Youn Yuh-jung, the foul-mouthed grandmother of ‘Minari’ who can win the Oscar | Culture

“Thank you for the award. Every award is valuable, but this one is more so, because it is a recognition from the British, known for their snobbery (snobbish), that they accept me as an actress. And that makes me very happy. Thank you so much”. This is how the thank you speech ended on Sunday night by Youn Yuh-jung, the Korean actress who plays the foul-mouthed grandmother of Minari, after winning the BAFTA for best supporting actress. Without mincing words, provoking funny comments among the English media with the joke, Youn portrayed in one sentence both his character and that of his character in Lee Isaac Chung’s drama, which has won six Oscar nominations, and that she just has her best asset to achieve a statuette. A recognition for a woman who started in cinema in 1971, quickly achieved stardom, retired when she got married, and who in this 21st century has once again been one of the most popular faces in her country, with more than 80 roles in series television.

In an interview with EL PAÍS, Chung joked: “After the success last year of Parasitesand as it goes with us Minari, “We could inaugurate a new category at the Oscars for best Korean film of the year.” It is true that his film is 100% American, and that almost all of its actors are Asian-American. But there is some connection between one of the films indies of the year in the US and the thriving Korean film industry. And one is Youn, popular among moviegoers attentive to festival releases, and who has now seen his legend greatly expanded. “In my country I am very famous, because I have been in this profession for many years. But don’t ask me about my international future or the Oscar, because I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said at the press conference after the BAFTAs, in which he responded from Seoul. With the pandemic, he has been spared, as Bong Joon-ho, the director of parasites, of having to do a very long promotion in the US from city to city and from lunch to lunch behind the Oscar. His life has been reduced and simplified to an eternal Zoom. She is the favorite, after obtaining the British award, the Screen Actors Guild trophy, being a candidate in her category at the Spirit Awards for independent film and having been rewarded with twenty awards from critics associations and festivals. And in her appearances, she is dressed in Dior Haute Couture.

The actress was born in 1947 in Kaesong, in the north of her country, although she grew up, orphaned by her father, in Seoul. She had begun studying Korean Literature and Language at the university, when she passed some tests as an actress for TBC television. He left his studies and in 1967 he debuted on the small screen. He jumped into cinema in a big way, in 1971 with woman on fire of Kim Ki-young, initiator of modern Korean cinema, in which he played a femme fatale, her specialty in these beginnings, with which she won her first prize: best actress at the Sitges festival. Under Kim’s direction, the actress was not afraid to take risks in titles such as The Insect Woman (1972) and Be A Wicked Woman (1990). That jump in time illustrates Youn’s first and risky life decision: at the peak of her career she married the singer and television star Jo Young-nam, and they moved to Florida. There, retired from show business, she was the mother of two children, until she divorced and more than 10 years later returned to her native country. In an interview in The New York Times, Youn remembers how complicated that return was: “The viewers called the networks and told them: ‘She’s a divorcee. “It shouldn’t be on the screen.” Now they idolize me. It’s strange, but human. It was worth it, although I considered giving up and returning to the United States. Today, finally, I enjoy acting.”

Youn did and accepted everything to raise his offspring: any secondary character in a television series would do. Until their children went to university, they did not need their financial support and they began to be able to select their jobs. When he turned 60, he promised to collaborate only with whoever he wanted. And so, in this 21st century, the Korean became a regular face at festivals for her appearances in films by two greats: Hong Sangsoo and Im Sang-soo. With Hong he has participated in four films, such as In another country either Before yes, now no. With Im in four others, and his work dazzled in The maid However, he has not disdained television. In recent times he has presented in Korea a reality show cooking (already in the third season) and a non-fiction series in a hostel. The Oscar candidacy caught him recently arriving home from Vancouver (Canada), where he had recorded the series for Apple TV Pachinko.

To Chung, whose Minari illustrates the vicissitudes of her family in Arkansas in the 1980s, she met him at the Busan Korean festival in 2018, one of the most powerful in Asia. The director, who like Bong is a fan of woman on fire He wanted to meet his protagonist. They hit it off, and in the talk with The New York Times, The actress states: “He is a very calm man. I wish it were another of my children.”

By the way, after the Bafta, Youn clarified his comment: “Well, it comes from my personal experience. I have visited the UK quite a few times and even took an acting course in Cambridge 10 years ago. And people are snobbish, but not in a negative way. They have a long history behind them, and that makes them proud. As an Asian woman, I feel like they are snobbish, really.”