Korean Cinema News (02/23-02/29, 2012)

Bit of slow news week for Korean cinema but some interesting tidbits nonetheless, including some festival news and some new stills, posters and trailers for anticipated films.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

KOFIC to Re-open Seoul Media Center
The Korean Film Council is re-opening its media education institute, “Seoul Media Center,” in Chungmuro district in Pil-dong, Seoul, on Thursday, the organization said.  The institute was first established as "Mediact" in 2002 on the fifth floor of the Ilmin Museum of Art building near Gwanghwamun, central Seoul.  (The Korea Herald, February 22, 2012)

Florence Korea Film Fest to open with Always
The 10th Florence Korea Film Fest in Italy has announced it will open with Song Il-gon’s Always, last year’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) Opening Film.  The festival will screen 32 feature films and 24 shorts during its nine-day run, and close with Kim Ki-duk’s Arirang, which made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year.  (KoBiz, February 24, 2012)

New Kim Ki-duk Film
Director Kim Ki-duk, producer of the film Rough Cut, is creating a second project called Actor's Cut.  In a sequel to Rough Cut, which starred So Ji-sub and Kang Ji-hwan, the new movie is based on the collapse of a popular star actor.  It is expected to express Kim's shocking and unique style.  The distributor for the movie told "TV Report" on February 28th, "The cast hasn't been decided upon yet because we are still in the preparation process".  (hancinema.net, February 28, 2012)

First Images From Kim Ki-duk's Pieta

After a bit of a quiet stretch Korean director Kim Ki-duk is returning to the sort of gritty dark drama where he first made his name with the upcoming Pieta.  Jo Min-soo and Lee Jeong-jin star in the director's eighteenth feature.  (Twitch, February 28, 2012)

20th Century Fox to Directly Invest in Korean Film Industry
Film distributor 20th Century Fox has announced its plan to directly invest in the South Korean movie industry.  As the first U.S. major film company to directly enter the South Korean market, Fox will produce five Korean movies, each costing up to five billion won, starting this year.  The movies will be sold around the world through Fox’s own distribution network.  (KBS, February 28, 2012)

Lee OK For Mr. K
Nowhere to Hide (1999) director Lee Myung-se is to direct comedy spy action film Mr. K from next month, his first feature film in five years.  The film will star Seol Gyeong-gu, Moon So-ri, Go Chang-seok and heart-throb Daniel Henney.  The confused identity story sees a spy undercover in a foreign country while his wife, not knowing his disguise, also gets involved.  (FilmBiz Asia, February 29, 2012)

Korean Films in the Hong Kong Film Festival
The 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) has announced their line-up to include five feature-length films from Korea - Choked, Stateless Things, Moving, From Seoul to Varanasi and The Day He Arrives.  HKIFF has also produced and will premiere four short films under the collective title of Beautiful 2012.  Korean director Kim Tae-yong (Late Autumn) joins China’s Gu Changwei, Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-Liang, and Hong Kong’s Ann Hui in this project.  (KoBiZ, February 29, 2012)

INTERVIEW

E J-Yong Roundtable Interview
Prior to a KCCUK screening of Actresses, acclaimed director E J-Yong sat to down to a group interview with Hangul Celluloid, MiniMiniMovies, London Korea Links and Eastern Kicks.  (Hangul Celluloid, February 23, 2012)

TRAILERS

Doomsday Book


Mirage

POSTERS

Hand in Hand

The Thieves

BOX OFFICE

Nameless Gangster Fights Back During Close Weekend

(Modern Korean Cinema, February 26, 2012)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Cinema News (01/12-01/18, 2012)

Lots of great features this week and a few more 2011 wrap-ups.  Also some casting news for Bong Joon-ho's hotly anticipated Snow Piercer, I certainly the Tilda Swinton piece materializes!  Some great trailers and more also featured featured this week.

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Korean Cinema 2011: the View from Here
How do you introduce new Korean films to an American audience?  US-based author and curator of film at the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington, DC, Tom VICK shares his views on recent trends he has noticed programming their Korean film festival.  Korea’s film industry produces a deluge of commercial and independent releases.  But recent years have brought a proliferation of young, talented filmmakers with only a film or two under their belts.  (Korean Cinema Today, January 5, 2012)

Director of My Sassy Girl to Take on a More Serious Movie
Korean director Kwak Jae-yong is perhaps best known for his romantic-comedy My Sassy Girl (2001), but he’s decided to try his hand at a more somber story and will take on a film about the so-called “comfort women” of World War II.  The movie, to be called Flower Shoes, will be set from 1930 to 1945 and will detail the experiences of the Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during that time period.  (Joong Ang Daily, January 12, 2012)

