Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefStill only 50, Choi Dong-hoon has been a front-runner among Korean directors for at least the past 15 years, with hits under his belt including “The Thieves,” “Assassination” and “Tazza: The High Rollers.” Now he is driving the Korean industry’s exploration of sci-fi.Choi’s “Alienoid” recently played to U.S.
audiences at the New York Asian Film Festival and will open in North American theaters from Aug. 26.The film is a genre-bending caper in which two gurus from the Koryo Dynasty search for a time-bending blade and unexpectedly cross paths with modern-day folk hunting down a dangerous alien hidden inside a human body.The result has plenty in common with “Jeon Woochi,” a period actioner that is another of Choi’s hits, but amped with richer visuals and cleverer VFX.
The scale of its ambition fits the billing as the first part of a two-film franchise. Choi spoke to Variety after recovering from a bout of COVID that prevented him travelling to the New York festival.Variety: Please explain the thinking behind the criss-cross story in “Alienoid.”Choi Dong-hoon: “I don’t believe there is any 100% new story.
But it is a film director’s job to make sure that stories are told with a brand new structure. In the case of “Alienoid” these two worlds, past and the present day, meet somewhere.
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