KCN: Korean Films Sell 100 Million Tickets in 2012 + New Footage for The Host 2 (11/15-11/21, 2012)

Korean film industry hits yet another major milestone in 2012 while some footage for the long-awaited sequel to The Host (2006) drops out of nowhere. However, outside of these items and a number of small festival tidbits, it wasn't a big week for Korean film news.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

First Horrific Footage for The Host 2
No beating around the bush here! A clip of the long-awaited Korean horror flick The Host 2 goes straight for the jugular with the hungry creature wrecking havoc upon an unsuspecting family, tearing up on a moving truck, and then chasing two innocent children for a quick snack. Oh my, I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of these kids when the shit hits the fan. (Twitch, November 20, 2012)

Korean Films Draw Over 100 Million Viewers This Year
Korean movies have drawn over 100 million viewers in 2012. The Korean Film Council on Monday said the number of people watching Korean films this year totaled 99.61 million as of Sunday. "Since at least 200,000 people on average watch Korean movies on a weekday, the 100-million mark will be reached on Tuesday," a council spokesman said. (The Chosun Ilbo, November 20, 2012)

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BIFF 2012: El Condor Pasa (콘돌은 날아간다, Kondoleun Nalaganda) 2012

Part of MKC's coverage of the 17th Busan International Film Festival.

A regular staple at the Busan Film Festival, Jeon Soo-il is a local filmmaker whose body of work has steadily brought him acclaim and accolades from around the world. He is not as famous as some of the more prominent arthouse Korean filmmakers but nonetheless he is an important figure from Korea’s independent film scene.

Now on his seventh feature, Jeon Soo-il’s style, which has always been unique but malleable, has of late, become more concrete. Last year’s Pink (also a Busan Film Festival selection) was a small breakthrough for him, earning him more recognition than his previous works. Though not an easy film (none of his works are), Pink was much more accessible, due in large part to the careful and gorgeous visual aesthetic through which he carved his narrative. With its muted, earthy color palette, and deliberate compositions, which emphasized the distance between the story’s various protagonists, his film, despite its frequent silences and stillness, teemed with life.

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KBO: Werewolf Boy Fights Off Twilight For Third Win (11/16-11/18, 2012)

Werewolf Boy Fights Off Twilight For Third Win

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Werewolf Boy	10/31/12	34.40%	901,842	5,093,692	678
2	Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (us)	11/15/12	34.60%	880,700	1,080,756	665
3	Confession of Murder	11/8/12	17.20%	416,119	1,538,341	388
4	Code Name: Jackal	11/15/12	4.10%	109,017	141,284	301
5	Masquerade	9/13/12	3.80%	98,383	11,933,678	283
6	Skyfall (us/uk)	10/26/12	2.70%	69,181	2,285,115	239
7	Sinister (us)	11/15/12	1.10%	26,386	33,809	183
8	Upside Down (us)	11/8/12	0.40%	11,328	169,384	107
9	Jungle Emperor Leo (jp)	11/8/12	0.30%	9,984	38,984	56
10	Brave (us)	9/27/12	0.20%	5,424	1,228,682	34

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KOFA Treasures: Kim Soo-yong's The Seaside Village (갯마을, Gaenmaeul) 1965

Ongoing series on classic Korean film recently made available for free and with English subtitles on Youtube courtesy of the Korean Film Archive.

During this year's 14^th Udine Far Easy Film Festival I had the great privilege and pleasure of attending Darcy Paquet’s 1970s Korean cinema retrospective. As it turns out, among the ten features presented, some of my favorites were island dramas.  The three that were programmed (Iodo, 1977; Splendid Outing, 1978; and The Divine Bow, 1979) were fascinating works that were both quasi-horrors and compelling films about women, which highlighted their marginalized roles in society.  Characters in these films, especially women, were either transplanted to remote fishing islands, which for them became sites of horror, or grew up there without ever leaving, any attempts at escape doomed from the outset.

Kim Soo-young was behind Splendid Outing, a film that shares an enormous amount in common with Bedevilled (2010), to the point where it would not surprise me if it was actually the blueprint for Jang Chul-soo’s incendiary film. However, long before that, Kim made The Seaside Village, a stunning and deeply textured work from 1960s Korean cinema, which dabbles in some taboos that would likely not have been tolerated by the government at the time.

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WKR: Current Korean Hits, LKFF and Classic Film Reviews (11/10-11/16, 2012)

Lots of reviews in from the LKFF and more than classic films reviewed than usual, thanks in large part to a big new update on koreanfilm.org.

CURRENT FILMS

A Werewolf Boy

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, November 12, 2012)

Confession of Murder

(Screen Daily, November 9, 2012)

Masquerade

(oriental nightmares, November 12, 2012)

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BIFF 2012 Interview: A Chat With Fatal's First-time Director Lee Donku

Part of MKC's coverage of the 17th Busan International Film Festival.

One of the most talked-about films this year at the Busan International Film Festival was the low-budget debute feature Fatal, which screened as part of the event's signature 'New Currents' competition. A section reserved for first or sophomore features from Asian filmmakers which has discovered such respected works as The Journals of Musan (2011) and Bleak Night (2011).

Fatal's Lee Donku took some time out of his busy festival schedule to sit down and talk with Modern Korean Cinema.

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Meaningful Stillness: The Quiet Pursuit of Happiness in Jang Kun-jae's Sleepless Night - Part II

Part V of a special MKC feature on Jang Kun-jae.

