New Korean Films: People Who Lend a Hand (2015 Week 15)

Black Hand

(검은손)

By Fabien Schneider

Jung-Woo is a married man, but he also has a secret relationship with Yoo-gyeong, one of the doctors he’s working with in a hospital. He works there as a neurosurgeon, but also does research on bioengineering. One day, Yoo-gyeong gets her right hand cut off under strange circumstances. But thanks to Jung-Woo’s reflexes and his skills, he manages to do the operation to put it back on her arm. During the following days, while Yoo-gyeong seems to have perfectly recovered, she starts to lose her mind. When asked, she pretends that there is now someone else in her.

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New Korean Films: Les Amours des séniors (2014 Week 14)

Salut d'Amour

(장수상회)

By Fabien Schneider

The unfriendly and inflexible old man Seong-chil, who is a model employee at Jang-su Mart and proud of his military career and never thinks of other’s feelings, suddenly breaks his outer shell when a woman moves to his neighborhood. Geum-nim looks young despite her age, always smiling in any situation. She takes him by surprise when she offers to him to have dinner together. Even if he tries not to care, he cannot hide his feelings and soon everybody is in the know, even Geum-nim’s daughter and Seong-chil’s boss, and they try to give them advice for their first date. But after having almost forgotten the date, he arrives late for their rendezvous and accidentally discovers her secret.

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New Korean Films: Balls Delivery (2015 Week 13)

Foulball

(파울볼)

By Fabien Schneider

Kim Sung-keun has been a baseball coach to many internationally successful players. Along with many young people who dream of becoming a professional player, he also created South-Korea’s first independent baseball team, the Goyang Wonders. Their training is really intense and demanding, but this is what it takes if they want to one day join the national league. During the first three years of their existence, they surprised a lot of experts with their impressive record: 90 wins, 25 ties and 61 losses. So far 31 players have been able to sign with professional teams. However at the beginning of 2014 season, the Goyang Wonders announced to the public that they would soon be disbanded.

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News: 2nd Wildflower Film Awards Reveals Nominees

By Pierce Conran

Following its launch last year, the Wildflower Film Awards Korea revealed the nominees of its upcoming 2nd edition last week. Leading the pack with seven nominees is July Jung's A Girl at My Door, while Han Gong-ju and The King of Jokgu following at five a piece and 10 Minutes, Gyeongju and Hill of Freedom each picking up four.

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New Korean Films: First Steps (2015 Week 12)

Twenty

(스물)

By Fabien Schneider

Three friends are spending together the most confusing period of their lives, when they enter their twenties and are confronted with many opportunities but also struggles. Chi-ho is a popular guy who wishes he could live a life of excess without doing much. Dong-wu is a lively and strong man who never stops practicing to become a cartoonist. Gyeong-jae is an excellent student who has all the best qualifications to be employed by a major company but has a problem with alcohol.

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New Korean Films: Foreign Perfumes (2015 Week 11)

Mongolian Princess

(몽골리안 프린세스)

By Fabien Schneider

Dan-woo has lived 34 years without having a single girlfriend. The only experiences he has had came from the roles he played during his career as a film actor. One day, as he was watching the preview of his last movie, he meets a French writer, Elizabeth. Despite his clumsiness, they become attracted to each other and soon start a relationship that seems like a dream for him. But before they know it, tension arises between them. Dan-woo doesn’t want to leave that dream and decides to direct his own film.

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New Korean Films: Vengeful Society (2015 Week 10)

Socialphobia

(소셜포비아)

By Fabien Schneider

Ji-woong and Yong-min are two aspiring police officers who are soon going to take exams. When a mysterious “Re-na” leaves a spiteful comment on the Internet about the death of a soldier, they and seven friends decide to go on a vendetta against her. They soon discover who she is and where she lives. But when they go to her apartment to hold her accountable, what they discover is not a victim shamefully apologizing, but a woman who hanged herself. Since they’re now involved, Jin-woong and Yong-min decide to personally investigate what led her to her demise, as they are certain that things are not what they seem.

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New Korean Films: Deadly Sins (2015 Week 9)

Empire of Lust

(순수의 시대)

By Fabien Schneider

In 1398, six years after the founding of the Joseon kingdom that succeeded Koryeo, a struggle for the designation of the Crown Prince pits two of King Tae-jo’s sons against each other. The fifth son, Lee Bang-won, helped his father so much that he got his hands dirty and thus now expects to be appointed as the next king. But Jeong Do-jeon, the King’s adviser who greatly contributed to the establishment of the new kingdom which he sees bound to be governed by ministers, favors Lee Bang-seok, the eighth son who is still a youth. Between them is Kim Min-Jae, the supreme commander of Joseon who owns his rank due to his successful defense of the borders against the Jurchen and the Japanese pirates. His own son, Jin, has become the King’s son-in-law and tries not to get involved in politics as he enjoy the pleasures of a noble life.

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News: Kim Han-min to Follow ROARING CURRENTS with Manchuria-Set War Pic

By Pierce Conran

In the wake of the record-breaking success of last summer's Roaring Currents, Kim Han-min is opting to remain in the period war genre as he is busy preparing a new film called Bongoh Town Battle (working title), about a two-day skirmish between independent Korean forces and the Japanese army in Manchuria in 1920.

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Review: JEON WOOCHI: THE TAOIST WIZARD is a Purely Energetic Fantasy

By Chris Horn

Choi Dong-hoon’s 2009 hit Jeon Woochi: The Taoist Wizard (or Woochi) is a boldly incomprehensible film that challenges viewers to hate it. It’s also an immensely fun—and funny—film that further cements Choi’s reputation as one of the most bankable Korean directors and answers the question, “Remember when movies were fun?”

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Korean Box Office: British Invasion Shuts Out Local Films (2015 WK 9)

By Pierce Conran

Following the busy Lunar New Year holiday, admissions fell to 1.97 admissions over the weekend but the main victims were local films, which saw their market share plummet to 18.5%. In a surprise turn of events, it was the United Kingdom that powered the box office with a 47.5% market share from the top two films, both holdovers.

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New Korean Films: Wandering Souls (2015 Week 8)

By Fabien Schneider

Yes, I know, you must have been profoundly perturbed from waiting in vain for my column last week. But rest assured that this absence wasn't caused by my laziness, but was actually the result of an event that is quite rare: there simply was not a single Korean film released that week. No need to worry, the rhythm that you've been used to is back again with three new films gracing theaters this week, all of them independent productions.

The Avian Kind

(조류인간)

Jeong-seok is a famous novelist who spent the last fifteen years exploring the most remote areas of the country, looking for his wife who disappeared suddenly without leaving any trace. His last book recalls the events he went through, which doesn’t go unnoticed. A mysterious woman contacts him on the pretense that she can help him in his quest, while a group of people who also saw their dear ones vanishing think that Jeong-seok is the most fitted to get them to the truth. All the clues put together seem to point toward a village. But what they will discover there goes beyond everything they could imagine.

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