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]
Category: Film reviews and comment (page 8)
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]
The Villainess (악녀, 2017) review: spectacular action, limited character depth
While the action set pieces of The Villainess are frankly incredible, a lack of character depth largely prevents the film from saying much thematically. The character of Sook-hee is certainly on a vengeance trip but she’s a person seeking revenge who just happens to female, rather than speaking specifically of female revenge in Korean cinema… [Read More]
Film review: A Taxi Driver
I went along to watch A Taxi Driver out of a sense of duty. What can be said about Gwangju, I thought, that hasn’t been said already? I’d rather see a documentary. Plus, Korean movies with foreign actors always raise slight alarm bells with me (Isabelle Huppert in Hong Sang-soo’s In Another Country left me … [Read More]
Film review: The Battleship Island
Synopsis Some nasty Japanese are being beastly to the Korean forced labourers in an offshore Japanese coal mine as the Second World War comes to a close. And one or two Koreans aren’t exactly being that patriotic either. In the middle of it all is a weak, venal Korean who is among the labourers with … [Read More]
Snowy Road (눈길, 2017) review: friendship, trauma and survival under the Japanese military
Originally a two-part television production, subsequently spliced together into a full length feature release, Snowy Road is a hugely emotional and indeed important story which uses social commentary to deftly create layer upon layer within an already in-depth and gripping narrative. [Read More]
Bluebeard (해빙, 2017) review: probing the serial killer genre
In her second feature, Bluebeard, director Lee Soo-yeon infuses elements of both horror and psychological thriller within a fast-paced serial killer tale. While Bluebeard may not necessarily be mentioned alongside the best of the best of the genre, it nonetheless largely succeeds where some other serial killer films have failed, anal probes notwithstanding. [Read More]
Okja (옥자, 2017) review: a topical and eccentric critique of corporate lunacy
Accomplished, quirky, eccentric and wholly memorable, Okja is not only a David & Goliath tale for the 21st century but also a hugely entertaining and insightful story of the ordinary pushed to extraordinary lengths by corporate lunacy, albeit with a couple of minor caveats. [Read More]
Film review: Hur Jin-ho’s Season of Good Rain
How reassuring it is, after the disappointment that was Bong Joon-ho’s Okja, to find that there are still directors out there who can serve up what you expect. Maybe that’s a bad thing: maybe you need to be surprised every now and then. On the other hand, there’s no shame in wanting a dose of … [Read More]
Film review: Okja — It’s really rather disappointing
“Our super-pigs will not only be big and beautiful; they will also leave a minimal footprint on the environment, consume less feed, and produce less [sic] excretions.” Don’t you just hate it when you’re really looking forward to a movie, really hoping and expecting to enjoy it, and it turns out to be a big … [Read More]
Canola (계춘 할망, 2016) review: grandmother’s love and lost innocence
Set between Jeju and Seoul, Canola follows a grandmother and granddaughter torn apart by disappearance and reunited years later. Through stark contrasts of beauty and hardship, and featuring powerhouse performances from actresses Youn Yuh-jung and Kim Go-eun, ‘Canola’ is an unashamed tearjerker that gives a heartfelt and poignant definition of what family truly is. [Read More]
Missing (aka Missing Woman, 미씽: 사라진여자, 2016) review: a poignant study of motherhood and societal despair
While the societal issues critiqued in ‘Missing’ – and indeed its child abduction story as a whole – can be found in a virtual plethora of Korean films, director Lee Eon-hee wholly succeeds in weaving them together into a worthy, grippingly intricate and ultimately deeply poignant tale of motherhood and female understanding of female pain. [Read More]
My Heart (정, 情, 2000) review: a life led by empathy
Spanning decades of rural Korean history and depicting a life of hardship and resilience, Director Bae Chang-ho and actress Kim Yoo-mee’s co-written narrative is sometimes gently funny, often heartbreaking and ultimately wholly uplifting. A story told with so much genuine heart that My Heart is the only adequately fitting title. [Read More]
Remember You (나를 잊지 말아요, 2016) review: forgotten love, lingering pain
Yoon-jung Lee’s feature version of ‘Remember O Goddess’ follows an amnesiac man whose new romance is shadowed by a past he cannot recall. A genuinely poignant tale of forgotten love and remembered pain, ‘Remember You’ is at once beautifully romantic and utterly heartbreaking, ultimately asking if ignorance, perhaps, truly is bliss. [Read More]
Baek Seung-hwa’s Queen of Walking is the 3rd LKFF Teaser
The LKFF Teasers this year are showing the wide range of film genres in contemporary Korean cinema. This month, a comedy. Queen of Walking (걷기왕) Director: Baek Seung-Hwa Cast: Shim Eun-Kyung, Park Joo-Hee 2016, 93 mins 7pm, Monday 22 May, Regent Street Cinema | Book here Hailed as one of the funniest Korean comedies of … [Read More]
The Last Princess (덕혜옹주, 2016) review: a sumptuous epic of national longing and tragic exile
The Last Princess is as visually sumptuous as it is epic, with an understated emotional depth underlined by an incredible performance from Son Ye-jin which will bring tears to the eyes and a lump to the throat. This story of the last princess of the Joseon Dynasty is one that truly needed to be told. [Read More]