New Stills for Ha Ji-won/Bae Doo-na Pic Korea
The first publicity stills have emerged for the upcoming film Korea (aka As One) which pairs Ha Ji-won and Bae Doo-na.  Based on the true story of the victory of the South and North Korean teams at the Chiba International Table Tennis Championships in 1991, Ha Ji-won represents Hyeon Jeong-hwa and Bae Doona represents Lee Boon-hee from the North.  (hancinema.net, January 12, 2012)

Cinema of Embodied Unpleasures
Rowena Santos Aquino takes an in depth look at the body of work of Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk in an engaging three part discussion called 'Spotlight on Contemporary Korean Cinema: Kim Ki-duk' over at Next Projection.

Part I - Filmmaker  (Next Projection, January 11, 2012)

Part II - Mentor  (Next Projection, January 12, 2012)

Part III - Subject: Arirang  (Next Projection, January 13, 2012)

Chris Evans in Negotiations to Star in Bong Joon-ho's Snow Piercer
Bong Joon-ho, one of South Korea's top directors, has not made one bad film so far in his career. In fact, at least two of his feature films, namely Memories of Murder (2003) and The Host (2006), are in my opinion masterpieces of modern cinema.  His last film was the 2009 critical hit Mother.  (Twitch, January 14, 2012)

Multiculturalism a New Theme in Korean Movies
More and more Korean movies, including Pacemaker by director Kim Dal-joong that opens next Thursday, are taking on the theme of multiculturalism that is changing the face of Korean society.  In 2010, one out of every 10 marriages involved a foreign spouse, while the number of children from multicultural families has grown seven-fold from 25,000 in 2006 to 160,000 in 2010.  And this trend is being portrayed more frequently on the silver screen.  (The Chosun Ilbo, January 13, 2012)

The History of Korean Cinema .... on screen
The fact of the matter is, outside of Korea, Korean cinema is still a very 'new' thing. Generally most people may have seen your Oldboy's and My Sassy Girl's but outside of that the earliest film that those in the West will have likely seen would probably be JSA (2000) or Shiri (1999).  This puts Korean cinema in an interesting position of only being around 14 years old (15 using the Korean birthday system!).  For a national cinema so young, it really has come along leaps and bounds, but the more interesting thing is what was it like before this point.  (Tully's Recall, January 14, 2012)

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! Korean Sports Movies
Anyone who has seen the millions of Koreans flocking to the streets and plazas to cheer on the National Team during World Cup season would probably be aware how much Koreans love sports.  Korea is a highly competitive society where focus, diligent attitude, eagerness for hard work, and teamwork is highly valued; all elements that can be found in sports.  Add pursuit of honor to that mix and you’ve got a perfect combination for grabbing people’s attention.  (The Korea Blog, January 11, 2012)

A Class Apart: Why Im Sang-soo Loses to Kim Ki-young in the Battle of The Housemaids

Hong Nguyen takes a look at the two versions of The Housemaid.  The original from 1960 by Kim Ki-young and the remake which cam 50 years later at the hands of Im Sang-soo.  (London Korea Links, January 16, 2012)

Lee Chang-dong’s Poetry Set for Release in Japan
Korean auteur director Lee Chang-dong’s film Poetry is set for release in Japan on Feb. 11, 2012.  The Cannes Best Screenplay Award-winning film will be distributed by KinoEye Japan and Siglo, which released the film’s Japanese poster and trailer today.  The film’s Japanese title translates to “Poetry: Agnes’ Song”.  (KoBiz, January 16, 2012)

CJ CGV Opens Two More Vietnam Multiplexes
Leading South Korean exhibitor CJ CGV has opened two more multiplexes in Vietnam, bringing their total to nine cinemas with 69 screens in the country.   The two multiplexes are in the center of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi with two 3D screens each.  The Ho Chi Minh City cinema has eight screens while the Hanoi cinema has seven.   (KoBiz, January 16, 2012)

Romance Joe to Compete at Rotterdam Tiger Awards
This year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has announced the complete line-up for its Tiger Awards Competition.   The 15-film selection includes Korean director Lee Kwang-kuk’s Romance Joe, which will make its international premiere.   Park Hong-min’s A Fish was announced earlier on as the competition’s first 3D film ever.   (KoBiz, January 12, 2012)

Tilda Swinton to Join Snow Piercer
Tilda Swinton is in talks to join post-apocalyptic thriller Snow Piercer.  The feature is based on the French comic Le Transperceneige created by Jean-Marc Rochette and is South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s first foray into English language film.  Snow Piercer’s plot follows a group that is traveling by train together in a future ice age.  (film-news.co.uk, January 18, 2012)

