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Category Archives: Film reviews and comment

May 18 - surprise hit of the LKFF

18-Nov-08

May 18 - surprise hit of the LKFF

A modern historical drama about Korea’s Tiananmen Square incident might not sound like the most gripping of scenarios for a film, but May 18 certainly draws you in as a cinematic experience. One member of the audience had already seen the film twice on the internet, but came along to see it on the big screen because each time she sees it she is reduced to tears. I can understand why. My own expectations of the film were only moderate, but I came out almost as shell-shocked as I had been after Housemaid two days earlier (though for different reasons). Even though we all knew how the film would end, we were still enthralled every second of the way. The violence in ...
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Aimless bullet, scary housemaid and Korea’s modern history

17-Nov-08

Aimless bullet, scary housemaid and Korea’s modern history

Two classic films from Korean cinema’s golden age provided a fascinating compare-and-contrast exercise last Monday night at the Barbican. Encouragingly, the films were better attended than the comparable double-bill last year (Madame Freedom and My Mother and her Guest). Maybe that reflects the growing literacy of UK audiences when it comes to Korean film. Or maybe people are just getting more adventurous: a colleague of mine from work turned up with a friend, at the last minute, when he saw that Housemaid is in Martin Scorcese’s list of top 3 films of all time. He wasn’t disappointed. Both films show the Republic of Korea at the start of its growth period, but we see different views of that development. In a strange ...
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Good, bad or weird?

13-Nov-08

Good, bad or weird?

Now the festival is over, perhaps it’s time to set down some thoughts on the lead film, Kim Ji-woon’s Manchurian western. This was one of the most hotly anticipated films in recent years, on a par with Lady Vengeance and Secret Sunshine. Kim Ji-woon has built up an enviable track record with his past films. Did his latest measure up to expectations? The answer is, yes and no. Nom Nom Nom is a riotous frolic of a film, with non-stop action and a fair amount of comedy. It might be tightly plotted, but for many viewers (myself included) the scenes fly by so fast that you might miss what’s happening. Not that it matters particularly. [caption id="attachment_6832" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Jung Woo-sung: ...
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Night and Day: Hong Sang Soo in Paris

07-Nov-08

Night and Day: Hong Sang Soo in Paris

Claire O'Connell reviews Hong Sang Soo's latest film, Night and Day, screened last week at the BFI London Film Festival What do you do when you are being sought by the Korean police for possessing cannabis? Run away of course. This is how the painter Sung-Nam (played by Kim Young-Ho) ends up in Paris from where the story begins. Despite his own world being turned on its head, in gay Paris, life carries on around him and he has to get by. He is yet another foreigner in a big city, finding a way to live, making aquaintances, working out where to buy cigarettes, figuring out where his life is going next, while his wife remains in Korea fending off the ...
Also filed in Autumn K-Film 2008, Hong Sang-soo | Tagged | Comments (0) »

Catch the Chaser

24-Sep-08

Catch the Chaser

Saharial advises you to go see The Chaser on the big screen while you can I was delighted when I discovered, at long last, a Korean film showing again in a city centre cinema, something that seems very rare these days. The basic story that I knew before I went in, was that it concerned a former cop who was now a pimp, who realises that the girls on his books who have gone missing were all requested by the same person. Realising he had just sent one of his girls that night to that very same person he heads out to track them down wanting ‘compensation’ for the girls he has lost. But they have not been sold on like ...
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Alienation and industrialisation in Green Fish

13-Jul-08

Alienation and industrialisation in Green Fish

Matthew Jackson encounters Lee Chang Dong for the first time “Good, but gruelling” was Jason Bechervaise’s summary of the film for me in the lift in on the way up to the screening of ‘Green Fish’ at the Cultural Centre on Thursday night. I later learned this film had been the subject of his dissertation, but I found this succinct version to be remarkably apt. The story follows a young man returning to his hometown to be faced with unemployment and a general sense of alienation. He is beguiled by a mixture of lust and lucre into the world of the minor-league mafia boss Bae Tae-kon and his paramour Mi-ae. This choice leads initially to financial security, and ultimately to adultery, murder, ...
Also filed in KCC Film Club, Lee Chang-dong | Tagged | Comments (0) »

Im Kwon-taek shines at KCC

31-Mar-08

Im Kwon-taek shines at KCC

Matthew Jackson's impressions from last Thursday's screening of "Beyond the Years" at the Korean Cultural Centre There is definitely something extra that you get out of going to see a film in the company of people that you do not necessarily know, in surroundings that are not quite the same as any other you are used to, whilst being exposed to a culture that you like but do not entirely understand. Regarding the surroundings, whilst I thought they were pretty good to begin with, the ever friendly and welcoming KCC team are continuing to process feedback. Mr. Choi announced in his pre-performance speech that they are investigating how to make the somewhat purist theatre seating more comfortable. The tiered benches are probably ...
Also filed in Event reports and reviews, Im Kwon-taek, KCCUK | Tagged | Comments (0) »

