[Kim Ji-yeon's Jewel Box] The Actor Whose Sincere Heart is Most Felt, '3670' Jo Yoo-hyun

“Like a carousel spinning round and round, as if it will go on forever, like our time that will come back around, life is a carousel”

When talking about Jo Yoo-hyun, I want to introduce him by name rather than with grandiose adjectives. Like Cheol-jun in 〈3670〉, Jo Yoo-hyun is a person whose sincere heart is seen first, despite being unpolished. He might be the actor most fitting for the naming of this series. It's not just because he played the role of a 'North Korean defector gay'.

Jo Yoo-hyun, who quietly held his place like a carousel spinning round and round while working as a swimming instructor, logistics staff, CGV usher, mask dance performer, and web drama assistant director, is a prepared actor who was waiting for the opportunity to show the treasures he had been steadily filling in his jewel box. Jo Yoo-hyun has filled his jewel box (such as his YouTube channel 'Yoo-hyun's Era') with 'profile films' and short films he directed, filmed, scripted, and edited, as well as acting, singing (including a video of his appearance on 〈National Singing Contest〉 with 'The Black Face of Geumcheon-gu'), and musical videos, maintaining his routine in the carousel-like time.

The film 〈3670〉 is a story of a double minority, but it reads as a universal story. 〈3670〉, which can be seen as a 'romance movie without romance', is a story about inferiority complex and defense mechanisms, and also about a person who, despite everything, keeps what is theirs, even if it is unpolished. The universal emotions touched by 〈3670〉 owe much to the persuasiveness of 'Cheol-jun' played by Jo Yoo-hyun and 'Young-jun' played by Kim Hyun-mok. Watching the movie, I was Young-jun, then Cheol-jun. I see myself hiding and covering up to fit in somewhere, pretending to be someone else to please others, yet wanting to protect what is mine.

Even if it feels like riding a carousel spinning round and round, Cheol-jun and Jo Yoo-hyun have kept at least one sincere heart. Jo Yoo-hyun, who has already won the Best New Actor award at the Youngpyeong Awards and was nominated for the Best New Actor award at the Blue Dragon Film Awards, still writes short posts on social media every day, shares his workout routine, performs reading plays, and mask dance performances, just like before appearing in films. Like Cheol-jun, who sang 'Carousel' in karaoke with a firm grip on the microphone, without embellishment, Jo Yoo-hyun does not flaunt but firmly keeps his core. This is why the future of Jo Yoo-hyun, who said, “My dream is to star in a film I direct at around 56,” is even more anticipated.  

***** Starting with 'Joo Sung-chul's Locker' which gives excessive meaning to objects in movies, 'Kim Ji-yeon's Jewel Box' as a user guide for actors expected to rise, 'Choo Ah-young's Music Box' for movie music that moved my heart, and 'Sung Chan-eol's Comic Book' as a purchase diary of a subculture merchant, Cineplay reporters begin bi-weekly series with their own tastes and perspectives. *****