Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Review: Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer Delivers the Goods
New Korean Films: Showbox Is Going All Bananas (2013 Week 29)
Mr. Go
(미스터 고)
A director of a circus troupe in China dies leaving all his inheritance to his daughter, Weiwei, 15. Among the menagerie is a gorilla named Ling Ling with which the director often played baseball and who seems to possess great playing abilities. A South Korean recruiter hears the rumor and rushes to China to hire the gorilla along with Weiwei as a coach in a team of the South Korean professional league. Very soon, Ling Ling becomes a celebrity in the sporting world, which does not take long to attract the lusts of several opposing teams.
Monday, July 29, 2013
New Korean Films: Strong Women (2013 Week 30)
The Ring of Life
(링)
A boxer with promising talent has failed every time to qualify for the Olympics and eventually attempts suicide by self-immolation. Disabled but still alive, he devotes himself to being a coach and dreams of training the very first Olympic champion in women’s boxing. A 28 years-old scientist, who works in the most prestigious university in the country, stands as a candidate to him for a career change, while she has just successfully passed the official exams for civil service.
Korean Box Office: Red 2 Fends of The Wolverine in Week 2
Following a burst of activity in June and early July, the Korean box office has been down a little down (though still strong) these past few weeks as we brace ourselves for what should be an enormous August. 2.56 million tickets were sold over the frame, down one sixth from last year. Meanwhile the local market was 26%, only marginally higher than this weekend last year, which stood at 20%.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
New Korean Films: The Quest For Independence (2013 Week 28)
Big Good
(경복)
Hyeong-geun is nearly 20 years old and has just finished his college entrance exams, but now he is looking for independence. While his mother is travelling, he’s entrusted to keep their apartment in order for a few weeks, but instead takes the opportunity to offer for rent a room adjacent to his mother's store. With his friends, a writer, a musician and a university student, they encounter many candidates while seeking an apartment for themselves .
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Revenge Week: Conclusion
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Revenge Week: Reader's Top 10 Korean Revenge Films
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
We began Revenge Week with the MKC's Top 10 Korean Revenge Films and now as the feature comes to an end, here is the Top 10, as voted by you! Thanks to all who took part and if you leave a comment with your favorites, we may still just include them in the list. ;)
Revenge Week: Hell Hath No Fury... Part II - Diary of June
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
By Paul Quinn, founder of the excellent Hangul Celluloid.
Shortly after being teamed up to work together, veteran Seoul police detective Ja-young (Shin Eun-kyung) and rookie cop Dong-wook (Eric Moon) are assigned to investigate the death of a high school student who is thought to have committed suicide. An autopsy is performed, revealing a small, pill-like capsule inside the boy's body which contains a scrap of paper from a diary, with the details of a previous murder (of another high school student) written on it. When a similar capsule is also found in that victim's body, Ja-young and Dong-wook realise that both boys were, in fact, murdered by a serial killer and, convinced that the writer of the diary is the perpetrator, they set out to track him down. The only problem is, he too is dead...
Revenge Week: MKC Thought Leaders' Corner (July 2013)
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
Revenge Week has been a great success and though it's nearly over there are still a few voices to be heard. Read on to learn what the experts had to say about Korean cinema's most popular export.
To what would you attribute the prominence of revenge films in Korean cinema?
Monday, July 15, 2013
Revenge Week: Hell Hath No Fury... Part I
By Paul Quinn, founder of the excellent Hangul Celluloid.
Ask almost anyone with even a vague knowledge of Korean cinema about continually prevalent K-film genres or themes and at some point in their response they'll likely mention more than one example from a near plethora of Korean revenge thrillers and cinematic tales of bloody retribution. While any discussion of genre predominance is of course multi-faceted, the fact that a country's cinema can almost not fail to be influenced by its nation's psyche - inherently reflecting trials and tribulations faced nationally - to my mind speaks volumes about the origin of Korean cinema's regular and ongoing use of revenge narratives: By its very definition, revenge comes as a direct response to wrongs suffered, oppression and/or repression and with Korea historically having had to endure not only decades of occupation by Japan - during which time repeated efforts were made by the Japanese to completely eradicate Korea as a nationality, including the banning of Korean language films from 1942 until 1945, when Korean independence was finally secured - but also subsequent years of stringent cinematic constraints and censorship instigated by the Korean government itself, the revenge genre has since provided opportunities for filmmakers to produce searing entertainment at the same time as, perhaps subconsciously, allowing a kind of audience catharsis by way of indulgence in fictional tales of vengeance and retribution where no national revenge could or would ever be sought in reality.
