London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Director: Bong Joon-ho

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Selected publications

Memories of Murder: one-off screening

event date Sat 12 Sep 2020 posted

Curzon Home Cinemas are reviving Bong Joon-ho’s first two features – Barking Dogs Never Bite and Memories of Murder – for home viewing. The latter will also be getting a screening at the Curzon Bloomsbury in a new 4K restoration. It may have a wider release, but at the time of writing there’s only one … [Read More]

Parasite: a non-review

posted updated 15 Mar 2020 by Philip Gowman 5 minute read

What can one say about a movie that has won Best Picture at Cannes and the Oscars, that has won best screenplay at the Oscars and BAFTAs, best edited drama feature at the Eddies, and best ensemble performance at the Screen Actors Guild? A movie that has been seen more widely in this country, and … [Read More]

Bong Joon-ho’s BAFTA talk has now been uploaded

posted updated 8 Mar 2020 by Philip Gowman < 1 minute read

Bong Joon-ho’s BAFTA lecture at the Curzon Mayfair on 12 December 2019 has now been uploaded to the BAFTA Guru Youtube channel. The talk was part of a lecture series that “exists to celebrate screenwriters’ authorial contribution to film and gives esteemed writers a platform to share highlights and insights from their careers with an … [Read More]

Bong Joon-ho makes Oscars history

posted by Philip Gowman 2 minute read

We almost feared that he had jinxed himself with that comment about the Academy Awards being “very local”. The comment, made in an interview with Vulture in October 2019, was made in the context that it’s “not a big deal” that a Korean movie had yet to be nominated for an Oscar (the nominations for … [Read More]

A review of the Korean cultural year 2019

posted updated 6 Apr 2020 by Philip Gowman 11 minute read

A review of some of the highlights and trends in the Korean cultural year, primarily in London but also with half an eye to anything we might have seen elsewhere in the UK. The review is a personal one, inevitably skewed towards the events we managed to get to. Introduction This time last year I … [Read More]

Boat Screening of The Host by Bong Joon-ho

event date Fri 06 Sep 2019 posted

Totally Thames this year is partnering with two organisations with Korean connections to provide some Korean cultural content for the river festival. Firstly, there’s Korean British Cultural Exchange, who organise the Kingston Korean Harvest Festival, who are bringing a community dance project to Kingston’s market square and to the Scoop outside City Hall on 14 … [Read More]

Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite wins Palme d’Or

posted updated 10 Feb 2020 by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (기생충) is the first Korean film to take the Palme d’Or – the top prize – at the Cannes Film Festival. The awards were announced last night, 25 May. Announcing the 2019 CST Artist-Technician Prize, the Jury also noted Lee Ha-jun’s outstanding work as Artistic Director on the movie. According to Arirang … [Read More]

A look back at some of the films of 2017

posted updated 27 Jul 2022 by Philip Gowman 5 minute read

A review of some of the films that screened in London during the 2017 – another busy year. For me the undoubted highlight of the London film year was the Bae Chang-ho retrospective at the London Korean Film Festival: a chance to see a couple of his movies – including the classic Whale Hunting (1984) – … [Read More]

Okja to screen in London cinema for 2 days

event date 28 Jun - 29 Jun 2017 posted

So the rumours were true. Okja will be screened at a Curzon cinema, but unless you are a night owl or don’t have a daytime job you will have to take out a Netflix subscription and watch it on your TV. Okja Director: Bong Joon Ho Length: 131 min Cast: Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, An Seo … [Read More]

Korean Women on screen, between the covers

posted updated 15 Aug 2022 by Philip Gowman 7 minute read

As many readers might know, I recently gave a talk at the British Korean Women’s Society on a pretty risky topic: I was asked to give a Western male’s perspective on Korean women.  I decided to play it relatively safe, and discuss the topic through the lens of Korean novels, films and artworks that are accessible … [Read More]