[TRANSLATION] Yoo Ah In Interview With T China Magazine, November 2018: “The extraordinary face of Yoo Ah In”

Posted by Furbabe on November 27, 2018 · 5 Comments 

T China “The Greats” Issue, November 2018 

 

Previously reported, Yoo Ah In became the cover for T China magazine for the November issue that brings the theme “The Greats” or “Character Special”. He striked a pose for the magazine’s artsy set of pictorial as well. For the complete photos, please go to this article.

And now, here’s Yoo Ah In’s interview with T China.

 

The Extraordinary Face of Yoo Ah In

BURNING was lighting Cannes on fire earlier this year—where it topped IndieWire’s critics poll as the best film of the festival, and landed the highest score (3.8 out of 4) in the long history of Screen Daily’s Cannes annual critics grid.

The ScreenAnarchy quoted as saying, “Actor Yoo Ah In and Korean-American actor Steven Yeun had a huge contribution by giving the most outstanding performance in their career. [T/N: The full paragraph in ScreenAnarchy further mentions Yoo Ah In: “Even more impressive is Yoo Ah-in, who is most well known in the west for playing the slimy son of a corporate head who serves as the villain in Ryoo Seung-wan’s VETERAN. Never better, Yoo embodies a sense of confusion, which eventually turns to dread in a performance that doesn’t allow us to make any easy judgments about his character. Jong-soo’s intentions throughout the story may seem innocent, but coupled with references to emasculation and his timid physicality, Yoo crafts an unusually compelling lead.”]

This is Yoo Ah In’s 15th-year of début as an actor.

During the BURNING screening and Q&A at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) last October, Yoo Ah In got a question, “…in BURNING the scene that impressed me most is that Yoo Ah In running in a very foggy morning, as if to show the clue to unsolved mysteries. So how did you go about acting this scene?”

It’s true that in this film Yoo Ah In as Jongsu keeps running and running to find the barns which might have been burned by Ben (Steven Yeun), but does it have any other meaning on a deeper level? Yoo Ah In replied to that question, “Why do I have to run? Maybe I was running as if to find the things in my life? Why am I running so fast to find it? What am I seeking too by running this fast? What do I want?” [T/N: Yoo Ah In’s full answer in BIFF was, “I had to run because the script told me to, so I was kind of running without thinking the reason why I was running in this film. But maybe the way I ran was, I was running as if to find the things in my life. Why am I running so fast to find it and what am I seeking too by running this fast, and things like that, and perhaps it also means let things go?”]. It was just one question but he threw out five counter-questions in return. This time in this interview, I ask Yoo Ah In himself, what’s your answer now?

Yoo Ah In: “I just want to get a lot of meaningful, interesting and worth-remembering moments.”

Of the words that he spills out, I can’t help but to recall two things– one was what he said in the interview at the Cannes Film Festival, “It’s impossible to pass on the beautiful moments when director Lee Chang Dong creates a movie”, and another one was; on his birthday night after the BIFF events, he took off his expensive clothes, put on the most comfortable black hoodie and rushed from the crowd to celebrate his birthday with his friends. He posted that joyful night photo at his instagram. Sitting cross-legged among them, he was smiling so relaxedly while holding a small round of blueberry-layered cake with one candle on top. The candle was lit, it must have been the “moment” before the blow.

Yoo Ah In: “I think the most important thing to me is not my birthday. What’s more important is that I can see everyone on this day and I can make this day a good friend.”

He says he received many birthday greetings, but there also occurred some “doubts” within himself– the questions which consist of his connection with time and how he accepts himself. But, in any case, he is convinced that he “will live with gratitude.”

Yoo Ah In: “Who am I? How can I accept my present self? Should I choose to be a nonconformist/individualist, or should I get closer to the public?”

Yoo Ah In has been thinking about this matter since his earlier stage of life. “There’s a saying, ‘no man is an island’. [T/N: No one is self-sufficient; everyone relies on others. This saying comes from a sermon by the 17th-century English author John Donne]. We are connected to each other, so that sincerity and the will to seek communication are very important. I am also one of the public members who just happened to be carrying an identity as an actor [a public figure] where there’s no distance between the inside and outside world.”

Due to the geographical difference, we carry out the interview by e-mail. It feels wonderful, like a trip between pen pals. [T/N: Yoo Ah In took the photoshoot for T China in Shanghai in September, but this interview was conducted after he was back to Seoul in October]. It’s a pity that I cannot see him face to face– but with separation in time and space, they make some distinctive subtlety in his replies as well.

