The Last Princess is based on the true life story of Yi Deok-hye (Son Ye-jin), the last princess of Korea’s Joseon Dynasty and daughter of Emperor Gojong (Baek Yoon-sik). At 13 years of age, Deok-hye is sent to Japan to study but soon finds herself being used as a political pawn, her pleas to be … [Read More]
People: Baek Yoon-sik
The Last Princess (덕혜옹주, 2016) review: a sumptuous epic of national longing and tragic exile
The Last Princess is as visually sumptuous as it is epic, with an understated emotional depth underlined by an incredible performance from Son Ye-jin which will bring tears to the eyes and a lump to the throat. This story of the last princess of the Joseon Dynasty is one that truly needed to be told. [Read More]
Actor Baek Yoon-sik interview: career flow, creative choice, defining roles
Actor Baek Yoon-sik reflects on moving between theatre, television, and cinema, returning to film with Save the Green Planet. He discusses choosing challenging roles, respecting scripts, limited improvisation, and working on politically and socially charged films (such as The President’s Last Bang), framing acting as creative labour shaped by history, collaboration, and personal judgment. [Read More]
The Face Reader (관상, 2013) review: fate, power and intrigue in Joseon Korea
While The Face Reader could be said to have a somewhat simpler story overall than many of its Joseon era set contemporaries, its narrative is nonetheless as nuanced, multilayered and gripping as any; the sidestepping of any sexual/adult content serving to show that graphic sexual imagery is not a prerequisite for insightful drama. [Read More]
The Taste of Money (돈의 맛, 2012) review: power, sex and emotional emptiness
While Im Sang-soo’s The Taste of Money’s narrative is without question an interesting concept in its extension of a subject previously dissected in his Housemaid remake, by the very nature of the characters portrayed it was always going to risk falling flat emotionally. And fall flat The Taste of Money does. [Read More]
Save The Green Planet (지구를 지켜라, 2003) review: funny, brutal, moving… and bonkers
Save The Green Planet follows Byeong-gu, a traumatised man on a mission to save the Earth from Andromedans. Beneath its sci-fi comedy surface, the film explores mental illness, moral responsibility and the human cost of corporate power, constantly shifting audience sympathy and genre expectations. It’s incredibly funny, viciously brutal, genuinely moving and completely nuts [Read More]