Lee Jeong-jae

Festival Film Reviews: the four Korean films at the BFI London Film Fest 2015

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by Philip Gowman on 17 October, 2015

in BFI London Film Festival | Event reports and reviews | Film reviews and comment

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 […]

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Festival Film Review: The Thieves – an exhilarating start to LKFF 2012

by Philip Gowman 3 November 2012
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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 […]

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Park Kwangsu at the KCC #2: The Uprising

by Events Editor 15 March 2012
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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: […]

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Asako in Ruby Shoes – E J-yong’s least accessible but possibly most interesting film

by Philip Gowman 23 February 2012
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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 […]

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On rewatching some favourite films: An Affair and Secret Sunshine

by Philip Gowman 11 February 2012
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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 […]

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A class apart: why Im Sang-soo loses to Kim Ki-young in the battle of The Housemaids

by Hong Nguyen 16 January 2012
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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.” […]

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