Ryoo Jin (류진)

[DVD Review] "Ghost" ("Dead Friend") aka 'Ryung'

Source | 2007/06/18 | Permalink |

Soggy horror film more appropriate for TV drama fans

Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

Ji-won (Kim Ha-neul) is a college student stricken by selective amnesia due to a near-drowning experience. The missing memory seems to suggest that she was a close friend with another girl (Nam Sang-mi), but the details remain fuzzy. Meanwhile, her friends, members of a high school clique, are beginning to turn up as dead bodies.

Made in 2004, "Ghost" ("Dead Friend") represents the nadir of contemporary Korean horror cinema, ravaged by the strains of a PSC (Pointless Sadako Clone) virus and put together in such a slapdash manner that it might serve as an object lesson in how not to make a generic horror film. (Even the title is super-generic.)

The fact that director Kim Tae-kyeong's screenplay is an irritating hodgepodge of plot elements (and scare tactics) stolen wholesale from Nakata Hideo's "Dark Waters" and the most awfully disingenuous and hackneyed setups cribbed from TV dramas is certainly a...| More

Kang Ji-hwan, Han Ji-min cast as main leads for 'Gyeong Seong (Capital) Scandal'

Source | 2007/04/30 | Permalink |

Kang Ji-hwan and Han Ji-min have been cast to the upcoming KBS drama series 'Gyeong Seong Scandal'.

This series which will start airing on June 6th is the story of Gyeong Seong, the capital of the day, in the 1930s in a fusion historical drama format focusing on those rebelling against the Japanese government with a line of romance drawn in a bright and cheerful spirit.

Kang Ji-hwan will play Seon Woo Wan, the greatest playboy in Gyeong Seong, while Han Ji-min will draw Na Yeo Gyeong, a not so traditional female figure. Ryoo Jin will play the elite Lee Soo Hyeon who as a Chosun person rises amongst the ranks in the government while Han Go-eun will play the famous bar hostess Cha Song Joo of one of the top class restaurants.

The script is being written by Jin Soo-wan who also wrote 'Wonderful Life' and 'My 19 Year Old Sister in Law', and will be directed by Producer Han Joon-seo of 'Runaway Lee Doo Young' which aired last year....| More

Drama Shows Ancient Technology

Source | 2005/10/02 | Permalink |

Sodong (Jo Hyeon-jae), left, and Sataekkiru (Ryoo Jin) play rival technicians in "Sodongyo", a Paekche Kingdom drama on SBS.

'Sodongyo' Looks at Technological War During Paekche Kingdom

By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter

Producer Lee Byung-Hun and writer Kim Yeong-hyeon from "Jewel in the Palace (Dae jang geum)", last year's major hit drama here and in China, have again teamed up for a new historical drama.

The SBS drama "Sodongyo", translated as "Sodong's Song", has much in common with "Jewel in the Palace". Both deal with similar themes: a success story of a lower class person rising to the top, a love that transcends social position, a secret of birth and a rivalry between main characters.

However, whereas "Jewel" is set in the Choson Kingdom (1392-1910), "Sodongyo" takes place in the Paekche Kingdom (18 B.C. - A.D 660), a first for a TV drama. Aside from the romance between a princess and a commoner, an interesting part of the drama is that it focuses on a fierce techn...| More

Job, household chores subject of 'real' dramas

Source | 2005/03/28 | Permalink |

Fantasy was the name of the game in television drama series last year. Tennis sweaters and study hall sessions were glamorized in "Love Story in Harvard" while the heavily rose-colored romance between stone-faced Ki-ju and happy-go-lucky Tae-young in "Lovers in Paris" became the talk of the town.

But this season, television producers are getting real. Instead of Ivy League libraries or Parisian getaways, it's work and marriage, the cause of unending woe to Koreans, that are the subject of two new network dramas.

MBC's "Super Rookie" (Wednesday and Thursday at 9:55 p.m.) and SBS's "Bad Wife" (Monday and Tuesday at 9:55 p.m.) have been competing for viewer ratings since they first aired last week. The two shows are aimed at younger audiences and have been drawing the media's attention for their attempts to help audiences combat real life problems with humor.

"Bad Wife" features Son Chang-min and Shin Ae-ra as a couple dealing with tough times.
Dealing with such a serious issue ...| More