Park Chul-soo

Biographical Overview & Key Facts

Subject:

Park Chul-soo

Role / Field:

Pioneering South Korean filmmaker known for melodramas and genre-bending cinema.

Born:

1948-11-20

Died:

2013-02-19

Century / Era:

1948s Historical Era

Database Source:

2Day Chrono-Wiki & Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Origins & Early Life

Park Chul-soo (Korean: 박철수; November 20, 1948 – February 19, 2013) was a South Korean film director, producer, screenwriter and occasional actor. He was one of the most active filmmakers in Korean cinema in the 1980s and 1990s. Park Chul-soo was born in Daegu, South Korea. After graduating from Daegu Commercial High School, Park studied Economics on scholarship at Sungkyunkwan University. After graduation, he briefly worked as a teacher in his hometown, Daegu.

Career & Major Achievements

He began his film career as a crew member for Shin Film before making his directorial debut in 1978 with Captain of the Alley, which opened to a mediocre reception. However, success came his way through his second film released the following year, The Rain that Falls Every Night, a story about a woman who falls in love with a boxer that raped her. Sentimental and sophisticated melodramas were the mainstay films during this time of his career. His 1985 thriller Mother, featuring star actress Youn Yuh-jung in the role of a mother on a killing spree after her college student daughter is raped and commits suicide, is still considered as Korean cinema’s definitive work in the rape-revenge genre that was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. It won several categories at the Grand Bell Awards that year, including best film.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Women, sex and repressed urbanites continued to be main themes of Park's movies throughout his career, although his style of expression frequently altered between outrageous and subtle. A major change in his artistic approach came with his 1995 cult hit 301, 302 which tells the story of two women who share the same apartment building, but take very different approaches to food, sex, and the challenges of modern life. Park was arguably the first filmmaker to popularize South Korean cinema internationally when the film became one of the earliest contemporary Korean films to be released theatrically in North America. His 1996 work Farewell My Darling was shot mostly with hand-held cameras and remains his most critically acclaimed work. It portrays a family's experience as they hold a traditional three-day funeral for an elderly man killed after falling off a bicycle.

Chronological Milestones & Life Events

1. 1948 (1948-11-20): Birth of Park Chul-soo — Pioneering South Korean filmmaker known for melodramas and genre-bending cinema.
2. 1978: 1978 Milestone — He began his film career as a crew member for Shin Film before making his directorial debut in 1978 with Captain of the Alley, which opened to a mediocre reception.
3. 1985: 1985 Milestone — His 1985 thriller Mother, featuring star actress Youn Yuh-jung in the role of a mother on a killing spree after her college student daughter is raped and commits suicide, is still considered as Korean cinema’s definitive work in the rape-revenge genre that was popular in the 1970s and 1980s.
4. 1995: 1995 Milestone — A major change in his artistic approach came with his 1995 cult hit 301, 302 which tells the story of two women who share the same apartment building, but take very different approaches to food, sex, and the challenges of modern life.
5. 1996: 1996 Milestone — His 1996 work Farewell My Darling was shot mostly with hand-held cameras and remains his most critically acclaimed work.
6. 2013 (2013-02-19): Passing & Historical Legacy — Park Chul-soo passed away on 2013-02-19, leaving an enduring historical legacy.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Park Chul-soo

True or False: “Park Chul-soo's film *Mother* (1985) was the first Korean film to win Best Film at the Grand Bell Awards.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): While *Mother* won several categories including best film that year, it was not the absolute first film in Korean cinema history to achieve such recognition.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• A. Wyatt Tilby — Contemporary (Died in 1948) (1948): British author, journalist, and traveler known for his writings on history and philosophy.
• Abby Aldrich Rockefeller — Contemporary (Died in 1948) (1948): American socialite and influential philanthropist, key patron of modern art.
• Abdullah Öcalan — Contemporary (Born in 1948) (1948): Founder of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and advocate for Kurdish rights.
• Aaron Swartz — Contemporary (Died in 2013) (2013): Pioneering programmer, activist, and hacktivist known for RSS, Markdown, and progressive organizing.
• Ada Louise Huxtable — Contemporary (Died in 2013) (2013): Pioneering American architecture critic who elevated urban design to public discourse.
• Ahmed Fouad Negm — Contemporary (Died in 2013) (2013): Iconic Egyptian vernacular poet, celebrated for revolutionary and patriotic verse.
• Aaron Klug — Shared historical date (11-20 · Died) (2018): Pioneering biophysicist known for crystallographic electron microscopy and nucleic acid structure.
• Alfonso López Pumarejo — Shared historical date (11-20 · Died) (1959): Colombian politician and economist, known for progressive reforms and serving two non-consecutive presidential terms.
• Adelina Patti — Shared historical date (02-19 · Born) (1843): Legendary Spanish-Italian soprano renowned for her bel canto technique and lyrical voice.
• Amy Tan — Shared historical date (02-19 · Born) (1952): Acclaimed American novelist celebrated for exploring Chinese-American family dynamics.
• 1948 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1948
• November 20 (11-20) On This Day — Historical birthdays and events on November 20
• 2013 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 2013
• February 19 (02-19) On This Day — Historical events and memorials on February 19

Frequently Asked Questions about Park Chul-soo