A shaman is offered a large amount of money to move a tomb. He moves with his companion, Ji Gwan. After suffering from serial paranormal events, a wealthy family living in LA summons a young rising shaman duo Hwa-rim (KIM Go-eun) and Bong-gil (LEE Do-hyun) to save the newborn of the family. Once they arrive, … [Read More]
People: Kim Go-eun
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]
Canola (계춘 할망, 2016) review: grandmother’s love and lost innocence
Set between Jeju and Seoul, Canola follows a grandmother and granddaughter torn apart by disappearance and reunited years later. Through stark contrasts of beauty and hardship, and featuring powerhouse performances from actresses Youn Yuh-jung and Kim Go-eun, ‘Canola’ is an unashamed tearjerker that gives a heartfelt and poignant definition of what family truly is. [Read More]
Caught on the plane: Twenty and Memories of the Sword (with Alice in Earnestland)
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]
Eungyo aka A Muse (은교, 2012) review: aging, loneliness, and the pursuit of a muse
Eungyo is, on the surface, the story of a controversial relationship between a 70-year-old man and a high school girl, but ultimately provides a moving dissection of age and loneliness that deserves to be described as more than simply an ‘erotic thriller’, though both thrilling and erotic it is. [Read More]
Film Festival Highlight: Eungyo – A poet looks into his glass
Korea’s most famous poet, Lee Jeok-yo, is well into old age. He has taken as a student cum in-house assistant an aspiring but not very talented novelist called Seo Ji-woo. A neighbouring high school girl starts takes a cleaning job at the poet’s house, and a connection soon forms between the poet and the young … [Read More]