Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Korean Cinema News (04/12-04/18, 2012)

Some great trailers and a fantastic from Park Chan-wook on Stoker this week but much of the last seven days' Korean Cinema news revolves around the Kickstarter project behing Remember O Goddess, an upcoming Korean film that is looking for crowdsourced funding.  Lee Yoon-jung has been working hard to get the word out as she seeks to turn her excellent short film of the same title into a feature.  Last week there was a post promoting the project here on MKC:


Wanna Help Make a Korean Film? Here's Your Chance!
(Modern Korean Cinema, April 10, 2012)

She has also had a few interviews with some of MKC's favorite Korean cinema resources:

Hangul Celluloid (April 11, 2012)
Han Cinema (April 14, 2012)

You can watch Lee's fantastic short below:




KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

District 9 star Sharlto Copley offered bad guy role in Spike Lee’s Oldboy
Those of you who have seen District 9 can attest that Sharlto Copley should be in a lot more movies.  Now Variety reports that the actor has just been offered the villain role in Spike Lee’s American remake of Oldboy, a 2003 Korean thriller from director Chan-Wook Park that holds the distinction of being one of the most disturbing movies I’ve seen in a long time.  (Filmonic, April 12, 2012)

Korean Film Downunder 3: Longing for a Ko-production
The time has come for Australia to look to the powerhouse of the Asia Pacific region in regards to the entertainment industry.  No longer can our focus simply be locked on to the lustrous billions of potential opportunities that China seems to hold over us. The real leader in the region, the real leader in the industry, is South Korea.  (Tully's Recall, April 16, 2012)

This Friday, the 14th Udine Far East Film Festival gets underway presenting one of the best lineups of Asian cinema to be found outside of the continent. MKC will be onsite covering the event though since I only get there on Sunday night I will have missed the first few days, which sadly include some of the films I was most excited about. Long have I known about the FEFF and wanted to go so I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to attend this year and sample the many films on offer.  (Modern Korean Cinema, April 17, 2012)

Ryoo Seung-wan's highly anticipated film Berlin, featuring a bevy of stars, began production on the 16th in Korea and will move to Europe next month for the majority of its shoot.  Berlin stars Ha Jeong-woo, Han Seok-kyu, Rioo Seung-beom and Jeon Ji-hyeon.  It a spy action drama about three men and a woman who chase after each other after getting involved in an unexpected plot based in Berlin.  (hancinema.net, April 17, 2012)


INTERVIEW

Acclaimed director Park Chan-wook, who is renowned for daring films such as Oldboy (2003), Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005) and Thirst (2009) recently wrapped production on his English-language film debut, a thriller called Stoker.  The film, which stars Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, is slated for release later this year and there is already talk of a possible Cannes premiere.   (Joong Ang Daily, March 29, 2012)


TRAILERS

As One

Don't Click

Everything About My Wife

Red Maria


POSTERS

Don't Click

The Scent

The Taste of Money


BOX OFFICE


(Modern Korean Cinema, April 15, 2012)


Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. 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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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Preview: 14th Udine Far East Film Festival


This Friday, the 14th Udine Far East Film Festival gets underway presenting one of the best lineups of Asian cinema to be found outside of the continent.  MKC will be onsite covering the event though since I only get there on Sunday night I will have missed the first few days, which sadly include some of the films I was most excited about.  Long have I known about the FEFF and wanted to go so I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to attend this year and sample the many films on offer.

Unlike last month's excellent Fribourg International Film Festivsl, which MKC also covered, the FEFF's programme is much more closely aligned to this site's focus, namely Korean cinema.  In the standard section of the festival, which encompasses the majority of the films, there will be ten Korean films presented.  Outside of this there are an additional ten films selected in the 'Darkest Decade: Korean Filmmakers in the 1970s' sidebar, curated by Darcy Paquet.

Among the remaining 40-odd films there is a lot I'm looking forward to.  One film that jumped out to me was Seediq Bale (2011), the Taiwanese epic but unfortunately that will be playing before I arrive.  There are a few Hiroki Ryuichi (The Egoists, 2010; River, 2012) and Pang Ho-cheung (Love In a Puff, 2010; Love in the Buff, 2012; Vulgaria, 2012) films I will checking out as well as offering from all over Asia like Malaysia (Songlap, 2011), Thailand (It Gets Better, 2011), Philippines (6 Degrees of Separation From Lilia Cuntapay, 2011), Hong Kong (The Bounty, 2012; The Viral Factor, 2012) and Japan (Sukiyaki, 2011; The Woodsman and the Rain, 2011).


