With painfully slow pacing, unfocused themes and appalling performances, Nam Ki-woong’s B-movie sadly squanders the opportunity presented by one of the most provocative titles in recent memory, stretching a ten minute music video plot out to a laboured sixty minutes… [Read More]
Category: Film reviews and comment (page 33)
Welcome to Dongmakgol (웰컴 투 동막골, 2005) review: humanity found beyond the battlefield
An uplifting and gently funny tale, told with genuine affection and served up with copious amounts of popcorn (watch the film and you’ll understand what I mean), Welcome To Dongmakgol reminds us that, whatever our beliefs and whatever the causes for which we fight, we should never forget our humanity. [Read More]
Wet Dreams (몽정기, 2002) review: adolescent awkwardness with innocence and heart
A coming-of-age comedy that approaches adolescent desire with warmth, humour and surprising innocence. Wet dreams blends familiar genre elements with genuine charm, playful innuendo and nostalgic honesty, standing apart from cruder sex comedies through its good-natured tone and affectionate look at youthful confusion. [Read More]
Windstruck (내 여자친구를 소개합니다, 2004) review: echoes of My Sassy Girl without the same spark
A rather lacklustre script and jolting switches between genres diminish what would otherwise be an engaging story, and the constant mirroring of elements from My Sassy Girl are an ever-present reminder of all the things that Windstruck would have liked to have been… [Read More]
Starbucks morality: a review of Han Hyeong-mo’s Madame Freedom (1956)
Han Hyeong-mo: Madame Freedom (1956) Round 2 of the Korean classic film double bill… In Shin Sang-ok’s 1961 film which formed the first part of the double bill on 5 November, a widow cannot talk to a man outside her family, and is expected to obey her mother-in-law. Admittedly, the film is set in the … [Read More]
Brief Encounter with Chopin – Shin Sang-ok’s My Mother and Her Guest
Shin Sang-ok: My Mother and Her Guest (1961) It was a shame to see two of the most interesting films in the London Korean Film Festival — My Mother and Her Guest and Madame Freedom — so sparsely attended. The Barbican had generously allocated its largest screen (capacity 286) in anticipation of enthusiastic interest — … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: Secret Sunshine at the BFI London Film Festival
Caution: this post contains spoilers. It was slightly disappointing to see Screen One of the Odeon West End (seating capacity: 500) somewhat under half full for the London premiere of Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine last Monday. By contrast, No Mercy for the Rude, a film which (from its description at least) is much more in … [Read More]
Monsters, the other Kim Ki-duk, and Mr D-War’s earlier film
Ever since dipping into Anthony Leong’s fun collection of film reviews I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a copy of Yonggary. He gives a charitable 1 star out of 5 to the film: As the film’s tagline declares, “It’s not what you expect” — in fact it’s far, far worse. Sounds like the … [Read More]
Happy End (해피엔드, 1999) review: explicit and unmissable cautionary tale
An explicit marital drama about infidelity, obsession and quiet desperation. As a neglected husband uncovers his wife’s affair, Happy End is an uncompromising look at the human heart and how its desires, if unchecked, can rule the head with cataclysmic results. A cautionary tale which is both explicit and unmissable. [Read More]
A feeble contribution to the Oh! Soojung blogathon
Today is the Virgin Stripped Bare blogathon, when anyone who cares about the work of Hong Sang-soo is meant to be writing about his third film — to coincide with a screening of the film in the San Francisco Bay area as part of a retrospective. A splendid idea, provided you have anything to say … [Read More]
Times critic not impressed by Ha Ji-won
The Duelist was released in cinemas on Friday. In a way, I wish I’d gone to see it in preference to Kim So-yong’s In Between Days as I was in the mood for something a bit unchallenging. I’ve yet to find anyone to say it’s a great film, but lots of people enjoy the visuals. … [Read More]
Kim So-yong: In Between Days
If you’re looking for some light entertainment to take your mind off things after a hard day at the office, So Yong Kim’s In Between Days is probably not for you. Like much non mainstream cinema, it demands effort from you. Plot-wise, there’s not much to report. It’s a teenage Korean girl growing up in … [Read More]
A Tale of Two Sisters (장화, 홍련, 2003) review: psychological horror meets visual beauty
This exploration of family trauma, abuse and mental instability has slow-building tension, unreliable perceptions, layered symbolism, and narrative twists which reward repeat viewing. A lot of horror films are described in dark, brooding terms but very few could be described as beautiful; A Tale of Two Sisters is a sumptuously beautiful film [Read More]
Park Chul-soo’s “Green Chair” and underage sex
This is a film which is not quite sure what it is. (And the remarks below contain spoilers). For most of the film, it’s a rather touching story of a young man (just under 20) and an older divorcee (early 30s) in love with each other. It’s complicated by the fact that the relationship started … [Read More]
Festival film review: Pororo to the Cookie Castle
I thought I ought to see at least one Korean animation as part of the recent film festival, so I took pot luck with the one that best fitted my Saturday schedule and ended up watching Pororo to the Cookie Castle. In the foyer of the Odeon Covent Garden was a 4-foot high penguin, beside … [Read More]
Kwak Kyung-taek’s next film a lower-budget romance
At last night’s Q&A following a packed showing of Typhoon (queue above), director Kwak Kyung-taek confirmed that his next film will have a slightly smaller budget than his last, which had disappointing box office result despite its large budget. It will be a romance, and Kwak is talking to Lee Jung-jae, the hero of Typhoon, … [Read More]