One month after the close of LKFF we’re finally getting around to penning some thoughts on the movies we saw there. We’ve already commented on Im Sang-soo’s latest, which left us with very warm feelings about the festival as a whole. What about the rest of the programme? Let’s get this out of the way … [Read More]
Director: E J-yong
London Korean Film Festival 2021: the detailed schedule
Here’s the detailed schedule for the 2021 London Korean Film Festival. Lots to look forward to here. You can find the official press release here. Time Title Strand RSC = Regent Street Cinema | ICA = Institute of Contemporary Arts | PHC = Picturehouse Central | CIA = Cinema in the Arches | ESG = … [Read More]
Home Truths season: An Affair
One of the first Korean movies I saw, and still in my top 10. An Affair (정사) Director: E J-Yong (1998, 108mins) Cast: Lee Mi-sook, Lee Jung-jae, Song Young-chang, Kim Min Thursday 9 May 2019, 7:00 pm @KCCUK | Reserve seat on Eventbrite Architect’s-wife Seo-hyun (Lee Mi-sook), is constrained and muted by domestic life, when … [Read More]
Movie review: E J-Yong – My Brilliant Life
A feelgood Korean drama which the main character has a fatal and incurable disease, and who is writing an account for the benefit of loved ones when he is gone? Been there, done that. Well, not exactly: when the director is E J-Yong and the movie is an adaptation of a Kim Aeran novel, you … [Read More]
London Korean Film Festival 2018: press release and detailed schedule
The 2018 London Korean Film Festival programme was announced at last night’s final teaser screening. The press release is set out below, and at the bottom of the page is the detailed schedule: The 13th London Korean Film Festival London: 1 – 14 November 2018 UK tour: 15 – 25 November 2018 LONDON, 17 September … [Read More]
Screening: My Brilliant Life + Kim Aeran Q&A
One of my favourite directors, and one of my favourite authors. I’ll be there. My Brilliant Life (두근두근 내 인생) With author Kim Aeran Q&A Director: E J-yong (2014, 117 mins) Cast: Song Hye-kyo, Kim Seung-wook, Gang Dong-won, Baek Il-seob Original novel by Kim Aeran Thursday 28 June 2018, 7pm, KCCUK | Book here My … [Read More]
LKL at 10 years: the best of the past decade
Well, if you can’t reminisce on your website’s 10th birthday, when can you? Here’s a collection of some of my favourite London memories of the past 10 years (and one or two from slightly further afield). Some of the moments lived up to expectation: a front row seat at a performance by K-pop ballad diva Lee … [Read More]
The London Korean Links Awards 2013
Now in its eighth year, here are the LKL Awards 2013. The year has been both good and bad from LKL’s perspective. Good because there seem to have been more events, more books, more films and more music than ever before as Korean culture gets more and more public attention. And bad because our day … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: Behind the Camera — the Q&A of the feature of the documentary of the making of the …
British cinema-goers are used to a short commercial before the main feature in which a film director is pitching his latest movie idea to some corporate suits whose only interest is that the film should promote a certain mobile phone network at every opportunity. So it’s not such a strange idea that a well-known Korean … [Read More]
Reality and fiction intertwine in E J-yong’s deliciously amusing fake documentary Actresses
“Which one did you think is the most beautiful?” It was one obvious conversation opener at the bar after the screening of E J-yong’s Actresses, in which six of Korea’s top actresses aged from their early 20s to their 60s, gather for a Vogue photoshoot in a film which its director calls “part reality show, … [Read More]
Asako in Ruby Shoes – E J-yong’s least accessible but possibly most interesting film
Asako in Ruby Shoes (Sunaebo, 순애보, 2000) is the one E J-yong feature that the KCC hasn’t managed to fit in to its February focus on the director’s work. By coincidence, it’s also the E J-yong film that Hancinema hasn’t, to date, loaded up into its database. But despite its poor showing at the box … [Read More]
E J-yong month concludes with Actresses + Q&A
I’ve been enjoying this month. Even though I only managed to get to one screening of E J-yong’s films at the KCC (which happens to be my favourite one), I’ve used the month as an opportunity rewatch my DVDs of Untold Scandal and Asako in Ruby Shoes – both of which I enjoyed much more … [Read More]
One year, 12 directors, 59 films, 12 Q&As. What could be better?
The KCC have announced their lineup for their much anticipated “Year of the Twelve Directors” – a season unimaginable a few years ago. A very simple concept: four films by the same director, each month giving a mini-retrospective, followed by a Q&A with the director. And a very well-balanced programme it is, featuring veteran directors … [Read More]
On rewatching some favourite films: An Affair and Secret Sunshine
Last week, I re-watched two of my all-time favourite Korean films. Or at least, I thought they were. Film number one: E J-yong’s An Affair (1998), which was in the first dozen of Korean films I ever saw. I caught it at the 2001 London Korean Film Festival (yes, there have been Korean Film Festivals … [Read More]
Dasepo Naughty Girls: two hours of colourful mayhem
The KCC’s E J-yong month is shaping up nicely. This coming Thursday is your chance to see Dasepo Naughty Girls, one of those films which is so difficult to categorise. It’s a completely different film from E J-yong’s earlier work such as last week’s subdued romance of An Affair and the Joseon dynasty costume drama … [Read More]
Dasepo Naughty Girls features choreography by Ahn Eun-mi
Watch out for choreography by the amazing Ahn Eun-mi in the song & dance numbers of Dasepo Naughty Girls at the KCC on Thursday http://t.co/IMWsHxGX [Read More]