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Tag Archives: Ticker
Matthew Jackson continues his series of articles on the important treasures from Korea's past
The depository buildings which house the Tripitaka Koreana library are unique in almost every sense. Officially the largest wooden storage complex in the world, they are registered together with the Tripitaka itself as part of the UNESCO World Heritage (http://whc.unesco.org/).
[caption id="attachment_6968" align="alignright" width="220" caption="The windows of the depository building..."][/caption]
The woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana were originally stored on Kanghwa Island. The current depository complex was built in 1398 at Haeinsa temple, located far inland, to be beyond the reach of enemy forces invading from the north, and invasions by pirates.
The 108 columns of the buildings symbolize the 108 defilements, or impurities, believed to separate the mind from ...
By Aashish Gadhvi
All together now... Happy Birthday to you! The Korea Football Association is officially 75 years old, and unlike many 75 year olds, they are just getting going in making Korean football a worldwide force to be recognised as one of the premiere football forces in Asia. It's been a long time coming for Korean football, which boasts a prestigious history and the most successful record of any other Asian footballing nation. Here's to another 75 more! To commemorate this occasion, I have compiled two lists for the ages. The first one being a list of the top 5 most important people in Korean football history, and the second a list of the top 5 most successful moments. Here ...
May 18 - surprise hit of the LKFF
18-Nov-08
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 ...
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 ...
Baramgot at St Giles: event of the year?
14-Nov-08
It was a typical wet autumn evening in the Barbican, and inside St Giles's church it was a little bit chilly. The audience was a touch thin on the ground - some of the regular followers of Korean cultural events will have been at the gala opening of the Korean film festival 5 minutes walk away, or at the annual Anglo Korean Society dinner in the House of Commons. But there were some familiar faces in the audience, undeterred by the diary clash, as well as plenty of less familiar ones.
Those who went to the AKS dinner will have had a splendid time. I certainly did last year. I heard mixed reviews of the film, but in general it got ...
Good, bad or weird?
13-Nov-08
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: ...
Kim Ji-woon in London: bigger, faster
12-Nov-08
Friday night’s screening of The Good the Bad and the Weird (좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈, hereafter Nom Nom Nom) was followed by a screen talk with director Kim Ji-woon and actor Lee Byung-hun, chaired by Tony Rayns. Lee Byung-hun was late for the chat, either tied up with promotional activities for his upcoming films or maybe just lost in the Barbican labyrinth.
Rayns is the UK’s longest established expert on Korean film, and organised a Korean film festival at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts almost 10 years before Jonathan Ross ever heard of Park Chan-wook. He knows many of the big names in Chungmuro personally, and has even conducted an interview with maverick director Jang Sun-woo half naked in ...
Lee Byung-hun on being the bad guy
11-Nov-08
Lee Byung-hun, in town for the launch of the London Korean Film Festival, took advantage of his trip to have some interviews and engage in other promotional activities. He impressed the crowds at the opening screening of The Good the Bad and the Weird, and again the next day at the post film discussion, with his command of English.
He’s been improving language skills in order to target the western market. His debut Hollywood film - GI Joe: Rise of Cobra – is to be released next year, in which he plays bad guy Storm Shadow. Lee confessed that he finds the filming in English tough: being interviewed in English is hard enough, but having to worry about the quality of ...
Stars launch Korean Film Festival
08-Nov-08
In what must be the biggest-budget launch of the KCC’s third London Korean Film Festival, director Kim Ji-woon and actor Lee Byung-hun were brought to London to introduce the flagship film of the festival, The Good the Bad and the Weird.
Tony Rayns, the UK’s most established Korean film expert, was also there to celebrate. A few introductory speeches – including a brief welcome from Lee Byung-hun - opened the evening on Thursday, before a capacity screening of Kim Ji-woon’s kimchi western.
The party afterwards gave plenty of photo opportunities with the stars, while Barbican staff came round with glasses of soju and Korean-inspired dishes. Both Lee and Kim were generous with their time in posing for photos with guests. Inevitably it ...
Night and Day: Hong Sang Soo in Paris
07-Nov-08
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 ...
The Tripitaka Koreana - part 1
02-Nov-08
Matthew Jackson continues his series of articles on the important treasures from Korea's past
One crowning achievement of Korea’s Buddhist heritage that is not included in the Bozar ‘Smile of Buddha’ exhibition is the Tripitaka Koreana. There is a practical reason for this, as it consists of 81,258 woodblocks, weighs 280 tons in total, and would take 30 years to read, even with a reasonable grasp of classical Chinese. The collection of Buddhist scriptures is currently housed in the thousand-year-old Haeinsa temple, and undoubtedly one of the foremost wonders of Korea.
