Korean Cinema News (07/04-07/10, 2011)

A lot of box office news this week as well as some festival news. Now that I'm back from holiday the Korean Cinema News updates will return to a regular cycle.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Independent Films Making Waves in Korea

Numerous indie films are doing well at the box office while supposedly hot 3D movies losing traction. The Journals of Musan, with its troves of awards, and others are performing strongly at home and abroad. (The Hankyoreh, July 4, 2011)

Crossing Gains in Popularity in the North

Korea's 2008 oscar entry Crossing, which depicts a family's struggles in the border region of the North, is a big hot among movie fans in North Korea. (Daily NK, July 5, 2011)

Spike Lee to Remake Oldboy

After passing through many hands, the remake of Oldboy (2003) is set to be made by acclaimed director Spike Lee. Mark Protosevich is writing and the film is getting ready for production at Mandate. (Twitch Film, July 5, 2011)

Sector 7 Will Be First Korean IMAX 3D Film

Upcoming blockbuster Sector 7 will be Korea's first 3D IMAX film, it is set for release on August 4. (MarketWatch, July 7, 2011)

The Yellow Sea Picked for Sitges Film Festival

Na Hong-jin's sophomore feature The Yellow Sea has been selected for the 44th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. (hancinema.net, July 7, 2011)

Rookies Directors on the Rise, Stars Lack Drawing Power

New trends seem to be affecting the Korean box office as rookie directors and independent films are generating more revenue while vehicles with supposedly reliable box office draws are disappointing at the charts. (The Chosun Ilbo, July 8, 2011)

Box Office Dips Sightly but Korean Releases up First Half of 2011

While overall revenue was down 2.3%. Korean films upped their market share to 48% and saw their revenue rise by 9.9% in the first two quarters in 2011. Given that the back half of the year is packed with promising films this bodes well for the industry. (KOFIC, June 8, 2011)

CJ Buys Vietnam Cinema Chain

Megastar Media Company, Vietnam's largest exhibition company, has been purchased by CJ Entertainment for $73.6 million. CJ is aggressively expanding to foreign markets with 7 screens already operational in China as well as one in the US. (Screen Daily, July 8, 2011)

Second Korean Film Spotlight at Fantasia

Fantasia is to feature a Korean spotlight section that will feature five films: Bleak Night, Haunters, Hello Ghost, Invasion of Alien Bikini, and Petty Romance. (hancinema.net, July 8, 2011)

Leafie Set to Revitalize Korean Animation

Hopes are high for Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild, as it courts foreign buyers and may bring about a renaissance for Korean animation. (hancinema.net, July 8, 2011)

Isabelle Huppert Will Star in Next Hong Sang-soo Project

Hong Sang-soo's next film will feature none other than the revered French actress Isabelle Huppert, who had previously expressed an interest in collaborating with the acclaimed filmmaker. (hancinema.net, July 10, 2011)

New Sensory Experiences in Korean Cinema

4D theaters are enticing viewers in Korea with fog, water, shaking seats, and smells. A multiplex with this technology is expected to be built in New York and could take off in Europe if successful. (METRO.co.uk, July 10, 2011)

Darcy Paquet's Contribution to Korean Cinema

An esteemed figure in Korea, Darcy Paquet is well known to anybody with a serious interest in Korean film. In this Korea Herald profile, his contributions to the expansion of Korean cinema are lauded. (The Korea Herald, July 11, 2011) 

INTERVIEW

Cha Seung-won Profile

A piece on actor Cha Seung-won, who has been very busy of late, on his process for creating characters and his day to day routines. (hancinema.net, July 10, 2011)

TRAILERS

Lots of english subbed trailers this week, including for some highly anticipated summer blockbusters.

Champ

My Heart Beats (Eng Subs)

Quick (Eng Subs)

Sector 7 (Eng Subs)

BOX OFFICE

Transformers Dominion Continues

Transformers 3 pulled in another 1,670,000 million viewers this weekend to come within a hair's breath of the 6 million mark. Sunny grew again to 270,000 while The Cat had a strong opening with 300,000. Poongsan also grew while White dipped slightly, both are performing well. (Hancinema.net, July 10, 2011)


Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews 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.

Korean Cinema News (06/27-07/03, 2011)

Not picking up too much news as I'm off on holiday but a few items concerning the NYAFF (which I attended), including a great, and also a little sad, interview with co-founder Grady Hendrix.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Fantasia 2011 to Feature Masterclass with Ryoo Seung-wan

Director Ryoo Seung-wan, whose current film The Unjust is impressing viewers around the world, will host a masterclass on action film staging and choreography. (Twitch, June 27, 2011)

Journals of Musan Wins Festival Award in Italy

The Journals of Musan as added yet another award to its pedigree as it picked up the Grand Prize at the 47th Pesaro Film Festival. (Yonhap News Agency, June 29, 2011)

Fashion 3D Glasses from LG

Famed UK designer Giles Deacon, known for his prints, has teamed up with LG, the Korean electronics manufacturer, to create a pair of designer 3D glasses which are available now on a limited basis. (HDTVtest, June 29, 2011)

5 Films To Watch Out for in Second Half of 2011
Davdi Teszar of The Korea Blog picks 5 Korean films to watch out for in the back half of 2011: My Way, The Front Line, Sector 7, Only You, and La Quotidienne. (The Korea Blog, June 30, 2011)

New Hiring at CJ

Kim Hee-jeon has been named international sales executive responsible for the US and Europe by CJ E&M. (Film Business Asia, July 1, 2011)

NYAFF Begins

The New York Asian Film Festival kicked off on the 1st and will feature a slew of Asian films, including 12 Korean titles, and numerous guests until it comes to a close on the 14th. (indieWIRE.com, July 1, 2011)

INTERVIEWS

The Many Projects of Producer/Director Yun Je-gyun

A discussion with the producer of the upcoming Sector 7 and director of Haeundae (2008) of the many projects he has going at the moment. (The Dong-a Ilbo, June 28, 2011)

Conversation with NYAFF Co-Founder Grady Hendrix
A great interview with one of the co-founders of the NYAFF in which he discusses the origins of the festival and how hard it is to keep it going. (Cinespect, June 28, 2011)

TRAILER

Just one this week and due to the amount of unsubbed trailers, I will instead mark those that have them in future.

