Review: THE HIMALAYAS Swaps Snowflakes For Tears

By Pierce Conran

For those looking for an expedition drama, be warned that despite its title, The Himalayas is first and foremost a melodrama. One concerning brotherhood, family and, above all, coping with grief. Himalayan expedition films seem to be in vogue at the moment, with 2015 already yielding Baltasar Kormákur's Everest and Japanese drama Everest: The Summit of the Gods due out in a few months, but Lee Suk-hoon's picture is more concerned with relationships than it is with the technicalities of mountaineering.

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News: ODE TO MY FATHER Becomes 2nd Most Successful Korean Film of All Time

By Pierce Conran

Yesterday, JK Youn's Ode to My Father surpassed The Host (2006) and The Thieves (2012) to become the second most successful Korean film of all time. Still in third place on the charts in its eighth week, the blockbuster melodrama added 89,809 viewers on Saturday to bring its total to 13.02 million admissions ($92.16 million). Including foreign films, the film is in third place, behind Avatar's (2009) 13.62 million viewers.

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News: ODE TO MY FATHER Joins the 10 Million Viewer Club

After four weeks, JK Youn's blockbuster melodrama Ode to My Father joined the 10 million viewer club last night. It is the 11th Korean film to do so at the local box office and the 14th overall. It's also the fourth film of 2014 to reach the mark (a record), along with Frozen, Roaring Currents and Interstellar, and the first time that a director has breached the barrier twice, since Youn's previously managed the feat with Haeundae in 2009.

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