Husband & Wife Winners at The Blue Dragons!

by Nathaniel R

Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin win BEST ACTRESS and BEST ACTOR at the Blue Dragon Awards. IMG SRC

We told you about the nominations at South Korea's Blue Dragon Awards earlier this month. As expected given its hefty nomination tally, Park Chan Wook's genius Oscar submission No Other Choice (opening on Christmas day in US theaters) took home Best Picture and Best Director among other prizes. The film also won Best Actress for Son Ye Jin. Its internationally successful leading man Lee Byung Hun lost Best Actor but we can't be too sad about it as he has dozens of acting trophies already.  In a fun twist of fate, though, he lost Best Actor to his screen wife Son Ye Jin's real life husband Byun Hin (Harbin - streaming on Hulu). "Husband and Wife Best Actor and Best Actress Wins?!?" Yep. how wild is that? That's something that's never happened at the Oscars as much as we wish it would have long before our Oscar time with Liz & Dick for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). 

After the jump all the winners and a few more comments...

Best Picture

• ★ “No Other Choice” - US Theatrical Release December 25
• “The Ugly” - Recently had a theatrical release in the US
• “My Daughter Is a Zombie” -Streaming on On Demand Korea
• “The Old Woman With the Knife” - Streaming soon on Viki in the US
• “Harbin” - Streaming on Hulu 

It's nice to see No Other Choice picking up a little steam recently with precursors but we're still worried about its Oscar fate given how competitive the year is turning out to be for international cinema and how routinely the Academy has ignored Korean cinema. Only one nomination (and win) for Korean cinema in their entire history is just not acceptable given the quality of the country's submissions. 

Best Director 

• Min Kyu Dong (“The Old Woman With the Knife”)
• ★  Park Chan Wook (“No Other Choice”)
• Yeon Sang Ho (“The Ugly”)
• Woo Min Ho (“Harbin”)
• Pil Gam Seong (“My Daughter Is a Zombie”)

This is Park Chan-wook's fourth Best Director win at the Blue Dragons after Decision to Leave (2022), Old Boy (2003), and Joint Security Area (2000).

Best New Director

• Kim Min Ha (“Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary”)
• Kim Soo Jin (“Noise”)
• ★  Kim Hye Young (“IT’s OKAY!”)
• Park Joon Ho (“3670”)
• Jang Byung Ki (“When This Summer is Over”)

It's okay is a family dramedy about a woman who lost her mother in a car accident. It played at Berlinale in 2024.

Best Actor

• Park Jung Min (“The Ugly”)
• Sul Kyung Gu (“A Normal Family”)
• Lee Byung Hun (“No Other Choice”) 
• Jo Jung Suk (“My Daughter Is a Zombie”)
• ★  Hyun Bin (“Harbin”)

Hyun Bin, best known for the limited series Crash Landing on You (streaming on Netflix),  stopped the No Other Choice train with a win for Harbin. He also received a Most Popular Star award. This was his first film nomination at the Blue Dragons (he does more television).  

Best Actress

• ★  Son Ye Jin (“No Other Choice”)
• Song Hye Kyo (“Dark Nuns”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT
• Lee Jae In (“Hi-Five”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT 
• Lee Hye Young (“The Old Woman With the Knife”)
• Lim Yoona (“Pretty Crazy”)

Son Ye-Jin plays the protagonist's resourceful suspicious wife in No Other Choice. Like her real life husband, the Best Actor winner, she also took home a Most Popular Star award. She's won Popularity Awards six times at the Blue Dragon Awards but this is her second Best Actress win. She previously won for the romantic comedy My Wife Got Married (2008).

Best Supporting Actor

Lee Sung-min and Yeom Hye-ran play the other key financially desperate married couple in NO OTHER CHOICE. Lee won but Yeom lost in the supporting categories.

