Why Hollywood Genre Flicks Need Korean Film, Not Korean Filmmakers

(by Peter Gutiérrez)

Here’s a snobby confession for you: I don’t read the New York Times much for insights into international cinema. But when it recently ran a piece entitled South Korean Crossover in Hollywood, I had to pay attention. Rather predictably it compared and contrasted Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, and Kim Ji-woon, taking an approach that cited previous waves of foreign-born directors arriving in the US and making the entire issue seem like one of immigration.

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WKR: Confession of Murder, Pieta and More (12/08-12/14, 2012)

A trove of past Korean films reviewed in this week's roundup, along with a pair of writeups on Kim Ki-duk's Pieta and more.

CURRENT FILMS

Confession of Murder

(Modern Korean Cinema, December 13, 2012)

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WKR: Current Korean Hits, LKFF and Classic Film Reviews (11/10-11/16, 2012)

Lots of reviews in from the LKFF and more than classic films reviewed than usual, thanks in large part to a big new update on koreanfilm.org.

CURRENT FILMS

A Werewolf Boy

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, November 12, 2012)

Confession of Murder

(Screen Daily, November 9, 2012)

Masquerade

(oriental nightmares, November 12, 2012)

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WKR: The Thieves + More Current and Recent Films (08/11-08/17, 2012)

A good selection of write-ups on new and recent films this week.

CURRENT FILMS

Deranged

(Quiet Earth, August 15, 2012)

Horror Stories

(koreanfilm.org, August 2012)

The Thieves

(koreanfilm.org, August 2012)

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Weekly Review Round-up (07/28-08/03, 2012)

It's been a few weeks since the Weekly Review Roundups have been up but I've gone back and added them all now. Lots of PiFan reviews of course and plenty more!

I also wanted to take a moment to say that I will be a little more selective about what appears on WRR from now on. Up until now I've been happy to feature anything on Korean film as long as it was legible but over time I've come across some major outlets that don't always present honest opinions. I'm not here to name and shame but I have removed a few sources from my list that I believe do not respect their audience by giving false opinions for ulterior purposes. Anyway, shouldn't change much going forward!

Thanks for reading and WRR should be back to its weekly status for the foreseeable future.

CURRENT FILMS

Deranged

(allkpop, July 31, 2012)

(The Los Angeles Times, August 3, 2012)

The Thieves

(Seongyong's Private Place, July 28, 2012)

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KBO: The Thieves Steals First Place in Grand Fashion (07/27-07/29, 2012)

The Thieves Steals First Place in Grand Fashion

Apologies for this abbreviated Box Office Report, all updates were suspended while MKC covered the 16th PiFan.

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	The Thieves	7/25/12	55.30%	2,004,178	2,866,802	1,073
2	The Dark Knight Rises (us)	7/19/12	25.30%	891,004	4,256,255	807
3	Ice Age 4 (us)	7/25/12	10.60%	359,122	470,762	501
4	Horror Stories	7/25/12	2.60%	91,890	141,071	274
5	Deranged	7/5/12	2.00%	75,898	4,411,340	261
6	Detective Conan (jp)	7/19/12	1.70%	72,203	329,882	211
7	Doraeman (jp)	7/25/12	1.10%	45,187	58,340	180
8	The Amazing Spiderman (us)	6/28/12	0.30%	9,572	4,840,651	45
9	Midnight in Paris (us)	7/5/12	0.20%	8,143	293,979	38
10	SeoTaiji Record of the 8th	7/27/12	0.20%	5,326	5,326	1

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Weekly Review Round-up (07/21-07/27, 2012)

Lots of PiFan reviews this week!

