Director Bae Chang-ho reflects on the evolution of his film-making career and developments in the industry and audience preferences. He discusses changes in his style, a focus on ordinary lives and love, collaborations with his wife Kim Yoo-mi, investor-driven constraints, and why his films’ sincerity was shaped by hardship rather than budget or freedom. [Read More]
Category: Festivals (page 19)
Kang Yoon-sung interview: real crime, action and commercial storytelling
Director Kang Yoon-sung discusses The Outlaws, from its real-life origins and research-driven realism to stripped-back characterisation and action-led storytelling. He explains casting choices, humour and violence balance, colour-coded gangs, funding challenges, and how editing, choreography, and true stories shaped his approach to commercial Korean cinema. [Read More]
Gig review: Park Jiha at King’s Place
Park Jiha brought the 2017 K-music festival to a close at King’s Place on 25 October with a mellow set of pieces taken from her album Communion which was deservedly shortlisted for the 2016 Korea Music Awards in both the Best Crossover Album and Best Jazz & Crossover Performance categories. Park is a versatile player, … [Read More]
The Yongsan tragedy featured in two LKFF documentaries
Those of you who have read and love Han Kang’s Human Acts will know that is is inspired not only by the Gwangju uprising but also the Yongsan tragedy. Hwang Jung-eun’s One Hundred Shadows is even more directly inspired by the same tragedy. It was a news event that was little reported in the Western … [Read More]
Festival film review: The Mimic
I don’t quite know how you go about reviewing a film like The Mimic. As I watched its early sections, enjoying the ride reasonably enough, I nevertheless thought back to some of the Whispering Corridors series (and sadly the weakest of them, Blood Pledge) in which plot is subservient to gratuitous scares. Probably if you … [Read More]
Bahngbek performs at Rich Mix as part of LEAFF
The only time I’ve heard Baik Hyun-jhin perform live he had his head in a fireplace and was making moaning sounds up a chimney. He can make a performance of anything. His bandmate Bang Jun-seok has composed the soundtracks for movies from …ing to Battleship Island. Their 2015 debut album together, Your Hands, is well … [Read More]
Kingston Korean Festival 2017: the photos
Here is a collection of photos from the Korean Festival held in Kingston’s ancient market place on Saturday 16 September 2017. 16,706 people attended the festival and 526 people enjoyed the audience participation programmes on the day! LKL, unfortunately, wasn’t one of them, and these photos are taken with permission from the organisers’ Facebook page … [Read More]
Film review: Memoir of a Murderer
Memoir of a Murderer asks us to step inside the mind of someone who is losing his memory, a sufferer of Alzheimer’s disease. The movie opens with a scene focusing on the face of a gaunt and aged-looking Sol Kyung-gu as single dad Kim Byung-soo. As we watch, his face begins to twitch. At first … [Read More]
Gig review: Kim Hyelim + Alice Zawadzki
I have to confess: I was a little nervous as I set off for Dalston on a dark Monday evening. If I had a minor gripe with the opening gig of the K-music festival at the Union Chapel, billed as a collaboration between East and West, it was that there was not enough collaboration: Kathryn … [Read More]
Gig review: Jeon Jeduk and Park Juwon at Pizza Express
What can one say about a pair of such flawless musicians? Jeon Jeduk, blind since birth, has been compared with Toots Thielemans and Stevie Wonder; Park Juwon… I’m not sure who he’s been compared with, but as I listened to his set I was reminded of the stunning album Passion Grace and Fire by guitarists … [Read More]
Gig review: Heemoon Lee + Prelude
Last Sunday night we had the choice between two Korean performers, both known for their unusual dress sense and unique stage presence and more importantly both leaders in their respective fields. With one, the price tag was upwards of £60, for which you had to queue up at a large North London venue, submit to … [Read More]
Film review double bill: Bamseom Pirates and Criminal Conspiracy
This weekend gave us the opportunity to watch two very different documentaries which cast their critical eye over contemporary Korean society and recent political history. Part of the fascination of both of them for UK-based Korea-watchers is the way they resonate: they provide, in the one case, a laser-like dissection of an issue of which … [Read More]
LEAFF, LKFF and the battle for our diaries
The film festival season is upon us, and this requires some serious diary planning. Fortunately the BFI London Film Festival remains serenely distant from the ignominious tangle caused by the collision of LEAFF and LKFF. With four titles scheduled earlier in the month, including the movie that I’ve been most looking forward to all year … [Read More]
Korean designers at London Design Fair
Am I the only one confused about the branding of the design shows held in London at the end of September, and dismayed at the uselessness of their web designers? The branders seem to have decided that bunch of shows that have been around for a while should be gathered together under the heading of … [Read More]
Gig review: Kathryn Tickell + Black String
After witnessing so many astounding gigs at Club Inegales, where musicians from different cultures come together to create new and unrepeatable sounds, it really should not surprise me when a collaboration that looks slightly weird on paper is actually a stunning success when it happens. Collaboration, between Korean and British-based musicians, is one of the … [Read More]
Korean artists at START Art Fair 2017
Apologies to Skipwiths, who were good enough to invite me to this year’s START Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery. I got their invitation email and promptly forgot about it. Which meant I completely missed out not only on the works they were showing, but also that of a few other Korean artists / galleries. … [Read More]