CURRENT FILMS
Masquerade
(Film School Rejects, September 20, 2012)
Showing posts with label moss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moss. Show all posts
Friday, September 21, 2012
WKR: Masquerade and Bounty of Recent Releases (09/15-09/21, 2012)
Lee Byung-Hyun's smash hit period pic Masquerade gets a number of reviews this week while a wide selection of recent Korean films gets covered all around the world, from DVD and cinema releases to TIFF, Zipangu and Yeonghwa: Korean Cinema Today coverage.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Korean Cinema News (04/26-05/02, 2012)
I had a lot of news in my mailbox when I returned from Italy this week so there's plenty of big announcement in this Korean Cinema News update! Also a huge amount of exciting trailers below, including As One, In Another Country, Taste of Money and The Thieves. Remember if you have any news relating to Korean film feel free to email me and I'll be happy to include it in the nest update.
Enjoy!
Ahn Sung-ki and Lee Byung-hun to Cast Handprints in Hollywood
The inaugural Look East: Korean Film Festival will be taking place this June, on the weekend of the 23-24, at the famed Grauman's Chinese film theatre in the heart of Hollywood. Numerous Korean films, old and new, will be showcased but the focal point of the event will the casting of the hand and foot prints of two major Korean actors. This marks the first time that any Asian performers have been honoured in such a fashion in Los Angeles.
Enjoy!
KOREAN CINEMA NEWS
The inaugural Look East: Korean Film Festival will be taking place this June, on the weekend of the 23-24, at the famed Grauman's Chinese film theatre in the heart of Hollywood. Numerous Korean films, old and new, will be showcased but the focal point of the event will the casting of the hand and foot prints of two major Korean actors. This marks the first time that any Asian performers have been honoured in such a fashion in Los Angeles.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Fest Preview: New York Korean Film Festival 2012
It’s probably a testament to the output and quality of the Korean film industry that here in New York we’re gearing up for NYKFF 2012 a scant five months after the similar Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today series, also a project of The Korea Society.
With this tenth edition of the fest, the programmers have, as in years past, done a terrific job of showing off Korea’s startling range of populist cinema. The lineup itself may not be vast, with only seven titles screening over three days, but the accessible mix of genres and styles makes the event perfect for both newbies and veteran fans who want to catch some rare big-screen presentations of several recent hits. Here’s a quick rundown of all that lies in store…
Sunny
Forget about the "chick flick" vibe as reflected in the poster, title, and maybe any plot summary you've read of this film – or maybe don't forget about it but instead allow any preconceived notions about the themes and tone of your typical chick flick simply to melt away. Yes, the maudlin, cancer-patient set-up is not promising, but fortunately most of the runtime is devoted to extended flashbacks of a very winning group of young actresses... and mostly they're just involved in a series of engaging confrontations with a rival pack of school girls. One of these occurs against a backdrop of a full-scale political riot, and soon becomes exhilarating in the way that only the best set pieces can. Consistently humorous, Sunny is pure, unaffected fun; so good and so refreshing that it made me recall why I love Korean cinema in the first place.
The Servant
At first it may seem a bit odd to showcase a 2010 film that’s been readily available to North American audiences via Netflix Instant since last year, but such an opinion would ignore the chief reason to see Kim Dae-woo’s grand romance: its overwhelming, practically swoon-inducing, visual beauty. Indeed, the combined efforts of art direction, cinematography, and costume design to achieve unforgettably vivid images projected in a larger-than-life format should provide sufficient motivation to travel to Brooklyn – or anywhere else. For better or worse, though, its sheer gorgeousness may be The Servant’s main virtue despite its many moments of disarming comedy and a few effective shocks. Retelling “The Tale of Chunhyang” with a mix of period intrigue and modern-day bluntness, especially when it comes to matters sexual, certainly increases the potential audience for such a film but the uneasy meshing of tones and sensibilities didn’t always work for me. More importantly, the film only partly strikes the air of high tragedy it’s aiming for – although it could be that I’m judging it a bit unfairly by comparing it to similar Korean films of the past decade: in my experience Hollywood romances are seldom this ambitious and thoughtful.
