Kim eul boon biography for kids
Grandmother featured in 2002 hit family drama 'The Way Home' dies at 95
Posted : 2021-04-18 16:21
Updated : 2021-04-18 16:34
| Kim Eul-boon / Korea Times file |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Kim Eul-boon, who starred in director Lee Jeong-hyang's endearing family drama, "The Way Home" (2002), has died at the age of 95.
"Kim passed away peacefully on April 17. We'd really appreciate if those who remember her could cherish her memory," Kim's family said in a statement, Sunday.
Kim rose to fame after playing a mute grandmother who looks after her spoiled grandson in "The Way Home." The film tells a story of a seven-year-old city boy, Sang-woo, who comes to stay with his grandmother in a remote village while his mother looks for work. Although conflict arises in their relationship, Sang-woo learns the value of family through his grandmother's endless patience and love.
Before taking on the role, she had no acting experience and had never been to the cinema. Director Lee discovered her in a village in Yeongdong County, North Chungcheong Province, where she had lived her whole life.
"The Way Home" attracted more than 4 million moviegoers and won the Best Film and Best Screenplay awards at the 2002 Grand Bell Awards. Kim was nominated for the Best New Actress Award at the age of 76. Despite the wide recognition, she has never appeared in a film again.
To avoid unwanted tourists from visiting her home that appeared in the film, Kim left her residence in Yeongdong County and had been living with her family in Seoul.
Grandma Kim Eul-bun of film ‘The Way Home’ dies at 95
Director Lee Jeong-hyang who directed “The Way Home” (2002) had a video call with the main actress of the film Kim Eul-bun on Friday night. Kim was weak because of her health issues, but still had the same expression in her eyes. “I will visit you once the COVID-19 situation gets better. Hang in there,” Lee told Kim.
But Kim died of old age on Saturday morning at the age of 95. A photo taken during the interview with The Dong-A Ilbo in 2002 was used as her portrait at the funeral. “She was ill for two years because of her old age before she passed away,” said her daughter-in-law. “They said she may get better after a few days,” Lee said while bursting into tears in a phone call with this reporter on Sunday.
The film describes stories of a seven-year-old boy from Seoul when he visits his grandmother living in a remote mountain village where there is no TV. Kim took the role of a speech-impaired 77-year-old grandmother took takes care of her grandson Sang-woo. Many found the chemistry between her and actor Yoo Seung-ho who took a role of the grandson deeply moving. A lot of audiences cried watching it. The film was successful, attracting 4.3 million moviegoers. Kim who had no background in acting was nominated as the best new actress award for the Daejong Film Awards, which made her the oldest new actress in history.
Lee looked for an actress who meets three conditions — Someone with a neat bun, a hunched posture and a small physique so that a seven-year-old can defy against her. After searching everywhere, she found her at Jitongma village in Yeongdong County, North Chungcheong Province.
Kim, who had no knowledge about how the film ended, cried a lot while watching the scene where she sends off her grandson. Lee had a fond relationship with her grandmother when she was young. The director inserted a sentence “To all the grandmothers in this country” at the end of the film to express her love towar
Emotional film journey in Korea
Hard-boiled moviegoers who go out of their way to avoid even the appearance of sentimentality may have a hard time sorting out their reactions to the Korean import, “The Way Home,” which opens Friday in Los Angeles. Is it an art movie or a commercial tear-jerker or some kind of crafty hybrid that uses a deceptively simple and direct narrative style to sneak past our emotional defenses?
The film’s slow-building emotional power was confirmed earlier this year, when the carefully crafted low-budget drama became an unexpected summer blockbuster in Korea, beating out glossy imports from Hollywood and Hong Kong and reducing moviegoers of all ages to puddles of helpless tears.
Much of that emotion came to be focused upon the 77-year-old woman who plays the grandmother, an actual rural villager named Kim Eul-boon. Discovered during a location scout in her remote mountain village, Kim became an overnight celebrity.
“She didn’t believe it at first,” says the film’s writer-director, Lee Jung-hyang, “because not only had she never acted in a film before, she had not even seen one. And now there were people driving 200 miles from Seoul to this remote village just to see her face, whole families walking up the mountain. A lot of them just hold her hand and cry, because they are reminiscing about their own grandmothers.”
And now “The Way Home” seems poised to put U.S. audiences through the same emotional ringer, capping its success at film festivals in San Sebastian, Spain, and Toronto by becoming the first Korean feature film to be distributed in the U.S. by a major studio, Paramount Classics, the studio’s art house division.
Lee acknowledges that the character of Granny Kim was based in part on her own maternal grandmother. “While neither the actress or my real grandmother was mute [Granny Kim is in the film], they both could not read or write. I wanted to suggest a contrast in the film between nature and civilization, but not overtly or A scene from the 2002 film ″The Way Home″ which shows Kim Eul-boon, left, playing the role of the mute grandmother in the remote countryside, and Yoo Seung-ho playing her grandson from a metropolitan city. [CJ ENTERTAINMENT]Grandmother Kim from one-hit-wonder 'The Way Home' dies at 95
Kim Eul-boon, the one-hit-wonder actor in “The Way Home” (2002), passed away on Saturday. She was 95.
The family of Kim announced Sunday that she passed away. “If those who remember Grandma [Eul-boon] cherish the memory of her, we would appreciate it,” the family said in a statement.
“The Way Home,” directed by Lee Jeong-hyang, is a heartwarming drama about a spoiled city child and his mute grandmother living in the remote countryside, who temporarily takes care of the child. Kim, then 76, took the role of the grandmother, while star actor Yoo Seung-ho, then nine years old, played the grandson.
Kim, found by director Lee among the villagers of the North Chungcheong countryside where “The Way Home” was filmed, had never before performed in a movie and never even watched a film. However, in part helped by her natural acting skills, “The Way Home” was an unexpected hit success, attracting more than 4 million viewers and winning Best Film and Best Screenplay awards at the 2002 Grand Bell Awards, one of Korea’s major film awards. Kim was nominated for the Best New Actress award and gained nationwide popularity.
Feeling pressured from the unexpected popularity and fame, Kim left her home in North Chungcheong to live with her family in Seoul. She never appeared in a film again. “Still, she was always happy when she remembered ‘The Way Home.’ She cherished the film as a happy memory,” a family member told News1 Korea.
BY MOON SO-YOUNG [[email protected]]