Han Sang-hee and the Art of Happiness

29-Feb-08

Han Sang-hee and the Art of Happiness

Matthew Jackson reviews "Virgin Snow" - the first film to be screened at the KCC, Tuesday 26 February The screening of Virgin Snow at the new Korean Cultural Centre was the inaugural session in its programme of monthly film nights, and I felt it would be well worth attending for that reason alone. From the little I had read about it, the film itself looked like an average sort of heavy romance movie, which is not generally the kind I go for. I was pleasantly surprised. The centre provided an ideal setting. There was an opportunity to meet and talk with others before and after the film, and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of exquisite rice cakes. The director of the film, Han ...
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Starbucks morality

13-Nov-07

Starbucks morality

Han Hyeong-mo: Madame Freedom (1956) Round 2 of the Korean classic film double bill... In Shin Sang-ok's 1961 film which formed the first part of the double bill on 5 November, a widow cannot talk to a man outside her family, and is expected to obey her mother-in-law. Admittedly, the film is set in the Korean countryside, rather than the metropolis, but the conservative morality is the sort that you expect to see in many Korean films. Wind back the clock 5 years to Han Hyeong-mo's Madame Freedom and the shock of that film becomes apparent. A couple kiss in the street, even though, according to the male, their relationship is purely casual. Women gather together for drinking and smoking parties. A married ...
Also filed in Autumn K-Film 2007, Event reports and reviews | Tagged | Comments (0) »

Brief Encounter with Chopin

12-Nov-07

Brief Encounter with Chopin

Shin Sang-ok: My Mother and Her Guest (1961) It was a shame to see two of the most interesting films in the London Korean Film Festival -- My Mother and Her Guest and Madame Freedom -- so sparsely attended. The Barbican had generously allocated its largest screen (capacity 286) in anticipation of enthusiastic interest -- but unfortunately only at most 30 people showed up. To be honest, I had gone mainly out of a sense of duty -- the only other classic Korean film I'd seen to date was Aimless Bullet, which I had found heavy going. So I went with low expectations, anticipating wooden plotlines and acting, and a generally unsophisticated cinematic experience. I got chatting to a member of the audience ...
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Secret Sunshine at the BFI London Film Festival

29-Oct-07

Secret Sunshine at the BFI London Film Festival

Note: this post contain spoilers It was slightly disappointing to see Screen One of the Odeon West End (seating capacity: 500) somewhat under half full for the London premiere of Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine last Monday. By contrast, No Mercy for the Rude, a film which (from its description at least) is much more in the hackneyed Asia Extreme mainstream, was fully booked for the following night, albeit at the much smaller ICA screen (seating capacity: 185). At two hours twenty minutes, it's a long film, but somehow time didn't seem to drag. The slowest part was the time up to the point when Shin-ae suffers the calamity which sets off her downward spiral. The nature of the calamity itself was guessable ...
Also filed in Autumn K-Film 2007, Event reports and reviews, Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Chang-dong | Tagged | Comments (0) »

Park Chul-soo’s “Green Chair” and underage sex

10-Nov-06
This is a film which is not quite sure what it is. (And the comments below contain spoilers). For most of the film, it's a rather touching story of a young man (just under 20) and an older divorcee (early 30s) in love with each other. It's complicated by the fact that the relationship started on a rather public footing, with the woman being prosecuted for having underage sex and having to serve 100 hours community service (which involves looking after mentally disturbed old ladies). It's not revealed how the two got caught. After the conviction, the couple are pursued by tabloid reporters, and one in particular who keeps getting too close and ends up being tied up with green sticky ...
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Pororo to the Cookie Castle

05-Oct-06
I thought I ought to see at least one Korean animation as part of the recent film festival, so I took pot luck with the one that best fitted my Saturday schedule and ended up watching Pororo to the Cookie Castle. In the foyer of the Odeon Covent Garden was a 4-foot high penguin (left), beside which Korean kiddies were having their photos taken. Cute. A little bit of searching on the internet reveals that Pororo is quite an institution. It's a children's TV programme, lasting about 7 minutes, a sort of Magic Roundabout or Captain Pugwash but without, on the evidence of this feature-length Christmas special, the undertones of drugs and obscure sexual practices which give those latter programmes a bit ...
Also filed in Animation, Event reports and reviews | | Comments (7) »

Is The Host anti-American (spoilers)?

30-Aug-06

Is The Host anti-American (spoilers)?

The packed performance of The Host at Frightfest on Monday went down well. We were told by the organisers that we were watching the longest possible print. Whether that means there are cuts in other theatrical versions I don't know. One of the things about The Host is that it's generated a lot of noise about anti-Americanism. A lot of the criticism is based on the first scene. But there are other examples throughout. Here's my list (spoiler alert): (Opening scene) The treatment of the Korean lab assistant by the American boss. The Korean is just there to do menial tasks (like cleaning the lab), and work through the night if his boss orders him to. And the lab is nowhere near ...
Also filed in Bong Joon-ho, Event reports and reviews | Tagged | Comments (0) »