A low-budget, locally-made documentary has amassed an impressive 264,568 in attendance, landing the no. 3 spot at the domestic box office and beating out Will Smith`s drama "Seven Pounds" in the weekend ending Feb. 9, according to the Korean Film Council.



The documentary titled "Old Partner," followed thriller "Marine Boy," which debuted at the top spot, and John Woo`s last installment of his two-part epic based on "The Romance of Three Kingdoms" novels, "Red Cliff."

"Old Partner" is currently playing on 164 screens and is set to become Korea`s highest grossing documentary and independent film of all time, surpassing previous record-holder Irish indie film "Once," which recorded an estimated 220,000 in ticket sales in Korea last year.

The film opened on Jan. 15 at a paltry seven screens in select theaters but has grown in popularity since the Lunar New Year.

Directed by Lee Choong-yeol over the course of three years, the documentary follows an old man and his dying ox.

The film is projected to gain a profit of 4-5 times its estimated 100 million won ($728,000) production and marketing budget.

More astonishing is that Nurimbo, the production company that financed the picture, did not invest in television or internet advertisements for the film with the exception of ads in trade magazines and select newspapers. The film has snowballed into something of a phenomenon by sheer word-of-mouth.

According to the film`s producer Ko Young-jae, it had been their intention to start with a small number of screens and then go wider in the hope that positive feedback from audiences would stretch the film`s legs. "In the end, it was the audiences` love for the film that has carried us to where we are now," Ko said.

Rival independent production camps have also praised the film`s recent whirlwind box office run, stating its success would help smaller productions become more visible to the public in future.

"We commend the success of `Old Partner` as it will open more doors for independent filmmakers in Korea and in the long run will strengthen the indie movement," said Jin Jin, the company that produced "Daytime Drinking," which was released on Feb. 5.

"People are sick and tired of watching shallow big-budget extravaganzas and the fact that theater chains select which movies viewers should see by inundating their screens with big studio fare creates a lack of options. Viewers want to make their own choices and I think that`s part of the reason people have been drawn to our film," Ko added.

Industry experts have noted a combination of shrewd marketing and Old Partner`s simple, no-nonsense heart-tugging story to be instrumental in creating the recent buzz.

Acclaim for the picture began last year at the 13th Pusan International Film Festival, when it received the Mecenat award for best documentary along with Kazuhiro Soda`s "Mental."

By Song Woong-ki



(kws@heraldm.com)