Meaningful Stillness: The Quiet Pursuit of Happiness in Jang Kun-jae's Sleepless Night - Part I

Part III of a special MKC feature on Jang Kun-jae.

Each person’s individual journey in life is an ever-changing narrative, subject to the faintest tinkering. Our goals are equally malleable targets: a few change from year to year, others switch throughout the course of a day. Some of our dreams are dearly cherished: we hold onto them throughout our lives, yet these too are subject to change. The details within our ambitions vary over time as we accumulate new experiences: they shift to fit our evolving personalities. Though we, along with our thoughts and desires, are in perpetual flux, there could be one thing we collectively and unswervingly aspire to. We all want to be happy.

Though an outwardly simple notion, happiness is a truly complex idea that is utterly different for each and every person. Purely subjective, one person’s joy can equate to another’s misery. Yet there are things that we aspire to as a society in order to achieve some greater collective contentment. South Korea offers a very interesting example of this as it has leapt forward with its booming economy. At the risk of sounding a bit absolute, generally speaking happiness was hard to come by for many decades in Korean society as it struggled with the separation of its peninsula, a disruptive war and successive authoritarian regimes.

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Interview: Jang Kun-jae Talks Sleepless Night

Part II of a special MKC feature on Jang Kun-jae.

Following his debut Eighteen's successful run on the international festival circuit in 2009, the highlight of which was a grand prize win as part of Vancouver's Tigers & Dragons section, Jang Kun-jae has proven that he is no fluke with his sophomore feature. Sleepless Night debuted in Jeonju where it picked a pair of prizes, including the top Korean film prize and audience award before hitting the road for what is likely to be a lengthy festival run.

MKC was able to catch up Jang during the Busan Film Fest.

How do you feel about Sleepless Night's positive reception?

The public’s response is of course very important to me, especially as a director who did not have the opportunity to release my films in a commercial way. Therefore, the more people who enjoy my film in festivals, the better the film’s chance to become available for the general public.

As with my last film, I hope that the positive response will help for my next project. Hopefully we can find more financing and have the opportunity to cast better actors and actresses.

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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Reveals Korean-Heavy Program

The Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) is coming back for its 16th edition, which will run November 12-28 in Tallinn, Estonia. Originally a showcase for Nordic film, PÖFF has grown to become one of Europe's largest and most varied film festivals, and of late they have been very kind to Korean cinema, with 2012 proving to be no exception.

Jeon Kyu-hwan's The Weight, which won the Queer Lion Award earlier this year at the Venice International Film Festival and has also screened at the Busan International Film Festival and Sitges Film Festival, will take part in PÖFF's 'EurAsia' competition section, which last year awarded its main prize to Ahn Hui's A Simple Life. Jeon's first three films, the trilogy comprising of Mozart Town (2008), Animal Town (2009) and Dance Town (2010), all previously screened at Black Nights.

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WKR: LKFF, More BIFF and In Another Country's US Bow (11/03-11/09, 2012)

Reviews are still trickling in from Busan along with a wealth content from the currently underway London Korean Film Festival. Also of note is the release of In Another Country in the US

UPCOMING FILMS

Azooma

(Film Business Asia, November 7, 2012)

Behind the Camera

(Variety, November 5, 2012)

Fatal

(Film Business Asia, November 8, 2012)

Let Me Out

(Variety, November 3, 2012)

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A Love Story Abruptly Ended: Eighteen (회오리 바람, Hwiori Baram) 2009

Part I of a special MKC feature on Jang Kun-jae.

By Rex Baylon

The beauty and innocence of young love might be the greatest hoax perpetuated by the mainstream media. A couple walking hand in hand together while surrounded on all sides by a bucolic setting, two lovers sitting in a warm cozy diner with a straw in each of their mouths while they share a milkshake, or the hustle and bustle of a crowded noisy street muted by two lovestruck individuals stealing a kiss or embrace. The young and not so young are fed these cliché images to the point that artists can’t help but regurgitate them back to their respective audiences. The romanticism that was first born from the mind of Goethe has mutated into the “Hallmark moment”, sappy, sentimental, and dangerous. At it’s most idealistic, young love offers a safe haven for youths who’ve experienced the joy and elation of caring and feeling protective over someone other than themselves, but at its worst it can be an easy excuse for self-absorbed and destructive behavior.

In Jang Kun-jae’s debut, Eighteen (Hwioribaram, 2009), these two distinctive poles are examined through a very familiar story of young love that ought not to be. Yet, unlike many Korean romantic melodramas this is not a linear narrative charting a relationship from meet-cute to break-up. In fact, it begins months after the break-up. It is a post-mortem love story told mainly through flashback, blending cinema-verite with splashes of magic realism. The young couple in the film are normal run-of-the mill Korean teenagers: they’re attached to their smartphones, they’ve got school and parents badgering them about college, and their idea of the future doesn’t stretch any further than a few months. There is nothing distinctive about their lives or personality.

