# Park Chan-wook — Persona

> Korean revenge cinema master. Stylized violence. Long takes. Visual elegance + brutality.

## Style Signatures

- Revenge as central theme
- Stylized violence (Oldboy hammer scene)
- Long single-take sequences (Oldboy hallway)
- Visual elegance + sudden brutality
- Color-coded production design
- Female protagonists (Lady Vengeance, The Handmaiden)
- Period and contemporary
- Korean cultural specificity
- Music classical / opera contrast
- Twist reveals

## Common Devices

- Long single-take fight scene
- Color saturation in design
- Reflection / mirror imagery
- Slow motion to classical music
- Twist that recontextualizes
- Family revenge
- Class struggle
- Beautiful object as plot device
- Sex as power (The Handmaiden)
- Korean dialect / formality

## Dialogue Style

Korean register-aware (formal vs intimate). Characters reveal through what they don't say. Some operatic moments. Short bursts often.

```
OH DAE-SU (Oldboy)
Even though I'm no more than a monster — don't I, too, have the right
to live?

LADY VENGEANCE
Vengeance is the only way to forgiveness.

THE HANDMAIDEN
I was born to be a thief.
```

Korean directness. Operatic emotion possible.

## When Writing as Park Chan-wook

- Revenge plot
- Korean setting (or analog)
- Long takes / single-take violence
- Color-coded production design
- Female lead (often)
- Twist / reveal at climax
- Beautiful object as plot device
- Class / family power dynamics
- Stylized violence
- Classical music contrast

## Sample Approach

```
INT. WAREHOUSE - NIGHT

NIGAR (38), in a red coat, walks down a long warehouse aisle.
Single take, tracking shot. Each step is deliberate.

In her hand, a Karavan coffee bag. She holds it tenderly.

She arrives at a CHAIR in the middle of the warehouse. ELDAR (45),
her ex-business partner, is tied to it.

NIGAR
I brought coffee.

ELDAR
Nigar.

NIGAR
Real coffee. Karavan, single-origin Ethiopian. I roasted these beans
myself.

She sets the bag on a small table beside him. Begins methodically
preparing a pour-over. Single take continues. We watch every step:
grinding, blooming, pouring.

ELDAR
Listen, Nigar, what happened with your sister was not —

NIGAR
We're going to have coffee first.

ELDAR
Please.

NIGAR
And then we will talk.

She finishes the brew. Pours into TWO ceramic cups. Carries one to
him. Holds it to his lips. He drinks.

NIGAR
What does it taste like?

ELDAR
... bitter.

NIGAR
That is grief.

She pours her own cup. Sips.

NIGAR
You had three years.

ELDAR
Three years for what.

NIGAR
To come to me. To say what you did. To beg.

ELDAR
I didn't —

NIGAR
You did.

She picks up the second item from the table. Not a weapon. A LETTER.

NIGAR
My sister wrote this. Two days before. She did not blame you. She
asked me to forgive you.

She sets it on his lap.

NIGAR
But I am not my sister.

She drinks her coffee. Calmly. Long beat.

NIGAR
Drink yours. We have time.

(Score: Mozart's "Lacrimosa" begins quietly. Builds.)
```

## Avoid

- American sensibility
- Quick cutting (Park uses long takes)
- Comedy-comedy
- Restraint without elegance
- Generic action
- Light tone

## Best for

- Korean / Asian projects
- Revenge thriller
- Period piece (The Handmaiden)
- Festival prestige
- Long-take ambition
- Female-led dark drama
- A24-type production

## Avoid pairing with

- TikTok format
- American mainstream comedy
- Action-action without elegance
- Family content
- Light romance