Tripitaka is a Sanksrit word meaning ‘three baskets’ – referring to the teachings of the Buddha (Sutra Pitaka), the precepts followed by monks and lay followers (Vinaya Pitaka), and commentaries on ...
Dong Bang Shin Ki (TVXQ) #4: Mirotic
30-Oct-08
(SM Entertainment, September 2008)
Stern(9,g)
Review by Jo Wakely
After one year and seven months TVXQ’s eagerly awaited 4th Korean album is finally here. The release date was put back by two days because of pre-sales in the region of 330,000. How SME failed to realise that there would be a rush on this long-awaited album is a mystery. Estimated over the counter sales on the day of release were said to be in the region of 36,000. Long queues formed outside record shops in Seoul as TVXQ-deprived Korean fans waited to get their hands on the album.
The album has been released in two formats so far, version A (top left) containing ten tracks and a DVD containing footage of the members ...
Blight, Hope and Photoshop
25-Oct-08
“This is not a Korean exhibition” announced Lee Chan-Buom, Director of the Cultural Cooperation Division of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as he introduced the panellists at a fascinating discussion to coincide with the “Blight and Hope” exhibition at the KCC.
With sponsorship from the British Council and the UNDP, there was to plenty support Director Lee’s claim of “widespread ownership” for the exhibition. But of course there is a Korean angle. Korea has had the experience of extreme poverty within the living memory of half its population. Indeed, One of Lee’s earliest memories was of an overnight visit from a burglar who raided his kitchen for food and then washed the dishes afterwards.
[caption id="attachment_6318" align="aligncenter" width="440" caption="Myung-duck Joo ...
‘4482: Korean Contemporary Artists London’ exhibition, 16th – 19th October.
Seminar, ‘How to promote Korean Art Abroad,’ 18th October 2008.
Both at Bargehouse, Southwark.
Report by Beccy Kennedy
Take forty contemporary artists, a fervent independent curator, an unexpected art space, four floors of art works in throngs of media and genres, and a thriving spot by the Thames, and what do you get? A distinctive, cutting edge art show and a journey on a possible zeitgeist. Aside from the presence of this effortless multiplicity, ‘4482’ is also an opportunity to see what Korea has to offer the British art scene. The answer to this would be that to some degree, Korea is the British art scene. Over the past ten years or so, Koreans ...
Crowning glory at the Smile of Buddha
16-Oct-08
Matthew Jackson reports from the "Smile of Buddha" exhibition in Brussels
I had never been to the Bozar Centre (French: “Palais des Beaux-Arts”) in Belgium prior to the current “Smile of Buddha” exhibition of Korean Buddhist art. It is an impressive place (right) and I highly recommend it if you are ever in Brussels.
The exhibition included items that seldom leave Korea, including the Pensive Bodhisattva, certain Koryo Buddhist Paintings, and the Silla Gold Crown. Also included were prints of murals, statuettes and triads, roof tiles, and sculptures and paintings from the Joseon period.
One of the exhibition staff told me that he preferred the Koryo to the Joseon period in terms of the art it produced. As a Buddhist, I am inclined ...
By Matthew Jackson
The centrepiece of the Bozar exhibition of Korean Buddhist Art, beginning in Brussels on the 10th of October, will be the Pensive Bodhisattva statue, Korea’s National Treasure No. 83. It is difficult to describe in words why the statue is regarded so highly as a work of Buddhist art, because its qualities consist primarily in simplicity and lack of detail.
Although words may be inadequate, the statue’s renown in Asia (not least of all Japan, whose No. 1 national treasure is a near exact wooden copy of the statue) is primarily due to the feelings that it evokes in those who see it.
There are various interpretations of the statue’s meaning, but scholars agree that it is intended to depict ...
The Sarira Casket
27-Sep-08
Matthew Jackson describes one of the Buddhist treasures in the Seoul National Museum.
Of the few people I have asked who have visited the Seoul National Museum, no one has mentioned the Kameun Sarira Casket as the high point of their tour. When I visited the museum myself, even though I was specifically looking out for it, it became clear to me why. At a first glance, in room crowded full of exhibits, its initial appearance does not suggest anything special. Yet this masterpiece of gold artwork must surely rank among the greatest cultural exhibits Korea has to offer the world, both for its unique detail, and its profound religious symbolism.