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KCN: AFM Sales, London and Paris K-Film Fests and More BO Records (11/01-11/07, 2012)

More box office records broken and films sold at the American Film Market while both Paris and London stage their annual Korean film festivals.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

7th Paris Korean Film Festival Opens
Paris, which had its hottest summer this year, is once again experiencing the heat of Korean films this fall as the 7th Paris Korean Film Festival unfolds. The event opened on October 30th and Masquerade, the opening film, was sold out with other screenings also proving very popular. Q and A sessions following screenings are helping to satisfy the audience's curiosity and the event is fulfilling the role of bridging the cultural gap between the two nations. (KoBiz, November 6, 2012)

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A Good Rain Knows (호우시절, Howoo shijeol) 2009

By Rex Baylon

What do you do when a filmmaker you respect and champion begins to make works that you dislike? Do you unabashedly support it and ignore the work’s inherent flaws? Do you ignore the work, pretend to suffer from cinephilic amnesia and hope that the offending film will fall through the cracks of time and be mercifully forgotten? Or do you finally sit down and deal with the fact that people, no less filmmakers, are imperfect artisans and that although our initial response to their work may have been unabashed excitement, it must be tempered and we must attempt to look at each new work free from the distractions of the past.

Having begun life as part of a three-part omnibus film entitled Chengdu, I Love You (2009) with contributions by Chinese filmmaker Cu Jian and Hong Kong auteur Fruit Chan. Hur Jin-ho’s A Good Rain Knows (2009) evolved out of that project and became its own feature. Being a Pan-Asian production Hur cast Korean superstar Jung Woo-sung, fresh off the production of Kim Jee-won’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008), to play the poet-turned-businessman Park Dong-ha and Mainland Chinese actress Gao Yuanyuan, who worked on the controversial Lu Chuan picture City of Life and Death (2009) that same year, was cast as May, Dong-ha’s melancholic love interest.

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KBO: Werewolf Boy Opens Big, Masquerade All-time No. 5 (11/02-11/04, 2012)

Werewolf Boy Opens Big, Masquerade All-time No. 5

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Werewolf Boy	10/31/12	48.70%	1,030,285	1,294,479	707
2	Skyfall (us/uk)	10/26/12	22.80%	459,005	1,694,359	581
3	Masquerade	9/13/12	13.10%	272,736	11,418,849	404
4	Perfect Number	10/18/12	5.30%	108,248	1,462,108	316
5	Argo (us)	10/31/12	2.70%	56,647	79,989	238
6	Confession of Murder	11/8/12	2.60%	49,809	59,519	214
7	Brave (us)	9/27/12	1.00%	23,145	1,211,560	106
8	Almost Che	10/25/12	1.00%	21,287	215,887	195
9	The Peach Tree	10/31/12	0.70%	13,980	24,048	201
10	Savages (us)	10/31/12	0.40%	8,340	13,278	171

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WKR: Im Kwon-taek London Retro and More From Busan (10/27-11/02, 2012)

Though it ended almost three weeks ago, the pace of reviews coming in from this year's Busan International Film Festival has yet to let up. Additionally, a comprehensive Im Kwon-taek retrospective is currently taking place in London with Eastern Kicks leading the charge on the review front.

UPCOMING FILMS

Don't Cry Mommy

(Variety, October 29, 2012)

El Condor Pasa

(Film Business Asia, October 28, 2012)

Juvenile Offender

(The Hollywood Reporter, October 31, 2012)

Pluto

(Film Business Asia, October 29, 2012)

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KCN: Masquerade Triumphs at Daejong, Korean Films Wins Awards at Festivals (10/25-10/31, 2012)

Masquerade won a record-breaking 15 trophies at the Daejong Film Awards while a number of Korean films won prizes at major international film festivals.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

49th Daejong Film Awards: Masquerade Wins... Everything
The largest movie awards show returned tonight as it held its 49th edition in Seoul. As the size and prestige of the industry has risen over the years, so has this awards show, which could be seen as Korean cinema's equivalent to the Oscars. It's not the only awards show in town as the Blue Dragon Awards, which take place in November, are also fairly prominent, but it's the longest running and the one with the highest profile. (Modern Korean Cinema, October 30, 2012)

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Interview: The Singular Lee Sang-woo, Director of Barbie

I was fortunate to sit down with Lee Sang-woo a few weeks ago on a Saturday evening in Hongdae after having seen his latest two films Barbie (which came out last week in Korea) and Fire in Hell (which premiered in Jeonju earlier this year).

Lee has been in the industry for a long time, most notably as Kim Ki-duk's assistant director, before making the transition to becoming a prolific director in his own right. His official debut was Tropical Manila in 2008 and he has released six films up until now, including Mother Is a Whore (2010), but has actually shot as many as 12, most of which will be released in the near future.

Lee was extremely frank during his interview which, it should be noted, was conducted after a few bottles of soju. Be warned however, some parts of our discussion may not be to suitable for all tastes. 

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49th Daejong Film Awards: Masquerade Wins... Everything

The largest movie awards show returned tonight as it held its 49th edition in Seoul. As the size and prestige of the industry has risen over the years, so has this awards show, which could be seen as Korean cinema's equivalent to the Oscars. It's not the only awards show in town as the Blue Dragon Awards, which take place in November, are also fairly prominent, but it's the longest running and the one with the highest profile.

Last year a couple of films, all with big box office tallies took home most of the awards but this year's event fortunately featured a few smaller films in the mix, not least Kim Ki-duk's Pieta, which picked up the Venice Film Festival's top prize, the Golden Lion, only a few weeks ago. The nominees list is still largely dominated by commercial hits, as this awards show as not traditionally been kind to independent fare, but it's nice to see a few make the cut. Though in the end it seems the variety was all for nought.

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