For Sleepless Night, Jang and his tiny cast and crew lived in close quarters for the duration of the film’s short production. Eating meals and sleeping together in the director’s apartment, which served as the main location of the film, they also shared their thoughts and worries. Their marriages, as well as the minutiae of their daily lives, became a part of the filmmaking process. I can only imagine, but it must have made for a very special experience for those involved, especially given the result on screen.

The film is exceedingly relatable and highly personal. The character’s thoughts are almost never a mystery, despite frequently sparse dialogue. Much of this is down to the splendid performances of the two leads but it is also part of the fabric of the film. For me, these silences that dot the narrative are examples of ‘meaningful stillness.’ They feel important, as though a statement is being made: however nothing is forced upon us. Perhaps they merely exist, like fleeting moments that just happened to be caught on camera: but they feature no action. It could be that these lulls derive their meaning purely from the context afforded by prior scenes: yet they are not in the least bit contrived.

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KCN: Weinstein Co. Picks up Snowpiercer, Interviews Galore and Much More (11/08-11/14, 2012)

Lots of news this week, some of its relating to the London Korean Film Festival and its spectacular closing. Save the Green Planet director Jang Joon-hwan finally returns with a new project, Berlin makes a big Korea selection, Pieta wins awards and many interviews to boot, most notably from Paul Quinn whose been a very busy bee over at Hangul Celluloid!

Enjoy!

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Kim Yun-seok to Star in New Jang Joon-hwan Film
Korea's most bankable star Kim Yun-seok is set to star in the sophomore feature by Jang Joon-hwan whose sensational debut Save the Green Planet (2003) rocked the international film stage upon its release. It'll be a decade separating his two films by the time this is released and while people have been wondering why he has stepped away for so long, though he he did directed a short in 2010's Camilia omnibus and is well-known as actress Moon So-ri's husband, there is not doubt that many are thrilled to see his return to the big screen.

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Sleepless Night Production Stills

Part IV of a special MKC feature on Jang Kun-jae.

Director Jang Kun-jae very kindly provided MKC with the following production stills taken during the shoot of his latest film Sleepless Night. A few were used for our interview with him but they are all so good that I felt I should share them all with you. You can get a real sense for how intimate the filming was, a feeling that really seeps into the finished product.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

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KBO: A Werewolf Boy Chews Up the Competition (11/09-11/11, 2012)

A Werewolf Boy Chews Up the Competition

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	A Werewolf Boy	10/31/12	51.70%	1,333,425	3,603,599	855
2	Confession of Murder	11/8/12	23.80%	567,631	725,877	548
3	Skyfall (us/uk)	10/26/12	8.90%	222,312	2,119,922	350
4	Masquerade	9/13/12	6.90%	174,674	11,734,840	317
5	Upside Down (us)	11/8/12	3.70%	93,968	126,282	308
6	Now Is Good (uk)	11/8/12	1.10%	26,495	34,742	142
7	Jungle Emperor Leo (jp)	11/8/12	0.90%	25,189	25,725	159
8	Perfect Number	10/18/12	0.90%	22,622	1,534,523	192
9	Argo (us)	10/31/12	0.60%	14,519	128,393	121
10	Brave (us)	9/27/12	0.40%	9,711	1,222,736	58

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Meaningful Stillness: The Quiet Pursuit of Happiness in Jang Kun-jae's Sleepless Night - Part I

Part III of a special MKC feature on Jang Kun-jae.

Each person’s individual journey in life is an ever-changing narrative, subject to the faintest tinkering. Our goals are equally malleable targets: a few change from year to year, others switch throughout the course of a day. Some of our dreams are dearly cherished: we hold onto them throughout our lives, yet these too are subject to change. The details within our ambitions vary over time as we accumulate new experiences: they shift to fit our evolving personalities. Though we, along with our thoughts and desires, are in perpetual flux, there could be one thing we collectively and unswervingly aspire to. We all want to be happy.

Though an outwardly simple notion, happiness is a truly complex idea that is utterly different for each and every person. Purely subjective, one person’s joy can equate to another’s misery. Yet there are things that we aspire to as a society in order to achieve some greater collective contentment. South Korea offers a very interesting example of this as it has leapt forward with its booming economy. At the risk of sounding a bit absolute, generally speaking happiness was hard to come by for many decades in Korean society as it struggled with the separation of its peninsula, a disruptive war and successive authoritarian regimes.

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Interview: Jang Kun-jae Talks Sleepless Night

Part II of a special MKC feature on Jang Kun-jae.

Following his debut Eighteen's successful run on the international festival circuit in 2009, the highlight of which was a grand prize win as part of Vancouver's Tigers & Dragons section, Jang Kun-jae has proven that he is no fluke with his sophomore feature. Sleepless Night debuted in Jeonju where it picked a pair of prizes, including the top Korean film prize and audience award before hitting the road for what is likely to be a lengthy festival run.

MKC was able to catch up Jang during the Busan Film Fest.

How do you feel about Sleepless Night's positive reception?

The public’s response is of course very important to me, especially as a director who did not have the opportunity to release my films in a commercial way. Therefore, the more people who enjoy my film in festivals, the better the film’s chance to become available for the general public.

As with my last film, I hope that the positive response will help for my next project. Hopefully we can find more financing and have the opportunity to cast better actors and actresses.

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