New Korean Films


Kicking off the festival will be the popular Korean hit Sunny (2011) which has been winning over audiences the world over.  In attendance will be director Kang Hyeong-cheol and producer Lee Anna.  Also playing will be Dangerously Excited (2012), the only Korean film on the program that has yet to be released in theatres.  I was also dangerously excited for this until I realised that I won't be there for it.

Not to worry though as I will get the chance to see Unbowed (2012) and Punch (2011) on the big screen.  I have seen the other new Korean films and it's a strong selection, particularly with the presence of Moby Dick (2011) and Silenced (2011), though I was surprised to see Perfect Partner (2011) included.  Below are MKC's available reviews for the selection:



Darkest Decade: Korean Filmmakers in the 1970s


The most exciting thing about this year's FEFF for me is without a doubt this retrospective of 1970s Korean cinema.  Heavyweights of classic Korean cinema Im Kwon-taek, Kim Ki-young, Kim Soo-yong and Yu Hyun-mok are all featured twice and make this sidebar a must.

I'll be leaving from Switzerland at 7am by train on Sunday and should arrive about 12 hours later in Udine after a stop in Milan.  I'm dying to get there and if you will also be making your way to the festival, please don't hesitate to contact me (pierceconran [at] modernkoreancinema [dot] com).




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.

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Monday, April 16, 2012

MKC (and I) Are Moving to Seoul!

source: Deiaemeth

Part of an ongoing series about my trip to and discovery of Seoul...

It occurs to me that some of you make not know where Modern Korean Cinema is based.  I initially set up the site in August 2010 while I was living and working in Los Angeles, USA.  But it wasn't until March 2011 that I really started to throw myself into the project, this was when the first Korean Cinema Blogathon came around which was a fantastic entry and contact point for all that was related to Korean cinema online.

Sadly I was forced to leave America at the end of July after a long battle to renew my visa didn't come out in my favour.  It was a difficult time as it meant I had to leave my friends, my job and, most importantly, my girlfriend, who is simply the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I returned to my childhood home at the base of the Alps in Switzerland and set about getting my life back on track.  I was not able to find suitable employment in the country but after seeing MKC really take off and getting offers to write for books and journals as a result of it, it occurred that the best thing I could do would be to follow my passion.

At the end of last year I made the decision to move to South Korea.  I took my time looking for a position as I had a few engagements throughout Europe during the early part of the year that I didn't want to miss such as the East Winds Symposium in Coventry, the Fribourg Intl. Film Festival and the upcoming Udine Far East Film Festival.  But now the stage is set as last Thursday I signed a contract with a school in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul to teach English.  Will be there once the visa goes through, which looks like mid-May.

I am looking forward to meeting so many people in Seoul and across Korea who have been supportive of Modern Korean Cinema and to finally visit a country that has long held my fascination.  I can't wait to attend the country's many great festivals and savour the peninsula's wonderful cuisine.

I hope that the opportunity will only improve the quality of MKC as reviews of major Korean releases will be up sooner (if I can see them in theatres with English subtitles), more accurate and up to date news should be accessible, I will have a chance to cover the Busan Intl. Film Festival and much more.

So I will take this opportunity to thank you all for visiting MKC and for your continued support, none of this would be possible without you.  I am thrilled to be moving to Korea and if any of you want to meet up for a chat, a drink or some 김치, do not hesitate to contact me at pierconran [at] modernkoreancinema [dot] com!

감사합니다!

