New Korean Films: Steamy Winter (2013 Week 3)

(by Fabien Schneider)

Despite all the snow that has recently covered the Korean peninsula, there will be no need this week to adjust the radiators to warm up all the movie-goers. By a strange coincidence that only the distribution companies bosses can explain, the two Korean movies opening this week are adults-only, due to their racy content. It will be very interesting to compare their approach and the resulting public reception. In fact, I could have also included in this article the co-produced (China, Korea and Japan) Speed ​​Angels, but I hesitated as it is more of a Chinese film shot in South Korea, and anyway the critics have reported that it’s not indispensable.

Tummy (배꼽)

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KBO: Man on the Edge Edges Out Competition (01/11-01/13, 2012)

Man on the Edge Edges Out Competition

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Man on the Edge	13/01/09	30.10%	796,748	1,029,672	599
2	The Tower	12/25/12	19.10%	512,677	4,455,084	482
3	Les Miserables (uk/us)	12/19/12	13.20%	351,246	4,825,497	410
4	Life of Pie (us)	13/01/01	12.80%	246,741	1,019,831	312
5	Cloud Atlas (us)	13/01/09	8.40%	213,580	299,644	382
6	The Reef 2: High Tide (us/kr)	13/01/10	4.60%	129,992	151,226	298
7	My Little Hero	13/01/09	3.10%	85,624	121,372	324
8	Love 911	12/19/12	3.20%	84,309	2,414,195	257
9	Wreck-it Ralph (us)	12/19/12	1.70%	48,509	893,331	220
10	Zambezi (us)	12/25/12	1.10%	31,011	454,896	141

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A Company Man (회사원, Huisawon) 2012

(By Rex Baylon)

There is no archetype in film that is more hip than the lone hitman. From a laconic Alan Ladd in This Gun For Hire (1942) to the Gallic cool of Alain Delon in Le Samourai (1967) or the neurotic hipster played by Jean Reno in Leon: The Professional (1994), cinema has helped to elevate the occupation of murderer into not merely a tragic figure, as gangsters have been, but as something akin to warrior poets. Becoming a hitman, cinematically speaking, means more than just donning on the right costume and learning how to aim a gun though. The hitman figure in films must adopt a philosophy and lifestyle that is wholly alien to the average moviegoer but would not be all that unusual to an Ancient Spartan or Samurai in the Tokugawa era. To live as a hitman means ultimately to be intimate with death in all its forms.

Of course, with all that said there is a certain level of ludicrousness to the whole mythology of the hitman. First of all, to be in such an isolated state for such a prolonged period of time does not breed calm collected assassins but rather emotionally unstable psychopaths; people are social creatures and thus self-imposed social isolation goes against the grain of human nature. And then of course, there is the obvious fact that hitmen are the equivalent of ghosts; whether they succeed or fail, live or die, their personality is subsumed by the identity that they have taken upon themselves to adopt. To be a hitman means giving up not just your identity but also your humanity.

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New Korean Films: Raising Social Issues With A Musical (2013 Week 2)

(by Fabien Schneider) 

After a first week which left the field open to independent productions, CJ Entertainment and Showbox enter into the dance with two medium-budget films that should have difficulty unseating The Tower from its box office perch.

My Little Hero (마이 리틀 히어로)

A music director opportunistically accepts to lead the rehearsal of a troupe for the musical adaptation of King Jungjo’s life. To cast the main role, he organizes a competition on a national TV channel in which applicants are auditioned blindly and thus selected solely on the basis of their voices. He is completely taken aback when he realizes that the chosen boy, Young-kwang, is actually a mestizo. While teaching him the choreography, the music director begins to become more interested in his Philippine origins.

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Top 10 Korean Films of 2012

2013 has just gotten underway and what better way for MKC to ring in the new year than to reflect on what has simply been a gargantuan year for Korean cinema. The vaunted 10 million admissions club welcomed two new members as The Thieves and Masquerade rode their way into the top three of the all time Korean box office chart. Indeed commercial cinema across the board enjoyed spectacular success as well over 100 million tickets were sold to domestic films at the Korean box office, a first for the industry. As of this writing seven films have crossed 4 million admissions (with an eighth on the way in the form of The Tower). What's more Kim Ki-duk became the first Korean filmmaker to prevail at one of the big three European film festivals as he took home the Golden Lion from Venice for his 18th feature Pieta. Elsewhere on the festival circuit a flurry of Korean films took home big awards, including Juvenile Offender, Barbie, The Weight, Circle Line, and many more.

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KBO: The Tower Repeats to Ring in the New Year (01/04-01/06, 2013)

The Tower Repeats to Ring in the New Year

	Title	Release Date	Market Share	Weekend	Total	Screens
1	Tower	12/25/12	32.80%	812,841	3,539,879	638
2	Les Miserables (uk/us)	12/19/12	21.40%	525,258	4,207,834	587
3	Life of Pi (us)	1/1/13	17.70%	345,807	610,835	392
4	Love 911	12/19/12	10.00%	246,937	2,221,828	374
5	Wreck-It Ralph (us)	12/13/12	3.60%	92,471	802,151	279
6	The Hobbit (us)	12/13/12	3.50%	79,246	2,776,058	262
7	Zambezi (de)	12/25/12	2.90%	78,403	390,759	238
8	Niko 2: Little Brother (gr)	12/25/12	2.20%	60,030	371,661	226
9	Marrying the Mafia 5	12/19/12	2.00%	50,052	1,133,216	210
10	The Nutcrack 3D (us)	1/3/13	1.00%	26,933	34,821	132

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The Tower (타워, Taweo) 2012

Following the biggest ever year for Korean cinema, it is perhaps fitting that the very last work to be released in 2012 was a spectacle-driven disaster film highlighting the industry’s technical proficiency. Likened to previous blockbuster failures such as Sector 7 (2011), My Way (2011) and this year’s R2B: Return to Base, there was a danger that The Tower could have made for a sour note to conclude Korean cinema’s fortuitous year. Any such qualms were quickly dispelled however as the film registered the industry’s all time second-biggest opening day and is well on its way to an enormous finish.

It’s Christmas Eve and the brand new Tower Sky complex, a brilliant pair of skyscrapers soaring over Seoul’s skyline, is busily preparing for its glitzy holiday party. During the festivities, a helicopter dropping artificial snow crashes into the building and ignites a fierce blaze, threatening the lives of hundreds. Now, a building technician, his daughter, a restaurant manager and a legendary firefighter must brave the flames.

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