Pink (핑크, Pingkeu) 2011

The passage of time affects us all in certain ways, our experiences and our memories all take on different forms after we’ve lived them and they leave behind a trace.  This imprint can be faint and slip through our conscious memory just as it can leave an indelible mark, a scar that bears the weight of its genesis.  Most things change with the passage of time but some do not and Jeon Soo-il’s new feature Pink is a dirge to the intransigence of the roots of our defining characteristics.

Jeon, who hails from Korea’s vibrant port city Busan, is a fiercely artistic filmmaker who has quietly been making films for the past 15 years.  While respected within the filmmaking community, Jeon has never attracted anywhere near the same level of international reputation as his arthouse contemporaries, such as Hong Sang-soo (The Day He Arrives, 2011), Kim Ki-duk (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter… and Spring, 2003) and Lee Chang-dong (Poetry, 2010).  His films are slow, deliberate and difficult and though they are successful on the festival circuit (he has won awards at Fribourg, Busan and Venice), a larger audience may never gravitate towards his oeuvre.

Click to read more»

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

Click to read more»

NYAFF 2012: Doomsday Book (인류멸망보고서, In-lyoo-myeol-mang-bo-go-seo) 2012

Part of MKC's coverage of the 11th New York Asian Film Festival.

(by Peter Gutiérrez)

No doubt about it: it’s definitely a cliché to remark on how anthology films can be uneven – in fact, it’s probably also a cliché at this point to point out how commonplace such an observation is. Yet although this assessment applies to Doomsday Book, which gets its North American premiere Wednesday evening at NYAFF, the film is also refreshing in that I could see different viewers holding disparate ideas as to which are the stronger and weaker entries in this ambitious, three-part science-fiction extravaganza.

The opening story, “A Brave New World,” takes what seems like a well-worn zombie formula and, in the hands of Antarctic Journal’s Yim Pil-Sung,  fashions one of those optimal mixtures of the audaciously dark and the goofily humorous that can make Korean genre cinema so wonderful. That’s not to say that Yim’s goals are purely pulply, its ironical tone and light intellectualism are evident from the title. Taking its cue less from Shakespeare, or Huxley, and more from the Bible, this segment looks terrific and boasts some solid storytelling, so you’ll be forgiven for not noticing its more highbrow aspirations. Like Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, which played for both more laughs and more horror, “A Brave New World” is so adept at grabbing and holding your attention that you may be a bit disappointed when it seems satisfied in leading you into romance (!) territory and leaving you there.

Click to read more»

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

Click to read more»

Weekly Review Round-up (06/30-07/08, 2012)

Sorry for the delay, it's been a busy week. Not too many writeups this week but a few from NYAFF and TKFF which are both underway.

CURRENT FILMS

Dangerously Excited

(The Korean Times, July 2, 2012)

Click to read more»

NYAFF 2012: King of Pigs (돼지의 왕, Dwaejiui Wang) 2011

Part of MKC's coverage of the 11th New York Asian Film Festival.

(by Peter Gutiérrez)

I’m not sure what the current cultural status of bullying in is South Korea these days – are public policy steps being taken to curtail it, as is the case here in the U.S.? – but certainly anyone who has followed Korean cinema knows that it has provided the thematic backbone to films which cut across several genres. I’m a bit partial to A Bloody Aria (Won Shin-yeon, 2006), and Yeun Sang-ho’s The King of Pigs shares something of its beyond-bleak tone and emotionally raw approach. Just don’t look for any of the former’s dark humor: Yuen has crafted that rare film that effectively plunges head-first into the abyss and never really allows the audience to come up for air, let alone laughs.

So don’t expect a slow and “tasteful” build to the film’s often unforgettable moments of psychological and physical violence. Right away we see our point-of-view character Kyung-Min experience a form of workplace bullying… and then immediately turn around and take out his feelings of shame and powerlessness on his wife in a dynamic that strongly recalls that of James Joyce’s classic Dubliners short story “Counterparts.” But can all of his present-tense troubles really account for the way that Kyung-Min seems to be so haunted? This question is soon answered as he meets up with middle school classmate Jong-Suk for the first time in years, and it becomes clear to us that something happened back in their early adolescence that shaped both men… something that neither seems eager to discuss directly.

