Korea Blog Week IV: Birthday, Meetings and Getting Used to Life in Seoul

Part of an ongoing series about my trip to and discovery of Seoul...

As I near the one-month mark in Korea I can definitely say that I've really begun to settle in and already things seem very familiar. I suppose that in some way this is a testament to my nomadic life up until this point. It was also my birthday this past week and as I reflected for a spell I realized that I have almost been in a different city for my last seven birthdays, going backwards the list goes: Seoul, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Fribourg, Los Angeles, New York, Dublin. Six places in seven years, that's a lot of ground covered and I know that I'm extremely fortunate to have lived and visited so many places and in the process meet such incredible people and have so many wonderful experiences. And yet, I'm tired and perhaps have been so for a while. I came to Korea with the intention of staying for some time and I aim to do just that, I would like to make it at home and so far I feel so welcome here that I don't why I shouldn't.

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Korean Box Office Update (06/29, 07/01, 2012)

An Amazing Start for Spiderman

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	The Amazing Spiderman (us)	6/28/12	71.40%	1,417,504	1,694,733	1,114
2	The Emperor's Concubine	6/6/12	5.20%	122,415	2,452,708	318
3	Madascar 3 (us)	6/6/12	4.90%	120,261	1,443,354	396
4	All About My Wife	5/17/12	4.70%	110,905	4,385,425	240
5	Cabin in the Woods (us)	6/28/12	4.30%	99,438	130,929	287
6	Miss GO	6/21/12	3.70%	88,346	551,625	309
7	King of XXX-Kissing	6/21/12	2.80%	68,375	432,192	272
8	Runway Cop	5/30/12	0.80%	21,134	1,325,807	114
9	Lockout (us)	6/14/12	0.30%	6,852	457,060	84
10	Two Weddings and a Funeral	6/21/12	0.20%	5,498	34,608	39

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NYAFF 2012: War of the Arrows (최종병기 활, Choi-jong-byeong-gi Hwal) 2011

Part of MKC's coverage of the 11th New York Asian Film Festival.

It’s about time I threw my hat into the ring and chimed in on War of the Arrows, the top-grossing Korean film of 2011, which has met with positive reactions from all over the globe.  Early in 2011, if you were familiar with the big films that were scheduled to come out throughout the year, you could be forgiven for expecting Sector 7 and The Front Line to dominate the charts during the summer months.  In the end the former was a cataclysmic failure, likely because it was a terrible film, and the latter fell below expectations, it was a decent film but perhaps a little thin to play well given its subject matter.  One film you may not have noticed, I know I didn’t, was War of the Arrows, a straightforward period action film with mid-level stars and no pretense about it.

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Weekly Review Round-up (06/23-06/29, 2012)

Lots of reviews of recent and past films this week including many for Korean doc Planet of Snail which is currently playing in the UK and many films that will be screening at the 11th New York Asian Film Fesitval which is kicking off today and will be covered here on MKC.

RECENT FILMS

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NYAFF 2012: Nameless Gangster (범죄와의 전쟁, Bumchoiwaui Junjaeng) 2012

Part of MKC's coverage of the 11th New York Asian Film Festival.

Korean cinema is filled to the brim with genre offerings and one of its most successful areas is with the gangster film.  These are called ‘jopok’ films, which is a Korean word for gangster and we did a whole series on the genre here on MKC not so long ago called ‘Jopok Week’.  Clearly I’m a big fan of gangster films and like many others I grew up on the likes of the Godfathers (Part II is my favorite if anyone cares to know) and Goodfellas (1990) but it didn’t take me too long to get turned onto more far-flung examples of the genre, ranging from Brazil’s City of God (2002), Italy’s The Conformist (1970), France’s Jean-Pierre Melville (Bob le Flambeur, 1956; Le Samourai, 1967) and Japan’s Kinji Fukasaku (Battles Without Honor and Humanity, 1973-76).

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NYAFF 2012: Vulgaria (低俗喜劇 - Hong Kong, 2012)

Part of MKC's coverage of the 11th New York Asian Film Festival.

It’s generally a good rule of thumb to get things started with a bang, be it a film, a dinner, a concert, etc.  In the case of a film festival, I’m always amazed at some of the drab films that get chosen to open events that are supposedly consecrated to the celebration of the medium.  I recall the Dublin International Film Festivals of years past (I used to go to every year when I was based there), one that comes to mind was 2007 when the event opened with Jindabyne (2006), a handsome and languid arthouse circuit film from down under starring Ireland’s own Gabriel Byrne.  However, despite being a good film, it was hardly the kind of work that was going to get me pumped up about cinema for a full 10-day event.

You should start as you mean to continue and as far as a festival is concerned, good does not always mean right.  Looking at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival  (NYAFF) lineup, a little grin curled up my lips as I saw Pang Ho-cheung’s Vulgaria front and center.  I was lucky to catch it earlier this year at the Udine Far East Film Festival (FEFF) and while it didn’t open that event (that honour went to Sunny, another strong kick-off choice), by all accounts it brought down the house.  I say that because I had to catch in the video library but boy did I wish I could have seen it with a crowd.

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11th New York Asian Film Festival on MKC

Vulgaria (低俗喜劇 - Hong Kong, 2012)

Nameless Gangster (범죄와의 전쟁, Bumchoiwaui Junjaeng) 2012
War of the Arrows (최종병기 활, Choi-jong-byeong-gi Hwal) 2011
Couples (커플즈, Keo-peul-jeu) 2011
Honey PuPu (消失打看 - Taiwan, 2011)
Retrospective: A Legend in the Flesh - The Life and Career of Choi Min-sik
King of Pigs (돼지의 왕, Dwaejiui Wang) 2011
Doomsday Book (인류멸망보고서, In-lyoo-myeol-mang-bo-go-seo) 2012

Sadly I can't make it to this year's New York Asian Film Festival since, as you know, I'm halfway around the world but that doesn't mean that MKC won't be covering it! Peter Gutierrez, our US Correspondent will be chiming in with a few pieces on Korean films while I have a few features and reviews up my sleeve as well!

It's a great year for Korean film at the festival with no less than 12 films and a program of shorts being screened. The most exciting element of the package will be the presence of screen legend Choi Min-sik who will supporting his most recent work Nameless Gangster but will also be the subject of a retrospective, with Failan (2001), Oldboy (2003) and Crying Fist (2005) also playing during the week.

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