From the category archives:

Autumn K-film 2009

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FT: Samsung feels the heat from iPhone. http://bit.ly/702azK #
North Korean jeans on sale in Sweden. A snip at $215! The brand name? "NoKo". http://bit.ly/8fc6jI #
AWNtv: Trixter breaks down its vfx work from "Ninja Assassin." (HT – Saharial) http://bit.ly/7VXjAe #
Bong Joon-ho "Mother" Q&A with Tony Rayns: BFI have put an edited version of 14 November's event [...]

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Mother reveals Bong’s perversity

24 November 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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LKL reports from the screening of Mother at the Bong Joon-ho retrospective at the British Film Institute on 14 November, with Q&A chaired by Tony Rayns.

In a world obsessed with celebrity, youth and beauty, only a director of the stature of Bong Joon-ho could have got away with it. The big name star, Won Bin, [...]

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Breathless: can there be any escape from the cycle of violence?

17 November 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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Breathless (똥파리) is Yang Ik-june’s debut feature, in which he is also lead actor, and the film has deservedly won numerous awards. As the film opens, a man is beating up his girlfriend in the street. To the rescue comes Sang-hoon, played by Yang, who subdues the offender only to turn to the woman and [...]

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LKL Weekly Tweets, 2009-11-16

16 November 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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Insadong Scandal is like Thomas Crown Affair, only slicker and with more twists. Highly recommended #
Don't forget Yu Hyun-mok retrospective tonight, with introduction by Daniel Martin. “Aimless Bullet” one of the best K-films ever. #
Aigoo! Is Yu Hyun-mok the most depressing director ever? I don't want to see any more of his films. Kim's Daughters [...]

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Remembering Murder: from “Memories of Murder” to “Mother”

14 November 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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Colette Balmain reviews Bong Joon-ho’s latest hit, and finds themes which echo his 2003 success

Bong Joon-ho’s Mother, the Korean Film Council’s submission to the 2010 Oscars – 82nd Annual Academy Awards – under the category “Best Foreign Language Film”, has much in common with his 2003 Memories of Murder: a film based upon the abortive [...]

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Aigoo! Yu Hyun-mok, master of Korean realism, is so depressing

12 November 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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When asked to look back at his career, Yu Hyun-mok, one of the four greatest directors from the golden age of Korean film, said that he was proud of two achievements:

That he was always an innovator;
That he never filmed a melodramatic love story.

In the latter achievement lies the key to Yu, as the [...]

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London Korean Film Festival 2009

19 October 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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The schedule is up on the Barbican website, and it’s a great range of the latest hits together with a retrospective of one of the classic directors. Text from the Barbican website, where you can also buy tickets:
Thursday 5 Nov, 7pm: Park Chan-wook: Thirst, with introduction by the director. I think this is the premiere [...]

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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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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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Korean Connections at the 53rd BFI London Film Festival

6 October 2009 Autumn K-film 2009
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Colin Bartlett has overcome the shortcomings of the London Film Festival website search engine by diligently reading the 100 page festival brochure for films with Korean connections. Here are the results of his labours.
First, the two main films we already know about:

Hong Sang-soo’s Like you know it all (18, 19 Oct) www.bfi.org.uk/lff/node/433
Bong Joon-ho’s Mother (22, [...]

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LKL Weekly Tweets, 2009-09-14

14 September 2009 Anglo-Korean Society
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LKL is among the many winners in the Blog Korea, Visit Korea competition run by the KTO. Congrats to the other winners. Go visit Korea! #
Anglo-Korean Society members: last chance to reserve your places for you and your guests at the #Chuseok dinner next week. See you there #
Andrei Lankov on extra-marital hanky-panky in North [...]

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