Korean BBQ with Friends last month in London

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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Korean Box Office Update (04/13-04/15, 2012)

Battleship Sinks the Competition



Title Release Date Market Share Weekend Total Screens
1 Battleship (us) 4/11/12 41.80% 673,952 1,195,202 734
2 Architecture 101 3/22/12 15.90% 254,381 2,917,429 450
3 The Scent 4/11/12 15.60% 242,544 396,547 348
4 Untouchable (fr) 3/22/12 5.20% 84,418 1,502,292 242
5 Hunger Games (us) 4/5/12 4.30% 69,271 504,807 323
6 Over My Dead Body 3/29/12 4.20% 67,258 880,154 268
7 Titanic 3D (us) 2/20/98 5.70% 56,092 269,254 159
8 Beauty and the Beast (us) 7/4/92 3.80% 44,552 96,480 220
9 Doomsday Book 4/11/12 1.90% 31,564 73,836 236
10 Wrath of the Titans (us) 3/29/12 0.60% 10,086 883,711 114


The summer season got off to an early start this year as Battleship opened in most global territories, except for the United States.  Things over there kick off in early May with The Avengers and perhaps since Battleship will be playing in its wake when it opens two weeks later, the studio felt it should get a head start in the increasingly relevant international markets.  As such, business was up about 60% year-on-year with 1.6 million tickets sold versus just shy of a million in 2011.  Hollywood competition forced the domestic market share down to 38% which was down significantly from last year's 67%.

Battleship shot into first place with 673,952 and has already accumulated nearly 1.2 million admissions since it opened on Election Day, a holiday in Korea.  While certainly a strong figure it doesn't come close to some of the bigger openings of the past 12 months and will need to battle poor reviews to become a bonafide blockbuster.

In its fourth weekend, local hit Architecture 101 finally dropped a rank as it lost about 45% of its business for a 254,381 frame.  This probably means it has enjoyed the best part of its run and will start to make its exit from theaters in the coming weeks.  Currently it's a stone's throw from the three million mark and may go as far as 3.5.

The major new Korean release of the week was the thriller The Scent, starring Park Hee-soon and Park Si-yeon, which had a so-so start with 242,544.  The only thing that will save it now is very positive word of mouth but I have yet to hear anything about it and more than likely it will fade quickly.

French feelgood hit Untouchable dropped one more spot but lost over 60% of its steam for an 84,418 weekend.  In the meantime it has crossed the 1.5 million admissions mark which is a remarkable feat for a continental European film.

Hunger Games crumbled after its poor opening, sliding three spots and 75% for a lousy 69,271.  Its haul stands at just over half a million admissions and it will disappear fast.

Over My Dead Body lost two thirds of its business as it added 67,258 admissions to its total which could still reach the one million mark.  It will be close but next week's dearth of new openings could give it its chance.

At number seven, the 3D rerelease of Titanic added 56,092 to its bounty while the Disney rerelease of The Beauty and the Beast managed 44,552 in its opening weekend.

The anticipated Kim Jee-woon and Lim Pil-sung directed omnibus Doomsday Book garnered a less than impressive 31,564 during its debut but this should come as no surprise.  Short collections never make a the box office, actually this is a pretty good result in light of that fact.

Rounding out the chart was Wrath of the Titans third weekend where it eked out a minuscule 10,086 after a gargantuan 95% drop.

I'm curious to see what will happen next weekend as there does not seem to be any new wide releases.  Battleship stands a very strong chance of staying in number one but Architecture 101, which is a proven hit, also has a good shot of reclaiming the top spot.  Business will be down overall so holdovers will have a chance to see better returns but this is all just the calm before the storm as summer will really take off on April 26 when both the Hollywood The Avengers and Korean A Muse (Eungyo) see the light of day.

Source: kobis.or.kr


The Korean Box Office Update is a weekly feature which provides detailed analysis of film box office sales over the Friday to Sunday period in Korea. It appears every Sunday evening or Monday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up. 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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Saturday, April 14, 2012

Weekly Review Round-up (04/07-04/13, 2012)

More great reviews this week and I imagine we'll see a lot more next friday once the writeups start flowing in from the current Terracotta Far East Film Festival.


CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES


(Time Magazine, April 10, 2012)


RECENT RELEASES


(London Korean Links, April 13, 2012)

(Hangul Celluloid, April 7, 2012)

Blind

(Init_Scenes, April 12, 2012)

(The One One Four, April 13, 2012)

(Oriental Nightmares, April 11, 2012)

(Drama Beans, April 11, 2012)

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 13, 2012)

(London Korean Links, April 13, 2012)

(Flixist, April 10, 2012)

(Tweeten Goes Korea, April 10, 2012)

(Beyond Hollywood, April 9, 2012)

Silenced

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 12, 2012)

(japancinema.net, April 12, 2012)

(koreanfilm.org, 2012)


PAST FILMS


Ditto, 2000
(Init_Scenes, April 7, 2012)

(Otherwhere, April 11, 2012)

(Init_Scenes, April 10, 2012)

(jediprincess, April 12, 2012)

(An Online Universe, April 11, 2012)

(Korean Grindhouse, April 10, 2012)

(Cinemalacrum, April 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. 