The Beast

BOX OFFICE

Transformers 3 Dominates
Transformers 3 broke a lot of records this weekend as it raked in 3 million admissions by the end of Sunday. Sunny still going strong as it breaks the 6 million mark with 200,000 new admissions. Both Poongsan and White are showing a little staying power as they post decent numbers. (Hancinema.net, July 3, 2011)



Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews 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.

Battlefield Heroes (평양성, Pyeongyangseong) 2011

The Villagers

Lee Jun-ik has somewhat hastily proclaimed that he has retired from the director’s chair following the poor performance of his latest film Battlefield Heroes. He has made seven films and by far the one he is most famous for is The King and the Clown (2005), a gay period comedy drama that came out of nowhere to become the highest grossing film in the peninsula’s history up until that point with over 12 million admissions. After that kind of success it must be hard to follow it up, especially since a director like Lee is not known for making high-falutin blockbusters that you would typically expect to score big at the box office, he is known for making high concept comedies and in no film market at any time in history has that been a recipe for surefire success. In each of the three years that followed The King and the Clown, Lee kept busy and released a film: Radio Star (2006), The Happy Life (2007), and Sunny (2008). Each of the aforementioned were solid midlevel players but none cracked their year’s top 10. Then in 2010 he released Blades of Blood, which has been somewhat popular overseas but a significant commercial failure at home.

This year he's back with Battlefield Heroes which once again has not been met with the breakout success that had been hoped for and following its decent performance (it was by no means a flop) he has publicly declared that he is hanging his hat, this is after having previously said he would do so were his next film not a big hit. This seems to me a little rash and I worry that a big-budget war comedy was a reckless film to gamble on, but we shall see. I recently caught up with respected film critic Chris Bourne at the NYAFF and he believes that Lee will make a return after another brief hiatus, I am inclined to agree and I certainly hope he will.

As for the film itself, also known as Pyongyang Castle, it is a big-budget war comedy set in the 600s and the plot consists of the Silla kingdom and Chinese Tang dynasty banding together to overthrow the Goguryeo kingdom by laying siege to their castle. Silla’s strategist is worried that Tang will conquer them also after winning the battle and so conspires with Goguryeo in various twists and turns. The story is somewhat straightforward and yet it is also convoluted and a bit contrived, although the fact of the matter is that it is all a stage for the bawdy comedy to play out on.

The Rice Bowl

The cast has many recognizable faces (if you’re well-versed in Korean cinema) and a number of great cameos including one from the great Hwang Jeong-min. The problem with reviewing a film like Battlefield Heroes for Western audiences, is that I feel a lot may be lost in translation. While I enjoyed it, I know there must be a number of things that I missed which is a shame but the film still has a much to offer. The comedy is often low-brow and when it is verbal it can be very quickfire, which means it can be a little difficult to follow with subtitles. My favorite parts of the film featured the villagers who were ‘drafted’ into the Silla camp and their antics. There is a funny scene where they all appear at the Goguryeo gate in a big rice pot, a play on the Trojan Horse, and pop out comically trying to persuade them to surrender for some stores of rice. The scene gets even more ridiculous when it breaks into a karaoke song, this didn’t bother me too much but I imagine it may be too silly for some.

Battlefield Heroes features a number of well-choreographed fight scenes and the action is very convincing, much more so than you would expect for a comedy. This does lead to a slight identity crisis on the part of the film as it juggles comedy, action, and melodrama but it never veers too far out of control and remains firmly a comedy. Ultimately the film was a little slight for me and I wouldn’t recommend it to casual viewers of Korean cinema. It didn’t leave me with much to go away with and was at times forgettable, but it was worth watching and I really hope to see more from Lee in the future.

★★★☆☆

Large-scale war scenes played for laughs

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 Update, Korean 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.

Haunters (Cho-neung-ryeok-ja) 2010

Science fiction is a genre that hasn’t gotten too much play in South Korean cinema, outside of monster movies (The Host, 2006), and disaster films (Tidal Wave, 2009) there are perhaps only half a dozen films that could be categorized as science fiction. One, 2009: Lost Memories (2002), is set in the near future but in an alternate universe where Japan sided with the allies in World War II and kept it’s prewar colonies, which include Korea. The only other prominent example and certainly the one that is best known to Western audiences is the delirious, deranged, and brilliant Save the Green Planet (2003), while not a strict sci-fi, as it is equal parts horror, detective thriller, social commentary, romance, and comedy, it plays with the tropes of sci-fi in a remarkably clever fashion. Another genre that has not been seen often in Korea in superhero film, granted this is an American specialty and is a relatively recent branch of cinema. Examples in Korea include Descendants of Hong Gil-dong (2009), Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard (2009), and A Man Who Was Superman (2007). Woochi was a remarkably successful action-comedy about a chosun-era wizard who ends up in modern day fighting creatures from the past, on the other hand Superman is a comedy drama that has a big emotional punch and features all the Superman imagery while featuring a protagonist who doesn’t actually have any powers it acts as a a superhero film as only a South Korean film could. Comic book movies however, are quite popular in Korea and include the immensely popular Oldboy (2003) and even different styles of film such as the recent romantic comedy Petty Romance (2010).

