London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Documentary fortnight day 1: A Slice Room, Sanggyedong Olympics + 6 Day Struggle at Myeongdong Cathedral

Day 1 of the London Korean Film Festival Summer Documentary Fortnight. All events free. A Slice Room (사람이 산다) + Conversation with Song Yun-hyeok and Nam In Young Director: Song Yun-hyeok (2016, 69 min) Birkbeck Cinema | 43 Gordon Square | London WC1H 0PD Saturday 11 Aug 2018 11:30 am | Book tickets followed by a lunch break. Korean … [Read More]

LKFF 2018 Teaser Screening #4: Claire’s Camera

The next LKFF teaser screening is Hong Sang-soo’s Claire’s Camera, which will be a complete contrast with this month’s 1987. Claire’s Camera (클레어의 카메라) Hong Sang-soo (2017, 69 mins) Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Kim Min-hee, Chang Mi-hee, Jung Jin-young Monday 23 July 2018, 7pm | Regent Street Cinema | Book tickets Acclaimed director Hong Sangsoo returns … [Read More]

Review: 1987 – When the Day Comes

1987: When the Day Comes is one of those movies which could not have been made a couple of years ago. It would have got the director and its all-star cast included on the infamous blacklist of suspected lefties who would not get government support in future. And to have the director of this film … [Read More]

Film review: Be With You

Ten years ago or so I was watching a rather good relationship drama on DVD when my wife came into the room and asked: “so which of the two has the mysterious incurable disease?” “It’s not one of those films,” I replied, somewhat tetchily. Ten minutes later, a car crash killed off one half of … [Read More]

UK Premiere screening: 1987: When the Day Comes

After Save the Green Planet (2003), one of my own favourites from that decade, director Jang Joon-hwan took a long break. I’m afraid I missed his second feature, Hwayi: A Monster Boy (2013), something that I’m going to have to rectify, because his third film, coming to the Picturehouse Central this month, has been getting … [Read More]

LKFF 2018 Teaser Screening #2: Memoir of a Murderer

The second LKFF2018 Teaser screening is Won Shin-yeon’s adaptation of Kim Young-ha’s Memoir of a Murderer: Memoir of a Murderer (살인자의 기억법) Dir Won Shin-yeon (2017, 118min) With Sol Kyung-gu, Kim Nam-gil, Kim Seol-hyun Monday 21 May 2018, 7pm | Regent Street Cinema | Book tickets Serial killers are popular figures in South Korean cinema, … [Read More]

LKFF 2018 Teaser Screening: Be With You

The plot of this movie, the first teaser screening for the 2018 film festival, makes me think of those yearning, understated love stories of the early 2000s such as The Classic. It’ll be interesting to see the genre re-booted. Be With You (지금 만나러 갑니다) Director: Lee Chang-hoon (2018, 132 ins) Cast: So Ji-sub | … [Read More]

Film review: Memoir of a Murderer

Memoir of a Murderer asks us to step inside the mind of someone who is losing his memory, a sufferer of Alzheimer’s disease. The movie opens with a scene focusing on the face of a gaunt and aged-looking Sol Kyung-gu as single dad Kim Byung-soo. As we watch, his face begins to twitch. At first … [Read More]