New Thai Film Fest Set to Open with Always
The first edition of Thailand's Hua Hin Film Fest is set to bow Jan. 26 with the screening of South Korean pic Always, followed by the unspooling of 50 movies over four days.   (Chicago Tribune, January 17, 2012)

Kim So-yong's New Film to Debut at Sundance

The director of Treeless Mountain is back with her third feature, an American independent produciton starring Paul Dano as a young rock musician whose divorce from his wife (Jena Malone) triggers a desire to bond with the 6-year-old daughter he's never really known.  (The Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2012)

INTERVIEWS

Interview With Director Kim Kyung-mook
One of the Korean independent film community’s most remarkable young directors, Kim Kyung-mook made his feature debut with the unconventional Faceless Things (2005). He broadened his sights with A Cheonggyecheon Dog (2008) and has most recently been doing the film festival rounds with his third feature Stateless Things. The film debuted at the Venice Film Festival’s Orrizonti competition and is set to screen in the upcoming Rotterdam film festival’s Spectrum section.  The film is about people who have no place to stay.  How did Kim come to take such an interest in these people? He met with Korean Cinema Today to tell us.  (KoBiz, January 16, 2012)

Movie Director Park Explains Perfect Game

Park Hee-gon was in his last year of high school in May 1987 when he, like thousands of other South Koreans, watched a baseball game that became legendary.  The game between the Lotte Giants and Haitai Tigers was a pitchers’ duel that lasted for 15 innings before officials called it a draw.  The pitchers – Lotte’s Choi Dong-won and Haitai’s Sun Dong-yeol – had squared off before but both were near the end of their careers and fans knew it would be the last time they faced each other.  (The Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2012)

TRAILERS

2 Lines

Introduction of Architecture


Love Fiction

War of the Arrows

POSTER

Howling

BOX OFFICE

Puss in Boots Holds Local Films at Bay

(Modern Korean Cinema, January 15, 2012)

South Korean Box Office in 2011

Although the number crunchers in Hollywood estimate that US theatrical admissions sank to their lowest level since 1995, things were not so gloomy in Korea.  With an estimated 160 million tickets sold (more precise figures will become available at a later date), it appears that Korea has approached or broken the modern-day record for admissions.  (Korean Cinema Today, January 14, 2012)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Top 10 Korean Film Stories of 2011

I started the weekly Korean Cinema News feature at the beginning of April of this year and over the past nine months it has become more comprehensive, grown more popular, and I hope better.  As pleased as I am with its success more than anything it;s been a thrill to cover the wide-ranging news related to the ever-expanding Korean film industry.  It's been a huge year for Korean film news and in 38 weeks of reporting, Modern Korean Cinema has featured nearly 1000 news items, festival reports, articles, interviews, trailers, posters, and box office analyses.

In considering 2011 as a year in Korean film I decided to work up a top 10 for the year's most important pieces of news.  I've stayed within the exclusive scope of Korean film so major stories that are somewhat related, like the continuing global Hallyu takeover or Kim Jong-il's death, have been omitted.  Each entry is followed by a selection of interesting articles that appeared throughout the year.

As always, if you have any comments or think I've missed something, please get in touch.

Enjoy and Happy New Year from Modern Korean Cinema!

1. Reversal of Fortune at the Korean Box Office

The year's biggest story has been the reversal of fortunes at the Korean box office.  Looking at the slate of films in early 2011 for the year ahead, there were a number of blockbusters well-positioned to end the year on or near the top.  Chief among them were CJ's 3D Imax monster feature Sector 7 and the 30 billion won WWII, pan-Asian blockbuster My Way.  Sector 7 was immediately savaged by critics and audiences alike and was quickly out of theaters.  It may be early days for My Way as it has only been released for a week, but the prognosis at this stage is not good and there is a palpable danger that it will not recoup its enormous production costs.  There were also other blockbusters that failed to meet expectations, like Quick and The Front Line, and a great number of star vehicles that did not manage to draw big crowds, like Hindsight and Countdown.

The vast majority of the year's biggest successes turned out to be mid-level productions that boasted strong scripts with an absence of marquee names which struck a chord with audiences.  Sunny had a decent start but an extraordinary word of mouth effect kept it in the top 3 for 11 consecutive weeks as it powered its way to 7,375,110 admissions.  Other mid-size productions that far exceeded expectations included Detective K, Silenced, and Punch, which all landed around the 5 million mark.  Even more unexpected films crossed the 2 million mark, including Meet the In-laws, Blind, Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild, The Client, and Spellbound.