Reminiscent of 'Cinema du Look'

Haunters is all of the above and more, it is a clever sci-fi, an off-kilter superhero film, a stylish comic book movie, and an intermittently effective horror. The story is relatively simple, it starts with a dark, brooding, and malevolent prologue that shows us a child in a broken home who has the ability to control minds and does so to horrifying effect. In present day we are introduced to Gyoo-nam, a young man working in a salvage yard with his two foreign friends, after an unfortunate accident he must find new work and does so at Utopia, an oddly-named pawnshop run by Jeong-sik (played by the brilliant Byeon Hee-bong) and his daughter. Meanwhile the child from the opening, Cho-in, is now grown-up and uses his powers to live a quiet, but luxurious life. One day he robs Utopia, while everyone, including Gyoo-nam’s friends, are there. Suddenly he notices something, Gyoo-nam is immune to his power and then all hell breaks loose. The film then focuses on Gyoo-nam as he pursues Cho-in in a series of explosive set pieces.

The Last Supper

It’s a fun story if somewhat thin and features a seemingly bottomless amount of plotholes and inconsistencies but with two engaging leads, strong supporting characters, and a terrific mise-en-scene, it can excused most of its errors. As I watched it I was reminded a lot of the Cinema du Look of the 80s and 90s in French cinema, a set of fiercely contemporary, visceral, aesthetic, and post-modernist works that came from young directors such as Luc Besson, Jean-Jacques Beinex, and Leo Carax. These films favored style over substance and spectacle over narrative, equipped with visual flair they featured young, alienated characters who symbolized the marginalized youth Francois Mitterand’s France. I feel that Haunters emulates this brief movement of cinema (there were only 7 films) and as a result could probably be excused its flagrant disregard for logic as it seeks to win us over with style. One scene in the film that reminded me of the Cinema du Look was early on at the salvage yard where all the multi-cultural workers sit down for lunch in a Last Supper tableau and when asked by the lunch lady who has produced their lunch ticket, it is the Jesus stand-in who gets up. It is an odd scene that doesn’t add to the narrative but is a stylish visual reference that is in line with the aforementioned French film movement. Most of the film is also played out in seedy backwater Seoul locations, and most often at night, this mimics the Cinema du Look’s propensity for shooting in the Paris Metro in an effort to symbolize an alternative society.

Standout supporting cast

While the film always looks great, if a little dark at times, it does begin to spin its wheels a little as Gyoo-nam always goes after Cho-in, who is clearly a superior opponent, without any plan. Since this blind and frankly stupid bravery leads to the death of a lot of innocent people, it is difficult to root for our hero at times. He is a simpleton who has a good heart but seemingly little brains. Haunters features good performances from its leads (Ko-soo and Kang Dong-won of Woochi and Secret Reunion) as well as its supporting characters, especially from Abu Dod and Enes Kaya who play Gyoo-nam's Ghanaian and Turkish friends. The film is Kim Min-suk's debut work and exhibits a lot of promise for good things to come, perhaps next time he will focus a little more on the narrative. Previously he collaborated with Kim Jee-woon on the script for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (2008), a delightful action romp which also suffers from some loose plotting. Haunters will infuriate a lot of viewers due to its inconsistencies but if you can look past the plotting there is a solid Korean multi-genre film to be enjoyed.


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 Update, Korean 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.

Korean Cinema News (06/20-06/26, 2011)

As we roll into Summer, the news cycle is slowing slightly but there were still some interesting stories this week, including some on theater monopolies and the huge success of Sunny.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

A Look at Asia's Take on Spaghetti Westerns

Based on the spaghetti westerns that emanated from Europe in the 60s and 70s, Asia has recently taken to shifting what is chiefly an American genre to the East. Korea's The Good, the Bad and the Weird (2008)is the most popular example thus far. (Bleedingcool.com, June 20, 2011)

Kim Ki-duk's Latest Selected for Karlovy Vary Film Fest
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has invited Kim Ki-duk's latest film, the documentary Arirang to screen in its 'Another View' section. (Yahoo! News, June 21, 2011)

New Character Posters for Sector 7
The much anticipated Sector 7 has released some new posters, they are characters shots for the main stars of the picture. Sector 7 will be released on August 4. (Film Smash, June 21, 2011)

Upcoming Blockbuster Quick Promises Speedy Thrills
Quick, a summer action film focusing on motorcycle will be released on July 21 in Korea and producers are promising that it will be the fastest Korean blockbuster ever. (The Korea Times, June 21, 2011)

Seoul Begins Showing Local Films with Japanese Subtitles
The City of Seoul, with the help of CGV Theaters, will begin to exhibit Korean films with Japanese subtitles. This follows the increasing popularity and viability of English subtitles being added to local films in Korea's capital. (The Korea Herald, June 21, 2011)

Poongsan Readying for Big Splash
The Kim Ki-duk scripted Poongsan, directed by his protege Jeon Jae-hong, was just released this past weekend in Korea, and its producers have high expectations that their low-budget film will make a big impact on the marketplace. (Joong Ang Daily, June 22, 2011)

Korean Stars Owed 2.2 Billion Won in Backpay
The Korean Entertainment Management Association (KEMA), is claiming that various stars are owed a total of 2.2 billion won in backpay. Affected screen talent includes Hyeon Bin and Song Hye-kyo. (Manila Bulletin, June 23, 2011)

Quick Presold to 7 Countries
Incoming blockbuster Quick has been presold to 7 countries, including France. The film is reported to have cost around 8 million dollars. (hancinema.net, June 23, 2011)

Outcry from Independent Producers as Multiplexes Monopolize Screenings
Following previous complaints, the Korean Film Producers Association (KFPA) has outlined new grievances against multiplexes which continue to exhibit monopolistic tendencies. The main problem is that in Korea the main exhibitor are also the main film producers, thus they control access to their films and smaller, independent features are often squeezed out of the marketplace. (Joon Ang Daily, June 24, 2011)