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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Friday, April 13, 2012

Oki's Movie (옥희의 영화, Ok-hee-eui Yeong-hwa) 2010


“Let's just read. In such a rotten world only books will save us.”

This line of dialogue, which is spoken early in Oki’s Movie and follows shortly after the statement “Film as an art is dead,” might lower audience expectations if it weren’t delivered with such devastating irony.  With its goofy directness it thoroughly disarms, and so has the opposite effect:  we feel drawn to a film that pokes fun not only at filmmaking but at all our personal and cultural aspirations for the medium.  Let’s start by acknowledging that “the movies” are a sham, writer-director Hong Sang-soo seems to be saying – only then can we hope to redeem them, and ourselves, in even the smallest way.

In this sense, Hong continues to play with the metafilmic approach he’s been using for a while; just check out 2005’s Tale of Cinema, which, like this 2010 film that’s only now getting a U.S. release, announces its cinema-centrism in its very title.  Oki’s Movie is structured as a kind of theme-and-variations piece via four mini-movies, each of which is drolly introduced with a modest credit sequence rendered grandiose by the addition of Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance.”  At the center of it all is Lee Seon-gyoon, who plays both a burnt-out yet arrogant director and, later, the same character as a lovelorn student filmmaker.  Similarly, Moon Seong-geun plays a trusted mentor, a shady professor, and a romantic rival who actually turns out to be surprisingly sympathetic.  As Oki, the engaging Jeong Yu-mi seems to get less screen time than the two men in her life yet that fits her slightly enigmatic status.  So although the movie that she’s made is presented only in the final 16 minutes, it’s a quiet tour de force that brings together all that came before.


With its shifting perspectives and gently fractured narrative, Oki’s Movie might give the impression of being just another overly cerebral arthouse exercise.  But such an assessment would be off the mark for one simple reason:  it’s consistently, jaw-droppingly hilarious.  No, the humor isn’t broad, and in fact it’s so deadpan that it may prompt a double-take or two – wait, was that supposed to be funny?  While in some of Hong’s other films there’s more ambiguity as to his seriousness at any given moment, Oki’s Movie never lets up in its satire of academia, indie filmmaking, romance, and the manners associated with all three.  In short, if audiences can’t tell that the film is funny, and fully intends to be, then they probably won’t know what to make of it.  Sure, some of the laughs derive from the “humor of the uncomfortable” school, and there’s an Oscar Wilde-like gravity lurking behind the wit.  Hong not only winks at us, but winks at us regarding his winks.  Finally, although lead Lee Seon-gyoon has been in some comedies, it might not be obvious at first that here he’s playing perfectly against his screen persona as a handsome-and-capable leading man (Paju had been released just the previous year, in 2009) by, basically, portraying an intellectual jackass.

Yet for an intellectual jackass he says some pretty insightful things – insightful as to Hong’s own artistic credo, that is.  For example, here’s Lee’s character holding forth at a typical Q&A with a public audience in a screening room:

"My film is similar to the process of meeting people.  You meet someone and get an impression, and make a judgment with that.  But tomorrow you might discover different things.  I hope my film can be similar in complexity to a living thing."

He continues by pointing out how filmmakers have incorrectly been taught to value theme above all else.  "Starting with a theme will make it all veer to one point," he explains, and suddenly we grasp part of Hong’s strategy in this and in his other films.


The problem is, Oki’s Movie definitely does have a theme, albeit one that surfaces gradually and which Hong almost always presents with a light touch.  It concerns the way that passion, for better or worse, can break through all that is false about modern life:  alienation, regimentation, even our own pretenses.  But to realize that passion on a consistent basis – either in terms of romance or filmmaking (which is a stand-in for art and creativity generally) – some form of power seems to be required, whether it’s money, professional credentials, or personal reputation.  And that’s where the trouble starts, as a disproportionate concern for such things can also come to undermine our ability to feel passion with any authenticity.

