With all the excitement about the launch of the adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko on Apple TV, and Apple’s Oscar win, something that might once have been big news – the appearance of a free-to-view Park Chan-wook short film on YouTube – has not really had much airtime. Back in 2011, brothers Park Chan-wook … [Read More]
People: Kim Ok-bin
Film review: The Unfair / Minority Opinion
The Unfair (also known as Minority Opinion) screened as the penultimate movie in the Korean Novels on Screen season at the KCC. Based on a novel by Son Aram, it is the only film in the season where the underlying book has not (yet) been translated into English. Although the scenario is based loosely on the … [Read More]
Screening: The Unfair
Continuing the KCC’s season of adaptations of Korean novels: The Unfair (aka Minority Opinion, 소수의견) Director: Kim Sung-je (2015, 127 mins) Cast: Yoon Kye-sang, Yoo Hae-jin, Kim Ok-vin, Lee Gyoung-young, Jang Kwang Original novel by Son Aram Thursday 7 June 2018, 7pm KCCUK | Book via EventBrite Amidst a messy construction site skirmish at which … [Read More]
Final LKFF 2017 Teaser: The Villainess
This final teaser screening for the 2017 London Korean Film Festival looks rather fun. And to add to the tease, on the same evening the programme for the main festival will be unveiled. See you there. The Villainess (악녀) London Korean Film Festival Teaser Screening + LKFF 2017 Programme Launch Director: Jung Byung-gil (정병길), 2017, … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: Behind the Camera — the Q&A of the feature of the documentary of the making of the …
British cinema-goers are used to a short commercial before the main feature in which a film director is pitching his latest movie idea to some corporate suits whose only interest is that the film should promote a certain mobile phone network at every opportunity. So it’s not such a strange idea that a well-known Korean … [Read More]
Reality and fiction intertwine in E J-yong’s deliciously amusing fake documentary Actresses
“Which one did you think is the most beautiful?” It was one obvious conversation opener at the bar after the screening of E J-yong’s Actresses, in which six of Korea’s top actresses aged from their early 20s to their 60s, gather for a Vogue photoshoot in a film which its director calls “part reality show, … [Read More]
Saharial reviews Thirst
Being a big fan of Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy, I was definitely excited and keen to see Thirst (박쥐; Bakjwi) his newest release that won the Jury prize at Cannes this year. The story is of Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho), a priest who willingly undergoes a medical experiment to help find a cure for a virus. … [Read More]
Lead us not into temptation – Q&A with Park Chan-wook at UK “Thirst” premiere
Appropriately enough, Director Park cast a sombre red shadow on the screen as he walked onto the stage to answer questions following the London premiere of Thirst. The film delivered all the blood you have come to expect from a Park Chan-wook movie, this time with some justification, given the vampire theme. But as always … [Read More]