A grumpy bureaucrat discovers 1,000 years of soul in a sheet of paper.
Low-ranking civil servant Pil Yong (Park Joong Hoon) has things hard looking after his disabled wife(Ye Ji Won). He takes charge of a hanji project in hopes it will bring him a promotion. His wife comes from a family of hanji masters. One of his tasks include working with quarrelsome filmmaker Ji Won (Kang Su Yeon), who is shooting a documentary about hanji. Though he knows little about the subject to begin with, the more he learns about hanji, the more it takes on a new significance for him and the world around him.
Direction
Im Kwon-taek's patient, documentary-like observation of craft.
Production
Actual hanji-making process filmed with reverent detail.
Director
Im Kwon-taek
Park Joong-hoon
Pil-yong
Kang Soo-youn
Ji-won
Ye Ji-won
Hyo-kyung
Ahn Byeong-kyeong
Deok-soon
Jang Hang-seon
Monk Do-am
Jeong Woo-hyuk
Section Chief
Lim Seung-dae
Sub Section Chief
Jin Kyung
Female Section Chief
Han Soo-yeon
Da-young
Kwon Hyun-sang
Yong-ki
Min Kyung-jin
Oh Kyung-min
Kim Ki-cheon
Kim Choon-byung
Kwon Tae-won
Co. Pres. Kwon
Kim Beong-choun
Artisan Chun
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kang Soo-youn was the first Korean actor to win Best Actress at Venice (1987); her casting as the director mirrors her real status as Korean cinema royalty.
Hanji was used for Korea's first books and currency; the film subtly argues this bureaucrat is handling national memory, not just paper.
KR