In conclusion, I don’t want to sound too over-the-top but I’m very grateful that someone like Hong Sang-soo is in his creative prime these days, and that cinephiles have a chance to catch his work on the big screen even if it’s somewhat belatedly.  In fact, if you’re lucky enough to live in or near New York, I’d advise seeing Oki and the equally wonderful The Day He Arrives in as close to a back-to-back fashion as you can.  If you do, afterwards you’ll likely find yourself walking about in a kind of waking dream – disoriented but strangely elated at the same time.  


Oki's Movie will be having a special one week in engagement in New York at the Maysles Theatre from 04/16-04/22.  It will presented as part of the bi-monthly series, 'Documentary in Bloom: New Films Presented by Livia Bloom.'

Peter Gutiérrez, a U.S. correspondent for MKC, writes for Twitch and blogs on pop culture for School Library Journal.




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.


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Thursday, April 12, 2012

The Day He Arrives (북촌 방향, Book-chon Bang-hyang) 2011


As far as the critical discourse of Korean cinema goes, few filmmakers have a more commanding presence than Hong Sang-soo, whose flowing narratives often feel like chapters in the same grand story.  In a sense, his body of work reminds me of some of the 19th century’s most prolific French writers, such as Honoré de Balzac and Émile Zola whose main outputs consisted of The Human Comedy and the Rougon-Macquart cycles, which consisted of 91 and 20 volumes respectively.  In these exceedingly rich opuses, the French wordsmiths crafted dense worlds, which mirrored the societies they lived in and repeated the same themes and concerns through similar stories and with large casts of revolving characters.

Hong’s output is much less concerned with the high-flown dramatics of the far-reaching stories of these previously mentioned collections.  Indeed his films, especially for an uninitiated viewer, offer a vague semblance of banality and rarely fall into the trap of narrative twists or plot contrivances, choosing to focus on the everyday rather than the extremes of life.  What he shares with Balzac and Zola is a keen interest in realism.  For the French writers this style was labeled naturalism and often explored social injustice and the inescapable force of heredity in the shaping of human characters.  While Hong’s films do not share those specific traits, they do exhibit a similarly acute infatuation with repetition.  People make the same choices and mistakes over and over again.  It’s a funny thing about reviews of Hong’s work but more than most other filmmakers, his whole career tends to be put under the microscope, likely because his films so resemble one another. 


But that’s enough about Hong’s previous films for the moment, let’s talk about his new one The Day He Arrives, which is his 12th.  For his new feature, Hong has opted to shoot in black and white, something he hasn’t done since his third film Virgin Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors (2000), which really put him on the map (so much for not talking about his other films).  The story takes place over a few days and follows Seong-joon (Yoo Joon-sang), a filmmaker on hiatus, as he briefly returns to Seoul to meet up with old friends and girlfriends and make new acquaintances, mostly during sessions of eating and drinking.

Repetition is an integral part of Hong’s new film, there are few actions or pieces of dialogue that are not replayed during its brief running time (79 minutes).  Eating, drinking, or smoking accompanies every scene and it’s not for nothing.  Typically, these three actions are endlessly repeated throughout our lives (unless you quit drinking or smoking) irrespective of the change we may perceive in ourselves and others.  As Hong’s characters shuffle about the same bars and restaurants and engage in cyclical discussions about their concerns for the past, present, and future, their layers of outward calm gradually come undone and we get closer to the raw emotions and neuroses at their core.


Early on in The Day He Arrives Seong-joon drops in drunk and unannounced on his ex-girlfriend, whom he hasn’t seen for a few years.  It’s an emotional moment as we are first confronted with her anger at his having seemingly abandoned her, but soon after it becomes clear that they both still have very strong feelings for one another.  After sharing a tender moment he leaves but not before stating that they should refrain from engaging in any further communication.  Nevertheless, she texts him occasionally throughout the rest of the film, while he embarks on an amorous encounter with a bar owner who is her doppelganger (played by the same actress, Kim Bo-kyeong).  It is never explained why they split but the fact that there is some reason that they can’t be together is alluded to.