Will Sector 7 Be the Next Hit to Crack 10 Million?
This summer sees the return of potent Ha Ji-won/Yoon Je-kyoon team, who previously collaborated on Haeundae (2009). Many are wondering if they will again have a hit on their hands that will cross the 10 million viewer mark. (Hancinema.net, June 26, 2011)

TRAILERS

Dr. Jump (no subs)

Pain (no subs)

Quick (no subs)

BOX OFFICE

Sunny Back on Top
After 4 weeks coming in behind Kung Fu Panda 2, Sunny saw its weekend take increase by 50% (330,000) and handily took first place, it has no accrued an enormous 5.7 million admissions. Kung Fu Panda is still going strong and looks set to cross 5 million next week. Poongsan was the big new release and did well with 240,000 while holdover White added 100,000 to its total, which stands at 615,000. (Hancinema.net, June 26, 2011)



Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews 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.

Blades of Blood (구르믈 버서난 달처럼, Gooreumeul beoeonan dalcheoreom) 2010

Most national film industries have their own variant of the period film and depending on the length and volatility of their history, they may have a few different epochs rendered in these offerings. Korea revels in genre cinema so it is no surprise that period films are numerous in the marketplace. Like other genres it is frequently cross-blended with other styles of filmmaking, and frequently it is twisted into something you may not expect: The King and the Clown, a gay period romp, became the nation’s top grossing film when it was released in 2005; Woochi mingled period, action, and science fiction into a high concept comedy and went on to be the second best performing film at the local box office last year; and Detective K, the first installment of an episodic procedural comedy was the most successful film in the first quarter of this year. These clever and original examples are joined by many more straightforward but exceptionally well-made period dramas such as Chunhyang (2000), Untold Scandal (2003), and The Servant (2010) all of which scored big with Korean audiences.

Every year over 100 films are made in Korea but only a dozen or so are marketed overseas. Blades of Blood is one of these and my guess is the film’s producers were hoping that foreign audiences would find something to connect with in this expensive and frequently gloomy enterprise because it certainly didn’t at home. The film only managed 200,000 admissions, a far cry from break-even point. The film features major, bankable stars, is technically competent, and can be quite good at times, so why did it flounder so badly?

The film is more than passable, if somewhat unremarkable, and I’m sure the filmmakers were a little surprised by its poor showing. Out of the two marquee names, Hwang Jeong-min is very good as the blind swordsman Hwang (more than a little reminiscent of Zatoichi) but Cha Seoung-won is problematic as the ambivalent villain Mong-hak. This perception could be entirely my own since I associate him with Kim Sang-jin’s blithely irreverent comedies. Cha portrays characters who are always over-the-top, goofy, and unsure of themselves: a disrespectful youth in Attack the Gas Station (1999); the fighting teacher in Kick the Moon (2001); the wannabe homeowner in Ghost Story (2004); or even as the jailed father in A Day With My Son (2007). To see him in such a startlingly different role is jarring and I couldn’t really get over it. Hwang on the other hand is familiar with oddball characters, A Man Who Was Superman (2007) being a great example, and he excels and seems to revel in this role.

Technically the film is very proficient, the cinematography is solid, the production design and costumes detailed, and the sound is very effective, if a little overbearing at times (like when the soundtrack is inundated with dozens of swooshing swords). One thing I couldn’t possibly understand was the prosthetic vampire teeth they attached to Cha, I suppose they were symbolic of his descent into mayhem, his craving for bloodletting and power, but frankly they looked ridiculous. The final shot of the film is also immensely perplexing, I’m sure that it means something but I really couldn’t be bothered to figure out what that is.

I think the film’s major flaw, at least what pervaded most of its running time, was the uneven plotting and the plodding exposition that went along with it. From the very beginning I had a little trouble following what was going on. I knew there was a rebellion that were forced to compromise and Mong-hwa wasn’t going along with it, he set out hellbent on revenge (possibly, I’m not sure) and killed Gyeon-ja's family. Then Gyeon-ja and Hwang (a former member of the rebellious alliance) went after Mong-hak. There’s also something about the Japanese invading, the rival faction in the King’s court, and a girl but she is so poorly written I can’t quite figure the role she played in it all.

I’ve racked up quite a few negative points, but I must say that I enjoyed a lot of this film. When I could follow it, it was at times engaging and the fight scenes were very good. The comical scenes involving Hwang mentoring Gyeon-ja were played for cheap chuckles but they work well, because they are well choreographed and because of Hwang. A lot of the narrative is an excuse for swordplay, characters get killed with hardly any provocation, but I suppose that’s par for the course and I think it benefits the film. The ending is quite melodramatic and somewhat apart from the rest of the film, but it’s done very well and I wonder had rest of the film had been done this way, could it have struck a deeper chord with Korean audiences? I definitely enjoyed myself with Blades of Blood despite its numerous flaws but I daresay that for many viewers it may be a step too far in the wrong direction.

★★★☆☆

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 Update, Korean 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.

Petty Romance (Jje-jje-han Ro-maen-seu) 2010

Korean romcoms are a dime a dozen in Korea, this is well known, the good news is that most of them are quite good, which is also well know but more than a little surprising to people who may not have seen any. I remember when I first saw My Sassy Girl (2001) and was whole-heartedly enjoying myself, even in spite of my previous prejudice to the genre. Back then I would talk anyone’s ear off who would listen about Korean cinema, truth be told I still do that. It was easy to recommend films to film buffs, most of my colleagues in college, but I struggled to honestly recommend Korean films to many other people. Save the Green Planet (2003) and Oldboy (2003) may have left an impression on me but doubtless those who may not be so keen on stylized violence would be left in the cold. Similarly, Peppermint Candy (1999) and The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) may have been perfect fodder for intellects (would be and otherwise) but those who go to the theater purely for entertainment could not hope to find much to their liking in these films. It was then with great joy and relief that I came across My Sassy Girl, a wonderfully entertaining film that was clever, well-made, and would appeal to a different kind of film viewer. I was able to recommend Korean cinema to people who don’t ever seek out foreign film.

