From the category archives:

Park Chan-wook

Mark Russell over at Korea Pop Wars led the way with his fascinating list of films of the decade – in which the biggest shock was that there was no Park Chan-wook. GI Korea also has a list, which redresses the balance somewhat. So here is mine.
Over the years I’ve been reasonably diligent in giving [...]

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LKL Weekly Tweets, 2010-01-25

25 January 2010 Bae Doo-na
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Finally finished my top 10 K-films of the decade post. It took forever. 2003 was a good year! Post will be up on Tuesday. 12:57 PM Jan 22nd from web
Big article on Kimchi going global in the Washington Post http://bit.ly/89sKtf (HT: Marmot) 1:16 PM Jan 22nd from bit.ly
Trying to figure out why LKL is offline [...]

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Park Chan-wook’s most embarrassing DVD

22 January 2010 Film
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This week’s Time Out has a brief interview with Park Chan-wook, to celebrate the UK DVD release of Thirst. The subject? His 2,000-strong DVD collection.
For an obscure recommendation from his shelves, Park tips Sanjay Gupta’s Zinda, the Bollywood film that seems to be based on Oldboy. “A man, taken and locked up for 14 [...]

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Is Lady Vengeance REALLY the best Korean film of the decade?

8 November 2009 Film
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That’s what The Times seems to think. I’ve never had much confidence in that paper when it comes to Korean film (one of their critics in particular, Wendy Ide, seems to have a complete downer on the country), but I’m not sure that many informed Korean film buffs would agree with the choice of Lady [...]

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Saharial reviews Thirst

12 October 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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5th October 2009
Curzon Cinema, Soho, London
Being a big fan of Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy, I was definitely excited and keen to see Thirst (박쥐; Bakjwi) his newest release that won the Jury prize at Cannes this year. The story is of Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho), a priest who willingly undergoes a medical experiment to help [...]

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LKL Weekly Tweets, 2009-10-12

12 October 2009 About LKL
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Appropriately, Park Chan-wook cast a blood-red shadow as he answered questions after the screening of Thirst yesterday. #
Soju and tornadoes at Corean Chilli with the KAA. This is the way to plan a gig! #
Photo taken with Park Chan-wook. All's right with the world. #
Why do Koreans think it's so macho to drink Soju? Beats [...]

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Park Chan-wook: uncut (almost)

11 October 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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Saharial provides a warts and all direct transcript of the Park Chan-wook Q&A at the Curzon Soho preview of Thirst. At least, up until the point when an officious usherette told her to switch her recorder off…
The Q&A was only a half hour long, a real shame, and the staff at the Curzon were quick [...]

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Cute kisses and extreme marriages – different perspectives on Park Chan-wook

8 October 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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After Monday’s focus on Thirst, Tuesday’s Mr Vengeance screening, together with a generous hour of Q&A with Director Park, offered the opportunity to focus on his earlier work. In fact, the first question at the Q&A asked about Park’s very first films (pre JSA). Did Park have any tips or lessons learned for a rookie [...]

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Lead us not into temptation – Q&A with Director Park at UK “Thirst” premiere

7 October 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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Appropriately enough, Director Park cast a sombre red shadow on the screen as he walked onto the stage to answer questions following the London premiere of Thirst. The film delivered all the blood you have come to expect from a Park Chan-wook movie, this time with some justification, given the vampire theme. But as always [...]

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October is Park Chan-wook month

3 October 2009 Events news
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Director Park’s latest, Thirst, will have its official release on 16 October. But there’s a special preview on 5 October at the Curzon Soho, followed by Q&A with the director.
To celebrate Park’s presence in town, the KCC’s screenings this month are also by him: I’m a Cyborg on 8 October and Oldboy on 22 October, [...]

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London to be gripped by Thirst

25 September 2009 Events news
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There were two hotly anticipated films from Korea this year. Bong Joon-ho’s Mother, and Park Chan-wook’s Thirst. Thirst showed at Cannes, where it won the Jury prize. We shall be seeing Mother at the BFI London Film Festival at the end of October. But Metrodome have been quick on their feet, and with their cheque [...]

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LKL Weekly Tweets, 2009-08-24

24 August 2009 Bong Joon-ho
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Congratulations to Yang Yong-eun on winning the US PGA golf championship http://bit.ly/2Jw6M #. “It’s not like you’re in an octagon where you’re fighting against Tiger and he’s going to bite you, or swing at you with his 9-iron,” Yang said through an interpreter. “The worst that I could do was just lose to Tiger. So [...]

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A feast of Park Chan-wook

4 April 2008 Events news

I’m a Cyborg, but that’s OK finally gets a UK theatrical release, prior to its release on Tartan DVD at the end of May. The film, which stars hallyu superstar Rain (Jeong Ji-hoon, 정지훈) and Im Soo-jeong (임수정), received its belated London premiere last year at the Korean Film Festival at the Barbican, and returns [...]

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Oldboy returns to Film 4

14 August 2007 Events news

For those who haven’t caught it already, Oldboy returns to the small screen this Friday – 11pm, 17 August, on Film 4.

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Korean Film at Edinburgh

31 July 2007 Edinburgh 2007

The Edinburgh Film Festival will be showing four Korean films this year. The choice of three of the four comes as no surprise.

No western film festival with Korean content is complete without a recent Kim Ki-duk film, and this time round it’s Breath (숨).

Everyone wants to know how Park Chan-wook can follow his vengeance trilogy, [...]

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