COMPLETE FILM ‘THE NEW WORLD’ STARRING LEE JUNG-JAE, CHOI MIN-SIK, HWANG JUNG-MIN. ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Director/Screenwriter Park Hoon-jung directing Jung-jae Lee while filming ‘New World’

NEW WORLD (SIN-SE-GAE) 2013

Director: Park Hoon-jung

Writer: Park Hoon-jung

Starring: Jung-jaeLee, Choi Min-sik, Jeong min-Hwang

Genre: Crime, Thriller

Country: South Korea

Language: Korean, Mandarin

New World is a serious Gangster film, with everything new in it, and it is not like the ones which we are used to watching. Director/Screenwriter Park Hooj-jung has made this film violent at places, shocking at some and has even the power to move you to tears.

Director/ Screenwriter Park Hoon-jung has brought such characters out of the limelight, who are either not seen or are ignored. Teaming up with Choi Min-sik, Jeong-Min Hwang and Jung-jae Lee, Park Hoon-jung has made an epic Mafia film New World which was shown by the Korean Cultural Centre in London with the Director/Screenwriter present for the Q&A session.

Jung-jae Lee, as the Undercover Cop

The story revolves around an undercover cop Lee Ja-sung(Jung-jae Lee) who is living within a mafia gang trying to make his way out by completing one last mission. The Section Chief Kang (Choi Min-sik) controls his every move while Jeong Cheong (Jeong-Min Hwang) a powerful Chinese money launderer keeps Lee Ja-sung closer to him as his trusted man. It’s a tale which is very near to life and as the film moves on and the story builds up, it keeps on becoming more and more interesting and captivating.

Choi Min-sik, as Section Chief Kang

As Director/Screenwriter Park Hoon-jung came to introduce the film, he said that this film is quite violent. It was violent, but in a very different way. Usually the mafia films are filled with killings and bloody fights, but this one had all that to some extent without crossing the limits. The violence was placed at the right time and at the right place. There were few instances where the different characters would make the viewer very sympathetic towards them. This film is the only mafia film which nearly brought me near to tears. There are some places where the scenes are quite shocking so I would advise on having a mature audience for this film. There are some very familiar faces who come in the film, but I will not tell it here, it is for you viewers to find out.

Jeong-Min Hwang, as a powerful Chinese money launderer

Director/Screenwriter Park Hoon-jung was asked if this film was based on a true story. He said that there were some parts of the film which were inspired by real life events and characters, but most of it was his own creation. He was also told that this film resembled the American Classic Mafia film ‘Godfather’, to which he said that it is one of his favourite films, but this film was not an inspiration of the American Classic. He wanted to show something very different than ‘Godfather’. He said he wanted to show the top level personalities who conducted board meetings and had dealings with the politicians and the lawmakers. He didn’t want to show the low life men who do the field work for their bosses, but wanted to show that how the bosses of such big gangs operate with each other. Park Hoon-jung was also asked if this film would have a sequel. He said yes there will be, but did not disclose when it will be released.

Among all these questions, I managed to ask one question too. I asked that how much did he allow the actors to improvise their characters? He said that initially, every shot was done according to the script, but then afterwards while shooting the second shot he would allow the actors to do as they wished to build up their characters.

Me, standing with Director/Screenwriter Park Hoon-jung at the Korean Cultural Centre, London.

The film was shot on location in Daejeon, Cheongju, Busan, Wanju, Incheon, Gimje, Gunsan, Anshan & Paju, all in South Korea. It has won two awards, the Best Actor and the Best Director, since its release in 2013.