It feels like it’s been an incredibly busy year, and as I come to write this review I realise that, much more so than in previous years, many of the things that have been memorable I haven’t had time to write about – and maybe won’t. I’ve written separately about the films it was possible … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 37)
A look back at some of the books of 2017
This year, I haven’t even come close to keeping up with the volume of newly-published literature in translation, let alone the plethora of new non-fiction. Perhaps to balance my feelings of guilt at falling behind the pace of new publications, I’ve tried to make inroads into my guilt pile in respect of previous years – … [Read More]
[Updated] A further look back at movies from 2017
![Thumbnail for post: [Updated] A further look back at movies from 2017](https://londonkoreanlinks.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/2017filmcollage2herp-120x120.jpg)
Two Korea-based critics have published lists of their top movies of the year. Many of them were screened in London this year and merited a mention in our own roundup which you can find here. And while the two critics have a lot more enthusiasm for Okja than I do both of them highlight some … [Read More]
A look back at some of the films of 2017
A review of some of the films that screened in London during the 2017 – another busy year. For me the undoubted highlight of the London film year was the Bae Chang-ho retrospective at the London Korean Film Festival: a chance to see a couple of his movies – including the classic Whale Hunting (1984) – … [Read More]
Season’s greetings to all our readers
As Team GB’s great hope for the Pyeongchang 2018 speed skating event gets some last minute tips from his Korean coach, once again it’s time to wish you all the best for Christmas and the New Year. Have a peaceful break. As in previous years, thanks are due to Jieun Kim aka The Drawing Hand … [Read More]
Bae Chang-ho retrospective: the highlight of LKFF 2017
For me, the highlight of this year’s London Korean Film Festival was the brief retrospective of some of Bae Chang-ho’s early output. I’ve had a soft spot for Director Bae’s work for over 15 years now: My Heart was one of the first Korean movies I saw, back in the London Korean Film Festival in 2001. … [Read More]
Studio visit: Kim Juree & Neil Brownsword’s open studio at the V+A
Do pay a visit to see Kim Juree and Neil Brownsword at the V+A during one of their open studios. There will be more coming in early 2018 before their joint residency ends in March. Neil will tell you about his visits to Icheon and his current project at the V+A with 19th-century ceramic pattern … [Read More]
Hopefully the last techie post for a while
LKL’s look and feel hasn’t changed much since the summer of 2009, when we moved onto the current theme template, but believe me: during the second half of this year I spent a lot of time behind the scenes on the site, working on significant changes which aren’t immediately obvious. The changes have nothing to … [Read More]
Documentary: the Jangmadang Generation
In January last year Sokeel Park from the NGO Liberty in North Korea gave a talk at Chatham House about the younger generation of entrepreneurs in North Korea, and other ways in which society is inexorably changing. Somewhere I’ve still got my notes and the handout from that talk – which I probably won’t get … [Read More]
Kim Ae-ran: The Essay Contest
UPDATE: Deadline now extended to 30 April 2018. It’s been ages since we last had an essay contest. If I remember right, we’ve had two that have been specifically targeted at UK-based readers: back in 2009 we had one based on Ch’oe Yun’s There a Petal Silently Falls, and then the following year we were … [Read More]
A visit to the British Ceramics Biennial
The first work to greet you as you entered the Spode China Works – the primary venue of the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke-on-Trent – is the monumental work created in situ by Lee Kang-hyo. At the opening of the exhibition Lee did one of the performances for which he has become known: the decoration … [Read More]
Gallery: Jewyo Rhii’s The Day 3, Walls and Barbed
As described in the exhibition press release, this exhibition is a response to a response: Rhii’s 2013 exhibition “Walls to Talk to” was the subject of a journal by writer Irene Veenstra, and Rhii continues the dialogue in this exhibition. [Read More]
December events 2017
This must be the first month in the history of this website when there are no known Korean movie screenings in the next 30 days. Time to catch up on your DVD collections or online watchlist. Talks At SOAS: Kim Seung-hee talks on the subject of Melancholia and Mourning in Modern Korean Poetry on 1 … [Read More]
Festival film review: Bae Chang-ho’s The Dream
Bae Chang-ho’s The Dream is based on a story from the Samguk Yusa, a story that Yi Kwang-su worked up into a short novel. Although the tale is set in the late Silla dynasty, its message is timeless. The story starts with a weary and impoverished traveller (played by Ahn Sung-ki) trudging through the snow … [Read More]
Festival film review: Bae Chang-ho’s Whale Hunting
Based on a story by long-standing collaborator Choe In-ho, Whale Hunting is one of Korea’s seminal road movies. Hunting the whale, in the dark days of the dictatorship, was symbolic for yearning for things beyond the day-to-day. In Bae Chang-ho’s 1984 movie it represented the search for the things that give life meaning; in a … [Read More]
Festival film review double bill: Two Doors / The Remnants
As part of the Documentary strand of the 2017 London Korean Film Festival Lee Hyuk-sang of the activist documentary makers PINKS presented a pair of films on the Yongsan tragedy. The context of the tragedy was the plan to redevelop the Yongsan area as the US army prepared to move to their new base in … [Read More]