Korean Films Finding New Niche Audiences

(The Hollywood Reporter, May 13, 2011)

Rookies Directors on the Rise, Stars Lack Drawing Power
(The Chosun Ilbo, July 8, 2011)

Newcomers Trump Established Names at Korean B.O.
(The Hankyoreh, July 23, 2011)

Sunny Holding its Own Against Summer Titles
(Film Business Asia, June 28, 2011)

A Look Back at the Year's Breakout Films
(Korea.net, December 15, 2011)

2. The Silenced Controversy

The controversy surrounding the release of Silenced (aka The Crucible/Dogani) probably generated more international press coverage than any other Korean film item this year.  The film was based on a non-fiction book of the same by prominent female writer Gong Ji-young which chronicles the serial abuse of deaf children at a school for the hearing-impaired in Gwangju between 2000-2005.  The perpetrators were put on trial six years ago but received light sentences and some even went back to work in the school.

Following the uproar which ensued after Silenced's release, the school was finally shut down.  After viewing the film, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak called for measures to protect the vulnerable from sexual attack.  The film inspired a wave of anger which was reported in the world's major publications such as The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and many more.

Unsettling Dogani Revisits School Horror

(The Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2011)

6 Years After Rapes, Gov’t Forces Closure

(Joong Ang Daily, October 5, 2011)

Another Film Shows Sexual Abuse of the Disabled in N. Jeolla Area

(The Dong-a Ilbo, October 1, 2011)

Pres. Lee Calls for Measures to Prevent Sexual Crimes Against Disabled & Minors

(arirang.co.kr, October 4, 2011)

Silent For Too Long

(The Economist, October 11, 2011)

Film Underscores Koreans' Growing Anger Over Sex Crimes

(The New York Times, October 17, 2011)

Hit Movie Inspires Tougher South Korean Laws for Sex Crimes Against Minors and the Disabled

(The Washington Post, October 28, 2011)


3. Korean Animation Has Its Biggest Year

Korean cinema is see as a strong producer of films that span a number of genres and formats.  Animation is one of the few production modes that Korean filmmakers have failed to successfully mine, at least that was the case before 2011.  This year was the dawning of a new era for Korean animation, led by the huge success of local animation Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild.  Many other Korean animated films have found success at festivals this year, such as The House, King of Pigs, Earth Rep Rolling Star, and I'm Sorry.  Korean animators of late have also found enormous success abroad, especially Jennifer Yuh, who directed Kung Fu Panda 2 for Dreamworks, incidentally the film became the second-highest grossing non-Korean film of the year.  

With numerous awards and international sales under its belt, Korean animation is looking strong for the near future.

Resurgence of Korean Animation
(Joong Ang Daily, May 6, 2011)

Hollywood Inundated with Korean Animators

(korea.net, May 30, 2011)

2011 Becoming Banner Year for Korean Animation

(Animation Insider, June 3, 2011)

Leafie Set to Revitalize Korean Animation

(hancinema.net, July 8, 2011)

Korean Animation Waddles Into China

(Joong Ang Daily, October 1, 2011)

Korean Animators Face Screen, Financing Barriers

(The Hollywood Reporter, October 11, 2011)

Canada's 108 Media to Distribute Korean Toon Leafie

(animation Magazine, November 28, 2011)


4. CJ Poised for World Domination

CJ Entertainment, Korea's largest studio and head of the country's primary exhibition chain, CGV (CJ-Goldstar-Village Roadshow), has made its aims for the future very clear.  It more or less amounts to world domination as the corporation is:  trying to revolutionize cinema with 4D film screening technology (which adds sensations like smell, fog, and vibrations to enhance cinema viewing);  launching direct distribution in Vietnam and Thailand; producing a $100 million budget Rob Cohen Korean War film; clinching a raft of film presales; engaging in a $110 million Korean entertainment project; and keeping strong ties in Korea as well as helping develop emerging talent by partnering with the Korean Academy of Film Arts.

CJ has not been timid about its ambitions and I'm sure that more plans are in the works.  Its CGV theater in LA is getting more popular as are a lot of its international operations and now that its claws are getting stuck into Hollywood, more people may become familiar with their catchy opening logo before long.