Revenge Week: Filmic Self-reflexivity and Revenge in Park Chan-wook’s Cut (2004) - Part II
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
By Rowena Santos Aquino
Continuing the collapse of the boundaries between filmmaking and real life, when the director comes to, he finds his hands tied behind his back and cinched at the waist with a red band to curtail his movement and his wife gagged and her seated body woven into the piano as if condemned to play the instrument for all eternity. But as a shot reveals, what looks to be their home, where the unnamed avenger first appears, is actually the film set used at the beginning of the film. Who is the director and who is the actor now?
Revenge Week: Recent “Women's Revenge” Films and The Curious Case of Bedevilled
By Kyu Hyun Kim, Associate Professor at UC Davis and koreanfilm.org contributor.
Korean Box Office: Pacific Rim Cashes in on Korea's Robot-philia
Business was a healthy 2.62 million admissions (in line with last year) over the frame as two big releases duked it out for the top spot. The local market share was down to 40%, well below last year's 60% but unsurprising given the big new release the past weekend.
| Title | Release Date | Market Share | Weekend | Total | Screens | |
| 1 | Pacific Rim (us) | 13/07/11 | 44.30% | 1,160,636 | 1,372,731 | 1005 |
| 2 | Cold Eyes | 13/07/03 | 34.60% | 1,003,049 | 3,540,435 | 801 |
| 3 | World War Z (us) | 13/06/20 | 11.60% | 345,896 | 4,891,909 | 383 |
| 4 | Killer Toon | 13/06/27 | 3.50% | 107,173 | 1,091,116 | 244 |
| 5 | Lone Ranger (us) | 13/07/04 | 1.20% | 34,668 | 370,829 | 229 |
| 6 | Secretly Greatly | 13/06/05 | 1.10% | 34,319 | 6,932,959 | 141 |
| 7 | The Adventures of Jinbao (ch) | 13/07/04 | 0.80% | 25,199 | 71,029 | 116 |
| 8 | Side Effects (us) | 13/07/11 | 0.70% | 18,697 | 23,441 | 170 |
| 9 | The Croods (us) | 13/05/16 | 0.30% | 8,998 | 936,699 | 39 |
| 10 | The Master (us) | 13/07/11 | 0.20% | 6,561 | 9,282 | 38 |
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Revenge Week: The Vengeful Ripples of Bong Joon-ho’s Mother
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
Outside of a few clear candidates, pinpointing revenge films isn’t quite as easy as it seems. Case in point is Bong Joon-ho’s Mother (2009). When I first considered it, I hesitated, but after watching it again this past weekend, it became clear that this is a film teeming with revenge, yet not for the reasons that I had at first considered.
Revenge Week: Filmic Self-reflexivity and Revenge in Park Chan-wook’s Cut (2004) - Part I
By Rowena Santos Aquino
We all know what revenge is as an act: a self-serving system that goes beyond in the absence of, or rejects, institutional justice. In short, when one has been wronged physically and emotionally or has witnessed another experience, and acts privately and accordingly, based on one’s ethical line, to punish who has committed that wrong. As film scholar Steve Choe writes, ‘Vengeance requires the existence of a past transgression or trauma, which demands that it be met with equal compensation in the present’ (30). Even more summary still, revenge is about personally ‘getting even’ and (idealistically) bringing about a moral parity but often through immoral ways.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Revenge Week: Trailers of Revenge! Day 6
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013). This daily series comes courtesy of Tom Giammarco, the author of the Seen in Jeonju website, surely one of the best resources for information on classic Korean cinema on the web. Enjoy!
This will be the final entry that I have for REVENGE WEEK and I wanted to save the best for last. Yesterday’s theme of having a hitherto unknown family member exacting revenge on a victim touches a little on today’s theme of a stranger in the house.
Revenge Week: Vengeance Trilogy DVD/Blu-ray Giveaway!
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
Just a few days left in Revenge Week now and the very kind people from Palisades Tartan have reached out to us to give a few lucky readers the chance to win Park Chan-wook's entire Vengeance Trilogy on DVD or Blu-Ray!
Friday, July 12, 2013
Revenge Week: Trailers of Revenge! Day 5
Incest as a tool of revenge must surely be one of the most shocking methods of achieving vengeance. The role it played in the most popular of Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy shocked audiences around the world with both its venom and its creativity. The more recent Dirty Blood features a young woman intent on getting revenge on her father and begins a sexual relationship with him without him knowing her real identity. Are these cases unique in Korean cinema? The answer, of course, is ‘No.’
