One of the first Korean movies I saw, and still in my top 10. An Affair (정사) Director: E J-Yong (1998, 108mins) Cast: Lee Mi-sook, Lee Jung-jae, Song Young-chang, Kim Min Thursday 9 May 2019, 7:00 pm @KCCUK | Reserve seat on Eventbrite Architect’s-wife Seo-hyun (Lee Mi-sook), is constrained and muted by domestic life, when […]
People: Lee Jeong-jae
Festival Film Reviews: the four Korean films at the BFI London Film Fest 2015
It was a very pleasing selection of Korean films at the BFI London Film Festival this year. And for the first time that I can remember, I managed to get to all of them. Here are the verdicts. The Assassination 암살, Dir Choi Dong-hoon, 2015. With a fantastic ensemble cast, including Jeon Ji-hyun as […]
Festival Film Review: The Thieves – an exhilarating start to LKFF 2012
What can one say about one of the most popular Korean films ever? It’s slick, it’s got Jeon Ji-hyun and Kim Hye-su; it’s got Lee Jeong-jae, Kim Yun-seok and even Hong Kong megastar Simon Yam. Yes, it’s a real pleasure to combine in one film some of your favourite Korean eye-candy with a couple of […]
Park Kwangsu at the KCC #2: The Uprising
The attractions of today’s second screening of Park Kwang-su month include Lee Jeong-jae in period costume and a brief glimpse of Shim Eun-ha dressed as one of Jeju Island’s famous diving women. But in general people find this particular movie as dull as ditchwater. The Uprising (1999) Director: Park Kwangsu Running Time: 110 mins Date: […]
Asako in Ruby Shoes – E J-yong’s least accessible but possibly most interesting film
Asako in Ruby Shoes (Sunaebo, 순애보, 2000) is the one E J-yong feature that the KCC hasn’t managed to fit in to its February focus on the director’s work. By coincidence, it’s also the E J-yong film that Hancinema hasn’t, to date, loaded up into its database. But despite its poor showing at the box […]
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 […]
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.” […]