While After My Death is both bleak and melancholic from its very outset to its final frame it is grippingly so, its palpable emotional depth ensuring it at no point appears as the debut feature it actually is. A testament to the continuing superlative quality of independent Korean cinema. [Read More]
People: Seo Young-hwa
LKFF 2019 Teaser Screening #1: Winter’s Night
This looks like an interesting start to the KCC’s series of teaser screenings: Winter’s Night (겨울밤에) Director: Jang Woo-jin (2018, 98 mins) Starring: Yang Heung-ju, See Young-hwa Picturehouse Central, Monday 15th April 2019, 6:30pm | Book tickets Picturehouse Central welcomes back the London Korean Film Festival for a UK Premiere of Winter’s Night. One cold … [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]
Festival Film Review: Lee Kwang-guk focus
If I had seen no other films at the 2015 London Korean Film Festival, the evenings of films by Lee Kwang-guk would have made the whole festival worthwhile. The first evening featured his second film, the short Hard to Say (2013), along with his debut feature Romance Joe (2012), while the second evening followed up … [Read More]
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 … [Read More]
Crossing – the defector documentary by Kim Tae-gyun – screens at Amnesty International
A quick note of an upcoming film screening at Amnesty International: Crossing (크로싱, dir Kim Tae-gyun, South Korea, 2008) Cast: Cha In-pyo, Seo Young-hwa, Shin Myeong-cheol Venue: Amnesty International UK, The Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA Date: Mon 24 Jun 2013, 7.00 pm The film details the tragic plight … [Read More]