From the website of the Birds Eye View Film Festival, a festival of emerging woman filmmakers: In Between Days So Yong Kim, Canada/Korea, 2006, 85′ event total 95′ Subtitled Friday 9th March ICA CINEMA 2: 8.30PM Monday 12th March ICA CINEMA 2: 8.30PM “A slow-burning and memorable gem on the loneliness of a stranger in … [Read More]
On Screen: Film and TV (page 94)
Korean short films in Futureshorts February programme
Futureshorts’ February programme is themed for Valentine’s Day. Two Korean shorts will be making an appearance. A Vital Activity (생산적 활동) Dir: Joum-kyun Oh, 2003 An irrepressible need to make love sends a young couple on a quest for a suitable location A Path of Tears Dir: Sujin Jo, 2005 A beautifully sorrowful animation about … [Read More]
ARCO Madrid: final programme details
Here are the final details for everything that’s going on in Madrid this month. Korean events at ARCO Korean galleries at ARCO Complete ARCO social programme, including non-Korean stuff, but this is a day-by-day calendar, giving useful data such as timings of all the Korean films. Note that poet Ko Un will be making an … [Read More]
Welcome to Dongmakgol playing in London
Sorry for the late notice, but it’s on at the ICA right now. It’s also been quite widely reviewed in the press over the weekend, which suggests a wider release is on the cards. Check out allocine for some of the reviews. [Read More]
Darcy’s predictions for 2007
It’s getting to be the case that the more interesting stuff over on Darcy’s site is in his What’s New page rather than his forums. Here are his predictions for 2007: Park Jin-pyo’s VOICE OF A MURDERER is going to be a major critical and popular hit (at least 6 million tickets) There will be … [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]
ARCO 2007: a Huge Korean festival in Madrid this February
Just received from the organisers of ARCO 2007 in Madrid. Film, music, dance, literature and of course contemporary art. To call it a feast undersells it. And that’s not all: this is just the stuff they know about already. There’s some other stuff they haven’t finalised. I haven’t taken all this in yet, but I … [Read More]
Visit the Dae Jang Geum campaign sites
Pay a visit to ukfan’s DJG comic relief discussion board. There’s a sample of his work below. And if you haven’t done so already, sign Alice’s petition to get DJG shown on the BBC, and visit her blog. [Read More]
Graham Norton sits on the best of Korean design
Congratulations to Korean-born Jackie and Lloyd Choi of Jackie Choi London for winning one of the Mayor of Hackney’s annual Business Awards 2006. The awards are designed to “celebrate entrepreneurs with business acumen and innovative ideas that generate jobs throughout the borough”. The awards were presented on 14 November, and the Choi sisters won in … [Read More]
Kim Ki-young retrospective in Paris
I’m afraid I’ve let you all down. There’s been a feast of film in Paris for the last few weeks at the Cinematheque: a retrospective of the great Kim Ki-young. It ends on Christmas Eve. One of the highlights would have been a round table on Kim, which included Bong Joon-ho, on 2 December. I … [Read More]
Movie industry export earnings decline
A rather gloomy article in the Chosun Ilbo, following on from a melancholy thinkpiece by Darcy a few weeks ago. 1. The number of loss-making Korean movies is on the increase An increasing number of Korean movies are losing money due to a surge in the number of movies and sluggish overseas interest. The number … [Read More]
Top singer-actors, a Chungmuro A-list wedding, a record deal and the Last Vampire
I haven’t posted about any celebs recently, so here’s the latest clips I’ve come across: 1 Singers turned actors With an eye on the success of canto-pop stars on the big screen, K-pop stars and their managers have been looking to maximise brand value and revenue streams. Uhm Jung-hwa, I only recently noticed, has been … [Read More]
Is Korean cinema’s heyday over?
Darcy has a thoughtful piece on his “What’s New” page, sensing a lack of dynamism in mainstream Korean cinema. While noting that Korean films in September took 83% of local box office, and Hollywood was beaten into third place by Japan, But you’ll have to forgive me if, despite the numbers, I feel a lack … [Read More]
Beer-bottle VC honoured
The Korean War featured briefly in the first episode of a Channel 5 series, presented by Prince Charles, on Sunday. The series is about holders of the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest award for military bravery. The first Victoria Cross awarded by our current monarch was to Bill Speakman (left) of the Black Watch, attached to … [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]
The King and the Clown – replacement screenings
Just received from the LFF box office We are pleased to announce that we have arranged screenings for The King and the Clown film as follows: Sun 29 Oct 10.30 Odeon West End 1 Thu 2 Nov 18.00 Odeon West End 2 If you want to book for one of these screenings, please contact the … [Read More]