Netflix’s Korean original series Squid Game captured the global cultural zeitgeist this autumn in a way that we’ve seldom seen before. The show’s popularity also prompted an explosion of opinion pieces and memes, and some of these took liberties with the facts. One of the major misconceptions surrounding the series was that its success was a rags-to-riches story for its creator, director Hwang Dong-hyuk. While it is true that Hwang initially wrote a film script for Squid Game over a decade ago and struggled to get it made, until it eventually landed at Netflix, Hwang was already one of the most established and successful directors working in South Korea, long before his current hit. Looking at Hwang’s earlier work, it’s hard to imagine something quite like Squid Game coming along, but the seeds can be seen. Throughout his career, he has shown a skill for melodrama, while all his films are also marked by an undercurrent of cynicism, two tendencies which merge to thrilling ends in his TV drama series debut. From Lee Jung-jae to Jung Ho-yeon, Squid Game stars you need to know Despite his success as a commercial storyteller, the most surprising thing about Hwang is that he largely avoids happy endings. Whereas most commercial successes in Korea derive their catharsis from people overcoming the odds to succeed in the face of adversity, or achieve retribution after being wronged, Hwang’s films achieve their catharsis when his characters stand by their convictions in their crises, but in the end lose out to the villains, or society at large, anyway. Below are his films so far, listed in chronological order. 1. My Father (2007) Featuring Korean-American actor Daniel Henney in one of his first leading roles, Hwang’s debut film tells the true story of James Parker, a Korean adoptee returning to his birth country to search for his parents. He finds his father, but discovers that he is a prisoner on death row. Though a topical work that was one of the first to explore the plight of Korean adoptees, My Father is a schmaltzy and uneven debut for Hwang. However, it was undoubtedly a necessary step for the director, as melodrama would be far more carefully woven into his future works. 2. Silenced (2011) Gong Yoo leads this harrowing true-life story as a teacher who gets a job at a school for the hearing-impaired in the countryside and soon uncovers horrific physical and sexual abuse being perpetrated on its students. He teams up with Jung Yu-mi’s gutsy human rights activist, but even with compelling testimony and damning evidence, the pair struggle against an inequitable system greased by rampant cronyism. Squid Game has been a global media phenomenon, but 10 years ago Silenced had a similar impact in Korea and enacted real change. The public outrage it prompted led to the passing of a “Dogani Bill” in the National Assembly – named after the film and the original book’s local title – which abolished the statute of limitations for sex crimes against minors and the disabled. 3. Miss Granny (2014) The hit of the Korean Lunar New Year holiday in 2014, Miss Granny tells the story of a cantankerous elderly woman who magically transforms into her 20-year-old self when she visits a photo studio. She becomes a singer in her grandson’s band and attracts the attention of a handsome music competition TV show producer, while also getting an objective view of the family and friends she used to henpeck all day long. Hwang’s biggest theatrical success, Miss Granny is a notable outlier in the director’s work as it is the only story he’s brought to the screen that he didn’t write the original script for. This may account for its being the least cynical film in his filmography. The film went on to be successfully adapted to foreign markets, with close to a dozen remakes already released or in active development across Asia, Europe and North America. 4. The Fortress (2017) Hwang’s most complex and mature film to date, The Fortress tells the story of King Injo, who struggles between the advice of his two ministers, one a pacifist and the other bellicose, while they are garrisoned with limited supplies in a fortress during a cold winter with the Qing Army closing in on them. An acting masterclass with Lee Byung-hun, Kim Yun-seok and Park Hae-il, The Fortress is a rich political allegory with sumptuous and austere photography and an aching score from legendary Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. Given the film’s local themes – it alludes to contemporary Korean politics while Park Geun-hye was still in power – The Fortress is one of Hwang’s least globally accessible works, but arguably his most rewarding. 5. Collectors (2020) The only feature film Hwang is credited on beyond his directorial outings is Collectors , a run-of-the-mill heist film on which he served as a producer and “dramatiser”, a term used for writers who provide additional writing to an existing script. Emulating the massive success of Korea’s popular caper films such as The Thieves and Swindlers , Collectors focuses on wisecracking thieves who specialise in Korean national treasures, with Taxi Driver ’s Lee Je-hoon and Mr. Queen ’s Shin Hye-sun leading the crew. 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