Heo In-moo (허인무)

This Week's Movie Premieres

Source | 2007/01/12 | Permalink |

Thanks for staying with us.
Curious about what's opening in theatres this week

First up is director Heo In-moo's "Herb".
The drama is about a young woman with the intelligence of a seven-year-old.
She lives with her mother, and celebrates her 20th birthday with a group of seven-year-olds.
It's about how the woman learns to communicate with the world.
Her life takes a turn after a policeman enters.

The science fiction thriller "Deja Vu" is the latest work from Hollywood action producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
Two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer star in the film, which deals with time travel.
Washington plays a federal agent looking for evidence in the bombing of a New Orleans ferry.
He ends up joining a special FBI team that uses time travel for investigation.
The movie's filming in New Orleans was postponed due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Next up is a joint production involving Korea, China and Japan.
It's called "A Battle of...| More

'Herb' With Strong Scent of Kang

Source | 2007/01/11 | Permalink |

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

The new film "Herb" revolves around a 20-year-old woman with the intelligence of a 7-year-old. It is about how she learns to communicate with the world, but the film is full of cliches, which could be off-putting to most viewers.

The story develops as you would expect it to, but even with its sudden turns, the film fails to surprise. To make matters worse, it overuses the tearjerker elements.

But what saves the film from becoming a total disaster is actress Kang Hye-jeong's superb performance as a mentally retarded woman.

In the film, directed by Heo In-moo, Sang-eun (Kang) is just an ordinary pretty woman at first glance.

But she celebrates her 20th birthday with a bunch of 7-year-olds and depends completely on her mother's advice to get by in life.

Her body reflects her age, but her mental age is similar to that of a 7-year-old.

She learns about the world in her own way, dreaming of a prince on a white horse coming to take her away...| More

Big stars, small screens and a boom in musicals

Source | 2006/12/31 | Permalink |

The year 2007 is all about major stars and even bigger budgets.
Although the Korean pop wave hallyu is losing steam overall, more singers and bands hope to reach all-time high abroad. Local broadcasters have a lineup of top movie stars set to appear in television dramas. The film industry is busy making big-budget films to compete against imported blockbusters.

Theaters are ready to bring more big-name shows in line with the continuous rise of the musical boom here. In arts, a series of international print and design biennales are coming, along with an Andy Warhol retrospective.

Broadcasting
Many of the movie stars from the big screen will squeeze into your living rooms this year, as the upcoming TV dramas will feature big names such as Choi Jin-sil, Hwang Soo-jeong and Lee Mi-yeon.
Choi is first on the lineup with MBC-TV's "Bad Woman, Good Woman". She will star with Seong Hyeon-ah, another actress more familiar in the movie theaters.
Hwang Soo-jeong chose SBS-TV's "Salt Doll...| More

Actress Challenges Herself Again

Source | 2006/12/27 | Permalink |

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

At first glance, it is hard to describe actress Kang Hye-jeong's mysterious charms. When you go through her films, it may be even be harder.

But when you take a careful look, you realize that she has both the girl and the woman in her face. It is a characteristic that is distinctively her own and one that has allowed the 23-year-old actress to explore a range of characters in her comparatively short acting career.

Her characters range from a teenage girl to a 29-year-old woman. She plays a budding young woman in the mega-hit "Old Boy" (2003), an innocent and naïve girl in "Welcome to Dongmakgol" (2005) and she took on the role of a woman who lived a life full of inner pain in "Rules of Dating" (2005).

So it may not be so surprising to learn that her next role is that of a 20-year-old woman with the intelligence of a seven-year-old girl in the new film "Herb".

But Kang, who seems to have enjoyed challenging herself to play bold and convinci...| More