Lee Eol (이얼)

'Red Shoes' [Film and DVD Review]

Source | 2006/02/14 | Permalink |

Engrossing horror flick showcases the talents of Kim Hye-soo
Kim Kyu Hyun (internews)

A note to the readers: Woo Sung Region 3 DVD of "Red Shoes" contains two versions of the film, substantially different from one another. The non-theatrical and DVD-specific edition is identified as the "Rated for 18 or older" version, so I will refer to it as the "18+" version throughout this review.

"Red Shoes" is about a pair of dancing shoes (actually pink in the film) with a heavy-duty hex placed on them. As the film opens, a high school girl who tries them on at a subway station has her feet gobbled up by them. The poor girl is left screaming her lungs out, gazing at the stumps of her chopped-off ankles, while the pink shoes in question (in a nicely old-fashioned stop-motion shot) noisily slurps up the gushing rivulets of blood. Oh my. Not exactly Emeric Pressburger material, is it?


Production Notes

A Generation Blue Films/Cineclick Asia/Cinewise Films/Sovik Venture Capital...| More

Poster for New Kim Ki-duk Film to Provoke Controversy

Source | 2004/01/16 | Permalink |

by Cheon Sang-hee

Controversy is expected to follow film director Kim Ki-duk's use of the teenage leading lady of his latest movie, "Samaria", in a provocative "half-nude nun" pose in the film's poster.
The film deals with a relationship between a teenage girl and an older man.

While shooting the poster for the film, the leading actress, Kwak Ji-min, 19, posed topless, wearing only a coif -- the veil used by Catholic nuns. Photographer Lee Jeon-ho, who did the poster work for the hit film, "Old Boy", shot the photo in a studio in Seoul's Gangnam district last December. The film is scheduled to open in March.

The film, which has been invited to the 2004 Berlin Film Festival, to be held in February, tells of the mental anguish felt by a father (Lee Eol) whose teenage daughter (Kwak Ji-min) is prostituting herself to an older man. Kim's piece ties together a whole assortment of peculiar and extreme situations, like when the father, a detective, witnesses his daughter engaging...| More

'Samaria' by Kim Ki-duk invited to Berlin festival

Source | 2004/01/15 | Permalink |

Director Kim Ki-duk's new film "Samaria" has been invited to the competitive section of the 54th Berlin International Film Festival scheduled to raise its curtain Feb. 5.
The invitation marks Kim's second appearance in the competitive section of Berlin after "Bad Guy" in 2002. "Birdcage Inn" also screened in the panorama section of the film festival in 1998 when Kim was a relative unknown.

"Samaria", the 10th film of Kim's prolific career, finds the director on familiar ground, exploring the dirty underbelly of Korea's sexual dysfunction. Two high school girls get involved in "wonjo gyoje", the practice of getting paid to have sex with older men, in order to earn money for a trip to Europe.

After one of them dies, the other falls into despair and meets the older men her friend slept with one by one to return their money and have sex with them. Meanwhile, her father witnesses one of the encounters and tries to get revenge on the men of his age who are sleeping with his daughte...| More