SEOUL — At work, veteran female assassin Boksoon hardly breaks a sweat, whether she’s doing a hit job or putting young and ambitious wannabes in their place. At home, it’s a different story though.
Her exemplary fight skills are seemingly rendered useless as a single mom dealing with an increasingly distant teen daughter. As they say, parenting is harder than most day jobs, even for the best hitman (or hitwoman) for hire out there.
The balancing act between motherhood and career is the crux of the story of the upcoming female-centric Korean action film Kill Boksoon, based on a 13-minute-clip The Philippine STAR got to watch recently at the Netflix headquarters in Seoul.
Arriving on Netflix come March 31, Kill Boksoon stars Cannes-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon in the title role.
Director Byun Sung-hyun, who entertained media questions after the screening, had promised there was more to his film than what was shown in the teaser clip. But it was enough to stir the imagination on what lies ahead for the lead character. As the synopsis suggests, things turn complicated when Boksoon refuses to do an assignment and appears to want to do more “mothering” than “murdering.”
“This film follows the story of a lethal killer who is also a mother to a teenage daughter. And as the daughter begins to grow up and (Boksoon) has not fully revealed the details of her life to her daughter, she begins to feel a growing distance. And she’s also facing a contract renewal with her employer. The story follows a week in her life in terms of the timeline,” director Byun said.
“I wanted to portray a story about a mother and daughter’s relationship, where both of their lives are filled with secrets. Secrets the mom wants to keep from her daughter and vice-versa. I wanted to follow the story of communication or lack thereof.”
He also explained the title, saying that Boksoon is an “old and outdated” name that’s commonly given to dogs in countryside Korea. The character’s last name is “Gil,” which is an actual family or last name in the country. The title is a “parody” of Quentin Tarantino’s female assassin-themed film Kill Bill, he said. “(Gil) sounds a lot like ‘kill,’ so there was a pun intended there. It was also a parody of one of my favorite films, Tarantino’s Kill Bill. It’s also a nickname that Boksoon goes by among her peers,” he added.
Director Byun readily acknowledged that a story about a “hired killer and a company that employs killers — these are quite commonly used set-ups in cinema since John Wick.”
So, he said he wanted to put a twist to the “cliche portrayal” of assassins on screen. “We came together and thought, what do we want to change? One of the focuses was that I didn’t want it to be about revenge. In killer films, and especially if there’s someone’s daughter involved, you always see them getting kidnapped, and the grand finale fight against the big guys to rescue her. We didn’t want to do that. We wanted to put a twist to the cliche portrayal of contract killers,” he said.
Another element he said he focused on was highlighting the drama within the action sequences. “It was because I personally think that the cast we worked with are the best performers one could find in the industry, and I wanted to make sure we took advantage of that. With each action sequence, I wanted a particular concept for each. I also wanted to make sure that the action sequences showed the character of those involved in the sequence as well as the drama.”
He was also particular with other details such as the color palettes and camera angles used in the film. “Boksoon has her main theme color, and there are particular color palettes we used to portray her perspective of what kind of person she wants to raise her daughter to be. And we made sure there was a definite contrast in between those two,” he said.
“I don’t know if you noticed in the clip, some of you may have, but when we wanted to portray Boksoon’s character as the mother, you’ll see the right side of her face, and you’ll see mostly the left side of her face when she’s being shown as the killer. And to do that, we had to be very calculative of the camerawork and blocking,” he added.
Casting Jeon Do-yeon in the lead was a dream come true for Byun, a long-time fan of the star of such internationally-acclaimed films Secret Sunshine and The Housemaid, and the ongoing hit romantic-comedy series Crash Course in Romance now streaming on Netflix.
“Back when I first decided I wanted to be a film director, she was already a top star and in her prime years as an actress. I have admired her work for such a long time, and I’ve often said in interviews and in social settings: She is my absolute favorite actor in Korea,” the director shared.
“So, it was unbelievable and almost a strange feeling to work with her. And after filming with her, I (came) to understand how she could be at the top of her game for such a long time.”
Meanwhile, Kill Boksoon has been invited to world-premiere in the ongoing 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. “It was truly unexpected. Not that I had been following all the films invited to Berlin, but I had thought of our film to be very different from films usually showcased at Berlin in terms of the style or the texture of the film, if you will. So, I was very surprised and very happy to hear the news, and I’m personally looking very much forward to it being seen on the big screen and overseas,” the director said.
In a separate interview with Don Kang, Netflix vice-president for Content (Korea), he said of the latest work of The Kingmaker and The Merciless director: “I’m especially excited about Kill Boksoon, which we’re about to launch in March. It just has such a distinct cinematic grammar to it, just so smart and brilliant. It’s from none other than our very talented director Byun Sung-hyun. I’ve always been a huge fan of his.”
As for Byun’s work experience with the international streamer, he said he appreciated the creative freedom they afforded him. “I think the best part of working with Netflix is that they grant you creative freedom — they don’t touch much of what I want to do as a director. I think that, for a director, is the best support you could get from a partner. They let me do what I want to do and be free with my creative vision,” he pointed out.
“And also the fact that I’m sitting here speaking to you all — this is the first time I’m meeting with members of the press from different countries, unless it’s an international film festival, this is the first time I’m doing something like this. The fact that the film will be shown in over 190 countries around the world, and that many people are going to watch it — I’d have to say that is the best thing you get from working with Netflix.”