this film with a female sensibility in mind, then maybe I could have, what, turned down the sound in the Sashimi Knife action scene a little, because otherwise they'd be too scared? Or maybe tell them not to leave theaters if they can't handle this... (laughs)

[nKino, Cine21, Film2.0]

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짝패 (The City of Violence)
Director: 류승완 (Ryu Seung-Wan)
Cast: 류승완 (Ryu Seung-Wan), 정두홍 (Jung Doo-Hong), 이범수 (Lee Beom-Soo), 김서형 (Kim Seo-Hyung), 안길강 (Ahn Gil-Gang), 온주환 (On Ju-Hwan)
Twitch Preview
Official Website
Theatrical Trailer (Downloadable, Windows Media)
Theatrical Trailer (Streaming, 700k, Windows Media)
Teaser Trailer (Streaming, 700k, Windows Media)
Teaser Trailer (Downloadable, Windows Media)
TV Report (Downloadable, 12mb, Windows Media)
Making Of (Streaming, 500k, Windows Media)
Interview with Ryu Seung-Wan + Highlights (Streaming, 16:46, Windows Media)
Music Video (Streaming, 500k, Windows Media)
Movie Stills/Posters
Budget: 2.5 Billion Won
Produced By: 외유내강 (Film Makers R&K), Seoul Action School
Distributed By: CJ 엔터테인먼트 (CJ Entertainment)
International Sales: CJ 엔터테인먼트 (CJ Entertainment)
Rating: 18 and Over