Showing posts with label invasion of alien bikini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label invasion of alien bikini. Show all posts

Thursday, August 30, 2012

PiFan 2012: Young Gun in the Time (영건 탐정 사무소, Yeong-geon Tam-jeong Sa-moo-so) 2012


Part of MKC's coverage of the 16th Puchon International Film Festival.

Aside from technical proficiency, I’m always amazed at Korean filmmakers’ knack for thrift. Their films, compared to Hollywood's output, barely cost a dime. A $10 million dollar budget is enough to put out a film like The Host or The Thieves, whereas similar productions in the States will go for ten times more. The cost of living is cheaper and there are other mitigating factors but the level of these productions’ sophistication is nonetheless impressive.

A look down the ladder at the low-budget fare produced in the country inspires even more awe. The beautiful and languid Bedevilled cost a measly $70,000 and many other films around that budget range feature similarly accomplished production values. Oh Young-doo 2011’s feature Invasion of Alien Bikini made quite a splash on the festival circuit and part of it was because it reputedly cost only $5,000, all of it stretched to a remarkable degree. Though at the end of the day that was still identifiable as an ultra low-budget production. His new film cost $50,000 but from an aesthetic standpoint it puts many commercial features to shame.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

PiFan 2012: Interview with Young Gun in the Time's Oh Young-doo

Part of MKC's coverage of the 16th Puchon International Film Festival.

Oh Young-doo has been working in the Korean film industry for 15 years and for the last couple of those he has transitioned to making his own low-budget features. He and some of his friends worked together to make the zombie omnibus feature The Neighbor Zombie in 2010 and following that Oh made his feature directorial debut with the ultra low-budget Invasion of Alien Bikini (2011) which had a very successful festival run.

Now he's back with a new feature called Young Gun in the Time, which will hit Korean screens later this month. I had the chance to catch up with him following its Korean premiere at this year's Pucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Weekly Review Round-up (03/24-03/30, 2012)

Lots of review for Na Hong-jin's The Yellow Sea which was released this past monday on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK by Eureka Entertainment.  Also special shout out to refresh_daemon who has been particularly productive this week over on his Init_Scenes site!


CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES


(Seongyong's Private Place, March 24, 2012)


RECENT RELEASES


(Beyond Hollywood, March 27, 2012)

(Film Business Asia, March 24, 2012)

(hancinema.net, March 24, 2012)

(Korean Candy, March 27, 2012)

(AsianCineFest, March 23, 2012)

(Beyond Hollywood, March 26, 2012)

(Hangul Celluloid, March 28, 2012)

The Yellow Sea


PAST FILMS


(Init_Scenes, March 26, 2012)

(Korean Grindhouse, March 25, 2012)

First Kiss, 1998
(Init_Scenes, March 29, 2012)

(Dramas Whoo!, March 26, 2012)

(Init_Scenes, March 27, 2012)

(North Korean Films, March 28, 2012)

Oldboy, 2003
(Init_Scenes, March 25, 2012)

(Init_Scenes, March 24, 2012)

(Init_Scenes, March 23, 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 UpdateReviews 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.


Friday, March 23, 2012

Weekly Review Round-up (03/17-03/23, 2012)

Lots of great writeups in this week's review round-up including for a number of new Korean releases.


CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES


(Scene in Korea, March 22, 2012)

(The Hollywood Reporter, March 20, 2012)

(Scene in Korea, March 17, 2012)

(Slant Magazine, March 17, 2012)


RECENT FILMS


Always

(Twitch, March 20, 2012)

(Hangul Celluloid, March 19, 2012)

(Init_Scenes, March 19, 2012)

(ROK Drop, March 20, 2012)

(Beyond Hollywood, March 21, 2012)

(Twitch, March 20, 2012)

(Beyond Hollywood, March 22, 2012)

Sunny

(Init_Scenes, March 17, 2012)

(Beyond Hollywood, March 20, 2012)

(Movies With Butter, March 18, 2012)

