Here’s your at-a-glance no-clicks-required version of the detailed schedule for this year’s London Korean Film Festival: Time Title Strand RSC = Regent Street Cinema | ICA = Institute of Contemporary Arts | PHC = Picturehouse Central | GC = Garden Cinema | CL = Ciné Lumière | Gen = Genesis Cinema | Rio = Rio … [Read More]
Director: Im Sang-soo
London East Asia Film Festival 2022 programme announced
The London East Asia Film Festival (LEAFF), the capital’s most celebrated champion of East Asian cinema and culture, headed by Festival Director Hyejung Jeon, opens its 7th year on 19th October at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square with the UK premiere of HUNT, the latest spy action drama directed by the award-winning Actor Lee Jung-Jae. This … [Read More]
A review of the Korean cultural year 2021
Each year when I come to write this review, I wonder whether Korean culture in the West has reached its high water mark. And every year so far I’ve come to the same conclusion. Korean music and film, TV and food continue to win admirers, and we can expect to see it continue to thrive … [Read More]
A look back at some of the movies in the 2021 London Korean Film Festival
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]
Festival Film Review: Heaven – To the Land of Happiness
In recent years the LKFF programmers have been getting into a groove of scheduling indie, minority interest movies for the closing film of the festival. This year, they turned things upside down by programming the festival’s most appealing film (for me, at least,) to end the fortnight. Yes, the opening movie, Mogadishu, is the top … [Read More]
A look at the closing movies from recent LKFFs
As I left the cinema after Friday’s closing movie of the 2021 London Korean Film Fest, somewhat on a high because it was such a good film and Q+A, I observed to a friend I happened to bump into: “That was the best closing gala for years!” As I said that, the most recent decent … [Read More]
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]
Screening: The Old Garden
Continuing the season of adaptations of Korean novels. LKL’s seven-year-old review of the novel can be found here. The Old Garden (오래된 정원) Director: Im Sang-soo (2007, 112 mins) Cast: Ji Jin-hi, Yum Jung-ah, Kim Eung-soo, Kim Hyun-ah Original novel by Hwang Sok-yong KCCUK, 24 May 2018 7:00 pm | Reserve via Eventbrite Anti-government protests … [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]
Korea Herald gives Im Sang-soo a thumbs-down
The Korea Herald *really* doesn’t like Im Sang-soo’s Taste of Money, currently in competition at Cannes. Hong Sang-soo’s In Another Country with Isabelle Hubert fares better. Full story: http://bit.ly/JskHji [Read More]
A class apart: why Im Sang-soo loses to Kim Ki-young in the battle of The Housemaids
What really intrigued me about Kim Ki-young’s original Housemaid (1960) was when I read that the female audience were so incensed by the seducing housemaid’s character, that they stood up in cinema auditoriums and shouted: “Kill the wench!” I can’t help but think that a female watching Im Sang-soo’s 2010 remake would remark: “nice house.” … [Read More]
Book Review: Hwang Sok-yong – The Old Garden
Hwang Sok-yong: The Old Garden / The Ancient Garden Originally published in 2000 English translation by Jay Oh, Seven Stories Press 2009 / Picador 2010. “More has been expected of Hwang Sok-yong than almost any other Korean writer of the past quarter century,” says Bruce Fulton1. Having read The Guest (2002), and having watched and … [Read More]
LKL Top 10 Film of the Decade at the KCC this week
The theme of the KCC’s film screenings this month is the Family. Earlier this month we had a nice warm cuddly film bursting with family values. This coming Thursday 27 May is the innocent-sounding “A Good Lawyer’s Wife”. But the Korean title, 바람난 가족, translates literally as “Unfaithful family”. Kim Kyu-hyun, one of koreanfilm.org’s reviewers, … [Read More]
Im Sang-soo’s Housemaid remake at Cannes
South Korea debuts remake of erotic shocker 60s film at Cannes – Boston Globe and Mail on Im Sang-Soo's Housemaid http://bit.ly/cjlQpl #. The film gets a rave review from Todd Brown at Twitch [Read More]
2010: a bumper year for Korean film?
Not so long ago, the Korean film industry seemed to be in the doldrums. Darcy, Twitch and others were sounding notes of gloom that Korean cinema had lost its way. But then things picked up again, with blockbusters such as Haeundai, and new indie films such as Breathless making the headlines and bringing in the … [Read More]
LKL’s top 10 K-films of the noughties
Mark Russell led the way with his fascinating list of films of the decade – in which the biggest shock was that there was no Park Chan-wook. GI Korea also has a list, which redresses the balance somewhat. So here is mine. Over the years I’ve been reasonably diligent in giving marks out of 10 … [Read More]