April Snow (2005) - 외출 (Wi-chool)

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

Major local film player Showbox has sold rights to LEE Myeong-Se's "M" and HEO Jin-ho's "Happiness" to music and film giant Avex Entertainment in Japan. Avex, known as one of the largest independent record-labels in the world, made a move into the film industry last year, picking up its first Korean title "Highway Star" (2007).

Both LEE's "M" and HEO's Happiness premiered last September at the Toronto International Film Festival. They feature prominent Korean Wave stars with KANG Dong-won as the bemused lead in director LEE's stylish mystery and actress IM Soo-jeong along with HWANG Jeong-min as the ill-fraught lovers in HEO's melodrama.

Both LEE and HEO have had their previous films released in Japan. LEE's "Duelist", also starring actor KANG, opened on about 200 screens across Japan in 2006. HEO's "April Snow", starring Korean Wave sensation BAE Yong-joon, became the top grossing Korean film of all time in Japan, with earnings of over US$26 million in 2005.

Overall K...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2008/01/10 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

There is nothing special about the genre of "Open City", opening nationwide today. It is easily categorized as a crime thriller. But the subject of pickpockets operating in broad daylight is fairly unusual, perhaps the first ever Korean flick devoted entirely to the street-smart thieves.

Doubly unusual -- or strange -- is director Lee Sang-gi's attempt to incorporate a femme fatale theme into the film in a bid to turn it into an erotic crime thriller. There's no question about the beauty of Son Ye-jin ("April Snow", "The Classic") but it is an open question whether she is really up to the task of a tantalizing seductress.

Son plays Baek Jang-mi, which means "white rose" in Korean. If the name is too tacky, so be it. After all, her role is tackier -- a female boss of a small pickpocket ring keen to expand its territory in Seoul.

Baek Jang-mi draws some attention from authorities in both Korea and Japan by staging a series of high-stakes pickpocket forays in Osaka. Once she retu...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2007/11/30 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

The Osaka Korean Cultural Center will hold the Korean Film Week festival again this year (Dec.8-14). Korean films introduced to the Kansai region for the first time will be screened at downtown Shinsaibashi theaters.

The event also marks the center's reopening and will feature the latest film 'Happiness' by Heo Jin-ho, who directed 'April Snow' starring Bae Yong-joon and Son Ye-jin. Director Kim Tae-sik of 'Driving with My Wife's Lover' and a Korean Film Council official will attend a related forum for discussions.

The film list includes 'Barefoot Ki-bong', 'The Show Must Go On', 'Heart is..'., 'My Boss, My Teacher' and 'My Wife is a Gangster 3' as well as the omnibus special film '20 Identities'....

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2007/10/03 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Acclaimed director Heo Jin-ho returns with another exploration of love in the melodrama "Happiness" (Haengbok). Traditionally, Heo assembled an A-list cast with Im Soo-jeong and HWANG Jeong-min in the leading roles.

HWANG's character, who used to live the fast life, ends up in rehabilitation center where he meets an angelic character portrayed by Im, the two fall in love.

Heo gained acclaim with the restraint "Christmas in August". "One Fine Spring Day" and "April Snow" followed and are recognizable Heo films.

Im received much attention for this role as she departs from her youthful portrayals to a more mature character. Im became internationally better known through KIM Ji-woon's "A Tale of Two Sisters". HWANG reached star status with the films "You Are My Sunshine" and "Black House".

Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2007/09/27 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Love is pain, they say, and countless songs and stories croon about it time over time. Melodrama maestro Heo Jin-ho ("One Fine Spring Day", 2001, "April Snow", 2005) does not disappoint in depicting love's fleeting pleasures and lasting sting with poignant tenderness in his fourth romance "Happiness".

Things can't get any worse for Yeong-jae (Hwang Jeong-min), a heavy drinking, chain-smoking playboy: His nightclub goes bankrupt, his girlfriend deserts him and he might die from cirrhosis (point of interest: the club scene was shot in Apgujeong NB, which also closed its doors not too long ago).

He packs up everything and retreats to a rehabilitation center in the middle of nowhere, where he meets the most unexpected: true love. Eun-hi (Im Soo-jeong) suffers from fatally weak lungs, but despite her frail appearance she is stouthearted and takes care of the other patients. Yeong-jae and Eun-hi fall madly in love and move into a small house in the cou...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?