Yu Hyun-mok

Birthday: 1925-07-02
Deathday: 2009-06-28
Birthplace: Sariwon, Hwanghae Province, North Korea
Gender: Male

Yu Hyun-mok (July 2, 1925 – June 28, 2009) was a South Korean film director. Born in Sariwon, Hwanghae, Korea (North Korea today), he made his film debut in 1956 with Gyocharo (Crossroads). According to the website koreanfilm.org, his 1961 film Obaltan "has repeatedly been voted the best Korean film of all time in local critics' polls." Yu attended the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1963, where Variety called Obaltan a "remarkable film", and praised Yu's "[b]rilliantly detailed camera" and the film's "probing sympathy and rich characterizations."

His dedication to the intellectual side of film and interest in using film to deal with social and political issues led him to have difficulties both with box-office-oriented producers, and with Korea's military government during the 1960s and 1970s. Korean critics have said his directing style is "in the tradition of the Italian Neorealists," yet "the terms 'modernist' or 'expressionistic' [are] just as applicable to his works."

Besides his directing activities, he has taught film, and made a significant contribution to Korean animation by producing Kim Cheong-gi's 1976 animated film, Robot Taekwon V. A retrospective of Yu's career was held at the 4th Pusan International Film Festival in 1999.

Yu died from a stroke on June 28, 2009.

Credits

Year Title
The Door
1995-03-09 Mom, the Star, and the Sea Anemone
1980-09-24 Son of a Man
1979-08-29 Rainy Days
1978-10-19 Once Upon a Time
1975-12-15 Flame
1971-05-06 Bun-rye's Story
1969-09-16 I Want to Be Human
1969-01-23 School Excursion
1968-12-23 Woman
1968-07-27 몽땅 드릴까요
1968-06-01 Descendants of Cain
1968-01-30 Grudge
1967-12-14 Guests Who Arrived by the Last Train
1967-08-12 A Regret
1967-02-09 The Three Hen-pecked Generations
1966-01-01 Hand
1965-07-03 An Empty Dream
1965-06-17 The Martyrs
1964-10-29 Wife's Confession
1964-04-11 The Extra Mortals
1963-05-01 The Daughters of Kim's Pharmacy
1962-11-09 Only for You
1961-04-13 Aimless Bullet
1959-11-05 Even the Clouds Are Drifting
1958-10-29 The Seizure of Life
1958-01-15 Forever with You
1957-09-18 The Lost Youth