CURRENT RELEASES
(Joong Ang Daily, September 5, 2012)
(Modern Korean Cinema, September 5, 2012)
Pieta
(KKonnect, September 2, 2012)
(Modern Korean Cinema, August 30, 2012)
Friday, September 7, 2012
WKR: Pieta Bows at Venice, New Releases and KOFFIA (08/31-09/06, 2012)
A slew of reviews from all manner of sources this week including many for Kim Ki-duk's latest Pieta.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Interview: 'Blood Fight in Iron-Rock Valley' Director Ji Ha-jean
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Interpreted by Kim Nemo
Bloody Fight references many classic westerns. What drew you to this genre in the first place?
The two most important references were Once Upon a Time in the West (1969) and the second in Sergio Leone’s Man With No Name trilogy, A Few Dollars More (1965). Inside the film there are thousands of other references, such as Shane (1953), The Man From Laramie (1955) and Robert Aldrich’s Apache (1954).
What were your hopes as you embarked on making a Korean western?
I produced the film as well as directing it and even by independent film standards it had an extremely low budget ($40,000). Filmmakers with that kind of budget usually try to make experimental or dramatic films but I’m a real fan of the western genre and another aim of mine is to become a commercial film director. So I was wondering how I might be able to combine these two aims.
September 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.
September 6
Grape Candy
Pieta
Wedding Scandal
September 13
Fighting! Family
Han Kyung-jik
Too Old Hiphop Kid
September 20
Masquerade
September 27
Jinsuk and Me
Grape Candy
Pieta
Wedding Scandal
September 13
Fighting! Family
Han Kyung-jik
Too Old Hiphop Kid
September 20
Masquerade
September 27
Jinsuk and Me
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Neighbors (이웃사람, Yiwootsaram) 2012
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Last month, The Thieves showed how powerful an impact a well-assembled cast can make on the box office. It is currently the second highest-grossing Korean film of all time and may well ascend to first place (as of this writing held by 2006’s The Host) within the next few weeks. While it had many selling points, first and foremost was its glitzy performers. What then is the appeal of an ensemble cast? From a marketing standpoint it means that a potential viewer is far more likely to see someone that he or she likes in a longer list of stars but perhaps even more enticing is the appeal of the interaction between high-profile cast members who often sport defined on-screen personas.
KCN: Park Chan-wook takes on Western, Pieta at Venice and Busan Heats Up! (08/30-09/05, 2012)
The bis news this week is a new Park Chan-wook project, Pieta premiering at Venice and numerous Busan Film Fest announcements
The 17th Busan International Film Festival is exactly one month away and the news is starting to come in thick and fast. MKC will be on site for the entire event:
BIFF 2012
The 17th Busan International Film Festival is exactly one month away and the news is starting to come in thick and fast. MKC will be on site for the entire event:
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
PiFan 2012: The Heineken Kidnapping (De Heineken ontvoering, Holland) 2011
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Rutger Hauer’s heyday may have come before my time but as a film lover it still feels as though I grew up with him. My teenage years were spent awash in the dream of cinema and amidst the blur of it all, some films stood out. Among them was Blade Runner (1982) which, I must admit, was a film that I did not immediately warm to but the villain of the piece has stayed with me for the decade since I first I saw it. Horror may not have featured prominently in my cinema diet but I’ll never forget The Hitcher (1986), a film that could easily have been unremarkable were it not for the terrifying presence of its antagonist.
With his pellucid blue eyes, wavy blond hair and harsh features, Hauer has always been a formidable presence on screen. However, more than his physiognomy, it is of course his talent and intensity as a performer that has made him so memorable. He seems to lose himself in his best roles. I hesitate to say that he was a method actor, a term that is ill-suited to genre cinema, but he throws himself so fully into his marginalized characters that he often seems to be in a trance.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Romance Joe (로맨스 조, Lo-maen-seu Joe) 2012
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By Rex Baylon
Fractured storylines, unreliable narration and meta-narratives have all become the requisite tools of the trade for films with a postmodernist slant. The realization by filmmakers as far back as the 1960s, when the enfants terribles of France’s Nouvelle Vague tore down the barrier between good "taste" and good "cinema", have not only prompted experimentation in plot and genre, but also, on occasion, led to genuine masterpieces. Of course, there have also been a plethora of over-inflated and pretentious works that have been released to varying degrees of fanfare since then.
In writer-director Kwang-kuk Lee’s debut film Romance Joe (2011) the eponymously named Romance Joe is both an actual character in the movie, played by Kim Young-pil and Lee Da-wit, and an invention: a plot device, utilized by several characters in the film when telling their own personal/invented stories about the pain of love and the ways that fiction and fact can bleed together.