Moss
With a delicious air of slow-building menace and mystery, punctuated with sudden jolts of violence, Moss consistently delivers in the chills-and-thrills department. Ultimately, however, its climax (after two and half hours) lacks the majestic, perhaps mind-bending, revelations we’ve been expecting, whether spiritual in nature per the film’s themes or simply on the order of a deeply satisfying plot twist. Still, there are ample pleasures to be had here. Jeong Jae-young memorably plays the same character in both a young, abrasive, and corrupt version and as an older, still corrupt, but vastly smoother incarnation that recalls John Huston in Chinatown (1974)… except Huston wasn’t acting 30 years beyond his actual age. All in all, though, I much prefer the following film, made by pretty much the same creative team, in terms of providing a rewarding cinematic experience. 
GLove
I'm not big on feel-good movies, to put it mildly, and sports flicks have an annoying tendency to be formulaic, but this one really stands out from the crowd. Jeong Jae-young, one of my favorite Korean actors, nails the lead role as a disgraced ballplayer but to his credit does not overshadow the fine supporting cast. Kudos to director Kang Woo-suk for pulling this off as well as all the tonal shifts that a dramedy of this type demands – that Kang is at the same time showing off his own impressive versatility after the dark, usually urban films that have earned him so much box office success probably goes without saying. Rhymes with: the 2011 Oscar-nominated American documentary Undefeated.
Hindsight
I’m rounding my assessment up from a fail to a mere disappointment simply because, for my money, Song Kang-ho is one of the world's great stars and carries several scenes just by waiting a beat and then smiling. To a certain degree one can overlook the empty glossiness of production and equally shallow sentimentalism – those often come with the territory if one is expecting a multi-genre, popcorn-fueled blockbuster. In other words, I would have been very happy with another Secret Reunion (2010). Of course it's fine that here we have a romantic subtext instead of bromantic one, but what's not fine is how undercooked it is and how anemic the action scenes are on top of that. As an example of how neither angle works, I submit this image: an undeniably cute and appealing Shin Se-kyung takes aim with a high-powered rifle but then director Lee Hyun-seung has her gently bite her lower lip in hesitation. If you feel this sort of thing adds extra dimension to female characters or more heft to dramatic tension, knock yourself out, but I found Hindsight hard to take seriously after this point. The same was true following two scenes in which the leads separately endure the kind of physical assault that would land the rest of us in traction but from which they bounce back so quickly that it's as if the characters themselves had stunt doubles.
Quick
Quick is a film that doesn't take itself very seriously and all the ingredients are there for a heady summer cocktail of speed, flash and pyrotechnics but at the end of the day it's just too much. The story is cluttered and there are too many ingredients thrown in to please any and all comers, such as k-pop, gangsters, biker gangs, youth violence, washboard abs, scantily clad women, inefficient police, romance and of course melodrama. However, one you thing you can almost always count on with Korean films is strong production values and true to form director Jo Beom-goo's team is no slouch in the SFX department. At the end of the day this comedy-action film has a little something for everyone but perhaps not enough for anyone. (Pierce Conran)
Late Autumn
A second remake of the classic Lee Man-hui film of 1966, following one from 1981, and not to be confused with Yasujiro Ozu's 1960 film of the same name, Late Autumn is the third feature from the excellent Kim Tae-yong, who previously helmed Memento Mori (1999) and Family Ties (2006). The film stars Chinese beauty Tang Wei as an imprisoned woman on a three-day furlough to attend her mother's funeral in Seattle and Korean heartthrob Hyun Bin as a man on the run. The film kicked off a long series of international film festival engagements in Toronto and has subsequently been featured at Busan, Berlin, Jeonju, London, Hong Kong, and many more. It has also been awarded several times, most notably by the same jury that gave its top prize to Poetry at the Fribourg International Film Festival last March. (Pierce Conran)
Peter Gutiérrez writes for Twitch and School Library Journal, and can be counted on for too-frequent film and pop culture updates on Twitter via @Peter_Gutierrez.
Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema. For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).
To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Weekly Review Round-up (01/07-01/13, 2012)
A pair of reviews for last year's breakout debut Bleak Night and a number of writeups for various independent and classic Korean film to boot.