Click to read more»

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

Click to read more»

NYAFF 2012 Retrospective: A Legend in the Flesh - The Life and Career of Choi Min-sik

Part of MKC's coverage of the 11th New York Asian Film Festival.

Biography

In discussing the life and works of South Korea’s legendary actor Choi Min-sik, who is making a special appearance at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival, I feel the first thing that should be mentioned is how very lucky we are that he was given a chance to make any films at all. Choi was born in 1962 in Seoul and during his early childhood he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. His doctor’s prognosis was that he wouldn’t make it but following a lengthy convalescence in the mountains, he beat the disease. I know that I and many others are very glad that he did!

Click to read more»

Korean Cinema News (06/28-07/04, 2012)

Some good news for the state of Korean box office this week as well as some features on this year's PiFan. In addition, yours truly was interviewed by hancinema.net recently about Korean film and my recent move to Korea!

Ten Questions for the KOREAN CINEPHILE

PIFAN

I'm covering this year's PiFan on MKC and over at Twitch with James Marsh where we're currently breaking down the program for everyone in a series of previews, check out the first two parts below:

PiFan 2012 Preview Part 1: Puchon Choice (Main Competition)
PiFan 2012 Preview Part 2: World Fantastic Cinema

Click to read more»

NYAFF 2012: Honey PuPu (消失打看 - Taiwan, 2011)

Part of MKC's coverage of the 11th New York Asian Film Festival.

Honey PuPu is one of the most singular works to come out of Asia in quite some time.  Its take on the modern world is fiercely original and, by employing a dizzying array of different formats and techniques, it seeks to recount its philosophical and energetic tale of how people’s identities are shaped and disrupted by the world’s aggressive virtualization. Chen Hung-i’s film combines gorgeous and whimsical cinematography with other techniques such as a futuristic platform for social media, photography and a veritable bounty of editing techniques.  It features a terrific soundtrack, quickly oscillating between classical pieces and modern electro music, and is a film unlike any other.

Vicky is a radio hostess who is searching for her lover who has disappeared.  She seeks the help of a number of young people she has encountered through social media with monikers like Cola, Assassin, Money and Playing.  They are all lost souls, seeking answers through the hyperkinetic communication networks of the modern world.

Click to read more»

NYAFF 2012: Couples (커플즈, Keo-peul-jeu) 2011

Part of MKC's coverage of the 11th New York Asian Film Festival.

Mainstream cinema has the potential to demonstrate both the best and the worst that the medium has to offer.  Concerning the latter, any number of criticisms can be leveled at the swill and drivel that the world’s film industries will subjects us to and while they are often besides the point, they are just as frequently justified.  When money is involved projects must inevitably revolve around profit, so at one end of the spectrum you will always find shallow and consumerist works versus the riskier ventures, often from established talents, that you will sometimes witness at the other. 

Between these two extremes there lies an uneasy middle-ground, which is expansive and marked by slippery definitions.  Within this domain, there are filmmakers that strive to make something worthwhile from within the strict confines of commercial filmmaking and they sometimes achieve it, indeed every once in a while they might even make something transcendent.  Then there exists the studio hands who, despite working from a seemingly routine template with the assistance of unexceptional pedigree, every so often happen upon something that works.

Click to read more»

Korea Blog Week IV: Birthday, Meetings and Getting Used to Life in Seoul

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

As I near the one-month mark in Korea I can definitely say that I've really begun to settle in and already things seem very familiar. I suppose that in some way this is a testament to my nomadic life up until this point. It was also my birthday this past week and as I reflected for a spell I realized that I have almost been in a different city for my last seven birthdays, going backwards the list goes: Seoul, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Fribourg, Los Angeles, New York, Dublin. Six places in seven years, that's a lot of ground covered and I know that I'm extremely fortunate to have lived and visited so many places and in the process meet such incredible people and have so many wonderful experiences. And yet, I'm tired and perhaps have been so for a while. I came to Korea with the intention of staying for some time and I aim to do just that, I would like to make it at home and so far I feel so welcome here that I don't why I shouldn't.

Click to read more»