Winners and Highlights from the 2019 Blue Dragon Awards

Jo Woo-jin, Lee Jung-eun, Jo Yeo-jung, Jung Woo-sung

Awards season has officially begun, with the 40th Blue Dragon Awards taking place in Seoul on November 21. Last year’s MC duo Kim Hye-soo and Yoo Yeon-seok returned to host for a third year in a row.

Surprising no one, Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite was the big winner of the night, sweeping up five awards across the board. For the most part, no one film managed to carry off many awards though Swing Kids, a period piece set during the Korean War, picked up two awards in technical categories, as did the Jo Jung-seok-Yoon-ah comedy EXIT.

The dark comedy-thriller Parasite has been getting rave reviews internationally and domestically, and it seemed like such a clear favorite that it’s not shocking to see that it picked up wins in the biggest categories of the night. The film won Best Picture, Best Director, and Art Direction. Its other two wins were for acting, as Jo Yeo-jung’s portrayal of a wealthy matriarch won Best Actress and Lee Jung-eun beat out a strong field of competitors (including her costar Park So-dam) to nab Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a mysterious housekeeper.

Kim Woo-bin

Jung Woo-sung won Best Actor for his turn as a morally conflicted lawyer in Innocent Witness and Jo Woo-jin scooped Best Supporting Actor for his role in Default, which is set during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

In the New Actress and Actor category, the winners were Kim Hye-joon and Park Hae-soo respectively. I haven’t seen her winning work, but she turned in a strong performance as the young queen in Netflix’s zombie sageuk Kingdom, so I’m looking forward to seeing her in Another Child. Park Hae-soo won for his role in the gritty crime film By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture. It’s an interesting choice as previous winners tended to skew a bit younger, but the nominations in the category were a bit odd as they included actors I wouldn’t consider “new” like Gong Myung, Park Hyung-shik, and Jung Hae-in as well as rookie Kim Sung-chul.

This year’s Popularity Award winners were Honey Lee, Lee Kwang-soo, Yoon-ah, and Park Hyung-shik. And no, you’re not seeing things, Park Hyung-shik attended the ceremony in his army uniform as he’s currently fulfilling his mandatory army service.

I was very pleasantly surprised by one of the presenters–Kim Woo-bin! Looking happy and healthy, this is his first public appearance since he announced in 2017 that he’d been diagnosed with cancer and would be halting all activities. For the full list of winners, see below.

2019 Blue Dragon Award winners

WINNERS LIST

Best Picture: Parasite
Best Director: Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)
Best Actor: Jung Woo-sung (Innocent Witness)
Best Actress: Jo Yeo-jung (Parasite)
Supporting Actor: Jo Woo-jin (Default)
Supporting Actress: Lee Jung-eun (Parasite)
New Actor: Park Hae-soo (By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture)
New Actress: Kim Hye-joon (Another Child)
New Director: Lee Sang-geun (EXIT)

Lighting: Swing Kids, Kim Ji-yong, Jo Kyu-young
Editing: Swing Kids, Nam Na-young
Music: Svaha: The Sixth Finger, Kim Tae-sung
Art Direction: Parasite, Lee Ha-joon
Technical Effects: EXIT, Yoon Jin-yool, Kwon Ji-hoon
Screenplay: House of Hummingbird, Kim Bora
Short Film Award: Milk, Yang Yoo-jin
Box Office Audience Award: Extreme Job
Popularity Award: Honey Lee, Lee Kwang-soo, Yoon-ah, Park Hyung-shik