For example, in the opening of his reply, he informs myself of his current surrounding and feelings: “It’s October 2018, 20:11 Seoul time. I’m sitting in front of the computer, I’m a bit tired but my mood is calm. I begin responding to the interview. The computer screen is showing the group chat, the web browser is playing the MV of the American musician Bon Iver, and old friends are gossiping– which kind of interrupting this interview.” He informs me his schedule: “Busy with the film festival and advertisement shoots. I just supported my friend; Nohant’s show at the Seoul Fashion Week today, and now I feel calm and focus on the interview.”

With such atmosphere and rhythm, a conversation with Yoo Ah In about his thoughts in the autumn of 2018 begins.

Yoo Ah In says that he established a studio (STUDIO CONCRETE art gallery and cafe) where talented friends could gather and create freely, and to make the world more interesting through works that stem from anxieties and faiths. Yoo Ah In says, “The [art exhibition] plan itself is a proof of existence. For me, this is what actor is all about; art. That’s the way it supposed to be.”

Then, the question is, what kind of relationship does Studio Concrete have with Yoo Ah In?

Yoo Ah In: “I don’t know. I have plenty of roles, but I don’t want to be bound by any of them. I want to change the role itself and alter the relationship network. As far as I am concerned, CONCRETE is an experimental body.”

Yoo Ah In says that he will always be the kind of persons who can sublimate their lives into art to draw people in. He describes these persons as the ones who work hard, who have responsibilities and consciences and a respect for their work; those who do not waste their time, use the work itself as a kind of play, and even communicate through Instagram direct message. Perhaps, the ability to socialize is a manifestation of personal aesthetics: how to find the channels and angles to share with others in your career, how to present beauty and to spread this beauty. In Yoo Ah In’s view, this is charming and fun. As he says, this collaboration with the Chinese version of T magazine has left a deep impression. The photographer and stylist’s creation is as meticulous as the artist, so that he feels a sense of accomplishment– he feels again to get rid of the conservative attitude, he feels again the importance of inertia.

“7” is dancing, “9” is love, “5” is balance, “2” is empty… These are Yoo Ah In’s personally designed numbers and words printed on the t-shirt/sweater [Studio Concrete’s How Do You Feel 1 TO 10 fashion series], which were born under the guidance of such a simple proposition and yet not so simple when it was first born. Three years later, Studio Concrete collaborated with a famous fashion brand (DIESEL) to produce the pseudo-documentary THE INTERVIEW. In the six-minute short film, Yoo Ah In talked about the online malicious comments and the impact it had on him, and his expression changed at one point. He talked about this matter confidently as a public figure before the camera, but at the same time, there was another “Yoo Ah In” in the parallel universe– where he was cloaking himself in a small space, watching himself on the TV screen with just the blue light reflected on his sad face. He was watching “The Interview with Yoo Ah In” like a voyeur, and he looked like Yoo Ah In himself.

Yoo Ah In explains the creative point of THE INTERVIEW: “I want to be frank and I would like to express things lightheartedly. I want to remove the barrier and to experiment the essence of frankness and felicity. I rate myself as a very candid actor, but I have not been completely frank, whether towards the public or myself. My life so far is a real game with no answers. I haven’t found the answer yet.”

Does Yoo Ah In feel like there are some absurdities in “interviews” and “conversations”? Like, the more exchanges you make, the more misunderstandings you get.

Yoo Ah In: “Everything is a misunderstanding, anyway. Even myself, perhaps I misunderstood myself.”

By throwing away the professional attribute of “actor”, Yoo Ah In’s way of expression seems to be stretchable, free and comfortable.

Yoo Ah In: “I have always liked to accept new attempts, and it is all about art. Until today, I don’t think there are things I cannot do, whether it’s good or bad. ‘Do well’ is not important to me. What matters is whether you have used your time well to do it and whether you are really doing it or not.”

Undoubtedly, the 32 year-old Yoo Ah In is a talented actor of this generation of Korean performing arts. At the age of 17, he won the Pusan Film Critics Awards for best newcomer, at the age of 21 he was nominated for best new actor at the Korea’s equivalent for Oscars –The Blue Dragon Film Awards, and in the same year he won the Pyungtaek Film Festival for best newcomer, and the following year Director’s Cut Awards for best new actor as well. At the age of 25, he was awarded the Film Discovery Award by the Korean Film Reporters Association. At 28, he starred in a taboo romance between a music teacher and a student of 19 years old gap in SECRET LOVE AFFAIR alongside actress Kim Hee Ae. At 29, he played a villain in the movie VETERAN, overshadowing the other senior actors who acted alongside himself in the film. In the same year SADO (THE THRONE) sent Yoo Ah In to win the Best Actor prize at The Blue Dragon Film Awards. At 30, he played in the TV series SIX FLYING DRAGONS and he won Best Actor award at the Baeksang Arts Awards– Korea’s equivalent of the Golden Globe. Later on, Yoo Ah In joined the film BURNING, and his career was on the peak. However, in fact, Yoo Ah In himself could not tell the moment when he began to realize that just being an actor could no longer satisfy his heart. I ask him about this.

