I didn’t make it to Venice in 2015, so I managed to miss Sleepers in Venice, a group show of Korean artists curated by Stephanie Seungmin Kim. Fortunately, she producted a documentary of the whole thing, which you can catch at the London International Filmmaker Festival this month. Be there. Sleepers in Venice Directed & … [Read More]
Category: Festivals (page 16)
Korean interest at the 2019 London Art Fair
There don’t appear to be many Korean-focused galleries attending the London Art Fair this year – the main one I can find being Skipwiths, in partnership with CAIS Gallery from Seoul. They will be exhibiting work by: Park Jang Nyun | Doo Wha Chung | Yun Hee Toh | Hyojin Park | Chun Kwang Young … [Read More]
A look back at some of the films of 2018
A wide variety of genres was presented to the London audience this year, from the return of the romantic melodrama (Be With You) to big budget fantasy (Along with the Gods). We also saw #MeToo beginning to have an impact, not just in the themes of movies such as Land of Seonghye and Testimony but … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: The Return
I was as delighted as I was surprised when I saw that the London Korean Film Festival had selected The Return for its closing gala screening. The huge numbers of overseas adoptions from Korea is often a sidelined subject and understandably wouldn’t be a natural choice when showcasing Korean culture and arts. But the 2018 … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: Microhabitat
Miso just about gets by, living in a cockroach-infested room, earning just enough to pay the rent by taking low-paid cleaning jobs. She has to budget carefully, and can just afford a couple of her little indulgences: smoking cigarettes (preferably foreign brands), and frequenting whisky bars for a drop of single malt on the way … [Read More]
Festival mini movie review: Love+Sling
A sporting rom-com involving a love triangle whose vertices are a well-meaning but over controlling single father (Yoo Hae-jin, 1987); his dutiful son (Kim Min-jae) who is obliging his father by training hard in the skill of greco-Roman wrestling; and the pretty girl next door (Lee Sung-kyung), who inconveniently and inexplicably fancies the father rather … [Read More]
Festival film review: This Charming Girl
Lee Yoon-ki (이윤기) This Charming Girl (여자, 정혜, 2004, 99 mins). Review by Robert Cottingham. You know how people talk about reality TV, even though there is nothing ‘real’ about it? Well, if you wanted to see actual reality, the sheer day-to-day mundane-ness of the average person’s life, then this film is the closest you … [Read More]
Park Ki-yong interview: implication, independence and time in Korean cinema
The veteran director discusses restrained portrayals of sexuality, lessons in economical filmmaking, the pressures facing independent Korean cinema, education and animation at KAFA, improvisation versus scripting, and how Old Love links personal memory with contemporary politics, generational reflection, and Korea’s recent historical moments. [Read More]
Lee Myung-se interview: love, action and creative freedom in filmmaking
Le Myung-se reflects on his 1990s love stories, the shift to action in Nowhere to Hide, and his dedication to creative autonomy. He discusses remakes, music choices, visual storytelling, and concerns over data-driven filmmaking, emphasizing the interplay of narrative, visuals, and emotional expression as central to his films. [Read More]
Kim Yang-hee and Yang Ik-june: a softer way of seeing
Director Kim Yang-hee and actor Yang Ik-june discuss The Poet and the Boy as a gentle portrayal of same-sex affection, shifting social attitudes toward homosexuality in Korea, and resisting fixed labels. They address casting risks, performance choices, poetry as emotional structure, and the role of film in reflecting gradual human-rights change. [Read More]
Video: Urban Sound at K-Music 2018
As lazy post that gives me the opportunity to sample a bit of the Urban Sound gig at K-Music 2018 – a concert which I was unable to attend: [Read More]
Jeon Go-woon interview: fragility, freedom and refusing norms
Director Jeon Go-woon discusses Microhabitat as a story about choosing personal values over stability. She explains Miso’s refusal of conventional comfort, the symbolism of ex-musicians and youth, male vulnerability, collaborative character-building with actors, and the realities of making independent films within tight economic and emotional constraints. [Read More]
Recording: Screen talk with Lee Chang-dong at BFI London Film Festival 2018
In case like me you couldn’t get tickets to the Screen Talk with Lee Chang-dong as part of the BFI London Film Festival, here’s the recording on the BFI YouTube channel. The interview took place on 20 October 2018, the day of an anti-Brexit demonstration in London – which is mentioned more than once in … [Read More]
E-DO at Rich Mix: a second-hand review
I know I said that SsingSsing was the gig I was most sorry to miss from the K-music festival this year, but E-DO ran it a close second. Their music that supported Over the Moon at the Edinburgh Fringe last year was totally mesmerising, even in the absence of their percussionist who had to return … [Read More]
SsingSsing at Pizza Express Soho and South Bank – a second-hand review
The SsingSsing gigs that opened the 2018 K-music Festival were the ones that I was probably saddest to miss of all the events this year. Sometimes other commitments get in the way (in this instance, a long-delayed summer holiday) so this is the first of the second-hand K-music reviews of this season (there will be … [Read More]
Mini review round-up: the 2018 LKFF Teaser screenings
Sometimes I just don’t have the time to marshal any thoughts about a movie after seeing it. Daily life takes over any before I know it I’ve watched another movie and the memory of the previous one is dimming fast. But as I’ve been on holiday for a few days away from the daily grind, … [Read More]