(Korean Candy, March 19, 2012)

(Groove Korea, March 18, 2012)


PAST FILMS


Actresses, 2009
(Otherwhere, March 16, 2012)

Breathless, 2008
(Asian Movie Pulse, March 18, 2012)

(Seen in Jeonju, March 19, 2012)

(Rainy Day Movies, March 18, 2012)

Oasis, 2002
(Next Projection, March 19, 2012)

(Korean Grindhouse, March 17, 2012)

Vengeance Trilogy, 2002-2005
(Init_Scenes, March 22, 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 UpdateReviews 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.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Weekly Review Round-up (10/15-10/21, 2011)

This week we have a section dedicated to reviews from the recently wrapped Festival franco-coréen du film in Paris.  All of these are in French (my second language) and special thanks to Kim-Bong-Park, Made in Asie and asiafilm.fr for their hard work!  Also a number of The Yellow Sea reviews as it opens in the UK & Ireland.

Enjoy!


FFCF (Festival franco-coréen du film)

Anti Gas Skin

Bleak Night

Café Noir

Castaway on the Moon, 2009

Cheonggyecheon Medley

(asiafilm.fr, October 14, 2011)

End of Animal

(asiafilm.fr, October 13, 2011)

(Made in Asie, October 17, 2011)

Invasion of Alien Bikini

Late Autumn

(Made in Asie, October 18, 2011)

Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild

(Made in Asie, October 13, 2011)

Possessed

Sunny

The Code of a Duel

(asiafilm.fr, October 15, 2011)


RECENT RELEASES

(Film Business Asia, October 19, 2011)

From Seoul to Varanasi

(Modern Korean Cinema, October 20, 2011)

(Variety, October 17, 2011 - Subscription Required)

(Modern Korean Cinema, October 18, 2011)

(subtitledonline, October 20, 2011)

Pink

(straight.com, October 20, 2011)

(Film Business Asia, October 18, 2011)

(Twitch, October 16, 2011)

(Film Business Asia, October 120 2011)

The Yellow Sea


PAST FILMS

Possessed, 2009
(Kim Bong Park, October 14, 2011)

(Mmegionline, October 18, 2011)


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 UpdateReviews 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.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

I Am a Dad (Na-neun Abba-da) 2011

Different films come with different expectations. Depending on the pedigree attached, the budget afforded, or the genre/subjects mined, our preconceptions vary accordingly. B-movies have been popular since the early days of cinema, they have entertained us with their cheap thrills and delighted us with their far-fetched plots. Due to the nature of the production of these films, low budgets and short shoot times are a necessity, and consequently nuance and high production values are ill-afforded extravagances. Things tend to be exaggerated and excessively stylized, since when the actions on screen deliberately eschew realism, it is much easier to get away with things. Hence our expectations are very different for a glossy film with a high-budget, which we tend scrutizine, and a dime-a-dozen B-movie, which we are more likely to accept for what it is, cheap and simple entertainment.

Gritty B-movie
B-movies are mainly considered an American form of filmmaking but in other countries the rules of engagement are necessarily different. In Korea there has been a small number of 'authentic' B-movies including this year's Invasion of Alien Bikini and The Neighbor Zombie (2010), both from the same group of filmmakers. There are, however, a great many low-budget, generic studio features churned out in Chungmuro every year. I Am a Dad is not quite a B-movie, but it comes close and for me, before watching it, I had similar preconceptions. That is to say it looked cheap, gritty, exaggerated, generic, and featured a second-tier Korean star.

The story is simple and deliberately channels popular Korean exports of the 'Asia Extreme' variety. It features a revenge plotline, a very violent and corrupt detective, and illegal organ donors. Kim Seung-woo plays Detective Han Jong-sik, the corrupt investigator who has framed people for crimes to further his own ends. One of these victims exacted his revenge by killing his wife and injuring his daughter (Kim Sae-ron), who is now in desperate need of a new heart. In order to pay for his daughter’s condition, he goes on the take for some gangsters. Meanwhile another innocent man, Na Sang-man (Son Byeong-ho), that he put away from murder, is released, but not before his daughter dies and his wife winds up in a coma. Just like this year’s Heartbeat, it turns out that Na’s wife, who is considered clinically dead, is the only heart transplant available that could save Han’s daughter.

