디워 (D-War)'s Shim Hyung-Rae Directs... 60's Nostalgia?!

I've been rather... nasty in regards to Shim Hyung-Rae's monstrously expensive monster flick 디워 (D-War) in the past few years, because of its rather significant lack of cinematic artistry, but in retrospect a lot more because of Shim's bottom-feeder nationalist tirades on TV variety shows, selling his film on the tune of Arirang, cheap tears of the eternal underdog, and other assorted chicanery. The legacy of this film, two years after its controversial release, is likely to be more about the diatribe which ensued between the throngs of cheerleaders who tried to chastize anyone who dared to criticize the film, and those few beacons of serious film criticism left in the land of morning kimchi. The film itself has more or less been forgotten. Then again, if over 15 million dollars are thrown at third-rate comedy directors to make disastrous crap like 해운대 (Haeundae), even D-War can be considered a somewhat justifiable investment. But that's all in the past. What counts (?) is Shim's future. That he would never give up after the umpteenth fiasco, it was natural - it's not like 용가리 (Yonggary) managed to wake up him, either. But it's rather surprising to see him deal with nostalgia, from the 60's?!

Shim will be quite busy in the next few years, with three projects in the works. One is 라스트 갓파더 (The Last Godfather), a sort of comic retelling of The Godfather, where Shim will reprise his classic character Younggu (from which his company, Younggu Art, takes its name), the boorish dolt which brought him to stardom during the 80s on TV comedy shows, and later on various films for children. Another is CG-heavy 콘돌 (Condor) - Shim showed a demo trailer on TV early last year, and it looked more like an intro for a videogame than a film, but I digress. The most (or the only) interesting project of the lot is actually his 3D animation 추억의 붕어빵 (Memory of Bread), set in the Korea of the 60s, still recovering from the hardships of the war. The story feels like a cross between 나무없는 산 (Treeless Mountain) and last year's 소년은 울지 않는다 (Once Upon a Time in Seoul), focusing on two kids suddenly losing their parents, and having to survive on their own.

What is interesting about the project is that Shim is using miniatures to recreate the outskirts of Seoul from the early 60s, and judging by the few shots released to the press today, it all looks wonderfully realistic. Teaser trailer we posted earlier this year doesn't really show that much, but it seems like a pretty solid work -- actually reminds a bit of 2002's glorious animation 마리 이야기 (My Beautiful Girl, Mari) -- and might mark a change of pace for Shim (until he returns to his familiar shenanigans, I guess), so we'll see. Memory of Bread will release in 2011 (or, knowing Shim's track record, 2019, if the Mayans allow him to).

Pictures Courtesy of [Antique House's Kim Sam-Hoe]