Darcy Paquet Captures The Best Of Korean Cinema

When Darcy Paquet moved to Korea in 1997, he was already a fan of Asian cinema, having enjoyed films from Hong Kong and Japan, so he decided to learn more about Korean cinema

“The films I saw were much better than I expected,” said Paquet, who was raised in Massachusetts. “And yet I’d go online and look for information and there would be nothing about them in English. So, I decided to make a website about Korean cinema, thinking it would be better than nothing.”

Launched in 1999, that site, Koreanfilm.org, was so much “better than nothing” that it became an insightful English-language source of cinema news for international film buffs. The website also served as a calling card for Paquet’s career as a journalist, covering Korean cinema for publications such as Cine24, and ultimately led to his translating subtitles for award-winning Korean films, such as Bong Joon-ho’s film Parasite and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker.

“I’ve been lucky with my timing,” said Paquet. “I started to write about Korean cinema just as Korean cinema was reaching out to the rest of the world. It was in an era when the thirst for knowledge about Korean film was strong around the world and there were very few people supplying that knowledge.”

Paquet began his subtitle translation career by proofreading English translations and also sometimes co-translating with a Korean friend. “It was about ten years ago that I felt my Korean was at a level where I could do first drafts,” he said. “And even today I have a lot of people review my work.”

During the last decade he has worked with some of Korea’s top directors and notes that each experience differs.

“I think the top directors are all very sensitive to the subtleties of translation and they understand how important it is,” said Paquet. “Bong Joon-ho is very hands-on in terms of the translation. Before I started he sent me four pages of notes and after I finished there were emails back and forth. Then we spent two days sitting in front of the screen going over the translations line by line together with the producer and some other people at CJ. That was a very intensive process. Very helpful and interesting to me because I could always ask anything I was curious about.”

Broker, directed by Kore-eda, presented a special challenge because the script was originally written in Japanese. Kore-eda understands some Korean, said Paquet, but worked primarily through an interpreter, who communicated any subtitle revision suggestions.

“For me the big challenge of Broker was the question of tone,” said Paquet. “Because I think that Kore-eda is a director who is able to walk right up to the line between highly emotional and too emotional and he knows how to stay just on the right side of the line. And it’s very easy to get that wrong in translation. You have to be very precise in terms of where you put the tone. It was my greatest challenge with the film.”

Translating subtitles is unlike any other kind of translation, says Pacquet. “The audience can hear the actors speaking, they can get a lot of emotion from the screen. The translation has to compliment that. I watch the performances really closely as I’m translating. It often feels like I’m translating a performance rather than text. You also have to be aware of issues like timing.”

When the actor reacts to a certain piece of information the translator has to make sure the audience processes it at the same time as the actor.

“In general I think a lot about the relationships between characters and how the characters are developing through the story,” said Paquet. “And the dialogue reflects everything that’s going on inside the character’s mind. I have to try to be aware of what’s happening underneath the surface and be sure I’m reflecting as much as I can.”

Paquet is the author of New Korean cinema : breaking the waves, which covers the industry from the 1980s to 2000s. He wrote the book in 2009 and notes that one of the obvious ways the industry has changed since then is the increasing level of international interest.

“I think Korean filmmakers are now really aware of the international audience,” said Paquet. “And so directors like Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho are making films for a global audience regardless of whether it’s in Korean or English.”

But the biggest change might be the growing number of independent films now being produced in Korea. To celebrate those indie films Paquet founded the Wildflower Film Awards, an independent film festival.

“The independent sector is very dynamic,” he said. “Producing at least 100 features a year with some incredible acting performances. Exciting new talent comes out every year, but inevitably they get somewhat overlooked. This is a time each year when we can celebrate the achievements of these filmmakers.”

Paquet will participate in the London Korean Film Festival, taking place through Nov. 17. He has signed on to serve as a panelist, take part in a Q&A after a screening of Broker and introduce two indie films. One of the films is called Hot In Day, Cold at Night.

“There are a lot of independent films these days that show how ordinary people are struggling financially and this one does it with a sense of humor,” he said. “It has a real edge to it, but it’s not sarcastic. Or negative. It’s warmhearted.”

He will also introduce A Lonely Island In The Distant Sea.

“It’s about a young woman, who is a talented artist, but gives up art and goes to a Buddhist temple,” said Paquet. “It’s about the relationship between her and her father. It asks a lot of questions about what’s important in life.”

During his decades of living in Korea Paquet has also appeared in a few dramas and films, including Hong Sang-soo’s 2020 film The Woman Who Ran. His part-time acting career happened by chance.

“Living in Korea I got to know a lot of directors,” he said. “Both through subtitle work but also as a journalist and at film festivals. Eventually, I came across a director who needed a foreign actor quite urgently, so I stepped into the part. So, when other directors saw that, they said, oh, Darcy. Whenever anyone needs an undemanding not-too-expensive foreign actor, they give me a call.”

He’s happy to participate in the London film festival for the chance to introduce an even wider audience to what he admires about Korean cinema.

“A regular festival has its own agenda and relationship with its audience,” said Paquet. “While a festival like this can really go in-depth to different styles of filmmaking within Korea. I think it really has the pulse on what’s new and interesting in Korean cinema.”