CJ Launches Direct Distribution in Vietnam

(Film Business Asia, October 13, 2011)

KAFA Partners With CJ E&M and CJ CGV
(KOBIZ, December 19, 2011)

Route One Films Enters $110 Million Korean Entertainment Partnership
(The Hollywood Reporter, December 15, 2011)

Lots of Korean Presales as CJ Readies for Cannes
(Screen Daily, May 11, 2011)

CJ's 4D Cinemas to Launch in Thailand
(Bangkok Post, June 14, 2011)

Rob Cohen to Direct Korean War Film Produced by CJ
(indieWIRE, July 29, 2011)

CJ E&M Harbors Global Ambitions
(Asian Media Journal, August 11, 2011)

5. A New-look BIFF Unveils

The 16th edition of Korea's largest film festival opened with a new name, a magnificent new venue, a new director, and a new image.  Previously called the Pusan International Film Festival, the renamed BIFF (Busan International Film Festival) began on October 6 in the brand new $150 million Busan Cinema Center, designd by Coop Himmelblau of Austria.  More than ever, the event, often dubbed the 'Asian Cannes', was seen as a showcase for the emerging strength of Asian film industries.  The event was a flurry of news beginning with the center and the selling out of the opening film in a record seven seconds.

There was much discussion over the new venue (including rain leaks), the type of films being shown, the sales in the film market, the direction the festival was taking, and more.  Every major entertainment news agency ran multiple pieces on the event.

Busan Int'l Film Fest to Shed Light on SE Asian Cinema

(The Chosun Ilbo, September 20, 2011)

BIFF's Opening Film Sells Out in Seven Seconds
(enewsworld.net, September 27, 2011)

Busan: Fest Maps New Future
(Variety, October 3, 2011)

How a New Cinema Center Could Change the Busan Film Festival
(The Hollywood Reporter, Ocotber 1, 2011)

Busan Festival Takes a Bold Step, But Is Asian Cinema Ready?
(The Japan Times, October 14, 2011)

BIFF Organizers Clash Over Festival Expansion
(The Hankyoreh, October 19, 2011)

A New Era for Asia’s Biggest Film Festival
(Joong Ang Daily, October 21, 2011)

6. Korean Films Find a Foothold in China

Recently Korean films have seen their presence increase dramatically in mainland China as numerous works were sold there and have been breaking records.  The Man From Nowhere had a strong showing earlier this year, despite its 18 certificate.  Sector 7 is currently enjoying the best Chinese release of any Korean film, though it has only been released for a few weeks.  Ha Ji-won's K-Drama Secret Garden was immensely popular in China and she is said has become quite a celebrity in the country.

In other news, Kwon Sang-woo and Song Hye-kyo have signed onto Chinese productions and many below the line technicians have been hired into Chinese film crews.  Chinese action and special effects film crews in particular seemed to be populated by Korean professionals.  It would also seem that president Hu Jintao is Hallyu fan, having had very good things to say about Jewel in the Palace, the landmark 2003 K-Drama.

Korean Wave Rises to China Challenge

(Korean Cinema Today, November 1, 2011)

Korean Crews in China
(Korean Cinema Today, November 8, 2011)

Sector 7 Hits Box Office Record in China
(KOBIZ, December 20, 2011)

Local Films Foray Into Chinese Market
(The Korea Times, December 26, 2011)

Sky's the Limit for Kwon Sang-woo as He Targets China, Hollywood

(The Chosun Ilbo, August 31, 2011)

7. Korean Directors Abroad

A number of Korea's most well-known filmmakers have embarked on foreign productions, including:  Park Chan-wook, who recently wrapped Stoker (2012), starring Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, and Matthew Goode; Kim Jee-woon, who is currently shooting The Last Stand (2013) with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rodrigo Santoro, Forest Whitaker, Peter Stormare, and Johnny Knoxville; Bong Joon-ho, who is getting prepped for Snow Piercer (2013) which will shoot in March in Hungary with John Hurt and Song Kang-ho; and Ryoo Seung-wan, who is going to shoot his new spy thriller The Berlin File (2012) in Germany with Han Suk-kyu, Ha Jung-woo, Jeon Ji-hyeon, and Ryoo Seung-beom.

Four Leading Korean Directors Working on Overseas Projects

(Korean Cinema Today, November 9, 2011)


8. The Korean Film Council in 2011

As in previous years, the Korean Film Council has been involved in a lot of projects and initiatives designed to promote, improve, and aid the Korean film industry.  It has:  offered rebates for foreign films shooting in Seoul; subsidized labour costs on low-budget films; acted as guarantor for films with overseas potential; invested in contents funds; attempted to stop the illegal circulation of films online; and opened a new independent theater.

