Kim Yong-hwa majored in Film Studies at Chung-Ang University, but because of financial difficulties, it took him a decade to graduate.[1] His graduation project in 1999 was the short filmIn the Jungle (titled "Salted Mackerel" in Korean), about two brothers (one of whom is a deaf-mute) taking care of a terminally ill mother, who are ordered to leave the hospital after they are late in paying the bills.[2]In the Jungle won prizes at the 42nd Rochester International Film Festival and the 33rd Houston International Film Festival in 2000.[3]
For his feature directorial debut, Kim wrote and directed Oh! Brothers, a comedy about an amoral, debt-ridden private detective who upon his father's death learns he has a younger half-brother with progeria, played by Lee Jung-jae and Lee Beom-soo. Oh! Brothers was the sixth best-selling Korean film of 2003, with 3.2 million tickets sold.[4]
In 2006, Kim cast Kim Ah-joong in a star-making role as the protagonist of 200 Pounds Beauty (titled "It's Hard to Be a Beauty" in Korean), based on the Japanese mangaKanna's Big Success! by Yumiko Suzuki about an overweight ghost singer/phone sex operator who transforms her life after intensive plastic surgery and becomes a pop star. A romantic comedy as well as a satirical indictment of a hypocritical society that places too much value on appearance, the film's themes on beauty and self-esteem resonated with female Korean audiences, and 200 Pounds Beauty became a sleeper hit with 6.6 million admissions, making it the year's third best-selling domestic film.[5] Kim won Best New Director at the 30th Golden Cinematography Awards in 2007, and received several nominations for directing and screenwriting.[6]
Critics praised Kim for his smart, well-made commercial films, as well as for challenging the bias against physical disability and obesity in Korean society. Kim said, "Comedy starts off with pain. But is it really best to portray that pain in a painful way? If one has really experienced pain, and really gone to the depth of it, I doubt one will really put a raw edge on it. I am drawn to a movie that contains both joy and sadness, and at the same time remains simple and light. My answer to comedy is to include both 'a teardrop and a smile.'"[1]
Kim next took on his most ambitious project to date with Mr. Go, which had a ₩25 billion (US$22.5 million) budget (one of the largest budgets in Korean cinema history), with US$5 million funded by China-based Huayi Brothers.[12] Based on Huh Young-man's 1984 manhwaThe 7th Team, the film centers on a 15-year-old girl (played by Xu Jiao) who tries to save her grandfather's circus after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake by becoming the sports agent of a baseball-playing gorilla named Ling Ling (inspired by Christian the lion).[13]Mr. Go was filmed in stereoscopic 3D, and Kim founded a new visual effects company Dexter Studios to develop and innovate motion capture and facial motion capture techniques, and a digital fur production program to make the gorilla as realistic as possible; a team of more than 500 animators and CG professionals spent four years on the production and over a year editing.[14]Mr. Go was released in South Korea and China simultaneously in 2013; it was not a commercial success in South Korea, ending Kim's winning streak at the domestic box office. However, it fared better in Mainland China where it was marketed as a children's film and shown exclusively in 3D theaters (with premium ticket prices), making more than double the South Korean gross.[15][16]Mr. Go also made a name for Dexter Studios, now recognized as a VFX pioneer in Korea.[3]
^Honors are given at the Korean Content Awards (대한민국 콘텐츠 대상) arranged by the Korea Creative Content Agency and hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The 2022 Korea Content Awards Ceremony , which started in 2009 and celebrated its 14th this year, aims to inspire pride in the content industry and develop the Korean cultural content industry by discovering and awarding contributors and excellent content that have contributed to the development of the content industry in 2022. It is a place to promote. The winners (works) of honor, which are recommended through the website of the Korea Creative Content Agency (www.kocca.kr) and announced through careful examination by experts and three-step verification, play a leading role in shining the Korean content industry in the world.
^Kim Ji-hye (April 19, 2022). "김용화 감독, 미국 UTA와 계약…'신과 함께' 美 TV 시리즈로" [Director Kim Yong-hwa signed a contract with UTA... 'Along with the Gods' as an American TV series] (in Korean). SBS Entertainment News. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via Naver.
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