I was particularly looking forward to the Korean screenings in the London Film Festival this year. Both LEAFF and LKFF in prior years have been championing the talent among Korea’s female directors and the trend has now spread to the BFI programme: of this year’s BFI festival, four out of the five Korean movies were […]
People: Moon So-ri
LKFF 2019 Teaser Screening #4: Ode to the Goose
The fourth teaser of the season: Ode to the Goose (군산: 거위를 노래하다) European Premiere Director: Zhang Lu (2018, 121 min) Cast: Park Hae-il, Moon Sori, Jung Jin-yung, Park So-dam Monday 19 August 2019, 6:20pm Picturehouse Central | Corner of Great Windmill Street and Shaftesbury Avenue | Piccadilly Circus | London W1D 7DH | www.picturehouses.com/cinema/Picturehouse_Central Tickets £7.90 […]
Love without Boundaries: Oasis
One of LKL’s films of the noughties screens as the final movie in the Love without Boundaries season. Oasis (오아시스) Director: Lee Chang-dong (2002, 132 mins) Cast: Moon So-ri, Sul Kyung-gu, Ahn Nae-sang Thursday 8 August 2019, 7pm @KCCUK | Book here Jong-du (Sul Kyung-gu, Memoir of a Murderer), introduced to the viewer as he […]
Little Forest screens at the Barbican as part of Chronic Youth Film Festival
One of my favourite films of 2018 gets another London screening this month in the Barbican. Well worth a second viewing. Little Forest – Chronic Youth Film Festival 2019 Dir Yim Soon-rye (2018, 103 min) With Kim Tae-ri, Ryu Jun-yeol, Jin Ki-joo, Moon So-ri 24 Mar 2019, 16:00, Barbican Cinema 3 | Book tickets Korean […]
A look back at some of the films of 2018
A wide variety of genres was presented to the London audience this year, from the return of the romantic melodrama (Be With You) to big budget fantasy (Along with the Gods). We also saw #MeToo beginning to have an impact, not just in the themes of movies such as Land of Seonghye and Testimony but […]
Recording: Screen talk with Lee Chang-dong at BFI London Film Festival 2018
In case like me you couldn’t get tickets to the Screen Talk with Lee Chang-dong as part of the BFI London Film Festival, here’s the recording on the BFI YouTube channel. The interview took place on 20 October 2018, the day of an anti-Brexit demonstration in London – which is mentioned more than once in […]
London Korean Film Festival 2018: press release and detailed schedule
The 2018 London Korean Film Festival programme was announced at last night’s final teaser screening. The press release is set out below, and at the bottom of the page is the detailed schedule: The 13th London Korean Film Festival London: 1 – 14 November 2018 UK tour: 15 – 25 November 2018 LONDON, 17 September […]
Korean films at the 2018 BFI London Film Fest
An exciting selection of Korean movies is lined up for the BFI London Film Festival, of which the highlight is undoubtedly Burning. Finally: Lee Chang-dong will be in town! All details below are from the BFI LFF website. Become a member and get access to tickets from 6 September, a week earlier than general release. […]
Screening: My Heart Is Not Broken Yet
Moon So-ri is the narrator of this moving film specially selected for screening close to International Women’s Day 2018. LKL caught it in Sheffield in 2015 – brief review here. My Heart Is Not Broken Yet Dir: AHN Hae-ryong (2007) Venue: Birkbeck, University of London, Room B04, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD Saturday 10 […]
Festival film review: Love And…
Two years ago the revered Korean film critic Tony Rayns asked Moon Sori an awkward question. The question was followed by a sharp intake of breath from the audience who couldn’t believe what they had just heard, and by a few false starts at a response by Ms Moon before she answered fluently. At the final […]
Two masterclasses as part of LKFF 2015
Two late additions to the LKFF schedule, both on Saturday afternoon, 14 November. But you can’t do both. And you can’t do either if you want to watch the classic Chung Chang-wha screenings. Choices, choices … but I think I’ll choose a large dose of muhyeop and Q&A with Director Chung. Masterclass: In Conversation with […]
An introduction to “Love And…” — LKFF’s closing gala film
The London Korean Film Festival’s choice for the closing gala is an interesting one: Zhang Lu’s Love And… (the literal meaning of the Korean title, 필름시대사랑, is “Love of the Film Era”), which only recently opened at the Korean box office. Closing galas over the years have included blockbusters and mainstream movies such as Masquerade […]
Sheffield conference report – Comfort Women: Listening To Their Voices
Short of bringing some of the surviving halmonis to the UK in person, it is difficult to imagine how the organisers of this weekend’s gathering in Sheffield could have assembled a better line-up of people to discuss the Comfort Women issue. We had Byun Young-joo, director of the trilogy of documentaries focusing on the Korean […]
Festival film review: Manshin – Ten Thousand Spirits
What is it that makes Park Chan-kyong’s biopic of Korea’s national shaman so compelling on so many levels? Right from the start, the narrative grips you. We meet Kim Geum-hwa, the subject of the movie, praying for the success of the film. She also prays for the health of the film crew, and asks the […]
Seven ways in which Hill of Freedom is different from other Hong Sang-soo films
… and some ways in which it isn’t. Hill of Freedom (자유의 언덕) is Hong Sang-soo’s 16th feature, and could not have been made by anyother director. The awkwardness of human interaction and conversation, the bonding over alcohol, the fragmentation of the narrative, the aim to rekindle lost love – all are common features of […]
Hahaha – the first Hong Sang-soo film I’ve enjoyed without trying
OK, it was the second time I had seen it. The first time, I had slept through it. But that was because I had been entering into the spirit rather too much by indulging in a drinking session of Hongian proportions beforehand. The second time round, there was the anticipation of seeing the lead actress […]
I can’t believe he asked her that
The context was this. It was the Q&A after the 4 April screening at BAFTA of Hong Sang-soo’s Hahaha, attended by the lead actress Moon So-ri, the first featured actor of the KCC’s Year of the Four Actors. Tony Rayns was talking to Moon So-ri about how she got her first screen role. Moon started […]