Korean Film Council to Support Local Filmmaking

(Screen Daily, April 14, 2011)

KOFIC Opens New Independent Film Theater
(KOBIZ, May 6, 2011)

KOFIC's Keys to Industry Development
(KOBIZ, May 6, 2011)

Interview with KOFIC Chairman Kim Eui-suk
(KOBIZ, May 6, 2011)

KOFIC to Offer 25% Rebate for Filming in Korea
(Korean Cinema Today, May 13, 2011)

Mandatory Screening Times Could Be Altered
(The Korea Times, July 21, 2011)

Normalization for Online Film Distribution Demanded by Chungmoro
(hancinema.net, August 2, 2011)

9. The Return of Kim Ki-duk

After abruptly disappearing from the director's chair in 2008 following his film Dream and a lengthy attack against distributors' poor handling of independent features, Kim Ki-duk reappeared seemingly out of thin air early in 2011.  His name first appeared in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes film festival where his new, self-reflexive documentary Arirang won an award.  Shortly after, Poongsan, directed by his latest protege Jung Jai-hong, a film he wrote and produced, opened to positive reviews and a solid performance in domestic theaters.  Then in August, another new Kim Ki-duk film, Amen, opened at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

Kim is a controversial figure in Korean cinema who frequently disparages the establishment and has been part of an acrimonious feud with his former protege Jang Hoon whom he believes has sold out.  Both his new films this year have had a strong presence at international film festivals but have been met with mixed reviews.

Kim Ki-duk's Arirang Draws Controversy

(The Korea Herald, May 16, 2011)

Kim Ki-duk Picks up Award at Cannes
(Joong Ang Daily, May 23, 2011)

Kim Ki-duk Produced Film Set for June
(The Korea Times, May 26, 2011)

Kim Ki-duk on the Benefits on Low-Budget Filmmaking
(The Korea Times, Junes 14, 2011)

Jang Hoon Explains The Front Line and Tensions with Mentor Kim Ki-duk
(hancinema.net, June 16, 2011)

Kim Ki-duk's Latest to Premiere at San Sebastian
(Film Business Asia, August 17, 2011)


10. Yun Jung-hee's Global Accolades

Yun Jung-hee, who has astounded audiences the world over this year with her wonderful performance in Lee Chang-dong's Poetry, received some significant accolades from various international sources.  Earlier this year she was awarded the French Cultural Order by French culture minister Frederic Mitterand and recently the Los Angeles Film Critics Association deemed her performance in Poetry the best of the year.

Poetry's Yun Jung-hee Honored with French Cultural Order

(YonHap News Agency, April 6, 2011)

Yun Jung-hee Wins LA Film Critics Award
(KOBIZ, December 13, 2011)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Weekly Review Round-up (12/17-12/23, 2011)

A pair of reviews for the Kim Jong-il produced godzilla propaganda film Pulgasari (1985) this week and a huge amount of writeups from Hanguk Yeonghwa and Connor McMorran who recently wrapped up his fantastic Kim Ki-duk week.  A variety of other reviews for films, past and present, were also published this week.

CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES

Spellbound

(Film Journal, December 20, 2011)

Unbowed

(The Korea Times, December 22, 2011)

RECENT RELEASES

Blind

(Korean Class Massive, December 18, 2011)

Finding Mr. Destiny

(Otherwhere, December 23, 2011)

Ghastly

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 11, 2011)

In Love and the War

(Modern Korean Cinema, December 20, 2011)

Poetry

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 17, 2011)

(The Star Phoenix, December 16, 2011)

Shotgun Love

(Modern Korean Cinema, December 22, 2011)

Suicide Forecast

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 13, 2011)

(Rainy Day Movies, December 22, 2011)

The Front Line

(The One One Four, December 20, 2011)

War of the Arrows

(hancinema.net, December 17, 2011)

White: The Melody of the Curse

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 19, 2011)

PAST FILMS

3-Iron, 2004

(Rainy Day Movies, December 17, 2011)

Breath, 2007

(Rainy Day Movies, December 19, 2011)

Double Agent, 2003

(Hangul Celluloid, December 21, 2011)

Dream, 2008

(Rainy Day Movies, December 19, 2011)

I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay, 2006

(My Film Views, December 20, 2011)

Memento Mori, 1999

(Subtitles Online, December 15, 2011)

Oldboy, 2003

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 12, 2011)

Pulgasari, 1985 - North Korean

(Badass Digest, December 19, 2011)

(crikey, December 21, 2011)

Samaritan Girl, 2004

(Rainy Day Movies, December 18, 2011)

The Bow, 2006

(Rainy Day Movies, December 18, 2011)

The Evil Twin, 2007

(Init_Scenes, December 21, 2011)

The Harmonium in My Memory, 1999

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 16, 2011)

The Host, 2006

(Hanguk Yeonghwa, December 10, 2011)

The King and the Clown, 2005

(Init_Scenes, December 20, 2011)

Time, 2006

(Rainy Day Movies, December 19, 2011)

The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Weekly Review Round-up (12/10-12/16, 2011)

30 new reviews this week including a great write-up on Hong Sang-soo's latest from The New Yorker and a series of reviews on Kim Ki-duk's from the Rainy Day Movies blog where Connor McMorran is hosting a fantastic Kim Ki-duk Week.

