Earlier this week, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law and attempted a coup, the first attempt since the successful 1980 coup that is at the center of director Kim Sung Soo’s new film 12.12: The Day. The state’s democratic powers proved powerful enough to ward off the power grab with ease and swiftness this time though. The parliament voted 190-0 to lift the declaration of martial law, a confident affirmation of democracy in South Korea. But the image that stuck with me the most was one of news reporter turned politician Ahn Gwi-ryeong grabbing the assault rifle of a soldier and forcibly repelling him backward as she scolds him for putting civilians at risk. It’s a brave and powerful image, the kind that defines these sorts of events decades later. It also felt straight from the climax of Kim’s film; Lee Tae-shin (Jung Woo-sung) and Ahn share a heroism normally only found in movies. Ahn, and everyone else involved in repelling this real-life authoritarian threat from President Yoon, proved an image at the heart of Kim’s film. That image, as I said in my review for In Review Online, is of “an image of the soul of Seoul as a resilient, brave, and honorable city with a population that fights for each other.”
The following is an interview with director Kim Sung Soo. You can read my full thoughts on the film at In Review Online.
Boston Hassle: Where were you on 12/12 – The Day? Do you have a memory of the day? What was it like?
Kim Sung Soo: On December 12, 1979, I was a senior in high school. That evening, I saw a military armored vehicle passing through my neighborhood. My curiosity got the better of me, so I followed it. I saw it stop at the main gate of the official residence compound behind the elementary school I had attended. That moment was exactly when, as depicted in the film, the Army Chief of Staff was being forced away by the rebels.
I heard loud gunfire, and armed soldiers blocked me and the other residents from approaching. I went up to the rooftop of a friend’s house across the street from the compound and kept watch of the area from where the gunfire rang out. The sporadic sound of gunfire was terrifying, and it was an exceptionally cold winter night. I was deeply curious about why soldiers were engaged in a gunfight in the middle of Seoul. However, the next day, the newspapers only reported that the Chief of Staff had been taken away, and the truth behind this incident was thoroughly concealed for a very long time. Since the military rebel forces emerged victorious, they seemed to want to bury their illegal actions forever.
BH: Hwang Jung-min plays Chun Doo-gwang, not Chun Doo-hwan; Jung Woo-sung is Lee Tae-shin rather than Jang Tae-wan. What was your rationale for fictionalizing the story rather than having them play the real people?
KSS: Although this film is based on real events, it is not a recreation of the people involved and [the] events that unfolded. I wanted to create an engaging commercial film that audiences could be fully immersed in.
Unless Korean audiences – especially younger ones who know very little about this event – find the film entertaining, they will not take an interest in the history behind it. Scenes with fictionalized elements within the film serve as narrative devices meant to heighten tension and immerse audiences. Chun Doo-gwang and Lee Tae-shin from the movie are based on real figures, but they have been cinematically interpreted. The real event[s] and the words and actions of the real people involved are “trapped” in the past, but as a film director, I modernized both the events and people using a diachronic approach. This is how history continues its ongoing dialogue with the present and reflects why I continue to make films based on history.
BH: I wanted to ask about how you arrived at the look of the film. What was it like working with Lee Mo-gae?
KSS: I have created three films with cinematographer Lee Mo-gae. There was a huge change in my method of filming and acting direction, especially during the second of these films, Asura. That was because I met the exceptional cinematic artist that is Lee Mo-gae. He is a courageous explorer holding a camera. He captures on film the intense energy that is generated when a character collides with another or with a situation. He does not try and capture information about the subject. Instead, he follows the emotions and energy that makes the subject move. He doesn’t try to show what’s “stylish,” but rather what is authentic. I plan to continue taking on the challenge of trying new methods with Lee Mo-gae.
BH: A good portion of the film is a game of phone tag — with the two different parties trying to get various military divisions to activate in their favor. I was particularly impressed with the editing of these scenes, which pack an abundance of adrenaline into a few phone calls. Can you describe how you and your team approached editing these scenes?
KSS: In my first meeting with the heads of staff, I repeatedly told them, “We must take the audience into the night of December 12, 1979. If they don’t feel like they are right there in the middle of the action, it’ll mean we have failed.”
The film focuses on the nine hours during which the military rebellion unfolded. However, there are too many locations and too many soldiers. I thought that it would be difficult for audiences to remember all these places and faces and to keep up with such a fast-paced series of events. That night, with unexpected events getting entangled in one another, the rebels and the factions suppressing them were taken aback. The audience was right there with them, in every scene and every moment, closely observing their on-the-fly decisions and actions. More important than having audiences objectively understand the sequence of events was having them participate in the actions and decisions of the characters. That’s how you create immersion and naturally understand the situation. In almost every scene, characters constantly move and talk, and the camera weaves through the characters in their state of chaos and follows them.
From writing the script to filming and editing, we ran an incredible number of simulations to consider which scenes to place before and after each other. A ton of effort was put into the arrangement of time and locations, and finding areas of collision and intersection between characters. Cinematic invention was added naturally during this process. In any case, we spent an immense amount of time on editing.
BH: What’s next for you?
KSS: I’ve received a couple of scripts and am reviewing them. I am also writing a story of my own. If there is a polished script that emerges from among these, I will turn it into a film.
12.12: The Day
2023
dir. Kim Sung Soo
141 min.
Now available digitally and on demand