Jeong-bae and Da-rim

This was a turning point in my appreciation of Korea’s film industry, revenge picks and arthouse flicks were all well and good, and they were oh so good, but I learnt that Korea had a lot more to offer to a broader audience. My Sassy Girl was a complete departure from what I’d seen and yet the skill, craftsmanship, and many of the inherent themes still made this evidently cut from the same cloth as what I had previously digested. It’s just that the cloth was bigger than I had once thought, if such a commercial film, a romantic comedy could be produced by an emerging industry, what else was in store? I quickly found out that the answer was a lot, I opened myself to films that on paper may not have been my cup of tea. I was wholly democratic in my Korean film selection and the treasures I uncovered were rich and plenty.

Petty Romance is not My Sassy Girl, and likely it will not motivate the same kind of response as it did in me, but it is a more than serviceable film that reminded me of that same feeling. If it were an American film I would probably hate it, because it would have displayed less ingenuity, quality, and verve, but I admit also because it wouldn’t have been Korean. I am completely biased at this point, and unashamedly so. I will watch any Korean film and pretty much always find something to like in them or link them to others I’ve seen. On paper, Petty Romance is a film that I would have no interest in, but I trust Korean filmmakers to do something new and I also trust the online community of filmmakers that have been quite taken with this new offering.

Externalizing the internal with animation

The film is about an amateur comic book writer Jeong-bae who is a great illustrator but has some problems when it comes to writing a story. After being rejected everywhere with his 3-years in the making oeuvre, he decides to enter a competition for an adult comic with a $100,000 prize. He must do this in order to buy back his late father’s painting, which otherwise will be auctioned off to cover his debt to one of his father’s friends. Da-rim is a struggling sex columnist who can’t hold down a job and is staying with her playboy brother. Jeong-bae interviews for a story writer to help him win the competition and selects Da-rim, they bicker their way through the project and of course fall in love but not without a few obstacles.

It’s a simple story that is told effectively but it does approach its subject matter in a clever fashion. As the two create the story for the comic it becomes apparent that it is just a externalization of their sexual anxieties, not least because Da-rim is a virgin. Debut director Kim Jeong-hoon-Il, who previously penned Sword in the Moon (2003), capitalizes on these moments with well-rendered animation sequences which also serve to quicken the pace of the film, which is not always up to speed with the snappiness of the film’s characters. In fact the film’s main flaw is probably its length. At 117 minutes it is not an overly long Korean film but the story struggles across it at points. A curious amount of counterpoint is achieved throughout the film, especially due to the animation scenes which are explicitly violent and sexual that are placed in this quirky good-natured romcom. I think it is a good addition as it adds some gravitas to the inner frustrations of the characters.

A very modern film

The lead performances from Lee Seon-gyoon and Choi Kang-hee are quite charming and their chemistry is engaging. The supporting characters are the typical placeholders you would expect in this kind of a film and while the resolutions are visible from a distance the journey is entertaining enough for this to be a worthwhile venture. One last thing I should say about this film is that it is definitely one of the most modern Korean films I’ve seen. It was released last December and besides its use of iPhones and the various other trappings of modern society it has an extremely modern look and feel: one scene features Da-rim and her friend at a club where the music is very downbeat minimalist techno and the patrons dance in a trance. I can’t quite explain all it but it felt a little different from what I’ve seen previously. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who doesn’t already know they like Korean romcoms but if you have any interest in them Petty Romance is definitely worth a look.

Korean Cinema News (06/13-06/19, 2011)

A pair of great features lead off this week, on legendary filmmaker Lee Doo-yong and emerging artist and filmmaker Park Chan-kyong. A number of industry related items follow as well as a good number of trailers, including a fantastic new one for The Front Line.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

An Appreciation of Filmmakers Lee Doo-yong
A detailed feature on Lee Doo-yong, who was a prominent Korean filmmaker in the 1970s and 80s, second only to Im Kwon-taek on the international scene. (Korean Cinema Today, May 28, 2011)

Artist Park Chan-kyong Explores Space Between the Koreas

Korea's bustling art scene is beginning to have quite an impact at home and abroad. One influential artist,  Park Chan-kyong, seeks to highlight the middle ground betweens the Koreas. He is filmmaker and photographer who most recently worked with his brother, famed director Park Chan-wook, on Night Fishing, a short film shot on an iPhone. (The New York Times, June 13, 2011)

Korean Film Archive Releases A Hometown in Heart
The Korea Film Archive is releasing a new classic film on DVD. A Hometown in Heart, adapted from Ham Se-deok's play A Little Monk, will be released on June 20th. (Far East Films, June 13, 2011)

Korean iPhone Film Competing at Shanghai

Kwon Jin-hee's The Idea of Creation in competing in the Shanghai International Film Festival's iPhone film competition. The film follows life's up and downs from the perspective of a bug. (Joong Ang Daily, June 13, 2011)

CJ's 4D Cinemas to Launch in Thailand
Major Cineplex Group plc is joining with CJ 4Dplex Co in order to launch the later's new 4D technology screens across Thailand. This makes Thailand the fourth country to offer such a cinematic experience, after South Korea, China, and Mexico. (Bangkok Post, June 14, 2011)

Kim Ki-duk on the Benefits on Low-Budget Filmmaking
After making a splash at Cannes with his new documentary feature Arirang, Kim Ki-duk is prepping for the release of his protege Juhn Jai-hong's Poongsan. He extols the virtues of low-budget filmmaking against the commercial Korean film market. (The Korea Times, Junes 14, 2011)

