Busan 2014 Review: Epic And Austere, ALIVE Depicts Dark Days For Korean Laborers

Part of MKC's coverage of the 19th Busan International Film Festival

By Pierce Conran

Incessantly grim and pushing the three-hour mark, indie helmer Park Jung-bum's Alive is about as challenging a sophomore work as anyone could have dreamt up. And this from a man who debuted with the ferociously bleak The Journals of Musan (2011), a tale of a socially awkward North Korean defector unable to fit into his new surroundings, and whose sole companion, a stray dog, meets a untimely end, leaving his helpless master to fend for himself. Yet, just as that was a devastatingly effective silent wail, this latest work harnesses Park's boiling anger at the injustices that riddle Korean society to create an imposing and austere call to arms.

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Busan 2014 Review: WILD FLOWERS Wilts After A Bristling Start

Part of MKC's coverage of the 19th Busan International Film Festival

By Pierce Conran

The lives of aimless youths at the bottom of the social ladder are the focus of Wild Flowers, a bleak look into teenage destitution in the streets and back alleys of Seoul. Uncompromising in its focus and brisk in its introduction to the sordid realities of a gaggle of bristly girls, Park Suk-young’s debut is a kinetic but unfocused snapshot of wayward youth.

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Busan 2014 Review: DAUGHTER Explores The Ills Of Modern Korean Parenting

Part of MKC's coverage of the 19th Busan International Film Festival

By Pierce Conran

Following a pair of indulgent films that awkwardly straddled the balance between fantasy and reality, the multi-hyphenate Ku Hye-sun, a well known actress, singer and artist as well as director, returns with Daughter, her most mature work to date.

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Busan 2014 Review: CART, Women's Rights Take Center Stage In Social Drama

Part of MKC's coverage of the 19th Busan International Film Festival

By Pierce Conran

Following hot on the trail of recent Korean dramas seeking to depict the plight of Korea's common class is Cart, a David vs. Goliath, based-on-fact tale detailing the injustices of Korea's labor system and the harsh treatment of women in Korean society. With her latest film, Boo Ji-young returns to the director's chair five years after her indie feature Sisters on the Road, with a bigger cast and a far more pointed social agenda.

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Busan 2014 Review: WE WILL BE OK Hits Its Stride Too Late In The Game

Part of MKC's coverage of the 19th Busan International Film Festival

By Pierce Conran

Writers are told to write about what they know, so it stands to reason that the same rule should apply to filmmakers. As a result, many films take place within the film world and in the Korean industry this proves no exception. Indie debut We Will Be OK highlights the divide between the amateur and professional worlds in Korean film, placing emphasis on the inner anxieties that plague aspiring filmmakers.

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Busan 2014 Review: Mortality And Desire Mingle And Dance in REVIVRE

Part of MKC's coverage of the 19th Busan International Film Festival

By Pierce Conran

Returning for his 102nd feature, the indefatigable Im Kwon-taek continues his move away from period and cultural fare with the melancholic Revivre, pairing up once again with the equally venerable screen legend Ahn Sung-ki. Somberly shot and deliberately paced, Im's latest is a thoughtful and pellucid perlustration of mortality and desire.

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Busan 2014 Review: A MATTER OF INTERPRETATION Is David Lynch Meets Hong Sangsoo

Part of MKC's coverage of the 19th Busan International Film Festival

By Pierce Conran

Following his terrific debut Romance Joe (2011), Lee Kwang-kuk is back in Busan with A Matter of Interpretation, a breathless play on dream logic with smart plotting and a great script that proves he's no fluke, and then some.

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