London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

LKL Top 10 Film of the Decade at the KCC this week

The theme of the KCC’s film screenings this month is the Family. Earlier this month we had a nice warm cuddly film bursting with family values. This coming Thursday 27 May is the innocent-sounding “A Good Lawyer’s Wife”. But the Korean title, 바람난 가족, translates literally as “Unfaithful family”.

Kim Kyu-hyun, one of koreanfilm.org’s reviewers, commented after seeing the film for the first time “I was shaken like a rag doll”. That pretty much summed up my own feelings about it too, and I included it in my top 10 Korean films of the decade.

Moon So-ri in A Good Lawyers WifeA Good Lawyer’s Wife
7pm, Thursday 27th May 2010

Director: Im Sang-soo
Cast: Moon So-ri, Bong Tae-gyu
Genre: Drama
Certificate: 18 (South Korea)
Running Time: 104 mins

Venue:
The Korean Cultural Centre UK Ground Floor, Grand Buildings 1-3 Strand, London WC2N 5BW

RSVP:
Booking is required, please email [email protected] or call 020 7004 2600 to reserve your place. Admission is free.

The Film

Yeong-jak is a relatively righteous lawyer in his 30’s who doesn’t reject poor clients and always tries to do the right thing. His wife Ho-jeong was a professional dancer, but now all she does is to attend dancing classes.

Yeong-jak who wants to be a good lawyer and husband, Ho-jeong who is bored of the ordinary life, and their seven-year-old adopted son Su-in are the three in the family. They love their son very much, but the young boy is confused at the fact that he was adopted. Though Yeong-jak seems to be the perfect husband, Ho-jeong can no longer reach orgasm when sleeping with him.

Source: KMDB

The director Im Sang-soo’s latest film, The Housemaid (2010), has been invited to Competition of Festival de Cannes 2010.

Still from A Good Lawyer's Wife

The scandalous outer layer of A Good Lawyer’s Wife can be peeled back to reveal a quite serious and nuanced core. Director Im Sang-soo has already shown a talent for presenting frank sexuality and nonconformist heroes in his two previous films Girls’ Night Out (1998) and Tears (2001), but A Good Lawyer’s Wife establishes him as a director with formidable skill and potential. Im’s reputation abroad was given a boost when the film was invited to the main competition section at the Venice International Film Festival 2003, where it screened to generally favorable reviews. Yet foreign audiences are likely to view this film in a different way from how it is viewed in Korea, where attacks on the institution of family ring with much stronger resonance.

We hope you will join us for this night, the second in our Family theme running throughout May. To reserve your place please rsvp to [email protected] or call
+44 (0)20 7004 2600. Admission is free.

For more information please visit:
www.koreanfilm.co.uk/film-nights-and-events
http://london.korean-culture.org

Forthcoming Korean Film Nights

The theme for our Korean Film Nights in May is Family. Earlier this month we showed Barefoot Ki-bong and this coming Thursday, A Good Lawyer’s Wife; two films which portray very contrasting families. Please be advised that these are not ‘family’ films, they are films about the subject of family.

Our films in June will be themed to commemorate The 60th Anniversary of the Korean War (6.25). We will be screening Bae Hyoung-jun’s Once Upon a Time in Seoul on the 10th June, Kim Ki-duk’s Address Unknown on the 17th June, and Yu Hyun-mok’s Rainy Season on the 24th June.

For more information about forthcoming Film Nights at the Korean Cultural Centre UK, please visit our website at www.koreanfilm.co.uk/film-nights-and-events

Korean Film Clubs

Private groups and film clubs of more than 5 people can hire the venue (multi-purpose hall or seminar room) for Korean film viewings.

For more information or to make a booking, please call +44 (0)20 7004 2600 or email [email protected]