CURRENT KOREAN RELEASES

Spellbound

(Init_Scenes, December 14, 2011)

(The Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2011)

RECENT RELEASES

A Better Tomorrow

(Shu-Izmz, December 11, 2011)

A Confession

(Variety, December 14, 2011)

Blind

(Beyond Hollywood, December 12, 2011)

Hello Ghost

(Pinoy Movie Blog, December 16, 2011)

I Saw the Devil

(Cine-International, December 14, 2011)

(New Korean Cinema, December 14, 2011)

King of Pigs

(The Los Angeles Times, December 15, 2011)

Marrying the Mafia IV

(Modern Korean Cinema, December 11, 2011)

Poetry

(awardscircuit.com, December 12, 2011)

(Front Row Reviews, December 13, 2011)

(The Telegraph, December 14, 2011)

Sector 7

(Twitch, December 13, 2011)

The Day He Arrives

(The New Yorker, December 15, 2011)

The Man From Nowhere

(City on Fire, December 10, 2011)

The Quiz Show Scandal

(Inti_Scenes, December 14, 2011)

The Recipe

(Init_Scenes, December 16, 2011)

War of the Arrows

(Wildgrounds, December 13, 2011)

PAST FILMS

Address Unknown, 2001

(Rainy Day Movies, December 14, 2011)

Bad Guy, 2001

(Rainy Day Movies, December 13, 2011)

Beat, 1997

(Modern Korean Cinema, December 9, 2011)

Born to Kill, 1996

(Modern Korean Cinema, December 9, 2011)

Castaway on the Moon, 2009

(The Non-Review, December 9, 2011)

Green Fish, 1997

(Modern Korean Cinema, December 11, 2011)

No. 3, 1997

(Modern Korean Cinema, December 10, 2011)

Real Fiction, 2000

(Rainy Day Movies, December 15, 2011)

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring, 2003

(Rainy Day Movies, December 16, 2011)

The Coast Guard, 2002

(Rainy Day Movies, December 15, 2011)

The Isle, 2000

(Rainy Day Movies, December 12, 2011)

The Weekly Review Round-up is a weekly feature which brings together all available reviews of Korean films in the English language (and sometimes French) that have recently appeared on the internet. It is by no means a comprehensive feature and additions are welcome (email pierceconran [at] gmail [dot] com). It appears every Friday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at Korean Cinema News, and the Korean Box Office Update. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Ideological Barriers and Invisible Borders in Poongsan (Poong-san-gae, 2011)

Kim Ki-duk is one of the filmmakers who initially drew me to Korean cinema.  The first film of his I saw was The Isle (2000), which was, in a French edition, packaged together with Lee Chang-dong’s Peppermint Candy (1999).  While the films may have been very different they were also a fantastic double bill that complemented each other in many ways.  I wasn’t as shocked by the violence as I may have been because I had already seen Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and before dipping into Korean cinema, had more or less exhausted Takashi Miike’s catalogue up until that point (around 2003).

Imagery in Poongsan

Park’s film, while harrowing, was a pure piece of cinema brimming with adrenaline and the pure pleasure of filmmaking.  Lee’s poignant drama was elegant, realistic, literary, and propelled by social issues and recent Korean history.  Kim’s effort was slow and laconic, it was violent while at the same time elegiac.  The Isle had an artist’s touch and was unlike anything I’d seen before, just as the previous two films were.  Indeed I was very lucky to have selected the three Korean films that I did as my introduction to the nation’s cinema, the hooks were in deep from the start.

There were a few traits I noticed in The Isle that come up again and again in Kim’s filmography, which I quickly sought out (though I have yet to see Address Unknown, 2001, and Birdcage Inn, 1998).  The first was his preference for mute (or almost mute) protagonists.  Being that Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was my first Korean film and that The Isle was my third, it certainly seemed to me as though I had stumbled on a typically Korean trait.  Besides a large quantity of Kim’s films, there are numerous mutes in Korean cinema, including but my no means limited to: The Way Home (2002), Sad Movie (2005), and No Mercy for the Rude (2006).  The phenomenon is so prevalent that it is deserving of its own piece, which I intend to write in the light of the staggering success of Silenced (aka The Crucible/Dogani).