Kim Sae-ron, in need of a heart
The concept isn’t bad, even if it is quite contrived, but it loses its impact as a result of its excessive foreshadowing. Detective Han and Sang-man are tied via their parrallel fates, or rather that of their wives and daughters. Indeed, most of the narrative is played off of repetition, which inevitably means that a lot of time is wasted over the development of story and characters that has already been presaged. Having the ability to see ahead of time how the broad strokes will play out takes away much of the fun and leaves little to the imagination.

Kim Seung-woo, who is known mostly for starring in lesser Korean films like Spring Breeze (2003) and The Unbearable Lightness of Dating (2006) and has recently taken co-starring roles in more significant works like the K-Drama Iris (2009) and John H. Lee’s war epic 71: Into the Fire (2010), works best in measured, stoic parts, playing military or law enforcement figures. In I Am a Dad, he hams it up as an investigator prone to excessive bouts of violence. Kim plays Detective Han with a straight face, his portrayal of Detective Han is humorless and unironic. Normally I would take issue with a performance such as this one but given my expectations, which I have already outlined, it fits quite well with the style of the film.

Son Byeong-ho as the innocent family man
Son Byeong-ho does his best in the role he inhabits, but his best scenes are early on as clown/family man. For the rest of the film he displays two emotions: rage; and uncertainty. Unfortunately, child star Kim Sae-ron isn’t given much to do but I find it extraordinary that, in what seems like a pernicious bit of typecasting, for the third time in a row, following A Brand New Life (2009) and The Man From Nowhere (2010), she plays a girl who has lost her mother.

Im Ha-ryong, as the over-the-hill Detective Kim, is the standout performance, an affable. He is a positive presence on screen, it is unfortunate that some of the lines he is fed do not do him justice. Im has toiled away in minor roles in major films for years, such as Arahan (2003), Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005), Insadong Scandal (2009), and Good Morning President (2009) and is familiar to most who have an even limited exposure to Korean cinema.

Kim Seung-woo as Detective Han
The main indicators of the film’s lowly standing are its production values, sadly they are also one of its weakest assets. The camera is constantly shaking, the colours are washed out, the editing is fast-paced and slapdash, and even the sound tends to spike in the film’s loudest moments. There is no visual flair and the framing is all easy to set-up mid-shots. It seems to me that the haphazard manner of the production is a by-product of its meager finances and quick schedule.

The final sequences are a bit of a departure from what is an otherwise standard and unstylized narrative. I’m not quite sure they worked but I appreciated the effort nonetheless. The filmmakers took a little poetic license and were more florid in their mise-en-scene. Despite all its flaws I Am a Dad is never less than watchable and as long as you don’t expect much from it, it amounts to a pleasant enough way to distract oneself for 100 minutes.


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 UpdateKorean 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.


Friday, September 30, 2011

Weekly Review Round-up (09/24-09/30, 2011)

An enormous amount of reviews this week (53!) due in part to Austin's Fantasia Fest and the release of Poetry in Toronto. I'm sure I've missed a couple though but if you can point me towards any more I will gladly include them!


NEW KOREAN RELEASES

(koreanfilm.org, September 2011)

Blind

Countdown


RECENT RELEASES

(hancinema.net, September 24, 2011)

(Twitch, September 24, 2011)

Haunters

Invasion of Alien Bikini

(Modern Korean Cinema, September 30, 2011)

Poetry

(Init_Scenes, September 29, 2011)

The Yellow Sea


PAST FILMS

(Hangul Celluloid, September 16, 2011)

(buzzfocus.com, September 28, 2011)

(The New Yorker, September 28, 2011)


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 UpdateReviews 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.