Embattled Yang Ik-june takes stage at 'Confession' event
Movie director defends himself against last year's assault allegations, while promoting his new thriller at pre-release event in Seoul as actor
Movie director and actor Yang Ik-june showed up at Lotte Cinema in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday with an air of defiance.
The "Breathless" (2008) actor-director, fresh off an investigation for allegedly assaulting a staff member in December, pulled off an almost playful swagger during his solo appearance at the pre-release screening for Nobuhiro Yamashita's upcoming psychological thriller "Confession."
"I may look terrifying in the film, but that's not who I am," Yang said.
Adapted from Japanese artist Nobuyuki Fukumoto's 1998 manga, the film centers on two former climbing club members trapped in a mountain hut after one confesses to murdering their fellow club member 16 years ago. Yang plays Ji-yong, the confessor, opposite Japanese star Toma Ikuta's Asai.
When asked about the allegations, Yang reached for a prepared statement. He flatly denied the charges, casting his accuser as a manipulator who planted anonymous stories in the press.
"When the truth comes out, you (reporters) might laugh at what you've published -- or be shocked by what you discover."
He then turned his attention directly to his accuser: "You've been controlling and exploiting too many people behind my back. I know everything you've done. Maybe I'm your final strikeout."
Police handed the case over to prosecutors on Tuesday.
"Apart from this incident," he added, softening his tone, "I hope you'll focus on this film our cast and crew worked so hard to create."
The film wastes no time spinning from claustrophobic two-hander into something far messier. Its psychological cat-and-mouse game crashes into outright chaos as Yang tears through the isolated mountain shelter in an unhinged display of rage.
His wild performance ping-pongs between phantasmagorical menace and theatrical excess -- oftentimes landing in unintentionally funny territory.
The film's lurch from slow-burn psychological thriller to Grand Guignol horror-action muddles the complex moral terrain it sets out to probe. Yet Yang's savage portrayal of spiraling madness more or less makes for enjoyable viewing, even as it undermines the film's more measured premise.
"Confession" opens Feb. 19.
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