London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Tag: Books on Screen (page 2)

LKL book database logo

Selected publications

Screening: The Old Garden

event date Thu 24 May 2018 venue KCCUK posted

Continuing the season of adaptations of Korean novels. LKL’s seven-year-old review of the novel can be found here. The Old Garden (오래된 정원) Director: Im Sang-soo (2007, 112 mins) Cast: Ji Jin-hi, Yum Jung-ah, Kim Eung-soo, Kim Hyun-ah Original novel by Hwang Sok-yong KCCUK, 24 May 2018 7:00 pm | Reserve via Eventbrite Anti-government protests … [Read More]

Book Review: Ahn Jung-hyo – White Badge

posted updated 7 Apr 2021 by Philip Gowman 4 minute read

Ahn Jung-hyo: White Badge Soho Press, NY, 1989, 337pp Originally published as 하얀전쟁, 1983 Translated by the author If I saw Jeong Ji-young’s White Badge (1992) when it screened in London eight years ago, I do not remember it. I cannot imagine having a similar lapse of memory concerning Ahn Jung-hyo’s Vietnam war novel on … [Read More]

Film review: Yu Hyun-mok’s Descendants of Cain

posted updated 20 Jan 2025 by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

I had looked forward to the first movie in the KCC’s Korean Novels on Screen series – Kim Ki-young’s adaptation of Yi Kwang-su’s The Soil – and had been disappointed. Conversely, not being a particular fan of Yu Hyun-mok’s depressing movies, I was regarding the second in the series – his adaptation of Hwang Sun-won’s 1954 … [Read More]

Screening: Jang Sun-woo’s A Petal

event date Thu 10 May 2018 venue KCCUK posted

It’ll be good to get another chance to see this classic movie. Thanks to the KCC for programming it. A Petal (꽃잎) Director: Jang Sun-woo (1996, 101 mins) Cast: Moon Sung-keun, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Young-ran, Yoo Soon-chul Original novel by Choe Yun 10 May 2018 7:00 pm, KCCUK. Book via EventBrite Stumbling along rivers and … [Read More]

Brief review: Kim Ki-young – The Soil

posted updated 14 Apr 2018 by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

I’m not sure quite how to assess Kim Ki-young’s adaptation of Yi Kwang-su’s 500-page serial novel The Soil (흙, 1932-3). At 125 minutes, it doesn’t sound particularly long. But as we got up from our seats at the KCC last Thursday at around 9:15pm, it felt much later – maybe around 10:30pm. And that wasn’t … [Read More]

Book review: Yi Kwang-su — The Soil

posted updated 7 Apr 2021 by Philip Gowman 4 minute read

Yi Kwang-su’s The Soil, at over 500 pages long, is not a book that immediately entices you to read it. But with a screening of Kim Ki-young’s adaptation of the novel coming up shortly at the KCC, the incentive was there to pick it up out of the reading pile where it had languished since … [Read More]

Screening: White Badge + Ahn Jung-hyo Q+A

event date Thu 26 Apr 2018 venue KCCUK posted

Jeong Ji-yeong’s adaptation of Ahn Jung-hyo’s Vietnam War novel is the third in the KCCUK’s Korean Novels on Screen season of screenings. Director Jeong came to London back in 2010 to talk about this movie. LKL’s write-up can be found here. White Badge (하얀전쟁) Director: Chung Ji-young (1992, 124 mins) Cast: Ahn Sung-ki, Lee Gyoung-young, … [Read More]

Screening: Yu Hyun-mok’s The Descendants of Cain

event date Thu 12 Apr 2018 venue KCCUK posted

The second in the KCC’s season of book adaptations is Yu Hyun-mok’s version of Hwang Sun-won’s The Descendants of Cain. LKL reviews the novel here. Yu Hyun-mok: The Descendants of Cain (카인의 후예, 1968) Cast: Kim Jin-kyu, Moon Hee, Park No-sik, Jang Dong-hwi KCCUK, 12 April 2018, 7:00 pm Free admission | register on EventBrite … [Read More]

Screening: Kim Ki-young’s The Soil

event date Thu 29 Mar 2018 venue KCCUK posted

This year the KCC’s first film screenings are adaptations of Korean novels. We start the season with Kim Ki-young’s adaptation of Yi Kwang-su’s 1932 novel 흙, variously known as The Soil, Earth or Peasants. Kim Ki-young: The Soil (흙 – 1978) Cast: Lee Hwa-si, Kim Jeong-cheol, Yeom Bok-soon, Nam Sung-hoon Thu 29 March 2018, 19:00 … [Read More]

I think I just don’t get Park Kyung-ni

posted updated 31 Jan 2025 by Philip Gowman < 1 minute read

Having failed to make much headway with Park Kyung-ni’s T’oji / Land, I thought I might give her Curse of Kim’s Daughters a try, in preparation for a re-watch of Yu Hyun-mok’s film adaptation of the novel. I didn’t particularly enjoy the movie the first time I saw it. But then, so far I haven’t … [Read More]

Festival Film Review: This Road Called Life

posted updated 10 Aug 2022 by Philip Gowman 4 minute read

Following on from the success of their feature-length animation Green Days, Studio MWP worked with Korean TV broadcaster EBS to produce a trio of short films which adapt three familiar short stories which are studied by most Koreans in high school: Yi Hyo-seok’s Buckwheat Season, Kim Yu-jeong’s Spring, Spring, and A Lucky Day by Hyun … [Read More]

Festival Film Review: Hwajang / Revivre

posted updated 2 Feb 2026 by Philip Gowman 4 minute read

Well, I was right. Ahn Sung-ki confessed in the Q+A which followed the screening of Hwajang that one of his most difficult tasks in portraying Oh Sang-moo, a senior executive in a cosmetics company, was to project certain aspects of being old – of being blocked inside because of the swollen prostate, of being more … [Read More]

Bringing Kim Hoon’s Hwajang to the big screen: How to act a swollen prostate?

posted updated 26 Dec 2025 by Philip Gowman 5 minute read

Im Kwon-taek set himself quite a challenge when he decided to make a movie of Kim Hoon’s Hwajang. It is a dense, concentrated and rich piece of writing – I hesitate to say “short story”, because really there’s not much narrative flow. Instead, there’s well-balanced contrast; there’s inner thoughts and emotions; there are the human … [Read More]