Kim Tae-woo (김태우)

2008/05/02 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Singer IVY took a break from the spotlight after being threatened at the end of last year. The singer will return to showbiz this June with her TV drama debut in the SBS production "Tokyo, Yeowubi" (screenplay by Kim Jin-hee, directed by Lee Joon-hyeong).

"'Tokyo, Yeowubi' was shot entirely in Japan last year and it will air at 10pm on June 2nd, 3rd, 9th and 10th", announced the production company of the drama, Work Wonders.

Starring Kim Sa-rang and Kim Tae-woo, "Tokyo, Yeowubi" is a melodrama about the love that blossoms between actress 'Soo-jin' and sushi chef 'Hyun-soo' after a fateful encounter in Japan.

Also starring in the TV drama are Japanese actors Otani Ryohei, Okuda Erika and Yamamoto Gaku.

"'Tokyo, Yeowubi' was produced as a cinematic drama to be viewed in theaters", explained Work Wonders. "And besides the director, writer and producer, the entire crew is Japanese".

The director of the drama, Lee Joon-hyeong, is famous for directing music videos of singers S...

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2008/04/04 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Among the new slate of talented young Korean directors, the brothers JEONG Beom-sik and JEONG Sik are among its leading exponents; the latest development around their debut film "Epitaph" (Gidam) is the sale of its distribution rights to North America (TLA Releasing), Hong Kong (Celestial Movies Channel) and Japan (CCRE) by Studio 2.0 at the Hong Kong Filmart.

Studio 2.0 also sold the rights of "Highway Star" (Bokmyeon Dalho), starring CHA Tae-hyeon, to Hong Kong (Celestial Movies Channel), China (H.G.C.) and Vietnam (Diamond Cinema). Animation "Aachi and Ssipak" was picked up by Spain's Notro and "Lovers of 6 Years" (Yooknyeonjjae Yeonae Joong) with KIM Ha-neul will be released in Vietnam (Diamond Cinema).

TLA Releasing describes its prized acquisition "Epitaph" as, "Beautifully lush, Korean supernatural, psychological horror", and, "A reinvention of Korean horror and moving it into a refreshingly, new direction". JIN Goo ("A Dirty Carnival"/Biyeorhan Geori), KIM Bo-kyeong ("W...

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2008/03/12 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Kim Myeong-min enlivens a solid medical thriller

By Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

"Wide Awake" ("Return") takes a real-life medical mystery, "intra-operative awareness" -- patients who remain fully conscious (and responsive to pain) but paralyzed during operations -- and weaves a revenge-themed mystery plot around it.

(Intra-operative awareness takes place shockingly more often than people realize. A North American survey claims that approximately 20,000 to 40,000 surgery patients suffer through it every year, with 30 percent of them feeling acute pain.)

The film opens with a young boy completely traumatized by his heart operation, the experience of feeling a scalpel cutting into his chest, a bone saw whine-grinding into his sternum and a doctor fingering through the insides of his body. Despite the boy's tearful protestations, no one believes him: it's 1980s Korea, after all.

Twenty-five years later, the doctors and nurses who had operated on him begin to die mysteriously.
...

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2008/01/01 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter

Entertainment in 2007 was all about versatility. Fans could watch news anchors dance and sing, while some singers created their own shows and even starred in movies. Among these talented and ambitious celebrities, former G.O.D. members are leading the way toward true multi-entertainment.

Park Joon-hyung, Son Ho-young, Yoon Kye-sang, Danny Ahn and Kim Tae-wu are all former members of the hit five-member pop group formed in 1999 by producer and singer Park Jin-young (also known as JYP), and released hits "To My Mother" and "Lie". The group announced their withdrawal in 2004. While lead singer Kim Tae-woo is serving in the military, the other members have gone a long way from their original pop career.

Park, also known as Joon Park in the United States and former leader of the group, has literally crossed borders with his acting. He has already filmed a role in "Speed Racer", directed by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), as a Yakuza racer who co...

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2007/12/11 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Director HONG Sang-Soo is highly regarded in Europe where his films have screened at Cannes to great acclaim and had subsequent theatrical releases in France. In the U.S. he is still widely unknown, although retrospectives of his work in Toronto and San Francisco have spread word of his particular genius. Finally, in January 2008, New York City filmgoers will get a chance to see his most recent feature "Woman on the Beach" (2006).

Film Forum, New York's leading art-house and independent movie theatre will hold the U.S. premiere run of the film Jan 9 – 22. Woman is HONG's seventh feature and has travelled to many festivals including Seattle, New York, Vancouver and Toronto. It received a glowing review in the New York Times from veteran critic A.O. Scott, who called HONG's "most coherent and emotionally accessible film yet", describing the director as belonging to "a fast-growing category of international filmmakers: master at the height of their powers".

The film stars KO ...

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