Kang Dong-Won (born January 18, 1981) is a South Korean actor. He has been a member of the agency "YG Entertainment" since January 2016. He has appeared in photo shoots for "Cine21", "High Cut", "Elle Korea", "Vogue Korea", among others… Considered one of the best South Korean actors, we tell you in this article about five of his best movies.
Maundy Thursday
The story
Moon Yu-jung is on his third suicide attempt. His aunt, a nun, forces him to visit Jung Yun-su, who has been sentenced to death for rape and murder. At first reluctant, the two young people slowly begin to get closer. They look forward to Thursdays, the day of visit.
Technical fact sheet
Directed by Song Hae-sung Based on 'Our Happy Times' by Gong Ji-young Release date: September 14, 2006 (South Korea) Cast: Kang Dong-Won, Lee Na-young
Impressions
The subject of the death penalty is one of those controversial topics that people like to discuss but which turns out to be fruitless at the conclusion. Maundy Thursday spares no detail that could convince the reluctant or dissuade the convinced. It shows us a young man ravaged, destroyed by his act. Maybe a "surprise", "unwanted" act, but he still killed an innocent young woman. For about 20 years, there has been an "unofficial" moratorium in South Korea for the use of the death penalty. It's like they want to keep a card up their sleeve. Keeping power in short. On 25 February 2010, the court ruled that the death penalty is not unconstitutional if it is limited, applicable to people who have committed extreme crimes such as ending many lives in a cruel manner. Surely Maundy Thursday is tendentious. It would have been a Kevin Spacey, shaved head with the head of Gwyneth Paltrow in a box or the assassin of "No mercy", whose killing does not erase in any way, and I insist, in no way, the horror we have just experienced… It would have been monsters, wouldn't the principles of the reluctant have been shaken? Maundy Thursday is definitely a film that raises a big question. Does Jung Yun-su deserve to die? Under the false air of a romantic film, Song Hae-sung exposes us to a real dilemma (for the viewer) facing capital punishment because, Jung Yun-su, played with tact and subtlety by Dong-won Kang, is not guilty but he is not completely innocent. Two beings who are afraid of the next day, who are getting closer because of their injuries. Two beings whose desire to die makes their relationship unique. Another question is also raised in this poignant film, which gives it a "Prince of Tides" side directed by Barbra Streisand. Being forced by one's own parents to hide rape is more atrocious than rape itself, more devastating. The encounters between Jung Yun-su and Moon Yu-Jung heal suffering that is too uncreated. Their story is beautiful. Like the movie.
Voice of Murderer
The story
Voice of Murderer is based on a real event that happened in South Korea in 1991. The son of a TV presenter was kidnapped. He will be missing for 44 days. During these 44 days the kidnapper plays cat and mouse with the parents.
Technical fact sheet
Director and Writer: Jin-Pyo Park Released: February 1, 2007 (South Korea) Duration: 122 min Genre Drama | Thriller Cast : Kyung-Gu Sol, Nam-Ju Kim, Kang Dong-Won
Impressions
With a title that says too much, perhaps because this real fact is apparently known to all South Koreans and the suspense was useless, this film is more of a drama than a thriller. Jin-Pyo Park, known for his achievements with taboo subjects, focuses here on the anguish and agony of the two desperate parents. You let yourself be caught very quickly in this spider's web without getting tired of the film. Filmed mostly with foreshots, sometimes camera on the shoulder, based on the interpretation of the actors and on the voice of a completely invisible Kang Dong-Won, the story has nothing to do with "The Ransom", where Mel Gibson, more barge than ever, almost made us forget with his unconsciousness that kidnapping had had. Maybe at the base, but absolutely not in the unfolding. Rare are the American films where there is a death of a child and even less those where his corpse is shown. It will automatically be a film with a very low audience. Asians, less scrupulous, do not hesitate to kill the main actor in the middle of a film or to kill children, which shows a certain realism but also a rather terrifying detachment. As for the films "The Case of Itaewon Homicide" (2009) or "Memories of a murderer" (2003), the end remains unsolved, since they are unsolved cases, with a feeling of "we were almost there" that leaves us quite glued, even furious. See philosophical. Kang Dong-Won's voice, very particular and recognizable, gradually becomes a voice without identity. If you know the actor well, you can visualize him, give relief to this voice out of nowhere. But, gradually, the human being behind the voice disappears. There is no more actor and this is where the discomfort settles to never leave you. The voice of the real criminal gives a particularly terrifying ending point. excellent
The secret reunion
The story
Lee Han-kyu, a counterintelligence agent in South Korea, is on the trail of a North Korean agent named "The Shadow" who is in pursuit of alleged traitors in Seoul. The Shadow is aided by Song Ji-Won, a young North Korean agent with a high sense of patriotism. In a raid, the Shadow manages to escape… Lee Han-Kyu and Song Ji-Won must join forces, despite the great tension between them.
