Fribourg 2013: Your Time Is Up (누구나 제 명에 죽고 싶다, Nuguna Je Myeonge Juggosipda) 2012

Playing at the 27th Fribourg International Film Festival (March 16-23, 2013)

I discussed the Korean Academy of Film Arts, or more precisely their graduation feature projects, for my recent piece on When Winter Screams, a film I enjoyed with some reservations. Now it’s time to take a look at the other major 2012 KAFA production. Your Time Is Up has had a more successful festival run so far, largely because it was programmed alongside Lee Don-ku’s excellent Fatal during last October’s Busan International Film Festival in the New Currents section. Due to the exposure afforded by that selection, this KAFA project has found itself competing with Jang Kun-jae’s Sleepless Night and about a dozen other films during this month’s Fribourg International Film Festival.

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Fribourg 2013: Meaningful Stillness in Jang Kun-jae's Sleepless Night (2012)

Playing at the 27th Fribourg International Film Festival (March 16-23, 2013)

Of late, Korean Cinema has made for rather bleak viewing. Hushed up sexual violence has been very prevalent but politics, torture and much else besides have also found their way into these recent narratives. For this reason, among many others, I am particularly grateful for Jang Kun-jae's magnificent sophomore feature Sleepless Night. His new film, though not without its portrayal of injustice and hardship, is a film about happiness, or at least one loving couple's pursuit of it in modern day Seoul.

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Korean Box Office: Warm Bodies First Foreign No.1 of 2013 (03/15-03/17, 2013)

Warm Bodies First Foreign No.1 of 2013

Business was once again a little slow this weekend in what is generally on off period for the movies in Korea. That said both admissions (1.63 million) and local market share (60%) were marginally up from last year. However it was a Hollywood film that took the top spot, breaking an 11-week streak of local chart-toppers. It was also the first non-Korean first place finish of 2013.

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Fribourg 2013: A Brand New Life (여행자, Yeo-haeng-ja) 2009

Playing at the 27th Fribourg International Film Festival (March 16-23, 2013)

Oomie Lecomte’s film A Brand New Life fills an interesting position in the pantheon of Korean cinema. It is a woman’s film made by a foreigner, and by that token alone it is somewhat of an anomaly. While decidedly European in many aspects, it still succeeds in engaging with many thematic elements commonly associated with Korean cinema. In addition, the film is set in 1975 and features a storyline where characters with unfortunate pasts come and go as circumstances beyond their control dictate.

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When Winter Screams (설인, Seolin) 2012

I’ve made no secret of my admiration for Korea’s wonderful film schools, which are responsible for some of the best professionals working in the industry today. One such institution is the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA), a government-sponsored school affiliated with the Korean Film Council that sports such illustrious alumni as MKC favorite Bong Joon-ho. A few years ago, KAFA began to make full-blown feature length films as graduation projects (with the support of industry giant CJ Entertainment) and the results have been formidable. 2010 featured the one-two punch of Bleak Night and End of Animal while 2011’s crop included Choked and Mirage.

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New Korean Films: The Coming of New Indie Filmmakers (2013 Week 11)

(by Fabien Schneider)

This week is all to the glory of independent cinema since the Korean Academy of Art Films delivers two films from its students and a third debut movie completes the series. But don't get your hopes up, success will only smile upon My Paparoti, as this one has all the cards in hand to propel itself to the top of the box office. There is also a particular challenger that I decided not to include in my article despite being quite interesting for what it tells about the foreign interests in the Korean market: The Fifth Execution, a Russian film co-produced with South Korea and the U.S., where the main character is embodied by Kim Bo-seong, a famous actor of the 90s who starred in the trilogy of Two Cops, a few comedies and some soap operas.

Your Time is Up 

(누구나 제 명 에 죽고 싶다)

 

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An Ambitious Korean Gangster Film: New World (신세계, Sinsegye) 2013

Ever since I discovered Korean cinema, I’ve been a fan of the industry’s frequent experimentations with genre. Almost every film that comes out of the country seems to be an amalgamation of different tropes but there is one genre that has remained for the most part untouched: the gangster film. When Korean filmmakers decide to make a gangster film, they tend to leave experimentation aside and instead look to emulate some of world cinema’s most beloved criminal narratives.

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