Uhm Jung-hwa (엄정화)

Surprise ending doesn't help familiar story line

Source | 2009/07/02 | Permalink |

The head of an art gallery, Bae Tae-jin (Uhm Jung-hwa), and art restoration expert Lee Kang-jun (Kim Rae-won) are up to no good. That much is pretty evident from the get-go of "Insadong Scandal", a tale of deceit centered around the struggle for a prized painting from the Joseon Dynasty.

Bae is widely respected yet also feared in art circles for her relentless ability to get whatever she wants. Lee is a brash young restoration expert with the skills to match his personality. He is supposed to be the best in the business, possessing "hands of god" that can bring age-old paintings back to life.

Hired by Bae, Lee's job is to restore a 400-year-old Joseon period painting called "Byeokando". A proper restoration of the classic will fetch Bae and Lee the largest sum ever for a Korean art piece. With huge media attention on the effort, a cast of shady characters flock to the scene like the Baltimore Ravens defense swarming a hapless running back.

Although everything is allegedly on t...| More

5 Directors Explore Sensuality in 'Eros'

2009/07/02 | Permalink |

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Amid the high tide of summer action movies, five star directors are bringing a modest omnibus project with a different sensibility.

"Five Senses of Eros", each depicting unique aspects of sensuality and sexuality, as well as featuring a host of high-profile actors, will provide moviegoers with a more colorful audiovisual experience.

Contrary to expectations, the five shorts don't deal with each of the five senses, nor are they pure erotica. Rather, participating filmmakers experiment with a distinct language and style, be it B-rate comedy or subtle melodrama, to deliver deliciously short episodes about human desire and its perceived complexities ― or basic simplicity.

Daniel H. Byun (Byeon Hyeok, "The Scarlet Letter") opens "Eros" with a stylish urban romance about the thrills of chance encounters and first dates. "His Concern" unfolds like a live journal ― or a guy's version of chick lit ― as it follows the stream of consci...| More

[ChanMi's movie news] "Five Senses of Eros" poster, not what movie is all about

Source | 2009/06/30 | Permalink |

The film "Five Senses of Eros" is about 5 different episodes of different peoples revealing the different senses of Eros.

This will be a different type of movie, not the same blockbuster movie you expect!

The cast is Kim Min-seon, Uhm Jung-hwa, Kim Hyo-jin, Cha Soo-yeon, Bae Jong-ok, Hwang Jeong-min, Kim Kang-woo, Jang Hyeok, and other top stars.

The movie is not full of nudity as the poster and title might fool you, it is rather about different people and how they experience love....| More

Summer Action Flicks Are Coming

Source | 2009/06/30 | Permalink |

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Every summer, big budget Hollywood movies flow in, and many worry about the potential threat to homegrown films. Recent trends, however, suggest that competition is healthy.

"The fact that such a comparison (between national and international franchises) is even possible is unique; there aren't so many countries around the world where domestic films can compete with American ones", Han Seung-hee, researcher at the Korean Film Council, told The Korea Times.

After the turn of the new millennium, the Korean film industry enjoyed rapid growth, with blockbusters rewriting box office history each year. But the market plummeted for the first time last year, and investment and production hit an all time low. Moviegoers even criticized films that fared well at the box office as being formulaic.

So far, 2009 looks better. The success of "A Frozen Flower" and "Scandal Makers" ("Speedy Scandal") opened up a promising new year. Although February and March...| More

'He Who Can't Marry' Begins Amid High Expectations

Source | 2009/06/19 | Permalink |

The much-anticipated KBS2 drama series based on the Japanese program with the same title has finally begun on June 15. The first episode of "He Who Can't Marry" featured the encounter between the protagonists Jo Jae-hui (Ji Jin-hee), Jang Mun-jeong (Uhm Jung-hwa), and Jeong Yu-jin (Kim So-eun).

Jae-hui lives next door to Yu-jin. Annoyed by the noise Yu-jin makes with her pet, Jae-hui, a cynical, blunt architect, turns up the volume to the maximum whenever listening to music to annoy her back. Having lost patience, Yu-jin goes to his home and finds him fainting from a stomachache. She calls 911 and accompanies him in an ambulance.

Jae-hui asks her to take him to the hospital where his brother-in-law, Park Gwang-nam (Im Ho), is working. But with Gwang-nam already going home, Mun-jeong treats him.

Hearing Mun-jeong telling a nurse to prepare for an anal exam, Jae-hui attempts to leave the hospital although he can even hardly walk from pain, saying he's fine. Mun-jeong stops him f...| More