Revenge Week: THE REVENGE LIST
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
If Revenge Week has achieved anything, it's confirmed beyond any doubt just how prevalent the theme of revenge is in Korean cinema. But exactly how many are there? That's a hard question to answer but here's our shot at a list covering every Korean revenge film we could think of.
This list is far from exhaustive and we encourage suggestions to improve it! Let us know what you think is missing in the comments below, on facebook or on twitter.
We also hope to create a user list of the best Korean revenge films this week so please use this a resource and tell us five of your favorites.
Revenge Week: Exploring Themes of Vengeance in Small Town Rivals (2007)
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
(By Connor McMorran)
Two childhood friends have grown up to be very different people. Choon-sam, despite being popular at high school, has amounted to very little in life and has reluctantly accepted the position of village chief. On the other hand, Dae-gyu, who was something of an outsider at school, has just been elected as the local magistrate. As these two reunite to fix aspects of Choon-sam’s village, their memories of various wrong-doings, coupled with manipulation from outside sources, causes them to become rivals. They begin a game of one-upmanship, both of them too proud to admit defeat. This all comes to a head in the third act of the film, and the two come to blows. Their battle carries a sense of tragedy, as they have both been corrupted to the point of betraying their closest childhood friend.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Revenge Week: Webcomics Harbor Old Grudges in Killer Toon
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
Every summer, Korea pumps out a handful of horror films for people looking to catch a few scares and respite from the hot and humid summer. Unfortunately, the industry’s yields over the past few years have left much to be desired. So poor have recent offerings been that some are ready to write off K-horror altogether. This summer we have four new entries to sample and they were all released in the month of June. Among them, Killer Toon, the first one I’ve had a chance to see, seemed to hold the most promise.
Revenge Week: Trailers of Revenge! Day 4
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013). This daily series comes courtesy of Tom Giammarco, the author of the Seen in Jeonju website, surely one of the best resources for information on classic Korean cinema on the web. Enjoy!
It was only a matter of time before I had to touch on the kung fu craze that dominated Korean action films for more than two decades. They are unavoidable when discussing revenge and Korean cinema unless you are limiting the discussion to just recent films. From the mid-60s to the late-80s, literally hundreds of these martial arts action films were created either as co-productions with Hong Kong film companies or as imitations of that popular style. The background of the movie could be different – set in the distant past the film would often be about an evil bandit or warlord and his gang that are terrorizing the countryside and who may have killed the hero’s family. Or it might be set in pre-World War II Asia where the Japanese army is moving gold or supplies through the region and the best friend of the hero’s, more likely than not working for the Independence Army, is killed fighting for a cause that the hero will pick up. Set in modern times, the movie was likely to involve drug trafficking where, once again, the family and/or friend of the hero is killed or the movie would be about two martial arts academies/temples/schools of thought that are rivals and the bad school winds up killing a student or teacher from the good school, so revenge becomes the goal of the day.
Revenge Week: Amour Noir - The Tragic Outcome of Happy End
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
Amour noir as a genre in film has always been popular with Korean audiences. From as far back as Kim Ki-young’s The Housemaid (1960) to present-day period erotic thrillers like The Concubine, the archetypes and storylines found in these films have been fodder for countless melodramas, love stories and crime pictures. For those that may be unfamiliar with this unique genre subset, an amour noir encompasses unhappy marriages, adulterous spouses and an eventual conspiracy to murder.
Revenge Week: Dirty Blood's Dangerous Payback
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
As a society Korea has been slow to change despite its economic growth. At times it can seem like a gigantic, perpetually simmering pot of discontent that seems dangerously close to boiling over. One aspect of Korean society that is often brushed under the carpet is repressed sexuality and while it isn’t something you will encounter much in TV dramas, music and the news, the Korean film industry, of late, has been vocal in its depiction of the widespread abuse that rages through the country. Truth be told, it is often used opportunistically and many of the works in question tread a very fine line.
As a society Korea has been slow to change despite its economic growth. At times it can seem like a gigantic, perpetually simmering pot of discontent that seems dangerously close to boiling over. One aspect of Korean society that is often brushed under the carpet is repressed sexuality and while it isn’t something you will encounter much in TV dramas, music and the news, the Korean film industry, of late, has been vocal in its depiction of the widespread abuse that rages through the country. Truth be told, it is often used opportunistically and many of the works in question tread a very fine line.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Revenge Week: Trailers of Revenge! Day 3
It is day three of Modern Korean Cinema's REVENGE WEEK and I continue looking back at forgotten movies of past decades where vengence plays a major role. Today's film is the awkwardly titled Report of the Daughter-in-Law's Rice Flower as it is called on the KMDb but also known as Report of Cowwheat (Daum). It is a film from 1989 directed by Ryu Jae-moo and starring Na Yeong-hee. In this film, Soon-yi has tragedy after tragedy heaped on her before she finally snaps and seeks revenge.
