Bored with shelling South Korean islands, North Korea looks to invest in Vietnamese silk. FT blogs: http://bit.ly/dQwPzB # North Korea’s contribution to any silk venture will be its “silkworm expertise and technology”, Vietnam would, in exchange, provide labour and investment in production facilities. [Read More]
Year: 2010 (page 5)
Liz Chae’s stories of the sea
Finding Iodo: The Sea Woman and the Man in Exile. Interesting project – a film featuring a poet and female diver. http://bit.ly/dQv9PS #. This follows on from Liz Chae’s previous film The Last Mermaids, about the diving women of Jeju-do. [Read More]
Korean Eye returns to Seoul
The Korean Eye: Fantastic Ordinary exhibition which started in London has now made its way to Seoul: a feature on Ji Yong-ho's tyre sculptures can be found in the Joongang Ilbo http://bit.ly/dOv5sN # [Read More]
Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy lives up to the hype
Barbara Demick: Nothing to Envy – Real Lives in North Korea Granta, 2010 Why, when Korean Studies bookshelves are dominated by volumes about the North, about which so much less is known than the South, do we need yet another volume? Why, when we have so many defector eye-witness accounts of starvation, torture and oppression, … [Read More]
LKFF Festival Bites: Film Students are Softies
We’d just seen Jang Jin’s contribution to the Human Rights Watch short film collection If You Were Me 2: Someone Grateful (고마운 사람). In it, a student demonstrator is befriended by his police interrogator in the KCIA’s underground torture chambers in the 1980s. It’s a provocative short, because instead of railing against police brutality and … [Read More]
Calling all book hoarders: the National Library wants your old books
An announcement received via EJ Shin, the librarian at the KCC in London: The National Library of Korea (NLK) has announced that they would very much like to purchase any antiquarian books on the subject of Korea (published outside of Korea prior to 1950). Any publications on the subject of Korea, regardless of the languages … [Read More]
Anglo Korean Society annual parliamentary dinner
Notice of the AKS’s annual festive dinner in the Houses of Parliament. This year it’s been upgraded to the House of Lords. The tour of the Houses of Parliament before dinner is also worthwhile. ANGLO – KOREAN SOCIETY JOINT PRESIDENTS H.E. The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Choo Kyu-Ho Dr Robert Hawley CBE CHAIRMAN … [Read More]
Choi Min-sik season: A Quiet Family screens at the KCC
After seeing how unoriginal Kim Ji-woon can be when presented with someone else’s script (did ANYONE think that I saw the Devil was worth two hours of your life?), it’s a relief to be reminded that when he writes his own stuff he’s on sparkling form. This Thursday sees the start of a Choi Min-sik … [Read More]
The Hollow Nadir of Vanity: Jihye Park at Tenderpixel
I generally have little time for video art. But I make an exception with Jihye Park. Although I’d seen her work before, her work at Sasapari 2010 really caught my eye. So I’ll definitely be going along to this, her first solo show in the UK. December 3 to 23, 2010 at Tenderpixel, 10 Cecil … [Read More]
Thames Philharmonia: Byung-yun Yu and Hanna Yu at the Landmark Arts Centre
A varied programme of music at the Landmark Arts Centre, Teddington, this coming Saturday: Saturday 27 November 2010, 7.30pm Doors open: 6.45pm Food & Drink: bar open Hanna Yu is the soloist in Grieg’s Piano Concerto for Thames Philharmonia’s Autumn Concert. The programme includes music for 8 horns by Rossini and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7. … [Read More]
My Dear Enemy (멋진 하루, 2008) review: a subtle character study straddling the line between drama and rom-com
Initially appearing to be a quirky “road movie”, My Dear Enemy ultimately proves itself to be an uplifting and multi-layered character study. Contrasting material poverty with spiritual richness, and with subtle direction and believable chemistry between lead actors, this is an engaging and gently gripping film from beginning to end [Read More]
Jang Dong-gun in Warrior’s Way
This still from Jang Dong-gun’s Hollywood debut (The Warrior’s Way, aka Laundry Warrior, with Kate Bosworth) has about as much sexual chemistry as a Hong Sang-soo film: none. http://bit.ly/ikokw2 # [Read More]
My Mother The Mermaid (인어공주, 2004) review: a lyrical dedication to motherhood
A reluctant daughter is transported to her parents’ past, where witnessing her mother’s youth reshapes long-held resentment into empathy. Featuring masterful dual performances by Jeon Do-yeon, My Mother The Mermaid is a simple story, beautifully conceived. Dedicated “To mother”, it, in fact, stands as a dedication to motherhood itself. [Read More]
Mysterious Creature: Jang Jin at the London Korean Film Festival
Director Jang Jin is sometimes referred to as “The Future of Korean Cinema” but also as a “Mysterious Creature”. Nyomi Anderson tells us more. This year’s London Korean Film Festival featured a retrospective of the films of writer-director Jang Jin. Jang began his career in theatre before making his first film was The Happenings, which … [Read More]
My Wife Got Married (아내가 결혼했다, 2008) review: monogamy, polygamy, and modern taboos
On the surface, a discussion of monogamy vs. polygamy, My Wife Got Married also serves as a critique, and subversion, of stereotypical male/female roles in relationships, all wrapped up within a gently humourous (albeit, erratically paced) romantic tale… [Read More]
Deleuze, Cinema and National Identity
Deleuze, Cinema and National Identity: Narrative Time in National Contexts. http://amzn.to/azAXRL Looks like one film book I’d really hate, even though it discusses Lee Chang-dong’s Peppermint Candy. # [Read More]