It is said that throughout life we tend to repeat our previous mistakes.  Seong-joon is clearly hiding from something as he dodders around the countryside on an indefinite break from filmmaking and his return to Seoul forces him to confront these past troubles.  Though since we are not privy to very much information, it is hard to say to what degree he does this.  He abandoned both his girlfriend and career as he ran away from Seoul and it is possible he did so through some fear of commitment or growing up.  On his return to the capital he is frequently asked when he will make his next film, his answers are uniformly vague and noncommittal.  After bedding his girlfriend’s lookalike, he leaves her in the morning, offering her much same words as he did to his ex a few days earlier, that they shouldn’t see each other anymore.


Hong seems to have settled more and more into his idiosyncratic style of filmmaking as his films have gotten progressively funnier.  The Day He Arrives is frequently hilarious and while it has a fairly tight structure it seems effortless and relaxed, this is in large part due to the performances that he draws from his leads (especially Yoo and Kim Sang-joon), which are very naturalistic.  He also plays around a little bit with the mise-en-scene, something he does with most of his films, like the freezeframe dialogues that punctuate HaHaHa (2010).  During a number of the midshots, most of which take place at drinking or eating establishments with two characters sitting on one side of a table facing another across from them, Hong quickly zooms in, pushing the protagonists to the very edges of the frame.  The effect is deliberately jarring and the claustrophobic reframing creates a more intense atmosphere which often signals the beginning of a confrontation.

For me The Day He Arrives turned into a fairly personal experience as much of it hit close to home and I am sure that I am not the only person who experienced this.  Hong Sang-soo is an artist who trades in the everyday; his currency is the prosaic minutiae of the exchanges and relationships that make up our lives.  Just like the great French naturalists, he succeeds in burrowing down to our core by forcing us to look inwards, again and again, until we recognize ourselves in a simple shrug of the shoulders or a little white lie.  I look forward to the next volume in Hong’s oeuvre, to experience his wit and craft anew and perhaps to discover a little bit more about myself.

★★★★★

The Day He Arrives opens in New York on April 20 at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas before expanding across the US.  Hong Sang-soo's latest is being distributed by Cinema Guild, which will announce new markets on its playdates page, so make sure to check back to see if it plays near you.


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.

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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Korean Cinema News (04/05-04/11, 2012)

A fair amount of news this week and a handful of major announcements.  A short while ago, Darcy Paquet mentioned on his twitter that Jeon Do-yeon may be starring in Lee Chang-dong's next picture.  This would reunite them for the first time since Secret Sunshine (2007) which won Jeon a best actress prize at Cannes.  Darcy also revealed that Jeon may be collaborating with Lee Yoon-ki (This Charming Girl, 2004; My Dear Enemy, 2008; Come Rain, Come Shine, 2011) following that.  If these materialize they will projects to be very excited about!

Another major announcement is the unveiling of the 14th Udine Far East Film Festival (20-28 April, 2012) lineup.  The press conference was streamed yesterday and MKC live-tweeted as much as it could understand (the broadcast was in Italian).  The program looks great and I'm really looking forward to the event which I will covering on site.  Particularly interesting is the European premiere of Dangerously Excited and of course Darcy Paquet's 1970s cinema retrospective.  Lineup is available below:



The other big news this week is the upcoming Terracotta Far East Film Festival in London which will open with a presentation of Kang Je-gyu's My Way.  Below are some great previews of the event, wish I could be there!




KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Third Time With Director Lee Myeong-se
Ahn Seong-ki will make an appearance as the senior of Cheol-soo (Seol Kyeong-gu), a National Intelligence agent, in the new Lee Myeong-se film.  He won't appear much but it's a key role that will add weight to the overall film.  It seems that Ahn Seong-ki decided to star in this movie for his friendship with the director.  The two met on the 1999 movie Nowhere To Hide and also in the 2005 movie Duelist.  (hancinema.net, April 4, 2012)

Lectures on Local Films for Foreigners
The Korea Foundation will hold a series of six lectures on Korean films this month. "Open Lectures on Korean Culture for Foreigners: Treasures of Korean Cinema".  The Foundation was established in 1991 by the Korean National Assembly with the aim of enhancing the image of Korea to people around the world who have Internet Explorer and Adobe Flash Player version 10.1.0 or greater installed on their computers.  (The Dokdo Times, April 4, 2012)

