Weekly Review Round-up (02/11-02/17, 2012)

Lots of big reviews for My Way this week as it played at the Berlin Film Festival and also a number of reviews for romance films coinciding with Valentine's Day this past Tuesday, including a series for Hanguk Yeonghwa.

RECENT RELEASES

Arirang

(asianmovieweb.com, February 14, 2012)

Countdown

(Beyond Hollywood, February 15, 2012)

Couples

(hancinema.net, Febraury 11, 2012)

(Modern Korean Cinema, February 14, 2012)

Elbowroom

(Beyond Hollywood, February 13, 2012)

Hindsight

(Beyond Hollywood, February 10, 2012)

My Way

(Film Business Asia, February 13, 2012)

(Film School Rejects, February 11, 2012)

(The Hollywood Reporter, February 10, 2012)

(Variety, February 11 - Subscription Required)

Pain

(Modern Korean Cinema, February 16, 2012)

Romantic Heaven

(Init_Scenes, February 15, 2012)

Secret Reunion

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, February 11, 2012)

Sunny

(Korean Grindhouse, February 11, 2012)

The Client

(koreanfilm.org, February 2012)

War of the Arrows

(Twitch, February 12, 2012)

You're My Pet

(Drama Beans, February 12, 2012)

PAST FILMS

A Millionaire's First Love, 2006

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, February 15, 2012)

A Moment to Remember, 2004

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, February 13, 2012)

Dasepo Naughty Girls, 2006

(Otherwhere, February 13, 2012)

Gagman, 1989

(Mini Mini Movie, February 15, 2012)

Heaven's Postman, 2009

(Korean Candy, February 17, 2012)

Love Marriage, 1958

(Seen in Jeonju, February 12, 2012)

Maundy Thursday, 2006

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, February 14, 2012)

Musa, 2001

(Subtitled Online, February 12, 2012)

Romantic Island, 2008

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, February 16, 2012)

Secret Sunshine, 2007

(Init_Scenes, February 10, 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. 

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Top 10 Korean Films of 2011

All in all 2011 was a bit of a disappointing year for Korean cinema, at least as far as commercial cinema was concerned.  On the other hand, independent films continued to build on their success of the last few years.  However, I'm not overly worried about the state of the industry because at the end of the day it doesn't produce a huge amount of films and is more susceptible to the ebbs and flows of projects than a larger filmmaking centre like Hollywood.  In any case, 2012 looks to be a much stronger year for Korean film.

For a while I was getting very worried about what my top 10 for the year would like, a month ago I'd only seen four of the films listed here.  Thankfully a number of more recent releases became available and things suddenly started to look a lot better.  That being said, I've seen about 45 films from last year but there's a lot that I haven't had a chance to see yet so this list will likely look quite different six month down the line, and if I feel so inclined perhaps I'll change it!

In the below links are my top 10 Korean films for 2011, followed by honourable mentions and my bottom 5.  The only criteria I go by to consider a film from 2011 is if it was released in Korea during that calendar year.

Intro - 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 - Best of the Rest

Top 10 Lists

Year  2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016
2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010

2010s (Top 50) - All Time (Top 25)

Genre

Gangster - Horror - Revenge