A Great Actor

It looks as if a relaxed veteran is at work, that is how steady in style and accurate A Great Actor is in its investigation of creative processes and spiritual growth. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Two years ago, Shin Yeon-Shick made his first film for 300 dollars. This film – his second – cost 10 times as much. Which still is nothing for a feature film lasting about three hours, but there is no sign of the limited budget in A Great Actor. It doesn’t look as if any corners were cut – unless it was on heating costs for the theatre where the film is largely set. A Great Actor, shot on black & white digital video, is filled with satire and irony, yet shows understanding of the doubts and naive narcissism that can cling to serious actors. The protagonist is Soo-Young, a young man preparing for a national exam, who suddenly decides he wants to become an actor. He joins a theatre company working on an experimental play. Soo-Young has little experience and feels insecure. Mi-Ran, leader of the company, decides to take on the actor Ji-Hwan, despite internal resistance. Ji-Hwan is known as a great actor and is holed up far away in the mountains of Kang-wong-do. Soo-Young offers to go and fetch the great actor, in the hope that he can learn from him how he too can become great. But Ji-Hwan turns out not to be the man he hoped for. The better Soo-Young gets to know him, the more confused he becomes and the less there seems to be any method… (GT)