Breaking news, but I hear Bong Joon-ho’s film The Host has met with great critical acclaim at Cannes, receiving a standing ovation (which doesn’t surprise me, as Bong’s previous film, Memories of Murder, is the only film I can think of where I felt like applauding at the end). Here’s a quote from the New … [Read More]
On Screen: Film and TV (page 97)
Festival film Review: Princess Aurora (오로라 공주) (18)
A whydunnit rather than a whodunnit. From the start, the perpetrator of these rather fun and sometimes gruesome murders is not in doubt, and the film sustains interest by drawing you into why the murders are committed. At first you think the motivation is a rather extreme vigilantism, but as the film progresses the motive … [Read More]
London Korean Film Festival 2006: schedule finalised
Here they are, with synopses provided by the PR people, and links where available to reviews on Darcy’s site. Not a bad haul. The festival runs from 22 – 26 May, and the schedule is as follows: Mon: 20.30 Princess Aurora (18) Tue: 18.00 Murder Take One (15) Tue: 20.40 All For Love (15) Wed: … [Read More]
Choi Min-sik to stage screen-quota protest at Cannes
Londoners looking forward to the delights of next week’s Korean film festival can be forgiven for overlooking that other festival which starts this week… in Cannes. The Korean film industry will take advantage of the event to publicise their opposition to the reduction in the screen quota. Here’s an article from today’s Korea Times: A … [Read More]
Fill in the gaps. But first find them
I’ve just come across an interesting and well-written article on the KOFIC website which gives a very good review of the state of the Korean film industry in 2005. Here’s a link. The challenge with the article is that, at least on my browser, all the names of the films have been omitted. Sometimes, unless … [Read More]
Banning the Da Vinci Code
The Christian Council of Korean has been trying to prevent the screening of the Da Vinci Code. I suppose that films which touch on religion are always likely to spark controversy in certain circles. But does noisy protest do more harm than good? There’s a thoughtful article in the Winter 2004 edition of the Korea … [Read More]
Campaign for better soaps on UK TV
In the past day or so I’ve had my first unsolicited visitors sending me email – and it’s not spam. Thanks for your kind comments, Alice and Dana. Alice is a lady on a mission. Her mission: a campaign to get the BBC to buy Jewel in the Palace and show it on British TV. … [Read More]
A Little Monk screens at Royal College of Arts
An email from out of the blue today, advising of an upcoming screening at the Royal College of Art. Strange place for a screening, and I await to hear more about whether it’s part of a series; and why. And the choice of film is a little odd: A Little Monk. Not one of the … [Read More]
Sport and nationalism: YMCA Baseball Team
We’ve just witnessed the triumph and then despair following the ups and downs of the Korean team in the baseball world cup. And the TV commercials are now full of football references. So I just put my copy of YMCA Baseball Team in the DVD player (it’s been on my to-watch pile for rather too … [Read More]
Improve the quality of British TV
Alice Bennell is campaigning on your behalf to get the Jewel in the Palace on British TV. Visit her campaign website and put your signature where it counts here. Photoshop trickery by djgukfan at yahoo dot co dot uk. Nice. [Read More]
Korean animation focuses on remakes
Wouldn’t it be great if the Korean animation industry could come up with something better than My Beautiful Girl Mari or Wonderful Days / Sky Blue? Something to rival Miyazaki. There’s obviously a wealth of creative talent in the Korean film industry, but that creativity has never seemed to extend to truly great animated features. … [Read More]
What a difference a region makes
East Asian popular culture currents and counter-currents, Birkbeck College, 17/18 March 2006 Thanks to Chris Berry (Goldsmiths) and Nicola Liscutin (Birkbeck) for putting together a stimulating day and a half symposium discussing regional popular culture in East Asia. Presentations mainly covered the creative industries in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The focus on Taiwan was puzzling, … [Read More]
New book on Kim Ki-duk
For all you fans of this inventive director, there’s a new book out. I’ll post some comments once I’ve read it, but that won’t be for a while as I’ve got quite a backlog to get through. That plus the fact that the English version won’t be available until November 2006, according to Amazon. Update: … [Read More]
New Jeon Ji-hyun vehicle crashes
OK, so it’s not a complete box office turkey, but after one week at the top of the charts, it’s now down to number 4 and predicted to head south quickly. The vehicle, a film entitled Daisy, is a blatantly commercial effort to cash in on the marketability of the My Sassy Girl star outside … [Read More]
Kim Ki-duk mistaken for a tramp
A nice gossipy item from the Chosun Ilbo: Kim [Ki-duk] went to Jungbu Police Station in Seoul to obtain a permit to manufacture a model gun for his new film. But his seedy appearance inspired little confidence, and when he kept repeating the phrase, “The leading man’s gun, the leading man’s gun,” police decided he … [Read More]
Conference report: Hallyuwood — Korean Screen Culture Goes Global
I was unable to attend the conference, and I am grateful to Prof Hu Puzhong for this report: The symposium has witnessed a relatively blissful atmosphere probably because the Korean wave and its cultural representation in screen production seem to have become an alternative in a world dominated by the hegemony of Hollywood. Academics from … [Read More]