Lineup Announced for 15th PiFan
The 15th Puchon International Film Festival, which will open its gates on July 14th for 10 days, has announced its lineup. Na Hong-jin's The Yellow Sea will be in competition and the upcoming thriller Blind will serve as the closing film. (Film Business Asia, June 15, 2011)

Jang Hoon Explains The Front Line and Tensions with Mentor Kim Ki-duk
Jang Hoon's anticipated third feature, The Front Line, is being released in Korea on July 21st, it tells the story of the 'forgotten' war by highlighting lesser-known incidents of the Korean War (1950-1953. Jang also explains the state of his relations with Kim Ki-duk, his former mentor, who has recently spoken out against him. (Hancinema.net, June 16, 2011)

Movie Version of K-Drama Dae Jang Geum on the Way
One of Korea's most popular TV shows, the historical drama Dae Jang Geum is set to be remade as a film. It is aiming for an international release in 2013. (Hancinema.net, June 16, 2011)

TRAILERS

Lots of new trailers this week for a variety of films, including romance, action, war, horror, and thriller. Three are new full length trailers, in addition to previously released teasers.

Always (no subs)

Blind (no subs)

Don't Click (no subs)

The Cat (no subs)

The Front Line (no subs)

The Ultimate Weapon (no subs)

BOX OFFICE

Close Race for No.1 from Three Holdovers
Kung Fu Panda 2 had a slight edge at the box office this weekend with its 280,000 admissions versus 270,000 for Sunny, which crossed the 5 million mark on Saturday, and 260,000 for the latest X-Men installment. Super 8 had a decent opening (235,000) while The Green Lantern barely made an impression (120,000). Among Korean holdovers, K-horror White held very well and now has nearly half a million admissions, while Moby Dick floundered in its sophomore frame. (Hancinema.net, June 19, 2011)



Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

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Typhoon (Tae-poong) 2005

Kwak Kyung-taek’s Typhoon was a major blockbuster that hit South Korean screens in the winter of 2005 and wound up with an impressive 4 million admissions. Kwak is no stranger to success, his autobiographical feature Friend (2001) was the highest-grossing film of its time when it attracted 8 million viewers across the peninsula with its tale of boyhood friends following different, and often violent, paths into adulthood. Typhoon reunites the director with Jang Dong-gum, a major star who, as well as Friend, has headlined blockbusters such as Taegugki (2004) and the forthcoming My Way (2011), he has also appeared in foreign language films such as China’s The Promise (2005) and New Zealand’s The Warrior’s Way (2010). The film also stars Lee Jung-jae another big star who has featured in Il Mare (2000) and The Housemaid (2010). Armed with a $15 million budget Kwak took his production across Asia, with various sequences of the film shot in Thailand, Singapore, Russia, and Seoul and Busan in South Korea.

The Vengeful Sin (Jang Dong-gum)

Like many Korean blockbusters that preceded it and those that would follow it, the film derives it central tension from the divide between the Koreas. In this narrative Jang portrays Sin, a North Korean defector who has become a pan-Asian outlaw seeking retribution against the whole peninsula and Lee ass Gang Se-jong, the top Navy operative enlisted to take him down. Throw in some nuclear materials, big ships, submarines, lots of explosions, and a heavy dollop of melodrama and what follows is a fairly standard and messy Korean actioneer. The results aren’t all bad though and as many other reviewers have noted, the production design and many of the set pieces are engaging, and of course the weepy sentimentality, so keenly perfected by Korean filmmakers, succeeds here even though it really shouldn’t.

It's clear that Kwak took a page or three out of Hollywood's book while he made this film. Examples like the Mission Impossible (1995) reference (magazine on the plane, like the 'recommended' movies of the MI franchise), the fancy, high-tech command center, and the general style of the mise-en-scene, are all reminiscent of America's big-budget summer movies. I mention this because what bothered me the most about the film was the lack of focus in its plot. The exposition was far from clear and at many points I found myself unsure of what was going on. I think this is a casualty of the blending of the American and Korean aesthetics and moviemaking styles.

Se-jong (Lee Jung-jae) is briefed a la Mission Impossible

After the success of Friend, Kwak has endured as one of Korea’s most successful directors. All of his films beside Mutt Boy (2003), have finished in the Top 10 for the Year, this streak is not likely to end any time soon with the imminent release the The Battle of Yellow Sea (2011), a hotly anticipated 3D action pic. At his best his films are very effective productions that combine technical skill, pathos, and action, Friend being the most popular example. My personal favorite is A Love (2007), which despite its overplayed Shakesperean dramatics, is a very well rounded piece of cinema and easily the most tightly plotted film in Kwak’s career. He seems to use the same devices and techniques in most of his work and I appreciate that he favors focusing on characters and their stories and uses these to heighten our investment in the action sequences that populate his narratives but with Typhoon this poses a problem. Sin’s sad story is well rendered and easy to understand, thus his motivations are clear but all the diplomatic and military wrangling between the Blue House, and other foreign powers, in addition to the terrorist plot that drives the film, are so haphazard and byzantine that they overwhelm what should be a fairly straightforward thriller. 

Knife fight in the belly of the ship 

Besides Sin’s backstory, Typhoon is also a film which focuses on two alpha males, both portrayed by huge stars with sculpted, masculine physiques. Just like John Woo’s old Hong Kong films, a major element is the friendship that potentially develops between them, even as they stick knives into each other (I could read into this, but I’ll leave it up to you). Se-jong is sympathetic to the plight of Sin and his sister but he cannot condone the terrorism that the outlaw plans to perpetrate, although he is also ill at ease with the dirty tactics employed by the Blue House (Korea’s White House). This potentially interesting relationship is not given enough time to develop and ends up as little more than an afterthought. During the climax, their relationship comes to a head in the belly of a cargo ship, but the subtleties have been glossed over and sidelined by the attempts to make this film a larger affair, replete with international and political overtones. 