RECENT RELEASES
Bleak Night
(Modern Korean Cinema, January 10, 2012)
(hancinema.net, January 7, 2012)
(Flickering Myth, January 9, 2012)
(Rainy Day Movies, January 9, 2012)
(Modern Korean Cinema, January 12, 2012)
(Hangul Celluloid, January 9, 2012)
(Beyond Hollywood, January 10, 2012)
(Rainy Day Movies, January 11, 2011)
(Asian Movie Web, January 9, 2012)
PAST FILMS
A Brand New Life, 2009
(Rainy Day Movies, January 10, 2012)
A Day Off, 1968
(Init_Scenes, January 11, 2012)
Black Hair, 1964
(Init_Scenes, January 9, 2012)
Memories of Murder, 2003
(Hanguk Yeonghwa, January 11, 2011)
Night and Day, 2008
(DVD Talk, January 8, 2012)
Romantic Warriors, 2003
(New Korean Cinema, January 12, 2012)
Secret Sunshine, 2007
(BloggersBase, January 8, 2012)
The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site.
To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Weekly Review Round-up (12/24-12/30, 2011)
A little slow this week but another wide variety of films covered, good, bad, old and new.
Enjoy!
The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site.
To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
Enjoy!
RECENT RELEASES
(Modern Korean Cinema, December 29, 2011)
(Init_Scenes, December 27, 2011)
(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 27, 2011)
(Film in Asian, December 27, 2011)
(Film Business Asia, December 28, 2011)
(Init_Scenes, December 25, 2011)
(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 23, 2011)
(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 24, 2011)
(The Hollywood Reporter, December 26, 2011)
(Rainy Day movies, December 28, 2011)
(Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal, December 24, 2011)
(hancinema.net, December 24, 2011)
(Asian Movie Web, December 27, 2011)
PAST FILMS
3-Iron, 2004
(Otherwhere, December 25, 2011)
Happy Ero Christmas, 2003
(Korean Class Massive, December 24, 2011)
Hellcats, 2008
(Init_Scenes, December 23, 2011)
Wonderful Days, 2003
(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 23, 2011)
The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site.
To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Weekly Review Round-up (10/29-11/04, 2011)
A few reviews for Silenced (aka The Crucible/Dogani) this week as it opened in select locations in the US. A variety of other pieces, including some on Sector 7 and The Yellow Sea. I imagine that next week we will be seeing a lot of write-ups coming in from the London Korean Film Festival, which opened last night.
CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES
(Film Business Asia, October 29, 2011)
Silenced
(Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2011)
(The Daily Herald, November 3, 2011)
(The Jeju Weekly, October 28, 2011)
(The Seattle Times, November 3, 2011)
Silenced
(Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2011)
(The Daily Herald, November 3, 2011)
(The Jeju Weekly, October 28, 2011)
(The Seattle Times, November 3, 2011)
RECENT RELEASES
(hancinema.net, October 29, 2011)
Stateless Things
(Anikor, November 1, 2011)
Sunny
(japancinema.net, November 3, 2011)
Stateless Things
(Anikor, November 1, 2011)
Sunny
(japancinema.net, November 3, 2011)
(hancinema, October 29, 2011)
The Yellow Sea
(The Student, October 29, 2011)
(Varsity, November 2, 2011)
War of the Arrows
(Every Film in 2011, November 2, 2011)
The Yellow Sea
(The Student, October 29, 2011)
(Varsity, November 2, 2011)
War of the Arrows
(Every Film in 2011, November 2, 2011)
PAST FILMS
Eye For an Eye, 2008
Yellow Hair, 1999
(Hangul Celluloid, October 30, 2011)
The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site.
To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Weekly Review Round-Up (08/06-08/12, 2011)
A variety of films reviewed this week including another pair of broadsheet commentaries for Poetry as it continues to screen across the world.
NEW KOREAN RELEASES
(hancinema.net, August 6, 2011)
(Seongyeong's Private Place, August 6, 2011)
RECENT RELEASES
(Variety, August 9, 2011)
(Beyond Hollywood, August 9, 2011)
(Modern Korean Cinema, August 6, 2011)
(koreanfilm.org, August 8, 2011)
(indieWIRE, August 9, 2011)
(Hangul Celluloid, August 7, 2011)
(The Reel Bits, August 6, 2006)
Poetry
(Beyond Hollywood, August 10, 2011)
(koreanfilm.org, August 8, 2011)
(PopMatters, August 11, 2011)
(pulpcurry.com, August 10, 2011) also cross-posted on VCinema
PAST FILMS
Running Turtle, 2009
(Modern Korean Cinema, August 7, 2011)
The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site.
To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
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