@article{MBF792200,
title = "Somewhere Between Anti-Heroism and Pantomime: Song Kang-ho and the Uncanny Face of the Korean Cinema",
journal = "Academia Koreana",
year = "2011",
issn = "1520-7412",
doi = "10.18399/acta.2011.14.1.003",
author = "Brian Yecies",
keywords = "Song Kang-ho, Korean Cinema, stardom, Park Chan-wook, Kim Jee-woon",
abstract = "This article explores the trajectory of Song Kang-ho’s on-screen performances from the release of his fourth film, Number 3 (1997), to one of his most recent films, Thirst (2009). As a case study, it reveals new insights about this popular and representative actor’s numerous screen personae and how they have enabled audiences to peer into a cinematic surface that reflects back a mixture of anti-heroism and pantomime. Beneath the many costumes and performance styles he adopts, audiences have come to see a human being with everyday problems and concerns. In a way reminiscent of the French pantomime clown Pierrot, Song’s characters reflect a depth of human feeling and compassion modulated by a comic undercurrent—the tension between these overlapping layers is precisely what holds his various personae together."
}