Keeper of the flame

Im Kwon-taek appears to be having the time of his life. While most men of 78 seldom have to concern themselves with more than the contents of their kitchens and perhaps a daily stroll, you get the feeling Im still wakes up each morning ready, willing and able to wrestle with the muse.

"Life without film, life without creating film, is something I cannot even consider," says the venerable director, whose debut work, Farewell to the Duman River, was released in 1962. "It is what drives me and what has always driven me."

At the Busan International Film Festival last month, he screened the latest fruits of his labours. Like many of Im's films in a career that spans more than five decades, his 102nd film reaches deep into the Korean psyche.

In Revivre, veteran actor Ahn Sung-ki plays a businessman whose wife (Kim Ho-jung) has a terminal illness and whose attention is turned by a much younger and apparently attentive woman in his office (Kim Qyu-ri). Taken from a popular Korean short story - whose title means both "make-up/cosmetics" and "cremation" - it is a relatively simple affair, on the surface at least, but Im has helped his actors reach into their characters' souls. It is simply done, rarely sentimental, but often quite staggering. The director had never before tried to turn a piece of literature into a film and found the process challenging.

"This film wasn't an easy task," says Im. "It was a challenge to find a visual language for the author [Kim Hoon's] words. It is a more modern story in a way, but these themes are common. I was able to take the book but used the experiences I have accumulated in almost 80 years of life into the film. As you get older you think about these issues more. I want to explore them and I want challenges when I make films."