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: Ryu Seong-hie
The Handmaiden (아가씨, 2016) review: a masterclass in sensual storytelling
Park Chan-wook’s ‘The Handmaiden’ is a masterful film contrasting dark with light and (male) lecherous ugliness with (female) emotional beauty in a multilayered tale of immaculate depth and indeed meaning. Ultimately, ‘The Handmaiden’ sits atop the very best of Korean cinema, both in terms of narrative content and visual sumptuousness. [Read More]
Ryu Seonghie interview: artist, designer, problem solver
Production designer Ryu Seonghie discusses shaping meaning through space, colour, and symbolism; balancing realism and fantasy; working with directors like Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho; navigating gender barriers, budget limits, and collaboration; and her concerns about commercial trends, sexuality, and diminishing narrative depth in contemporary Korean cinema. [Read More]
Ryu Seonghie is the last of the KCC’s film professionals
The KCC brings their Year of the Film Professionals to an end with a focus on art director and production designer Ryu Seong-hie, who has worked on some of the top Korean movies of this century. The Year of the Film Professionals: Ryu Seonghie — Production Designer October – December 2014 One of the longest … [Read More]
Hansel and Gretel opens in London
Hansel and Gretel screens at the ICA from 16 January, and moves to the Prince Charles on 30 January, before getting a selected nationwide release. It made an appearance at the BFI London Film Festival 2008, so if you missed it then, now’s your chance to see it. Following a car crash on a country … [Read More]
Hansel and Gretel (헨젤과 그레텔, 2007) review: broken fairy tales and lost innocence
Yim Pil-sung has produced a stunningly beautiful dark fantasy which rewrites, or more exactly, extends the Grimm fairy tale we all know. Lush production design and restrained horror reveal a tragic past of abuse and abandonment, blending creepiness with poignancy while exploring damaged innocence, memory and hope. [Read More]