CJ Entertainment has been associated with some of the biggest and best films since the turn of the millennium. 20 years old this year, it is celebrating its birthday with a big splash at the 10th London Korean Film Festival organised by the KCCUK.1 Five screenings at this year’s festival are of CJ productions: Miss … [Read More]
Company or Organisation: CJ Entertainment
Expo visit: YG v CJ, and PSY everywhere, at Billingsate
Day 1 of the Korea Branding and Entertainment Expo, coinciding with President Park’s State Visit, was very much business-focused, with fashion and contents buyers browsing the many stalls. Day 2 was given over to the visual arts and musical entertainments. Downstairs, in the spectacular vaulted basement, was a huge exhibition of video art, celebrating the … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: Masquerade deserved all the awards it got
It swept the board at the recent Grand Bell awards – best film, best director and best leading actor among them. And for all-round entertainment, the closing film of the London Korean Film Festival 2012 deserved all those awards. Was a uniquely reformist tax policy set by a pantomime performer who was pretending to be … [Read More]
Mother reveals Bong’s perversity
This report captures director Bong Joon-ho’s insights on his subversive thriller, detailing his “perverse” casting of icons Kim Hye-ja and Won Bin against their established types. Bong discusses his meticulous control over “feminine” landscapes and storyboards, ultimately emphasizing how the primal maternal instinct can transform a mother into a monster in her desperate quest to protect. [Read More]
Remembering Murder: from “Memories of Murder” to “Mother”
Colette Balmain examines Bong Joon-ho’s Mother as a thematic evolution of Memories of Murder, shifting from a procedural to an intimate, arguably incestuous, study of devotion. By portraying the mother’s desperate quest for her son’s innocence against a corrupt, commodity-driven community, the film serves as a searing allegory for modern South Korea and its buried historical traumas. [Read More]
Inshalla – Detente in the Desert
It’s Lee Young-ae’s first film, released at the very beginning of 1997. It’s pretty difficult to get hold of. Unavailable on Region 3 DVD, you might be able to find a cheap Hong Kong version of the film from Panorama. Currently, YesAsia only lists it on VCD. Filmed mainly in Morocco, there’s plenty of exotic … [Read More]
Conference report: the Korean film industry examined
Notes from the industry conference held in the Screening Room at the Charlotte Street Hotel, 10 May 2005, 3pm – 6pm. One of the sideshows of the 2005 London Korean Film Festival was a get-together of industry representatives, academics and observers who made observations on current trends in the Korean film industry and the reception … [Read More]