Yoo Ah In: “I think that removing one form of survival as an actor [by staying in the comfort zone] does not mean stop working at all [as an actor]. I enjoy playing today’s play [current show] and I want to do the same with tomorrow’s. I quietly enjoy this kind of life.”

What does Yoo Ah In do when he leave the show, then? A professional title should not be the limit of life. But, we ask him why he can’t be comfortable just being an actor and what the root of the cause is.

Yoo Ah In: “First of all, actors/artists have to exert their greatest abilities to bring various things to the world. And at the same time, broadening the realm of actors and their professions, breaking through the limits of reality, facing so many people, doing things with a sense of responsibility. Through the variety of challenges, I can find the mission of my profession and the balance as a natural person. These are the tasks of life. (Do you understand what I am talking about? Do you have any doubts?)” — This is what Yoo Ah In writes to me.

At the Sotheby’s auction in London a few days ago, Banksy’s painting Canvas of Girl With Balloon passed through a shredder installed in the frame shortly after £1m sale. I wonder what Yoo Ah In would think? Is this Banksy’s way of resistance, or is it another way of recreating?

Yoo Ah In: “I find it very interesting! With the spirit of doubt, resistance, and experimental, this is the basic of creativity and the key to creation. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this. Whether this work is eventually be auctioned or not, this still belongs to Banksy. It also allows us to see the extension of creation in time and space.”

Afterwards, Banksy quoted Picasso’s words on social media to explain his own initiative: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.” Yoo Ah In deeply believes it too: “To achieve original creation, I feel that we must have the process of destroying the existing order and our own inertia”. [T/N: The auction house said the resulting, half-shredded piece of artwork had been given a new name, “Love is in the Bin”].

Speaking of this, it is time to talk about “what is art?”. His answer is obviously not a whim, but has been a long-time accumulation: “I think that art is everything, especially for me –I think that everything, existence and phenomenon is art– this is my idea, not a definition [not a dictionary’s definition of art]. I think our diversity and curiosity as a human being create the uncertainty of art, and the uncertainty itself will become art. This is the beauty and essential reasons of art worthy of being expected, needed and existed.”

The world we live in is the most chaotic stage in the development of human society. The rapid development of science and technology has brought about an almost irreversible reality, engulfing everyone’s time and history like a huge vortex/whirlpool. In this situation, how should art creators act? Will technology replace art? Do humans still need art?

Facing these questions, Yoo Ah In’s attitude tends to be rational: “The development of technology has documented the growth of artists more clearly. The changes have already begun, but outstanding artists will not affected by these external environments. Focus on being yourself.”

From oneself and actor, to a designer, a curator, a creative director and an art space manager… No matter how many identities exist, Yoo Ah In can always pull off a coup. He has a long road ahead of him. “I want to do things or work on things whenever I am free or feel bored. That’s my best condition. You can do the action when you have the courage to prepare and to face the failure. That action itself is a work/task. I am just looking forward to the interesting and not-so-interesting things to happen.”

His radiance cannot be blocked nor ignored. Returning to the center of mass speculation, Yoo Ah In once said that he hoped he could become the focus of the crowd, but at the same time he was afraid of falling into it. Has being attached to this “pursuing of perfection”, deliberately or unintentionally, become the resistance of “actor Yoo Ah In” to maintain his progress?

Yoo Ah In: “Now I am not pursuing perfection, but I hope to do my best in every moment, close to perfection. This is also my way to make a progress.” — He emphasizes that he will not do anything to be “perfect” deliberately.

Although pursuit of perfection is the nature/essence of the actor, Yoo Ah In can also accept the fact that he is a mortal –this is not difficult to accept, this is just ordinary and never ever perfect. However, he does not accept if he would pass away with the passage of time, that he would open his eyes in the same bed. Is tomorrow and today different? This is a question he needs to think about. He is afraid of himself but he knows how to knock the fear down.

Yoo Ah In: “I have fear, but I try to face it and look into myself. The most immediate way to cope with fear is to deal with the law of fear.”

[T/N: According to the law of fear, fear depends upon the perception of threat. At some point in our growth, we realize that what is ultimately real cannot be destroyed. Most of what appears to be a loss, even the loss of the body itself, is no real loss. You realize you are not your body, not your occupation, not your title, not your possessions. You are not even your personality. The hooks for fear-based strategies dissolve and you become immune from manipulation and control]

Going back to the question from BIFF, I ask: “Why is Jongsu running all the time?”. Looks like Yoo Ah In has failed to answer this question. Because, the question itself is the answer. ***

 

Translated & notes by Admin M of Yoo Ah In International Fans Community

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Source: T China

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