The Gingko Bed (1995) - 은행나무 침대 (Eun-haeng-na-moo Chim-dae)

Korean Actress Kim Gains Spotlight in the United States

2008/03/11 | Source | Permalink |

Despite having been an established actress in her native South Korea for almost 10 years, Kim Yoon-jin's star is still on the rise. Her career in Korea started out with parts in TV dramas and quickly advanced into film with her debut in the groundbreaking Korean film "Shiri" (1999). It was her role in this blockbuster that earned her star status and she was cast in other Korean films such as "The Gingko Bed" (2000), "Iron Palm" (2002), and "Diary of June" (2005).

In 2004, she scored the role that would allow her to break through on the Hollywood scene – the character Kwon Sunhwa on the hit TV series Lost. Kim plays a Korean woman whose characteristics defy those of conventional stereotypes typically attributed to Korean women. Just as the viewers find with each of the main characters on the show, there is more than meets the eye with Sun. Each of the characters on Lost is inherently a "good" person despite having made some questionable choices in life – and Sun is no exception. Her ...| More

Hit movies revisit audiences as musicals

2007/06/18 | Source | Permalink |

Creating a new catch phrase "moviecal boom" in the country's entertainment industry, a number of musicals based on hit movies will be staged in the coming months. Smash-hit Korean movies, including "200 Pounds Beauty", "Singles", "Love So Divine", "My Love My Bride" and "The Parade of the Youth", are a few examples among many moviecals already announced for a rebirth on stage. The moviecal boom doesn't stop there. Older hit movies like "The Gingko Bed" (1995), which starred Han Seok-kyu and Shim Hye-jin, "The Harmonium In My Memory" (1999), featuring Lee Byeong-heon and Jeon Do-yeon, winner of this year's Canne Film Festival, and internationally acclaimed director Im Kwon-taek's "The General's Son (1990)" are also to be staged next year.

Among a number of moviecals, the musical adaptation of the movie "200 Pounds Beauty", is already grabbing media attention in and out of the country. The movie based on a transformation story of an extremely fat singer produced an impressive box-offi...| More

[UPGRADING KOREAN CULTURE (8)] Foreign artists discuss Korean culture

2007/04/26 | Source | Permalink |

This is the last in an eight-part series of articles that look into the country's cultural and entertainment sectors and explore ways to help sharpen their competitive edge. - Ed.

Vibrant local movies charm American scholar

Thomas Giammarco, a professor of English at Woosuk University in North Jeolla Province, loves Korean movies. He regularly publishes reviews and articles on Korean films and is also pursuing a doctorate in the subject.

Giammarco, born in North Providence, Rhode Island, started watching Korean films shortly after he arrived in Korea in 1995. His initial purpose was to learn Korean. With a dictionary in hand, he rented videos and found himself enjoying the films even though he could not easily understand them.

A turning point came in early 1996 when he went to a local theater for the first time and watched "The Gingko Bed". A few months later, he watched "A Petal".

Both films deeply impressed him. "I realized for the first time the potential that the fil...| More

Shin Hyeon-joon Redeems Himself in Another Intense Part

2006/04/25 | Source | Permalink |

"Public duty" and "faith" are keywords in an interview with the actor Shin Hyeon-joon ahead of the release of his film "Barefoot Ki-bong". The actor's mother reportedly prays nonstop for six hours a day, and his older sister is said to have the gift of prophecy. The actor himself is now in his third year of volunteering to help bathe and look after children with cerebral palsy.

In a recent meeting with the press in Japan, the actor got a little carried away while talking about missionary work, until finally the head of the company that sponsored the event and invited the actor said, "Could you please just talk about something else". The actor said, "If that's what you want, I'll return your money and leave". The company president apologized.

But maybe our feelings about Shin Hyeon-joon are a little narrow-minded, even if most of the fault for the misunderstanding lies with the actor himself. After getting his foot in the door in Chungmuro with the role of the Hayashi in the film ...| More

Film festival looks at the birth year of Korean cinema: 1996

2006/03/19 | Source | Permalink |

Koreans have been making films for over half a century, but it wasn't until 1996 that the world noticed. And notice it did: Suddenly, programmers for major international film festivals around the world were talking about this new thing, "Korean cinema".
Domestic film critics say the "new wave" of Korean cinema started that year, as more directors began to seek a new and unusual aesthetic for their films, pushing subjects and styles beyond the bounds of popular taste.
The year is therefore convenient focal point for the film festival "Korean Cinema 1996: Ten Years of Memory", which runs at Seoul Art Cinema through March 26.
The festival's organizers certainly had a rich array of daring, breakthrough material to choose from. The screenings include the debut films of three directors, each of whom took radical approaches to filmmaking: "Three Friends", by Lim Soon-rye, explores Korean masculinity through the lives of three young soulless men who have a hard time adjusting to the social ...| More