I think that if Kwak had stuck with what he was good at, even if he can’t be very subtle about it, and had opted to tone down the political machinations that weigh down the film, Typhoon could have been an effective and engaging pan-Asian thriller. Instead the film is a bit of a mess, interspersed with some good moments and some great music but let down by a poor script and some bad decision-making. A little judicious editing wouldn’t have hurt either.

Cinderella (2006)

I have not seen a great deal of Korean horror films and this is something I very much want to amend as out of what I've seen, there are a number that I love: Memento Mori (1999), Tell Me Something (1999), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), Bedevilled (2010); and many that I am quite fond of: Whispering Corridors (1998), Into the Mirror (2003), R-Point (2004), and Princess Aurora (2005). The first film that fell into my lap after making this recent, arbitrary decision was Cinderella (2006), a plastic surgery psychological horror from a director previously known for softcore erotica. I knew nothing about it going in but was intrigued by the setting, initially. The film has a few interesting ideas but it’s fatal flaw and what sets it apart from other Korean horror films, in a bad way, is its complete lack of technical proficiency and misuse, or perhaps misunderstanding, of horror conventions. The film isn’t scary, doesn’t look good, and worse is hard to follow, despite a fairly straightforward narrative.

Young girl on the operating table

Plastic surgery is a hut button issue in Korea; its soaring popularity is even a national source of tourism, which is now promoted by the government. Many worry what kind of values this kind of aesthetic and vain obsession instills in young and insecure women. Korean entertainment forums and message boards across the web are replete with speculation as to which actresses have had work done, it is also frequently mentioned in the news. Thus it seems only natural that this topic would transition to cinema and it did, making a big splash in 2006 with at least 3 major films that I can think of: Kim Di-kuk gaves us Time which was probably the film that dealt with the topic in the most damning fashion; 200 Pounds Beauty was the third highest grossing film of the year, it acknowledged the issue in a lighthearted fashion but didn't really make draw any conclusions; finally, of course, is Cinderella, which given how well the subject matter should lend itself to a psychological horror, strikes me as a missed opportunity.

Horrific, or ludicrous?

Martin Cleary over at New Korean Cinema makes a good point in his review. Advertising for Korean horrors, or most Korean films for that matter, always looks sublime and promises a lot. There are a number of highly-varnished Korean films that match this marketing but films that don't can be a real let down. Cinderella suffers from this comparison, the posters look great, full of vivid, freaky (and well photoshopped) imagery that the film simply doesn't deliver on. One scene in the film, probably the only one that people will remember, tries to capture this grotesque imagery in an ill-advised art classroom sequence where two young girls carve each others faces in a trance. It already sounds silly, but in its execution it is evenmore ridiculous than you could imagine.

Cinderella is a definite misfire and I don't think that director Bong Man-dae is someone worth looking out for. I'm not sure what his intentions were at the outset: the film isn't scary so it doesn't constitute the central appeal of horror; it could be interpreted as a psychological thriller but it doesn't really explore this territory adequately; it's possible, as other people have mentioned, that he was paying homage (read ripping off) Japanese horror films like Dark Water (2002), but with no new twist, observation, and such a lack of immaculate mise-en-scene, which we have come to expect from Korean cinema, it's hard to understand who thought this was a good idea. Ultimately, I was bored by the film, the story was less and less engaging as it wore on, the finale fell flat, and I wasn't able to take anything away from it. Only for die-hard Korean horror fans (and I know there are a few of you out there)!

The Foul King (Banchikwang) 2000

Kim Jee-woon is famed for his beautifully crafted and violent films, so it was a bit of a reminder for me to see The Foul King (2000), his sophomore feature and until now the only one I had not seen form his filmography. It was a swift reminder that his films were not always as polished, however the film is definitely Kim’s as it showcases his trademark dark humor and fascination with the dark human psyche.

One of the most visible Korean films of the moment is Kim’s sixth film, the brutal I Saw the Devil (2010), an uncompromising vision of just how primal our instincts can be and how our hypocrisy can excuse even the most horrific behavior. As far as its aesthetics, plot, and casting are concerned, it brings to mind A Bittersweet Life (2005) the most, which also stars Lee Byung-hun as a man driven to merciless and unrelenting revenge. From a thematic standpoint though, it recalls Kim’s inspired debut, The Quiet Family (1998), a very original black comedy that was remade by Takashi Miike as The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001). This film, about a family that runs mountain lodge, follows their misfortune, as accidental deaths taint their new venture until they become violent and amoral by the narrative’s conclusion. Just like I Saw the Devil, The Quiet Family assumes that everyone has the potential for unspeakable violence. 

Dae-ho in the grip of his boss' headlock

The Foul King is not quite so dark, but it cannot escape the director’s interest in our questionable morality as human beings. Song Kang-ho plays a discontent and ineffectual bank clerk (Im Dae-ho) whose sole ambition is to be able to break out of the grip of his boss’ headlock. When his frustration becomes too much, he pursues wrestling in order to attain his goal. The narrative doesn’t get much denser than this, there’s subplot involving his colleague and we meet his disinterested father a few times.

It is not uncommon to hate your boss and to want to beat him, so at first Dae-ho’s focus on it does not seem strange but it is the catalyst for all the violence that he surrounds himself throughout the film. He gets in touch with his aggression and this has two clear effects: on the one hand, it spurs his ambition, he becomes dedicated to wrestling, trains diligently, and eventually gains people’s respect, including his own; on the other hand what starts as a venture to defend himself against his bully boss leads him to stab people in the head with forks and other acts of violence which are less and less fuelled by revenge and become geared towards entertainment.

