A quiet month to end the year, in which the highlight has got to be a performance by some talking Korean rice cookers just outside Coventry Exhibitions Bongsu Park’s In Dreams we Gather continues at Gallery Rosenfeld all month The KCC’s group show Nothing is – everything just has been or will be also continues … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 13)
Festival Film Review: Heaven – To the Land of Happiness
In recent years the LKFF programmers have been getting into a groove of scheduling indie, minority interest movies for the closing film of the festival. This year, they turned things upside down by programming the festival’s most appealing film (for me, at least,) to end the fortnight. Yes, the opening movie, Mogadishu, is the top … [Read More]
A look at the closing movies from recent LKFFs
As I left the cinema after Friday’s closing movie of the 2021 London Korean Film Fest, somewhat on a high because it was such a good film and Q+A, I observed to a friend I happened to bump into: “That was the best closing gala for years!” As I said that, the most recent decent … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: The Singer
As is often the case, I was out of town for the London East Asia Film Festival, so I missed the international premiere of the Director’s Cut of Cho Jungrae’s The Singer. I’m not sure if the previously available version has had a formal international premiere – probably not, given the devastation that Covid has … [Read More]
Review: Hwang Sok-yong – The Prisoner
How to review the autobiography of one of Korean’s leading novelists, who has won accclaim both sides of the border; who has spent five years in prison as well as being a person of interest to the authorities for much of his professional career? The memoir makes for fascinating reading as literary history: most of … [Read More]
Review: Kim Bo-young – I’m Waiting for You, and other stories
Genuine question: what was the first work of translated Korean fiction to be released as an audiobook? I don’t know the answer to that one. Browsing the Audible catalogue is not easy, but I suspect Penguin wins the prize. Two popular titles published by Penguin – Kim Ji-young, born 1982 and The Hen who dreamed … [Read More]
November events 2021
The Korean cultural diary is now back to its customary autumnal chaos: too much packed in with too many events clashing with each other. We’ve got used to the Korean Film Festival scheduling its films so you can’t go to all of them. K-music has now joined the party by scheduling gigs that clash with … [Read More]
LKL’s list of ten Squid Game superlatives
Well, I guess everyone who’s going to watch it has watched it already, but nevertheless I’ve tried to avoid any major spoilers in the below. Here’s the list of things that struck me most about the hit series. Most enjoyable reveal Runner up was the identity of the multi-gazillionaire who set up the game, But the … [Read More]
London Korean Film Festival 2021 announces its line-up
Here’s the official press release for the 2021 London Korean Film Festival. You can find the detailed schedule in a separate post. London Korean Film Festival 2021 4 November – 19 November 2021 After a mostly digital edition in 2020 the London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) is pleased to be returning to cinema screens across … [Read More]
October events 2021
The Festival of Korean Dance was a nice warm-up for the Autumn season of events. Now for the music and film. Exhibitions Start Art Fair runs from 13 to 17 October Round and Around: the KCC’s early Autumn Audio-Visual Project with Jang Minseung and Jung Jaeil, lasts until 22 October. London Craft Week runs from … [Read More]
Book review: Kwon Yeo-sun – Lemon
Someone, somewhere, must have done a study of multi-person narratives in Korean fiction – novels which tell the same story (or different episodes involving the same characters) from two or more different perspectives. Two of the best-loved Korean novels in translation use the technique: Please Look After Mother and The Vegetarian. And this year, we’ve … [Read More]
In pictures: Chuseok celebrations at the British Museum
The early Autumn brought two simultaneous Chuseok celebrations in the London area on 18 September: the harvest fest in New Malden, organised by KBCE, and a special event at the British Museum. Over the past months we’ve been starved of live music, and it was great to be able to hear the Shilla Ensemble perform … [Read More]
In pictures: New Malden’s Chuseok Harvest Fest
The fickle Autumn weather smiled on New Malden’s Chuseok festivities last weekend. With pent-up demand resulting from lockdown and the lack of the usual independence day celebrations in mid-August, and the sunny weather beckoning people out onto the streets, the celebrations were almost too successful. LKL was there in time for the opening speeches and … [Read More]
K-music 2021: the official press release
Last year, despite the lockdown, the K-music festival presented is with a huge range of talent via its online concerts. Many of the acts that we heard for the first time last year will now be making their way over to London (and Norwich) so that we can experience them live. There’s a real feast … [Read More]
Korean interest at the 2021 BFI London Film Festival
The announcement of the BFI Film Festival schedule is usually a cue for me to renew my BFI membership so that I get access to tickets a week before they go on general release. After the huge disappointment of 2020, when no room could be found in the schedule for any Korean movies, 2021 has … [Read More]
Celebrate Chuseok with the KCCUK
Register soon: the available spaces are sure to be booked up fast! Experience authentic Korean customs with Chuseok Festival 2021 Sunday 26 September 2021 @KCCUK 11am – 6pm: Register for a one-hour time slot at Eventbrite (Slot 1) 11.00am – 12.00pm | (Slot 2) 13.00pm – 14.00pm | (Slot 3) 15:00pm – 16:00pm | (Slot … [Read More]