I always look forward to long-haul flights as an opportunity to catch up on all the movies I should have been watching over the past year. And having just returned from an ultra-long-haul holiday, I can heartily recommend Singapore Airlines in-flight entertainment. My only complaint is that there was too much to watch: if the … [Read More]
People: Jeon Do-yeon
Brief film review: The Contact (Jang Yoon-hyeon, 1997)
Synopsis: Dong-hyun (Han Suk-gyu), a radio DJ, has recently been dumped by his girlfriend. Lovelorn and scorned his mood is lifted when he receives a copy of a vinyl Velvet Underground LP thinking that it is a gift from his ex. Since it holds a special meaning for his demised relationship, he plays Pale Blue … [Read More]
Burberry Prorsum gets a celebrity upgrade
Last year at London Fashion Week, Burberry Prorsum fielded a few members of Girls’ Generation at their show. This year, at their September show, they get Jeon Do-yeon. Source: Joongang Daily, 18 September 2013 [Read More]
Year of the Four Actors – the schedule
After 2012’s Year of the 12 Directors, 2013 brings Year of the 4 Actors, with 24 films and three Q&As featuring Moon So-ri, Jeon Do-yeon, Choi Min-sik and Ha Jung-woo. Here’s the schedule: Date Title Director Moon Sori 17 January The President’s Barber Lim Chan-sang 31 January A Good Lawyer’s Wife Im Sang-soo 14 February … [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]
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]
The Chosun Ilbo’s movie popularity poll
Heartened (and puzzled) to see Im Kown-taek as best director in the same poll which has Ha Ji-won most popular actress http://bit.ly/f6zVYN #. “Most popular” stars were Won Bin and Ha Ji-won while the “best” were Song Kang-ho and Jeon Do-yeon. [Read More]
Choi Min-sik season: Happy End screens at the KCC
The Choi Min-sik season continues at the KCC with Happy End this Thursday – a well-regarded film from 1999: 7pm, Thursday 9th December Director: Jung Ji-woon Cast: Choi Min-sik, Jeon Do-yeon Genre: Drama Certificate: 18 (South Korea) Running Time: 99 mins Venue: The Korean Cultural Centre UK Ground Floor, Grand Buildings 1-3 Strand, London WC2N … [Read More]
Jeon Do-yeon given French culture award
Jeon Do-yeon (http://bit.ly/2s5bE8) joins Nah Youn Sun (http://bit.ly/l0uf3) in French Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres award. The award was established in 1957 by France’s Minister of Culture to recognize noteworthy contributors to the arts and literature. # [Read More]
Easter celebrity round-up
It’s been a while since I rounded up some of the celebrity news as an excuse for posting some pictures, so here’s some recent items: First – Brits with Korean connections: Korea Beat has a translation of an interview with David Beckham, recently in Korea with LA Galaxy Kate Moss gets an advertising contract with … [Read More]
LKL 2007 Quiz of the Year – the answers
Question 1: Corporate crooks and corruption Match the alleged quote with the appropriate chaebol The conglomorate had run a vast network that bribed government officials, prosecutors, tax collectors, journalists and scholars I don’t want to take a gamble on causing a crisis in the country’s economy The sentence of one year and six months is … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: Secret Sunshine at the BFI London Film Festival
Caution: this post contains spoilers. It was slightly disappointing to see Screen One of the Odeon West End (seating capacity: 500) somewhat under half full for the London premiere of Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine last Monday. By contrast, No Mercy for the Rude, a film which (from its description at least) is much more in … [Read More]
Deadly Elves and other recent tabloid stories
It’s a while since I did a round-up of celebrity news, which means that I’ve almost forgotten all the things I was going to mention, and lost most of the links that I was going to use. So before things get completely out of hand, here’s one of my not-so-regular posts shamelessly plundering the celebrity … [Read More]
Jeon Do-yeon wins at Cannes
Congratulations to Jeon Do-yeon on winning best actress at Cannes. She was an early front-runner in the competition, and just for once those early hopes of success were justified. For the first third of its nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time, “Secret Sunshine” feels like a slightly somber fish-out-of-water comedy (reports AO Scott at the New York … [Read More]
Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine gets early thumbs-up
Probably the most eagerly awaited Korean film of 2007, at least by me, is Lee Chang-dong’s fourth: Secret Sunshine, or Milyang (밀양). I’ve admired his first three for the issues they tackle and the superb acting: Lee has had access to some top stars for his films – Sol Kyung-gu and Moon So-ri for Oasis … [Read More]
Darcy’s predictions for 2007
It’s getting to be the case that the more interesting stuff over on Darcy’s site is in his What’s New page rather than his forums. Here are his predictions for 2007: Park Jin-pyo’s VOICE OF A MURDERER is going to be a major critical and popular hit (at least 6 million tickets) There will be … [Read More]