[caption id="attachment_5638" align="alignright" width="220" caption="The real deal - gold granules on ...
Catch the Chaser
24-Sep-08
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 ...
Can BoA eat up the U.S. of A.?
18-Sep-08
Despite the hallyu’s success in Asia, today’s Korean pop stars have yet to make it big in the States. Yes, we’ve seen a Korean or two in a Hollywood film or on Comedy Central, but concerts have been fairly localised, and the high-profile tour by Rain never got off the ground. And we’ve yet to see JYP’s investment in his US operation make any significant payback.
Can BoA succeed where Rain failed? She has been achieving significant success in Japan, where her language skills have helped her to make the breakthrough. All the while she has been honing her English, preparing for the onslaught on the US. She’s even prepared to tackle some questions in English at a press conference.
Her backers ...
By Saharial
Looking out at the rather dull day I am having today, it would be hard for me to believe that the weekend was full of summer sunshine if I hadn’t got a little toasted at the Thames Festival on Saturday. After a long walk from St Pancras to Waterloo and then a nice short one along the Thames to the OXO tower, I found the area dedicated to the Korean section of the program. Aside from the tantalising smell of Korean BBQ, the main focus was the stage with its backdrop of an ancient house. The seating area was the rather damp grass so, after my jeans went soggy I sacrificed my jacket as a seating spot to watch ...
By Matthew Jackson
The Korean section of the Thames Festival 2008 was bigger, more spectacular and altogether more chaotic than the 'Sarangbang' of last year. When I showed up on the Saturday afternoon, I was introduced to a traditional Korean game which involved throwing sticks at a target, as one of the sticks narrowly avoided my head. I was in Korea alright.
A sizeable stage had been set up, on which the three main acts were scheduled to perform. Stationed as I was in the Korean Cultural Centre stall handing out leaflets and books, I was ideally positioned to see 5% of the stage. In the case of the champion breakdancing crew, Last for One, this meant watching the upper half of ...
The end of the line
15-Sep-08
Y Euny Hong: Kept - a comedy of sex and manners
Simon & Schuster, 2006
The author of this entertaining comedy, Y Euny Hong, claims to speak from experience as a surviving descendent of a declining Korean aristocratic family. Making a living now as a journalist, she was given the generous opportunity of 3 pages in the FT’s weekend magazine to trail her novel back in May 2006 ((To read the article, click on this link, but remember you only have a limited quota of free FT viewings per month )). Having read the article, I registered the book as something to put on the radar screen, but not necessarily something to rush out and buy. How can someone who proudly traces ...
The 2008 BAKS conference at Clare College Cambridge started and finished with talks with a distinctly global flavour. People came from the four corners of the globe, with presenters from New Zealand, Singapore, Hawaii, Germany and the US. And we were also fortunate to have the support of the ROK ambassador, Chun Young-woo, plus the immediate past UK ambassador to the ROK, Warwick Morris.
[caption id="attachment_5224" align="alignright" width="183" caption="Nami Morris performs Jindo Buk Chum"][/caption]
The conference opened with a bang, as the champagne corks popped in the Clare College JCR bar – generously funded by the ROK embassy – followed by some Jindo drumming from Nami Morris in the adjoining vaulted crypt underneath the Chapel. Lee Chul Jin then performed an atmospheric ...
So Hot?
06-Sep-08
The official provider of broadband services to the LKL household has been looking East.
As part of their Hot Girl Group series Virgin Media has noticed JYP's teenage girl band Wonder Girls. Number 8 in a list containing 7 other girl groups whose average age is at least 5 years older than them, the performers of annoying, catchy and perfectly crafted pop songs are brought to the attention of the UK public. Branson's pop researchers highlight Wonder Girls "comeback" single So Hot (did they ever go away?) as the one to listen out for.
Who: Where Japan have J-pop (an abbreviation of Japanese pop), Korea have K-pop, and these five young ladies are leading exponents of the genre. Attempts to expand into ...
Korea at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
05-Sep-08
by Aashish Gadhvi
The Beijing Olympics was a fortnight of sporting gold, a plethora of the world’s top athletes going head to head in the greatest show on Earth. This year's Olympics was always going to be major headlines, not just for the sports but also for the tirade of anti-Chinese media which preceded it (Tibet, Pollution, Human Rights, blah blah). But forget all that for now, we’re here to talk about the Korean campaign, which in its own way, got off to a pretty controversial start.
First came the news that the North and South Koreans were not going to walk together under a united Korean flag at the opening ceremony, something which they had done previously. Different issues resulted in ...