We’re four years on from the zombie pandemic that ravaged the Korea that we saw in Train to Busan (2016). The port city proved to be no refuge from the rampaging menace, and the zombies took over the country. Some lucky few of the non-infected escaped by sea, but no country wanted to receive the … [Read More]
People: Lee Jeong-hyeon (이정현)
Actor and singer perhaps best known for her starring roles in Jang Sun-woo’s Petal (1996) and Ahn Gook-jin’s Alice in Earnestland (2015)
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Peninsula (반도, 2020) review: a high-octane zombie heist lacking its predecessor’s heart
Peninsula largely fulfils the requisites for a blockbuster action/horror in a basic sense, but more depth to the narrative and more fully fledged characters rather than caricatures could have allowed it to step so much further towards the genre busting originality that drew so many of us to classic Korean cinema in the first place. [Read More]
The Top 5 Gothic KPOP Music Videos
Dr Colette Balmain applies her specialism in Gothic Cinema to the world of KPOP – perfect for the Halloween season… ‘Gothic forces its readers, viewers, and listeners to identify the ghosts that haunt them…’ (Isabella van Elferan, 2012, Gothic Music, p. 15). 1. SHINee “Married to the Music” (2015) “Married to the Music” doesn’t sound … [Read More]
Alice in Earnestland (성실한나라의 앨리스, 2015) review: a fractured mind and a failing system
Director Ahn Gook-jin’s debut feature, ‘Alice in Earnestland’, has polarised audiences since its release – you’ll either love it or absolutely hate it – but those who can indulge themselves in Soo-nam’s surreally comic horror story will be rewarded with inventive set pieces bringing thoughts of numerous classic Korean films to mind. [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]
Juvenile Offender (범죄소년, 2012) review: gritty social commentary meets romantic melodrama
‘Juvenile Offender’ is both a depiction of disaffected youth focused on those who for one reason or another find themselves on the very edge of ‘normal’ society; and also an almost archetypal romantic melodrama narrative. As such, it is ultimately as warm, caring, affectionate and affecting as it is gritty, hard-hitting and socially aware. [Read More]
Night Fishing (파란만장, 2011) review: PARKing CHANce’s haunting iPhone short
Ignore the fact that Night Fishing was made using the iPhone4. Even if you took all the best elements from Park Chan-wook’s previous films, wrapped them up within a gripping narrative and added the beyond exemplary cast performances seen here, you still wouldn’t come even close to creating a film as astounding as this. [Read More]