‘Incredible scenes play out in my dreams,’ insists impassioned film director Kim Ki-yeol (manically played by Bong Joon-ho regular Song Kang-ho), resolute in his determination to remake the ending of his latest film. With his cast and crew persuaded to do a two-day re-shoot, delicious chaos ensues as strict censorship regulations, the personal affairs of … [Read More]
Director: Kim Jee-woon
Strangers in a Strange Land: two modern classics at Prince Charles Cinema
In The Good, The Bad, The Weird (Kim Jee-woon, 2008) and The Yellow Sea (Na Hong-jin, 2010), outlaws wage war against each other against the backdrop of an alien and unforgiving landscape of chaos. This mayhem is mirrored in the films’ productions, which are notorious to this day for their gruelling shooting conditions, schedule overruns, … [Read More]
London Korean Film Festival 2017: full programme details
Details of the programme for the 2017 London Korean Film Festival were announced earlier this evening at the fun-packed and blood-spattered final teaser screening (Jung Byung-gil’s The Villainess). The detailed schedule is right at the bottom of this page, and the below press release gives us plenty to mull over in terms of the individual … [Read More]
Kim Jee-woon’s Age of Shadows gets UK release
The official UK release date for Kim Jee-woon’s colonial era spy thriller is 24 March. The Age of Shadows, released in the UK by Soda Pictures, opened last year’s London East Asia Film Festival. At the time of writing no London screenings have been announced, but the movie will be screened in Sheffield, and earlier previews are … [Read More]
Korean films in LEAFF’s Competition, Official Selection and Stories of Women sections
The 2016 London East Asia Film Festival has a number of strands. We’ve already posted details of the movies screening in the Park Chan-wook retrospective and the Jeonju International Film Festival Focus. So here are the Korean movies featuring in the other strands, the broader East Asian cinema sections, listed in order of screening at … [Read More]
Kim Ji-woon is March’s featured director
For March, the programme of screenings is expanded: two at the KCCUK and one at SOAS. Tale of Two Sisters is a classic, and Foul King is a guilty pleasure. For me though, Takashi Miike’s remake of Quiet Family, the deliriously madcap Happiness of the Katakuris, is unusual in being an improvement on the original. … [Read More]
K-film at the BFI London Film Fest: Doomsday Book is really not worth the effort
Doomsday Book, the first of six Korean films to screen at the 56th BFI London Film Festival is a set of three short films based loosely on a science fiction theme. The two outer segments, gentle comedies directed by Im Pil-seong (임필성), sandwich a semi-serious but nevertheless meagre filling by Kim Ji-woon entitled Heavenly Creature … [Read More]
Schwarzenegger to appear in Kim Ji-woon’s Hollywood debut
Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed for Kim Ji-woon’s Hollywood film The Last Stand. Here’s hoping Kim does a better job for Arnie than he did for Choi Min-sik in I Saw the Devil. [Read More]
Choi Min-sik season: A Quiet Family screens at the KCC
After seeing how unoriginal Kim Ji-woon can be when presented with someone else’s script (did ANYONE think that I saw the Devil was worth two hours of your life?), it’s a relief to be reminded that when he writes his own stuff he’s on sparkling form. This Thursday sees the start of a Choi Min-sik … [Read More]
Kim Ji-woon’s I Saw the Devil: more than just gore?
Aashish Gadhvi speaks on behalf of three LKL reviewers: Kim Ji-woon’s latest is a disappointment. Hype can be a film’s best friend or its worst enemy. In the case of some films it has worked (The Blair Witch Project) and in the case of others it has backfired spectacularly (Star Wars Prequels), but the fact … [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]
A Scoop of Korea at Thames Festival 2009
As Chuseok approaches, it’s time once again for the Thames Festival: 12-13 September. This will be the third year that there has been a significant Korean presence. The amazing Dulsori led the way three years ago; last year the high-profile item was Jump. This year we get the musical essence of contemporary Korea, Sorea: a … [Read More]
Uninvited and unwanted? Hollywood’s Two Sisters remake
The latest remake to come out of Hollywood, The Uninvited, opens in the UK this week. There’s a school of thought which says that once you’ve seen the original you won’t want to bother with the remake. There’s another which says any remake is good if it makes you want to watch the original. But … [Read More]
Nom Nom Nom gets DVD release
Kim Ji-woon’s western is finally getting a Region 3 release. A first press limited edition hits the websites on March 11, with not only the international cut (at 129 minutes) but the Korean theatrical cut as well – which comes in at 6 minutes longer. One of the differences between the versions is the greater … [Read More]
Good Bad Weird on general release
We saw it at the festivals last year, now it’s on mainstream release. Astoundingly, the normally hostile Wendy Ide in The Times gives it 4 out of 5, while Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian gives it a more measured 3 out of 5. LKL probably would split the difference, as does Tom Huddleston in Time … [Read More]
LKL 2008 Quiz of the year – the answers
The answers to the teasers posed just before the New Year. 1 Stressful times What does the current credit crunch and the most recent DPRK nuclear test have in common? a) the media blame them on an incompetent government who should have seen it coming and somehow prevented it b) they would both cause a … [Read More]