Revenge Week: The Dubious Revenge of To Sir, with Love (2006)
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
This piece comes courtesy of Natasha Harmer, a member of the brilliant Coventry University East Asian Film Society (CUEAFS).
Is a classroom accusation of soiled underpants really a good reason to exact brutal revenge on your classmates and teacher sixteen years later? Well according to Im Dae-woong’s directorial debut To Sir, with Love (aka Bloody Reunion), it is.
Revenge Week: Seeing Devils - Violence and Revenge in Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw the Devil (Part II)
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
By David Bell
Released the same year, Jang’s Bedevilled offers a more delicate approach. Hae-won, an unsympathetic Seoul bank-worker, is forced to take time off after aggressive behaviour towards a colleague and visits her childhood friend Bok-nam on the fictional island of Moo-do. Appalled by the mannerisms and cleanliness of the farming islanders, she passively bears witness to their horrific treatment of Bok-nam and murder, and denial thereof to (again) useless police, of Bok-nam’s daughter. Frustratingly, Jang persistently plays with our expectation to see Hae-won emerge from her clean middle-class apathy and intervene in Bok-nam’s suffering under the abject, conventionally Othered, islanders. But just as she previously failed to act after witnessing Bok-nam’s gang rape as a teenager by those same men as youths, Hae-won, indifferent, arranges her return to Seoul. In turn, Bok-nam’s manic massacre of the islanders takes on a decidedly, and cleverly achieved, tone of despair. Had Hae-won intervened, as her need for redemption combined with the wretched islanders’ need of punishment appeared to signpost she would, the ensuing carnage might have taken a more traditionally cathartic mode – one more in keeping with the violence performed in I Saw the Devil.
Revenge Week: Don't Cry Mommy - A Necessary Lesson Poorly Delivered
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Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
It’s a funny thing to think you understand something and then experience it first hand, only to realize how naïve you’ve been about the subject. Truth be told, that’s happened to me a few times since arriving in Korea. Having lived in so many places before and being well versed in Korean cinema, my hubris and I felt quite comfortable in our knowledge of a country we’d never been to. My ego has taken a few digs since then but far more devastating has been my steep learning curve regarding social issues.
Revenge Week: Fatal Femininity, Masochistic Masculinity - The Films of Kim Ki-young
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
“If the national cinema aesthetics of Korea are characterized by the thematic motifs of han (pent-up grief), mise-en-scenes of rural mountainous landscapes, and understated emotions that are frequently projected in the works of Shin Sang-ok and Im Kwon-Taek, Kim Ki-yong is a filmmaker who falls completely outside this framework.”
- Kyung Hyun Kim
Words like baroque, surrealistic, erotic and horror get bandied around a lot when talking about Kim Ki-young. Though his status as an auteur and place in the Korean cinema pantheon is secure there remains a lot to be discussed about his films. Within the realm of the revenge narrative his films are unique creations tapping into our fears about family and the cultural upheavals caused by modernity. Returning to the same themes, character archetypes, storylines and images, Kim was obsessed with placing impotent men, bratty children, scorned women and matriarchs under one roof and seeing the weak and the strong clash with one another. Although not as violent as a lot of the current Korean revenge, crime and horror pictures they are nonetheless emotionally jarring and claustrophobic.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Revenge Week: Trailers of Revenge! Day 2
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013). This daily series comes courtesy of Tom Giammarco, the author of the Seen in Jeonju website, surely one of the best resources for information on classic Korean cinema on the web. Enjoy!
Over the past couple of days, I have been browsing through a huge number of revenge movies and I was left with two observations. The first is that I really needed to make a working definition of what a revenge movie is to better weed through the literally hundreds of possibilities I was looking at. The second observation was that it seemed to me that the majority of films, with the major exception of the imitation Hong Kong kung fu films, the person seeking revenge was, more often than not, a woman... at least in revenge films made before the year 2000.
Revenge Week: 26 Years - The Ultimate Revenge Narrative
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013). This is not a new piece but it just seemed too a propos not to include.
Just like anyone else, I come from a country (Ireland) with historical scars that refuse to completely fade away. The sad fact is that these days my connection with my home is tenuous at best. Nevertheless, as we approach the centenary following the Easter Rising of 1916, this terrible event that saw a group a passionate Irishman stand up to their English oppressors, only to be brutally suppressed, is still an indelible part of who I am.