Messages of separated families

The second trait, which sadly is unavoidable, is his prevalent misogyny.  The horrific violence perpetrated against his female victims is shocking.  Some say that he demonstrates certain actions to make a point and show a patriarchal society for what it is but it is not just the actions inflicted on women in Kim’s films that concern me.  What bothers me more is the way they are portrayed: they are frequently submissive, which is understandable in certain situations, but are also frequently shown as ignorant, petty, and self-serving.  This applies to many of his female characters and it goes beyond artistic choice and deliberate representation.  It appears to be innate and as much as I admire and respect Kim Ki-duk as a filmmaker, I can’t help but see him as a sexist and this can cause problems for me when I view his work.  Then again Hitchcock was a notorious misogynist and I unabashedly love his films.

So after this rather long preamble I would like to discuss the first film to be released in Korea with his name attached to it after his three-year hiatus. Poongsan was written by Kim but it was directed by Juhn Jai-hong.  Although unlike his previous protégé’s films, like Jang Hoon’s Rough Cut (2008) and Jang Chul-soo’s Bedevilled (2010), which were firmly stamped with those emerging cineastes’ talents, this is definitely a Kim Ki-duk film.

Poongsan cigarette

Poongsan is the name of a brand of cigarettes and it is also used to identify a mysterious individual (Yoon Kye-sang) who transports items across the DMZ with extraordinary athleticism in the face of great danger.  He brings messages and items to and fro between separated families (they are pinned on a wall for him to see), but he nevers utters a word and it is hard to understand his motivations.  The National Intelligence Service (NIS, the Korean FBI) gets wind of his operation and enlists his services to bring back the wife (Kim Gyoo-ri) of a prominent defector (Kim Jong-soo) who is cooperating with them.  He indicates that he’ll bring her back in three hours.  He finds her but she is initially reluctant to trust him and causes problems on the way back across the border.  After she is reunited with her husband, Poongsan is apprehended.  What ensues is both a strange story of attraction, and a thrilling cat and mouse game between Poongsan, the NIS, and the North Korean spies who get involved later.

Early on the film succeeds in hooking us by leaving us with many unanswered questions but its elliptical nature and reliance on imagery and metaphor add complications.  It’s difficult to say exactly what kind of a film this is.  It’s an arthouse flick but it also features action scenes and espionage, it’s comes down to the viewer’s taste as to whether this succeeds.  I was able to let it go, just about, but it did make the film uneven. 

Crossing borders

One of the metaphors that I’ve already mentioned is the main character’s silence.  He doesn’t seem to be a mute, he’s just decided not to talk.  The question is why?  People on both sides of the border ask him what side he’s on, and since he travels back and forth a lot, perhaps he feels that instead of pandering to one ideology or the other, it is less complicated to forgo communication altogether.  At least this way he can be trusted, as everyone in the film seems to do without any hesitation.  He is also a wandering male without a home, a man so thoroughly displaced by the separation of Korea that he cannot help but incessantly travel back and forth across its fortified border.  He does so easily and brazenly, he does not recognize it, perhaps for him, it isn’t even there.

As far as its portrayal of ideology goes, the film takes a hard line and paints everything in stark black and white.  The NIS is shown as being paranoid and tyrannical, the same way that other South Korean films portray North Korean agents.  In effect Kim seems to have created the Poongsan character as a surrogate for himself, he does not ascribe to one idea or the other and all he sees is each side’s hypocrisy and dishonesty.  The defector’s ideology is also brought into question, like Poongsan he has crossed lines. He has done so by switching his allegiance from the North to the South, but unlike him he is caricatured as a tyrant, he is shallow, petty, jealous, violent, and authoritative.  Ultimately his ideology comes in second place to his greed and ego, which quickly transcend it. 

The defector and his wife

Chaos abounds out of a desire for rigid structure from both sides. The perpetual cat and mouse game played by the North and the South is disturbed and brought to a quicker, and thus uncharted, conclusion when an unknown element doesn’t fit into their equally dogmatic codes.  Poongsan does not seem to have a side but perhaps the unquantifiable aspect is not his political non-affiliation but the love that blossoms between him and the defector’s wife, which all the other characters seem fascinated by and try to use to their own advantage, with disastrous consequences.

The third act goes to great lengths to ridicule the NIS and the North Korean agents by exposing their hypocrisy and pitting them against one another. Unfortunately, this only happens at the expense of the main thrust of the narrative.  A risky move but it delivers a solid finish due to some well thought-out and unexpected narrative machinations.  Kim Ki-duk is a man of few words but he takes many liberties with logic and the dissemination of information which is the film’s greatest drawback.  Poongsan is a flawed film, but it is also clever and fascinating, it invites you to draw your own conclusions.  A very strong comeback, though I still can’t get excited about Arirang or Amen, though I’m sure I'll see them when I get the chance.

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.