Technical fact sheet
Director: Hoon Jang Script: Min-Seok Jang Genre: Thriller. Drama Year: 2010 Duration: 116 min. Distribution Song Kang-Ho, Kang Dong-Won
Impressions
One of the most anticipated films of Korean cinema in 2010 for several reasons. Director Jang Hun, one of the best new directors of 2009 with his sensational Rough Cut, returned with a bigger budget and a remarkable tandem of actors. The "rising" actor Kang Dong-Won, quite up to his hyun, and one of the best Asian actors of today, Song Kang-Ho. Jang Hoon surprises us with his handling of the camera, managing to make a technically impeccable film, with incredible staging and thrilling action scenes. Song Kang-ho in a physical role and sinful at the same time, role of teddy bear who rushes into the heap, with a personal story that makes him quite emotional.Song Ji-Won, supposed to play the role of the villain, shows a kindness that seems surprising at first, until we get used to the character. Jang Hun brings us his unique style of spy thriller with an air of "Buddy Movie" which, with great subtlety, touches on other subjects such as friendship, family, betrayal, the loyalty of the two particularly opposed characters and the thorny subject of inter-Korean relations. A thriller-bromance that goes beyond the typical action or spy movie and shows above all the reality of a divided country. Two completely different universes that do not understand each other, in a story sometimes dramatic, sometimes comic. Sometimes very hard, sometimes of great tenderness carried by the charisma (and adrenaline) of two main actors.
Vanishing time : a boy who returned
The story
Fourteen-year-old Soo-rin has just lost her mother, and that's why she accompanies her stepfather to an island. There, she becomes friends with Seong-min, who lives in a world of mystery and strange phenomena. One day, they leave with two other boys in the forest where an explosion is taking place planned for the installation of a tunnel: everything will shake up their existence when they discover an object in a cave… (Wikipedia)
Technical fact sheet
Director Eom Tae-hwa Genre: fantasy drama Duration: 129 minutes Released: 2016 Cast: Kang Dong-Won, Shin Eun-so, Um Tae-Go
Impressions.
We had the chance to talk to the director. In Vanishing time, three children remain suspended in time. To our question, where the idea for this film came to mind, he told us about the sinking of the Sewol , which took place on April 16, 2014. 304 passengers, mostly high school students, and crew members perished in the disaster. While the film does not talk at all about this shipwreck, the report of ideas jumped out at us. The director wondered where all these young people who drowned in this terrible accident went. Sometimes there are strange ideas that pass through our brain. He imagined that they had gone into a parallel world in which time had remained suspended, which is the central point of the film. Under false airs of Goonies, Vanishing time touches on existentialist subjects without making us plunge into too heavy questioning. Rich in color, it could oscillate between the teen film and the almost nightmarish dream. Or, more than a dream, the result of taking one of those South American drugs that supposedly make us meet our truth. 
Kang Dong-Won plays a 13-year-old boy trapped in the body of an adult. His relationship with the 13-year-old actress, Shin Eun-so, could have sinned with ambiguity and bordered on indelicacy. But the funny thing is that it doesn't even cross our minds. Kang Dong-Won, who was 36 years old during filming, integrates his role so perfectly, that we only see the 13-year-old boy. Clean, precise, with a visual as fantastic as beautiful. The special effects will give us the impression of being suspended in time, of taking us on an unusual adventure. This film is a real beauty that, unfortunately, failed to attract crowds. According to the director, because of the scandal of President Park Geun-hye. When he was released in November 2016, hundreds of thousands of South Koreans marched in the streets to demand his resignation.
Peninsula
History
Four years after the events in South Korea,2 Jung-seok is a former soldier who managed to escape from the now zombie-infested Korean peninsula. While South Korea is a doomed area and inaccessible by air or sea, he agrees to participate in a team of scorched heads motivated by the promised gain if they recover a truck full of dollars. (Wikipedia)
Technical fact sheet
Director: Yeon Sang-Ho Screenplay: Park Joo-Suk, Yeon Sang-Ho Cast: Kang Dong-Won, Lee Jeong-Hyeon, Lee Re If Train to Busan had surprised us among other things by its brilliant idea of placing zombies for the most part on a train, Peninsula is less up to par with a script a little less original. It's true, the zombie scenarios have been squeezed like lemons, peeled and shelled and it is not without some skepticism that we immerse ourselves in the so-called sequel to an absolutely great film. It is on the context, the situation, the special effects, the charisma of the characters, the aesthetics and of course, the choreographies that the director makes us take support and ejects us in a post-apocalyptic world, very much like Mad Max, where zombies are sometimes only an option of the scenery. It is rather a struggle between men that will necessarily remind us of the seasons of The walking death with Negan. Pandemic, virus, quarantine, these are terms that are unfortunately part of our daily lives at the moment. Not forgetting of course, migrants, refugees. So, like it or not, the Peninsula accent is reinforced by our current fears and demons. In fact, a scene in Hong Kong will remind us of the racism that Asians are experiencing right now because of the pandemic. In another context, of course. All roles are important and paramount. The film is carried with aggressively on the shoulders of this mother-lioness played by Lee Jung-Hyun, by her two daughters very Hunger Games, very responsive and absolutely adapted to the circumstances, by the rest of the cast and of course by Kang Dong-Won (with his face to Vanishing Time that could crack a stone) who brings a discreet and fragile touch to his role as main actor, without crushing the rest of the cast. But… the fact remains that it is an action film of extreme visual quality, more than a horror film (Zombies no longer scare anyone). The scenario keeps us in suspense and we do not get bored for a single second.