Just like The Quiet Family, The Foul King exhibits Kim’s knack for black comedy, this is ultimately the film’s greatest strength and due in no small part to Song Kang-ho-s central performance, one of his first leading roles. This is also the role that made him a star and it's easy to see why. I've spoken many times about the emasculated males that are so prevalent in Korean film and it makes sense to bring it up again here as Song's character and performance carry all the traits commonly associated with this phenomena, such as the hierarchical nature of his professional life and the unconventional, and comical, nature of his fight scenes.

The climactic fight

The film may not be the technical masterpiece that Kim’s later films would be but it does employ some clever techniques, especially in it’s dizzying, brutal, and lengthy wrestling finale. Slow motion and other editing techniques are used effectively and framing, as well as props and production design add a welcome note of absurdity to the proceedings.

Perhaps the film’s most important theme, and certainly an important one for moviegoers around the world who seek the confines of musty theaters for escape and respite, is the search for and confirmation of identity. Dae-ho is shy and unassertive but he becomes a decent wrestler, although he needs to wear a mask, and since he is the cheating ‘Foul King’, he has no honor. This helps him in his private and professional life but he must still do away with the mask, as he can ony confront his father and profess his love for a colleague from behind it. In the film’s visceral and climactic wrestling scene, his mask is finally torn off. This spurs him to equally match his superior opponent but Kim has a little fun with this ‘self-discovery’ when Dae-ho confronts his boss for a final showdown, which is scored with Western musical cues, only to slip as he charges towards him. Very funny but also telling, how much can a person really change?

Memories of Murder: Part VII - The Host

Bong Joon-ho is a filmmaker who is meticulous and knows what he is doing at all times, his intelligence and acute understanding of the needs of Korean audiences have made him incomparably successful in the theatre of contemporary Asian cinema.  With Memories of Murder he took the image of the emasculated male and he subverted and subjugated it and yet at the same time deified it to created a box office sensation that was choke-full of sociological pertinence.  His next film was even more successful and possibly more ambitious, certainly from a technical standpoint.  Essentially he took his lens and did for the South Korean melodrama what he had already done for masculine identity with Memories.  The Host is the highest-grossing Korean film of all time, and still sits comfortably on that laurel.  lt is a difficult film to label; when it was released overseas it was billed as a Jaws-like monster movie but to simplify it to that level does it a great injustice.  At its core it is a family melodrama that is punctuated and informed by the genre’s lengthy evolution in Korean cinema.  It is also monster movie, a comedy, and a political and social critique.  Song Kang-ho, although no longer employed within the civil service, reprises his stereotype as the post-traumatic emasculated male.  Here he is Park Gang-du, who runs a riverside store hut with his father, the archetypal family head, who was also in Memories playing the local chief inspector.  Song Kang-ho's character also has a young daughter and two siblings: a sister, who is a gifted archer and an alcoholic brother.

The family 'grieving' the loss of their youngest

The family is most definitely scarred. There is no mother as she has died, and the young daughter's mother ran off after she was born.  The archer sister is an extremely talented but intensely reserved individual who crumbles under the slightest amount of pressure.  The brother is a former student activist who has now more or less been cast out of society and idles his time drinking on unemployment. The father is also a mess and probably most like Gang-du, he desperately tries to keep the family together and attempts to stop all the in-fighting.  Whenever he opens his mouth, his demeanor seems to suggest the temperament and nobility of a wise old man but after a sentence or two the spectator along with his children recognize an old crackpot who takes himself more seriously than everyone else does.  The granddaughter is mortified by her embarrassing father and serves to represent a bored generation that has little respect for their parents; however she is portrayed in a positive light as she would likely outfox the whole bunch.  The narrative unfolds when a monster emerges from the Han River and after going on a rampage, steals the daughter.  Then against the oppressive and bumbling military rule which is attempting to contain the situation, as well as the antagonizing influence of the American military, the family draws together to retrieve their youngest and most valuable family member.  The film is extremely sophisticated in its approach to a plotline that could easily veer off course but it carries on with verve and winds up being so entertaining that it is totally irresistible.  The film, just like Memories, succeeds enormously in representing the Korean family and the engrained obstacles that it must face as a unit. "Commercially driven Korean melodramas serve to illustrate some of the defining features of Korean films and the societal contexts in which they are produced".

Song Kang-ho in The Host

The Host also displays a certain and very recent trend in South Korean, namely the process of using multiple genres within the same narrative and successfully creating post-modem and accomplished works of entertainment whose main focus is to deal with certain sociological and historical issues. Another such film is the delightfully off-kilter Save the Green Planet (2003), which involves aliens, a punk version of Over the Rainbow, extreme torture and a swarm of killer bees “Korean filmmakers found that by blending and bending existing genres, they could create works that appealed to audiences who wanted something new”.  The Host has been the most successful of these films and to date the most fully realized.  The film is highly melodramatic and manipulative but steers us very smoothly to certain emotions and conclusions on certain sociological issues that pervade the narrative and all the while it is highly amusing.  By blending these different genres, the hybrid that has resulted, much like the monster (or The Host of the title), is clear evidence of the "transmutation of historical genres that engage this process of recuperation".

The film's narrative ends with the death of the girl in a show down which harkens back to the brutal student demonstrations of the 1980s, it is highly emotional and while it is set in the present, it does bring us back to that time.  The loss of the new generation as well as the  destruction of the eldest generation (as the patriarch also perishes in the narrative) leaves the 684 generation forced to band together and face their own traumas without the help of others.  However, the film's coda makes light of this as a year later the events are replayed on the news but those watching turn it off as they are too busy filling their bellies.

Previous: Part VI - Psychoanalysis and Scarred National Identity

Next: Part VIII - Conclusion