FUTURE FILMS

90 Minutes

(Modern Korean Cinema, July 23, 2012)

(Twitch, July 23, 2012)

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KBO: The Dark Knight Rises to First (07/20-07/22, 2012)

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	The Dark Knight Rises (us)	7/19/12	65.30%	1,992,182	2,434,011	1,210
2	Deranged	7/5/12	15.70%	495,156	4,172,904	534
3	Detective Conan (jp)	7/19/12	5.40%	190,413	204,496	350
4	The Amazing Spiderman (us)	6/28/12	6.30%	189,839	4,779,673	357
5	The 5-Million Dollar Man	7/19/12	2.00%	63,943	79,794	328
6	Two Moons	7/12/12	1.80%	59,429	398,617	238
7	A Letter to Momo (jp)	7/5/12	0.90%	30,825	294,196	109
8	Midnight in Paris (us)	7/5/12	0.90%	25,588	268,136	92
9	Madagascar 3 (us)	6/6/12	0.40%	11,434	1,621,890	52
10	Dangerously Excited	7/12/12	0.20%	7,429	214,080	95

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Weekly Review Round-up (07/14-07/20, 2012)

A number of new releases reviewed this week and much more.

CURRENT FILMS

Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley

(Modern Korean Cinema, July 19, 2012)

(Twitch, July 18, 2012)

Dangerously Excited

(Seongyong's Private Place, July 14, 2012)

Deranged

(Seongyong's Private Place, July 15, 2012)

(The Hollywood Reporter, July 17, 2012)

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Korean Cinema News (07/12-07/18, 2012)

PiFan is upon us and once it gets underway tomorrow I dare say I won't have time for anything else. This means that there will be no Korean Cinema News next week but don't worry I'll double the week after the fest!

PIFAN

Final two previews from James Marsh and I over at Twitch:

PiFan Preview Part 5: Myung Films, 70s Korean Comedites and More!

Twitch Reveals its Top Picks

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Korean Box Office Update (07/13-07/15, 2012)

Deranged Infects the Charts

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Deranged	7/5/12	43.60%	1,148,211	3,226,499	734
2	The Amazing Spiderman (us)	6/28/12	28.80%	679,675	4,396,250	652
3	Two Moons	7/12/12	7.60%	204,806	238,454	347
4	Dangerously Excited	7/12/12	4.90%	127,816	157,225	278
5	A Letter to Momo (jp)	7/5/12	3.80%	108,895	247,814	248
6	Limitless (us)	7/12/12	2.30%	60,765	76,399	159
7	Midnight in Paris (us)	7/5/12	2.50%	60,051	196,927	144
8	Madagascar 3 (us)	6/6/12	2.00%	54,143	1,606,573	163
9	The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (uk)	7/12/12	0.90%	22,967	31,650	149
10	Street Dance 2 (us)	7/12/12	0.80%	20,875	26,179	133

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Korean Cinema News (07/05-07/11, 2012)

Plenty of news this week so dig in! PiFan is just around the corner by the way, get started next Thursday!

PIFAN

Check out the following previews for this year's PiFan, written by myself and James Marsh over on Twitch:

PiFan 2012 Preview Part 3: Vision Express 
PiFan 2012 Preview Part 4: Strange Homage, Forbidden Zone & More

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Korean Box Office Update (07/06-07/08, 2012)

Deranged Beats Spidey in Massive Debut

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Deranged	7/5/12	39.20%	1,128,335	1,323,523	755
2	The Amazing Spiderman (us)	6/28/12	42.90%	1,059,076	3,362,773	896
3	A Letter to Momo (jp)	7/5/12	3.30%	102,728	114,887	252
4	Madascar 3 (us)	6/6/12	2.80%	83,087	1,545,255	247
5	The Raven (us)	7/5/12	2.40%	65,946	87,472	264
6	Midnight in Paris (us)	7/5/12	2.30%	61,735	80,391	187
7	All About My Wife	5/17/12	2.00%	56,070	4,516,210	184
8	The Emperor's Concubine	6/6/12	1.60%	44,226	2,569,270	252
9	Haywire (us)	7/5/12	0.90%	26,675	34,093	199
10	Cabin in the Woods (us)	6/28/12	0.80%	20,773	211,874	184

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July 2012 Korean Releases

This monthly features previews the coming month's attractions in Korean cinema. All of these monthly posts are available in an archive on the Upcoming Releases page.

July 5

Deranged

July 12

Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley
Dangerously Excited
Sex, Lies and Videotape
Two Moons
Venus in Furs

July 19

Tears of the Antarctic
The 5-Million-Dollar Man
Ukelele Love Together

July 25

The Thieves

July 26

Horror Stories

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