The average soju you get in London Korean restaurants is all much of a muchness. You either take whatever is on the drinks list, or, if you have a choice, you choose the one advertised by your favourite soju girl. And now that Lotte has parted company with Lee Hyori after five years advertising Cheoeum … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 101)
Ko Un featured in the Guardian
Korean poetry in translation isn’t much featured on the web anywhere, so when a major UK broadsheet features Ko Un, Korea’s most famous poet, together with his Cornish translator Brother Anthony, it is a cause for celebration. The Guardian has a nice piece on his appearance at the Aldeburgh poetry festival (3-4 November), which is … [Read More]
“Arirang” looks to be safeguarded at UNESCO for (South) Korea
After last year’s scare that China was laying claim to Arirang, Korea’s most famous folk-song, it looks like UNESCO will soon be listing it as part of Korea’s intangible heritage (source: Korea Times / Cultural Heritage Administration). But the song, which is loved throughout the peninsula and in Korean communities elsewhere, is to be registered … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: All about my wife – a perfect date movie
Part of the K-comedy stream of the 2012 LKFF. Im Soo-jeong plays a shrewish wife driving her husband (Lee Seon-gyoon) crazy, causing him to hire a Casanova (Ryu Seung-ryong) to woo her to give him an excuse for divorce. This is a perfect date movie: entertaining, never too demanding but still making you think about … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: The Grand Heist – a lightweight, fun caper movie, but not for grown-ups
If films require a minimum age classification so that youngsters are not harmed by seeing adult material, shouldn’t there also be a maximum age classification system to warn adults that they are going to be watching material designed for juveniles? If The Grand Heist, billed as a Joseon dynasty Ocean’s Eleven (1), had such a … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: One Deranged hour of my life that I will never get back
Sometime you go into a movie not knowing what to expect and come out feeling fulfilled. Sometimes you go into a movie with high expectations and come out feeling disappointed. If I find a movie dragging, I’ll usually give it a chance to pick up. But when I really can’t see that the film is … [Read More]
White Night pulled from LKFF 2012 programme
Sadly White Night (백야, LeeSong Hee-il 2012), the only queer-themed film on LKFF programme this year, has been pulled at the last minute. According to Otherwhere, the 70 minute feature was inspired by the real life case of a homophobic street assault. The film, which first showed at the Jeonju International Film Fest in April … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: Gabi – a glossy period spy movie with plenty to recommend it
This year’s Korean Film Festival has a focus on period film – the closing gala is Masquerade, and we also have The Grand Heist, I am the King, and Gabi. Gabi is set in the last decade of the 19th Century, at a time when the Japanese and the Russians were competing for influence in … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary #20: Rabbit Stew and Love Shots
Beopgyesa, Sancheong County, Gyeongsangnam-do, Friday 30 March 2012. The ice on the mountain trail the previous day had given me metaphorical cold feet about proceeding upwards beyond Beopgyesa to Jirisan’s summit. During the night, the wind and rain outside our comfortable cabin in the temple compound confirmed the decision that we would head downhill, rather … [Read More]
Royal Ancestors – an unsolicited review
I recently received an email from a friend who was given a copy of Royal Ancestors and Ancient Remedies for Christmas last year: Just finished reading your Korean book, which I enjoyed a lot. I confess I was struck by a similarity between the book and the Jongmyo ancestral rituals, in that I thought it … [Read More]
Im Kwon-taek and the wounds of the Korean War
The Im Kwon Taek retrospective has given us all a chance to catch up on some of the films of the master that we haven’t seen before, rounding out our picture of Korea’s national director. Im is probably best known nowadays for his films which highlight some of the unique aspects of Korea’s cultural heritage: … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: The Thieves – an exhilarating start to LKFF 2012
What can one say about one of the most popular Korean films ever? It’s slick, it’s got Jeon Ji-hyun and Kim Hye-su; it’s got Lee Jeong-jae, Kim Yun-seok and even Hong Kong megastar Simon Yam. Yes, it’s a real pleasure to combine in one film some of your favourite Korean eye-candy with a couple of … [Read More]
Call for Papers — Years of Radical Change (2): SOAS Conference on Korean screen culture
After a successful seminar earlier this year, SOAS is planning a follow up at the end of May 2013. And in a nod to the ubiquity of a certain tubby singer and his horse dance, the conference organisers seem to be prepared to accept a paper on Korean popular music videos. Call for Papers Years … [Read More]
Elephant learns to speak Korean
Well almost. According to the BBC, Koshik the elephant has learnt to imitate human speech and can say five words in Korean: hello, no, sit down, lie down and good. The zoo animal places the tip of his trunk into his mouth to transform his natural low rumble into a convincing impression of a human … [Read More]
November events 2012
Another action-packed month this month: Ko Un in Aldeburgh, London, Oxford and Cambridge, PSY at the Oxford Union, jazz-gugak fusion in Piccadilly, manhwa at the KCC, two all-day conferences and of course plenty of film. And if you’re quick there might just be a ticket or two left for December’s BigBang appearances. Film The Im … [Read More]
Am I alone among Korea-followers in being a huge fan of Martin Limón?
Having read all seven of his previous novels, I’m delighted to have discovered that the 8th was published a few weeks ago. He might have thrown historical credibility to the winds this time round, but who cares? It sounds an absolute blast: Seoul, early 1970s: US Army Sergeant George Sueño is on a mission of … [Read More]