Actress Im’s Upcoming Film Revealed to Be Argentinean Remake
Upcoming romantic comedy Everything about My Wife, starring stars Im Soo-jung and Lee Sun-kyun, was belatedly found to be a remake of an Argentinean movie released in 2008.  The production house has never mentioned the flick being an adaptation of Un novio para mi mujer (A Boyfriend for My Wife) by director Juan Taratuto. Some websites have even credited director Min Kyu-dong as the screenwriter.  Zip Cinema, the producer of the film, confirmed the fact Wednesday only when asked by The Korea Herald.  (The Korea Herald, April 5, 2012)

South Korean Company Wants You to Feel, Smell, and Taste Titanic as it Sinks. Have They Gone Overboard?
One South Korean company is taking movie-going…to the next level.  The company: CJ 4DPlex Co., which almost certainly boasts an all-robot staff.  The movie: Titanic, of course.  As millions of Americans drink in the sights and sounds of James Cameron’s masterpiece in just three lousy Ds, their thrill-seeking brethren in South Korea, Mexico, China, and Thailand will be enjoying Titanic in 4DX.  (Entertainment Weekly, April 5, 2012)

Emirates Korean Film Fest Begins
The second Emirates Korean Film Festival got underway in Abu Dhabi under the patronage of Shaikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President’s Representative and Chairman of the Sultan bin Zayed Centre for Culture and Information.  The festival, which will run until Sunday at the Abu Dhabi Theatre, features a remarkably rich lineup of recent Korean films.  Seven feature films are being shown, providing an opportunity for the UAE’s film audience to experience some of South Korea’s dynamic film culture.  (Khaleej Times, April 7, 2012)

Sports Flick As One Targets Patriots
It was the beginning of 1991, when the South and North Korean governments made an unprecedented attempt to warm relations by fusing their national sports teams together.  After a couple of months, the unified Korean table tennis team broke the Chinese stranglehold on the highest podium of the world championships.  Coming to theaters in May is a film that tries to recreate the gold-medal-winning chemistry, titled As One.  (The Korea Times, April 10, 2012)


ESSAY

Vengeance Violence and the Sentimental in Korean Film - Part I
A man holding a hatchet chases a car full of gangsters down an empty, wide boulevard. He looks down and sees blood pouring from a bullet wound in his abdomen. He approaches the first car he sees. A man on a phone screams and flees. He continues to chase the car of gangsters. But he is bleeding heavily. He must find something to stem the tide of blood before he passes out. He needs to find the girl. But first he needs to get the bullet out. Darkness is closing in. Fade out.  (Heso Magazine, April 9, 2012)


TRAILERS

Dangerously Excited


Don't Click



POSTERS

All About My Wife

A Muse

Dangerously Excited

Forest of Time

Red Maria

Taste of Money



BOX OFFICE

(Modern Korean Cinema, April 8, 2012)


Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. 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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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Wanna Help Make a Korean Film? Here's Your Chance!

There's a new and exciting Korean film on the way and you can help make it happen!  Lee Yoon-jung is looking to turn her excellent short Remember O Goddess into a feature this summer.  The 25-minute piece, a polished and intriguing affair, can be viewed below:



You may recognize the lead actor, the versatile character actor Kim Jung-tae whose lengthy career stretched all the way back to Park Kwang-su's Uprising (1999) and also includes such highlights as Kwak Kyung-taek's Friend (2001) and Lee Myung-se's Duelist (2005).  However, perhaps my favorite of his roles is in Banga? Banga! (2010) as the larger-then-life owner of a karaoke bar.

Lee's upcoming feature has a strong team of professionals assembled, including the editor of Bong Joon-ho's magnificent Mother (2009), and seems poised to be one of the most interesting Korean independent films on the horizon.

The production is looking for a little funding and has launched a Kickstarter project to raise the $30,000 by May 10 to complete this summer's shoot.  Please consider supporting this exciting project and remember that you can donate however much you feel comfortable with and if you've ever wanted to see your name in the credits of a Korean film, this is your chance!

I really enjoyed the short version of Remember O Goddess and I want to know what happens next so I'll be looking forward to seeing Lee's vision in its entirety.





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.

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