January 1968, 31 members of North Korean Special Unit 124 infiltrated South Korea with the ultimate mission of attacking the Blue House (Presidential Palace in Korea) and assassinating President PARK ... More
[HanCinema's Film Review] "Jesus Hospital": A Family in Crisis 2012/03/10,
Films with blinding religious themes don't always capture my interest, especially when Christianity is being portrayed. Luckily though, Lee Sang-cheol and Shin A-ga's "Jesus Hospital" is in no way intrusive or preachy. It is a tale of family, more specifically; it's a generational story that makes uses of religion as an intangible thread between family members as one family struggles to re-stitch the divide between them. It's highly emotive, thematically driven, and memorable.
"Jesus Hospital" had its world premier at the 16th Busan International Film Festival and its two leading ladies (Hwang Jeong-min-I and Han Song-hee) claimed the festival's "DGK Award" for their efforts. It was also a crowd pleaser, walking away with the "Citizen Reviewers' Awards", which is shared with Park Hong-min's "A Fish" and "Romance Joe" by Lee Kwang-kuk. A couple months latter, the film was honoured at the 37th Seoul Independent Film Festival and was awarded the competitions Grand Prize,...More
Feature profile - My Way 2012/02/10, Source, Headed for the Berlinale Panorama section, director Kang Je-gyu's "My Way"is a historic film is more ways than one. KANG Byeong-jin goes over the details.
World War II film "My Way" is Kang Je-gyu's fourth film as a director, following "The Gingko Bed", "Shiri" and "Taegukgi". "Shiri" was the first Korean film to bring in over 2 million admissions in Seoul (back when nationwide figures were unavailable and the capital's statistics were used as rule-of thumb). On its release, "Taegukgi" along with "Silmido" opened the era of Korean films with admissions of 10 million and more.
Even from the outside, "My Way" seems like an extension of the challenges Kang's work took on before. The film's stage spans Korea to China through the former Soviet Union to Normandy, and it stars Jang Dong-gun and Joe Odagiri, the top stars of Korea and Japan respectively. More than anything, the film's budget of about KW28 billion (US$24.8 million) is the highest ever in Korean cinema history,...More
South Korean Box Office in 2011 2012/01/14, Source, Korean cinema expert Darcy Paquet looks back at the results of 2011's box office with some unexpected hits and misses, the rise of independent features, and how audiences confirmed they value story over spectacle.
Although the number crunchers in Hollywood estimate that US theatrical admissions sank to their lowest level since 1995, things were not so gloomy in Korea. With an estimated 160 million tickets sold (more precise figures will become available at a later date), it appears that Korea has approached or broken the modern-day record for admissions. In 2010, total admissions stopped at 146.8 million. In monetary terms, 2011 was certainly the best year ever, given the 3D surcharge and rising average ticket prices. Americans may be growing tired of the theatrical movie-going experience, but young Koreans still crowd the multiplexes,...More
January 1968, 31 members of North Korean Special Unit 124 infiltrated South Korea with the ultimate mission of attacking the Blue House (Presidential Palace in Korea) and assassinating President PARK Chung-hee. When KIM Shin-jo, the only member who was captured alive, was asked "What was the purpose of infiltration?" on a live TV program, he shouted "I came to slit the throat of President PARK Chung-hee!" and made the whole country's blood run cold.
At the same time, In-chan escapes the death penalty for being an accessory to a crime when he accepts an unexpected proposal from Jae-hyun , a general at Silmido H.I.D. Project and is transported to Silmido Special Unit. Silmido Special Unit is a unit composed of dysfunctional social outcasts and criminals under the death or life sentences. Sang-pil and Won-hee are also among the members of this unit. When they arrive at the island, Jae-hyun gives them the classified national duty, which is to explode the North Korean presidential palace and behead KIM Il-sung, the North Korean president. It is a retaliatory project.
To its all 31 members, it is the ultimate patriotic mission with pride and loyalty; and it is the only chance they have to start a new life that is promised once the mission is successfully accomplished. With their hopes and promising vision, they survive through the most hellish inhumane 'killing' training and are reborn as human armories. They are the human killing machines, with strong comradeship and respect for each other.
Finally, the day arrives and they receive an order from the head office to carry out the mission. With their supreme confidence, they depart for the North. However, the project is suddenly revoked and they return to Silmido with much discouragement and stress. After then, the hellish training continues but, there is no more mission. The psychological frustration and physical tolerance start to reach their limits. And soon, the members start to lose their focus and unity. In order to regain complete control of the unit, the head office performs public executions of its own members. Meanwhile in 1970, with growing nationwide peacemaking movement between the North and the South, the government quickly decides to demolish Silmido Special Unit and executes all its members...
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