KBO: The Thieves Takes 4th Victory Lap (08/17-08/19, 2012)

The Thieves Takes 4th Victory Lap

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	The Thieves	7/25/12	26.80%	835,299	11,127,705	621
2	The Grand Heist	8/8/12	25.80%	823,796	3,178,770	582
3	Total Recall (us)	8/15/12	14.10%	432,185	782,718	448
4	R2B: Return to Base	8/14/12	12.60%	394,774	726,844	540
5	Step Up 4 (us)	8/15/12	6.80%	201,256	371,553	281
6	Sammy's Adventures 2 (be)	8/1/12	4.60%	146,002	1,290,233	296
7	I Am a King	8/8/12	2.50%	82,214	723,960	222
8	The Dark Knight Rises (us)	7/19/12	2.50%	72,094	6,293,588	182
9	Ice Age 4 (us)	7/25/12	1.70%	57,516	1,591,314	167
10	Animals United (gr)	8/8/12	1.30%	43,965	225,967	131

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WKR: The Thieves + More Current and Recent Films (08/11-08/17, 2012)

A good selection of write-ups on new and recent films this week.

CURRENT FILMS

Deranged

(Quiet Earth, August 15, 2012)

Horror Stories

(koreanfilm.org, August 2012)

The Thieves

(koreanfilm.org, August 2012)

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3rd Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) Preview

MKC is a proud Media Partner of the 3rd Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA).

The premiere showcase for Korean cinema down under is returning for its third edition next week with what promises to be an even bigger event following last year's already very impressive gains. The 3rd KOFFIA will showcase 20 features and 13 shorts in three different cities. It begins on August 22-28 in Sydney before moving on to Melbourne (September 8-12) and will finish up in Brisbane (September 27-30).

Opening the festival will the hugely popular and critically-acclaimed period blockbuster War of the Arrows. In the same vein, the heartwarming runaway hit Sunny will close out the proceedings with director Kang Hyeong-cheol in attendance.

Both of those are featured in the 'Panorama' section which also includes recents commercial and critical hits such as the wonderful geriatric romance Late Blossom, Im Sang-soo's blistering The Taste of Money, Jang Hoon's Korean War epic The Front Line, Hong Sang-soo's Isabelle Huppert vehicle In Another Country and Hong's The Day He Arrives. Besides 'Panorama', there are another 5 sections to choose from this year: 'Modern Classics', 'Animation', 'Documentary', 'K'Mystery' and 'K-Comedy'.

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August 2012 Korean Releases

This monthly features previews the coming month's attractions in Korean cinema. All of these monthly posts are available in an archive on the Upcoming Releases page.

August 2

Plump Revolution

August 8

I Am a King
Tears in the Antarctic
The Grand Heist

August 15

R2B: Return to Base

August 23

90 Minutes
Myselves
Neighbors

August 30

577 Project
The Traffickers
The Ugly Duckling
Wedding Scandal
Young Gun in the Time

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KCN: Korean Films to TIFF, Thieves Still King (08/09-08/15, 2012)

Not an enormous amount of news this week. Toronto has announced some Korean films in its lineup, The Thieves continues its extraordinary box office run and a number of trailers and posters this week.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Three Korean Films Set for Toronto

The Toronto International Film Festival, arguably the world's biggest film event (if not quite as glitzy as Cannes), returns next month and this year a trio of Korean films have been invited. The sophomore effort from Jo Sung-hee (End of Animal; 2010), A Werewolf Boy will screen in the Contemporary World Cinema section along with Juvenile Offender by Kang Ji-kwan and current blockbuster The Thieves from Choi Dong-hun. (Modern Korean Cinema, August 15, 2012)

R2B Presells to 30 Markets

The Rain-starring aviation blockbuster R2B: Return to Base, has presold to 30 territories, including: England, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Canada, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Monaco, India, Turkey & Mongolia. The film is a remake of the Korean classic Red Scarf (1964) but by all accounts it seems to fall far more in line with Top Gun (1986). (Modern Korean Cinema, August 15, 2012)

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PiFan 2012: The Crucible (시련, Silyeon) 2012

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

Among the Korean independent fare at this year’s PiFan there were some wonderful works that will likely enjoy healthy festival runs and should find wider audiences but along with the good there is inevitably going to be some bad. One film that will quickly be forgotten is a low-budget take on Arthur Miller’s famed play ‘The Crucible’. However, please don’t confuse this film with last year’s much-ballyhooed and far more worthwhile Silenced, which was originally known as The Crucible In English.

Though not particularly familiar with Miller’s play, it’s easy to see that the filmmakers behind this work got themselves a little too caught up in the mechanics of putting on a theater piece as well as their attempt at forging a meta-narrative around the staging of a play which begins to take on the story and themes of the work in question. The story is as follows: a student theater troupe preparing to perform their rendition of Miller’s play following the mysterious death of one of their cast members. One night during rehearsals things take a turn for the worse and the events that begin to unfold mirror those of the play.

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JIMFF 2012: The Last Elvis (El Ultimo Elvis, Argentina) 2012

Part of MKC's coverage of the Jecheon Intl. Music & Film Festival.

Whether it be gods, sovereigns, athletes or rock stars, idolatry is something that has pervaded human society at the very least since our civilization’s records began. What leads to the fanatical worship that we are almost all guilty of? Among other things, jealousy could be to blame. Be we lacking in riches or power, we often look to others who have acquired them. We may hate these people but just as easily our ire could turn to love, perhaps even devotion. However, this love is akin to self-love as we begin to live vicariously through other people’s achievements.

So where does this jealousy come from? We could throw out a few reasons but I think the main culprits are dissatisfaction and disillusionment. The sad fact is that the majority of us may never feel that we have accomplished what we set out to do in our lives. Even those that have achieved what we desire seem to be dissatisfied with their lot. This is an eternal human predicament: we’re never happy with what we have. The grass is always greener so to speak. A bold generalization to be sure and while I won’t say that it affects us all (though it may very well), the majority of us feel this to some extent.

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