Revenge Week: Seeing Devils - Violence and Revenge in Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw the Devil (Part I)
By David Bell
Revenge Week: Top 10 Korean Revenge Films
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
Korean cinema may not only be a purveyor of revenge fare but there's no denying the country's particular flair for churning out gripping vengeance-fuelled narratives. However, unlike gangster fare or romcoms, revenge films are a little harder to identify, especially when it comes to making a list like this. Outside of a few obvious contenders, it took a lot of ground work and research before even writing a word, as, again and again, I had to keep asking myself "does this count as a revenge film"?
Monday, July 8, 2013
Revenge Week: Trailers of Revenge! Day 1
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013). This daily series comes courtesy of Tom Giammarco, the author of the Seen in Jeonju website, surely one of the best resources for information on classic Korean cinema on the web. Enjoy!
If you have ever read my blog, you know that I really prefer to focus on older Korean movies. When I heard about REVENGE WEEK, I initially thought I would track down some older movies with a revenge themed plot and write about them, and I still may. However, I was sidetracked by another thought. While trying to locate an appropriate film, I stumbled across a trailer for one of the movies I was considering – Janus, Lady of Fire. In this 1987 film directed by Kim Seong-soo, (not the Kim Seong-soo still directing today), Eun-ji arrives early at a cabin where she will be meeting her soon-to-be husband but is gang-raped while waiting for him. Upon recovering, she sets out to seek out her attackers and kills them one by one in creative ways. However, before dying, one of the rapists confesses that they had been hired by her boyfriend so Eun-ji gets herself a gun and sets out to commit one final killing.
Revenge Week: A Dish Best Served Cold
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
It is a popular assertion in drama and literature that revenge is a violent action committed to gain justice for a wronged party. Hamlet kills his uncle for murdering his father, the 47 ronin in the Chushingura devised an elaborate plan to avenge their fallen daimyo and the Old Testament gave us the old acorn “An eye for an eye”. Yet while this simplistic dictum has fueled many vendettas from around the world and throughout time there is never any peace for those involved. In the land of the blind the one-eyed man inherits nothing but a charred and ruined kingdom.
Revenge Week: Introduction - Seeds of Revenge
Part of MKC's Revenge Week (July 8-14, 2013).
One of the most popular trends in cinema across the world, revenge is a powerful device that triggers audience empathy and can be a great excuse to indulge in exploitation on the screen. Far be it from merely being a contrivance to allow for bloody genre cinema, the why of revenge often stretches beyond the theater. Society and history, not to mention personal expression, have led to the construction of many revenge narratives in cinema. Vengeance can take on many forms and its depiction can be a force of good, evil or any shade of grey in between.
Revenge Week Begins!
Welcome to Revenge Week on Modern Korean Cinema! We are very excited to be featuring lots of new and exciting content from MKC team members and many new contributors throughout the next seven days as we seek to explore the bountiful theme of revenge in Korean cinema.
This page will serve as homebase for all the accumulated content that goes up during the week so please bookmark or check back to keep up with all the great stuff coming up over the next few days.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Final NYAFF Contest
Hey New Yorkers!! We hope you're enjoying all the goodies at NYAFF. Sadly though, all good things must come to an end and here at Modern Korean Cinema our Trivia Contest must officially close. For our fourth and final trivia contest contestants get a chance to win one ticket to a screening of Juvenile Offender, an arthouse drama about a troubled teen's reunion with his mother after abandoning him 17 years ago. The screening will occur on July 11th at 6 pm. As usual. all you have to do is answer the trivia question and send it to [email protected] before noon on the day of screening. Good like and good movie.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
New Korean Films: These Are Watching You (2013 Week 27)
Cold Eyes
(감시자들)
The Special Crime Department of the Korean police is led by Hwang Sang-jun, a detective who tracks down criminals thanks to his instinct. A new recruit, Ha Yoon-ju, who demonstrates an exceptional memory and sense of observation, joins his team. Both they must work as a team to capture a dangerous robbing organization headed by the cautious and very discreet "James."
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
NYAFF Continues On!!
Okay, so now that NYAFF is underway and our first two trivia contests have finished. Congratulations to Matthew Kiernan, Jacky Caguicla, Avi Avital, and Talia Meisel for answering the trivia questions correctly and we hope that you enjoyed your movie. Now for our third contest the prize will be a ticket for the 2:15 pm screening of The Peach Tree on July 9th.
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