KBO: Traffickers and Local Releases Dominate Chart (08/31-09/02, 2012)
Traffickers and Local Releases Dominate Chart
| Title | Release Date | Market Share | Weekend | Total | Screens | |
| 1 | Traffickers | 8/29/12 | 26.40% | 533,243 | 749,694 | 497 |
| 2 | Neighbors | 8/22/12 | 21.20% | 425,597 | 1,914,969 | 494 |
| 3 | The Grand Heist | 8/8/12 | 13.20% | 289,126 | 4,595,784 | 361 |
| 4 | The Thieves | 7/25/12 | 12.70% | 265,435 | 12,591,574 | 365 |
| 5 | Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (us) | 8/30/12 | 10.00% | 188,955 | 237,799 | 337 |
| 6 | Step Up 4 (us) | 8/15/12 | 4.40% | 94,188 | 849,187 | 194 |
| 7 | R2B: Return to Base | 8/1/12 | 2.30% | 51,498 | 1,172,907 | 141 |
| 8 | 577 Project | 8/8/12 | 2.30% | 48,395 | 62,534 | 191 |
| 9 | Total Recall (us) | 8/15/12 | 1.60% | 34,037 | 1,206,506 | 153 |
| 10 | Sammy's Adventures 2 (ge) | 8/23/12 | 1.30% | 29,268 | 1,438,477 | 88 |
Saturday, September 1, 2012
PiFan 2012: Zombie 108 (城Z-108, Taiwan) 2012
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Part of MKC's coverage of the 16th Puchon International Film Festival.
Of the many genres out there available for our consumption, the zombie film holds a very special place in our cinematic diet. It is actually a subgenre, being an offshoot of horror but, just like the vampire film, it as been allowed to ascend to its own autonomous position, to be taken into consideration separately from its parent. Naturally, this comes with particular set of problems.
Zombie films occupy a very narrow field within the medium. As potent as the concept can be, it only encompasses a specific set of tropes and narrative devices which have arguably survived long past their sell-by date. George A. Romero set off the genre in the late 1960s with Night of the Living Dead but 35 years later his own efforts have begun to look tired and recycled. In fact, the most popular zombie films of the last few years have arguably been comedies which poked fun at the genre, such as Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Zombieland (2009), as well AMC’s series The Walking Dead, which employs the novel approach of following a zombie narrative in longform.
Friday, August 31, 2012
WKR: Neighbors, R2B and Ample KOFFIA Coverage
Lots of current films reviewed in this week's WKR and a wide selection of recent releases, largely stemming for the ample KOFFIA coverage.
CURRENT FILMS
(The Korea Times, August 30, 2012)
(Joong Ang Daily, August 24, 2012)
(Seongyong's Private Place, August 26, 2012)
8th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival Wrap-up
Part of MKC's coverage of the Jecheon Intl. Music & Film Festival.
It took me a while to gather my thoughts on the eight films I saw during my brief weekend at the 8th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival but now that I've really had the time to think about it, I can say that it was well worth my time. I saw some very good films and a few bad ones but most of all the event reminded me that I'm actually a huge music enthusiast. These days as I try to keep up with everything going on in the film world, it's very easy to forget that. I often go weeks at time without ever opening iTunes. So for that, as well as the great films I did see, I am grateful for the Jecheon film festival and I will gladly be returning for its 9th edition next year.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
JIMFF 2012: Punk's Not Dead (Pankot ne e mrtov, Macedonia) 2011
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Part of MKC's coverage of the Jecheon Intl. Music & Film Festival.
Each of us loves different styles of music. Our tastes are informed by many factors: style, geography, language, instrumentation, tempo, etc. We fill our computers and smartphones with these (more ardent enthusiasts may still curate record collections). However, some people will go to extra lengths to associate themselves to a certain style. They may customize their appearance or ascribe to particular ideologies. Politics and social issues can come into it but other times the music might be a gateway to something else entirely: community. The need to belong is strong and for those of us that cannot or do not want to follow the status quo, there is always a danger of being marginalized. Luckily, in this day and age, we are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to pick and choose from many different lifestyles. Non-conformity no longer comes with the same stigma as it once did.
As the title suggests, Punk’s Not Dead is a film about one of the most abrasive genres of music to emerge in the modern era. However, very luck little punk music is actually featured in the film and that’s because the focus thing here is on the sense of community that is created around the music. The protagonists are lost: wandering aimlessly in the decrepit landscape of modern Macedonia. Pushing 40, they are looking a little rough around the edges: leather jackets cover their wearied shoulders; piercings and tattoos adorn their wrinkled skin. They have lived life but time has passed them by and new circumstances have rendered them redundant and mute: their protests are now a whimper of what they once were. Rather than living the punk lifestyle and reveling in anarchy, they merely cling to the scene as a pretext for their existence. It is a social outlet in a world where few are available to them, the booze and drugs are a respite from the bleak landscape there are immersed in.
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