• Kwon Hae Hyo (“The Ugly”)
• Kim Sung Cheol (“The Old Woman With the Knife”)
• Park Jung Min (“Harbin”) - STREAMING ON HULU
• Yoon Kyung Ho (“My Daughter Is a Zombie”)
• ★  Lee Sung-min (“No Other Choice”)

Lee Sung Min finally wins the Blue Dragon on his seventh nomination. 

Best Supporting Actress

Park Ji Hyun (and leading man Song Seung-heon) in HIDDEN FACE

• ★  Park Ji Hyun (“Hidden Face”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT
• Shin Hyun Been (“The Ugly”)
• Yeom Hye Ran (“No Other Choice”)
• Lee Jung Eun (“My Daughter Is a Zombie”)
• Jeon Yeo Been (“Dark Nuns”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT

In this erotic thriller Park Ji Hyun plays a cellist who has replaced a woman who was once engaged to the conductor but has since mysteriously gone missing. Cho Yeo-Jeong who won the Blue Dragon (not to mention my own gold medal right here) for her genius rich-wife performance in Parasite (2019) plays the missing woman.

Best New Actor

• Park Jinyoung (“Hi-Five”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT
• ★  Ahn Bo Hyun (“Pretty Crazy”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT ON VIKI
• Ahn Hyo Seop (“Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy”) - STREAMING ON PLEX
• Jung Sung Il (“Uprising”) - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• Cho You Hyun (“3670”)

Pretty Crazy is a fantasy romcom about a woman (Im Yoon-ah) who turns wild she-devil by night. Ahn Bo Hyun plays her love interest. 

Best New Actress

• ★  Kim Doyeon (“Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary”)
• Kim Min Ju (“Hear Me: Our Summer”)
• Roh Yoon Seo (“Hear Me: Our Summer”)
• Lee Sun Bin (“Noise”)
• Hong Ye Ji (“A Normal Family”)

As you might guess from the strange repetitive title, this movie is a horror comedy. 

Best Cinematography and Lighting

• “No Other Choice”
• “The Ugly”
• “Uprising”
• ★  “Harbin”
• “Hi-Five”

Harbin, an epic war drama,  collects another trophy for its Cinematography (it also won at the earlier Buil Awards)

Best Screenplay

Yoo Ah-in and Lee Byung-hun are rivals in THE MATCH {Streaming on Netflix]

• ★  “The Match" - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “No Other Choice”
• “The Ugly”
• “Uprising” - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “Hi-Five”

Interesting that The Match, without major nominations, took this prize over Best Picture nominees. The Match is a true story about the rivalry between a Go champion (Lee Byung-hun) and his protege (Yoo Ah-in) 

Best Music

• ★  “No Other Choice”
• “Uprising” - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “My Daughter Is a Zombie”
• “Harbin”
• “Hi-Five”  - AVAILABLE TO RENT

Thrilled to see this as No Other Choice has a terrific score. 

Best Art Direction

• “The Match” - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “No Other Choice”
• “The Ugly”
• ★  “Uprising” - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “Harbin” - STREAMING ON HULU

Best Editing

• “The Match” -STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “No Other Choice”
• “The Ugly”
• “Harbin” - STREAMING ON HULU
• ★  “Hi-Five” - AVAILABLE TO RENT

Best Technical Achievement

• “Noise” (sound)
• ★  “No Other Choice” (costume)
• “The Ugly” (makeup)
• “Omniscient Reader” (VFX)
• “The Old Woman With the Knife” (martial arts)

Yay. Fun nomination and win!

Short Film

• First Summer
• Flower Play
• Looking for Song Seok-ju
• National Route 7
• ★ Rotary's Hancheol

Most Popular Star

• ★ Park Jin-young (Hi-Five)
• ★ Hyun Bin (Harbin)
• ★ Son Ye-jin (No Other Choice) 
• ★ Im Yoon-ah (Pretty Crazy) 

Audience Choice - Most Popular Film

1. ★ My Daughter is a Zombie
2. Harbin
3. The Firefighters
4. Yadang: The Snitch
5. No Other Choice

The 46th Blue Dragon Film Awards took place on November 19 in Seoul.