Human prism: Lee Byung-hun

Between “G.I. Joe” and “ Squid Game,” hero and villain, acclaim and controversy, actor Lee Byung-hun has made the space between worlds a stage for his brilliance. A defining figure of Korean cinema, he absorbs the light and shadow of his time, refracting contradictory elements of desires and anxiety through his life and performance. A recent Forbes headline offered an unexpected point of connection: “Oracle Has Cut 21,000 Jobs This Year Due to AI, More Layoffs Expected.” The news of workers confronting an uncertain future echoed themes that emerged in a long conversation with Lee last year — a broader exploration of the human condition in an age when familiar boundaries are increasingly difficult to hold. On a crisp October day, with late autumn settling quietly over Seoul, Lee sat down for an extended conversation at a quiet cafe in Samcheong-dong. The meeting followed a series of encounters at the Venice International Film Festival, in Los Angeles and later in Busan, before the conversation finally continued in Seoul. On screen, Lee possesses the kind of presence that se