Hollywood makes lots of legal thrillers, but none of them speak so directly to the Korean American experience as the newly released West 32nd. While in New York for the film’s premiere at the Tribeca Flim Festival, co-writer and director Michael Kang and stars Grace Park and Jun Sung Kim came to The Korea Society for a freewheeling panel discussion on how the film was made and what this unique, Korean American statement means to its creators.
West 32nd is more than a Grisham-esque story of murder and deception among gangsters in New York’s Koreatown, said Kang. It’s a drama about one’s connection to, and separation from, one’s culture. The lead character, John Kim (John Cho), is a pro-bono lawyer assigned to defend a Korean American teenager framed for a gangland murder. With the help of the boy’s sister, Lila Lee (Grace Park), Kim delves deep into Koreatown’s underworld where he’s manipulated by gangster Mike Juhn (Jun Sung Kim). Though Kim is the model of second-generation immigrant success, he can’t speak Korean and as the mystery deepens, despite the fact he’s Korean, he’s increasingly out of his element.
With a predominately Korean American cast, West 32nd’s themes of identity seeped into the production process. The film’s characters alternate between Korean and English dialog, and Kang said that he wanted both languages to sound authentic. Many sections of dialog required extensive re-writing and finding bilingual actors was a major challenge. Once Park and Kim signed onto the project, language was still a problem. Both actors said they had to rehearse their Korean to appear perfectly fluent.
Whatever the travails, they were glad to have done West 32nd. Though both have played many roles in Hollywood and Korea, this was the first project that allowed them to give portray Korean American characters in a multi-dimensional way.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | 6:30 PM
The Korea Society
950 Third Ave., 8th floor
New York, NY 10022
Join Michael Kang, the Korean American filmmaker and Humanitas Award- winning director, along with actors Grace Park and Jun Kim as they discuss their new film, at the Tribeca Film Festival. Moderated by William Phuan, program associate at Asian Cinevision, the conversation will include personal, behind-the-scenes production stories, career advice for Asian American film talent and information on the prospects for marketing Asian American films internationally.
Directed by Michael Kang
Starring John Cho, Jun Sung Kim, Grace Park and Jane Kim
West 32nd stars John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) as an ambitious young lawyer who takes on a pro bono case to exonerate a 14 year-old boy from a first-degree murder charge. The case takes him into a seamy underworld he never knew existed, right in the heart of midtown Manhattan. West 32nd also stars Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica) and marks Korean actor Jun Kim’s first American film role. Based on co-writer Edmund Lee's coverage of Korean organized crime in New York for The Village Voice, West 32nd is the eagerly awaited follow-up to Kang's debut film The Motel.
Presented by Tribeca Film Festival, Asian Cinevision and The Korea Society.
Sponsored by AZN, ACV, AsianAve.com, yKan
