The Big Interview Park Chan-Wook Having no stake in THEATRE REVIEW Freefall n the heat of murdering 32 people in April 2007, Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui posted a video to a US TV network. It showed Cho holding a gun to his head and wielding a hammer to recreate images from a film. The film was Oldboy, a stylish symphony of ultra-violence that won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2004, the year Quentin Tarantino captained the jury. The director was Park Chan-Wook. It was unfortunate and frustrating to me that the media focused on my film as the main motivation when there must have been many different complex factors that contributed to him doing that kind of crazy thing, recounts Park (pictured below), unsettling me by wordlessly stroking his hairless arms with pointy, manicured fingernails as a female translator haltingly voices his thoughts. However, it didnt mean I lowered the level of violence in my films. If anything, it made them more brutal. But it did make me focus more on the moral consequences of violent acts. Not that he hadnt before. Park is no mere purveyor of video nasties, often declaring: I cannot and do not watch horror films; I scare easily. His acclaimed Vengeance Trilogy of Sympathy For Mr Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003) and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (2005) revolves around crime and punishment. Furthermore, the Catholic-raised director, who has a philosophy degree from a Jesuit university in Seoul, is preoccupied with ethical dilemmas provoked by extreme scenarios. Hes way more Dostoevsky than Wes Craven, if you get my drift. Thirst, his latest, is a remarkable comic horror retelling of mile Zolas 1867 novel Thrse Raquin, with added vampires. In it, a priest contracts vampirism through a transfusion. Filled with tainted bloodlust, he covets another I mans wife. Together they plot to kill her husband, only to be haunted by his ghost and the accusing glances of the girls paralysed mother-in-law. Park has called it a scandalous vampire melodrama, with the caveat that there are no bats, no stake through the heart, no fear of garlic or the cross. I think theres a danger in categorising a film as just horror or any single genre. Of course, theres nothing Hollywood likes to do more. I receive many film offers from Hollywood but there are a few hurdles to directing there, he says. Firstly, I dont really enjoy the idea of making a film packed with car chases and huge action. Secondly, I am not interested in directing horror films like The Ring. Or, apparently, The Evil Dead, the remake of which Park also rejected. However, Park insists hes not anti-Hollywood. Id make a film on Mars if it had a good enough script, he says. For me the main difference is that, unlike Hollywood, the Korean system allows me perfect creative control. T hats not the only East/ West cultural difference, of course. Thirsts publicity poster depicts a priest mounting a woman who is simultaneously strangling him. In the west we had to obscure the priests dog collar, he says. In Korea that wasnt a problem but we had to cover the womans naked legs. But what really caused a sensation in Korea was the exposure of the lead actors genital area. Everyone talked about it for days. In no other country did I get one single question about it. Mind you, the other factor is that the actor is a major star in South Korea. Park gives a wicked little grin. Its like Tom Cruise exposing himself on screen. As well as being the first mainstream Korean film to feature male full-frontal I dont really enjoy the idea of making a film packed with car chases and huge action The Korean director tells Larushka Ivan-Zadeh of his reluctance to go to Hollywood and why the violence in his films is not gratuitous Nick Cave In Town Tonight An evening of reading, music and conversation with the Black Crow King in support of his latest novel The Death Of Bunny Munroe, the protagonist of which Irvine Welsh has charmingly described as a melange of Cormac McCarthy, Kafka and Benny Hill Tonight, Vicar Street, 58-59 Thomas Street D8, 7pm, 38.60 (returns only). Tel: 0818 719 300. www.nickcaveandthebadseeds.com Setanta Murphy Garrett Keoghs two-man play returns, a poignant and darkly funny account of an old man and his nephews attempts to navigate the rocky terrain of the Irish health system. Keogh stars as Paddy, the befuddled grand- uncle to Luke Griffins exasperated Setanta Until Oct 24, The New Theatre, 43 East Essex Street D2, 8pm (Sat mat 3pm), 15 to 20. Tel: (01) 670 3361. www.thenewtheatre.com Keith Farnan Fresh from a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival, the comic presents his stand-up show Cruel And Unusual a crusade against the death penalty, inspired by his pre-comedy life as a lawyer in the USA. All proceeds from tomorrows show go to Amnesty Tonight until Sat, Project Arts Centre, 39 East Essex Street D2, 8pm, 12 to 15. Tel: (01) 881 9613/4. www.project.ie metro Arts & Entertainment life Book Now Russell Brand Lock up your wives, daughters, mothers, grandmas, girlfriends and boyfriends the poodle-haired perv is back for a final fling of his critically-acclaimed stand-up show Scandalous. So hes romancing Katy Perry these days. But that shouldnt stop his O2 audiences loins a-stirring as he waxes lyrical about a lifetime spent getting himself into (and out of) hot water, namely the Osama Bin Laden fancy dress MTV gaffe, Sachsgate and offering his dirty pants to Dame Helen Mirren. In a world of self- censorship, thats about as refreshing as a bottle of pop and Brand is certainly as effervescent Nov 10, The O2, East Link Bridge, North Wall Quay D1, 6.30pm, 38. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.russellbrand.com 12 metrolife Monday, October 12, 2009 The hoTTesT TickeTs in Town We have a pair of tickets to see RUSSELL BRANDS SCANDALOUS Nov 10 at The O2, 6.30pm For a chance to win, e-mail your answer to the question below to life@metroireland.ie by noon today with Hot Tickets in the subject line. With your answer please include your name, address and a number where you can be contacted between 1pm and 3pm. Strictly one entry per person; entrants must be age 18+. Q. Brand starred in which 2007 British film? A Stardust B St Trinians The winners of yesterdays tickets to see Top Gear Live are: Ann Harford & Brian OLeary The Cork-based Corn Exchange are renowned for their risk-taking commedia delarte style and while their latest production sees them dispense with the trademark white masks, their propensity to challenge audience-goers is in no way diminished. Andrew Bennett plays the lead a middle-aged man who watches on as the foundations of his world, like his house, begin to crumble. His wife (Janet Moran) has left him, hes suffered a stroke and now as he lies in a hospital bed hes assailed by a series of bittersweet memories: from a miserable childhood spent in the care of an aunt to his first awkward encounter with the woman who becomes his spouse. Its a tough watch in places but Bennett does a sterling job as the passive husband and father, a Walter Mitty-type figure whos too preoccupied by the past to get to grips with the present. And while, at first, the use of video footage and off- stage sound effects can feel a little fussy and distracting, Freefall ultimately grabs the viewer by the jugular, particularly in its gripping second hour. Moran, Damian Kearney, Ruth McGill and Louis Lovett all provide faultless support, while director Annie Ryan does justice to a resonant and difficult play, which bravely examines the nature of loss and longing. Daragh Reddin Until Oct 24, Project Arts Centre, 39 East Essex Street D2, 7.30pm, 22 to 23. Tel: (01) 881 9613/4. www.project.ie index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html