Yesterday (2002) - 예스터데이

No pain, no gain for the streetwise ajumma squad

2008/06/11 | Source | Permalink |

Life is tough for four ajumma, or housewives, in "Girl Scout", an action comedy directed by Kim Sang-man.

The film was released last Thursday. It is the only Korean film that was included among the top five ranking, as of Monday.

The film takes place in Bongcheon-3 dong, a deprived area in Seoul where this aggressive middle-aged squad lives.

The squad members are I-man (Nah Moon-hee), a woman in her 60s working at a supermarket to look after her unemployed son; Bong-soon (Lee Kyeong-sil), a widow who lives with an ill child; Mi-kyung (Kim Seon-ah), a divorcee; and Eun-ji (Ko Joon-hee), a caddie.

The four women are determined to raise the money to open up a store in their neighborhood.

It is their sole hope and dream.

Though they try their best, they are hit by a piece of news that comes at them like a bolt from the blue.

Hye-ran (Lim Ji-eun), who used to be one of the squad members and who is in charge of their collective savings, runs away.

The four ajumma, ran...| More

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JIFF to Focus on Alexander Kluge

2008/03/03 | Source | Permalink |

Meeting the Leader of 'New German Cinema'
German film director Alexander Kluge striking a pose for the camera.


The 9th Jeonju International Film Festival will kick off on May 1, 2008 and last until May 9, 2008. Amongst the international films announced include the films of Alexander Kluge who is the leader of 'New German Cinema'. His movies will be in the most popular section 'Stranger than Cinema' during the festival period.

German movies have suffered from their backwardness since the last 20th century, but with Alexander kluge at the head, German film-makers gathered at the 8th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 1962 and declared a new era for German film creation by saying, "Fathers' movies are dead". Those directors influenced by 'Nouvelle Vague', a new movement in France, were called as 'New German Cinema' and described materialistic value and inhuman element through films.

Alexander kluge's film policy has transformed the structure of the film industry. ...| More

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'The Host' Is Viciously Smart

2006/08/25 | Source | Permalink |

Monster film devours Korean and U.S. competitors

Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

One particular scene in "The Host" in retrospect almost looks like a commentary on the film's box office prowess. A young woman is enjoying a relaxed moment in the sunny Han River citizen's park, her ears covered by headphones. She is totally oblivious to other visitors madly dashing past her, eyes popping out of their sockets and screaming until their lungs burst. WHAM! A thing that looks like a gigantic tadpole with malformed legs and a hungry, lamprey mouth stomps her, like an SUV with a Texas license plate squishing an armadillo. She and other panicked Seoulites, some of whom will end up inside the monster's belly before the movie gets past its first fifteen minutes, might as well be standing for "The Host's" competitors.

As of mid-August 2006, this ungainly but dexterous beastie hopped past the awe-inspiring ten-million-ticket threshold in record time (21 days, compared to the previous box-office cha...| More

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Kim Seung-woo, Kim Nam-joo to Get Married

2005/04/26 | Source | Permalink |

Popular actor Kim Seung-woo and actress and model Kim Nam-joo will get married.

The couple has yet to announce a date or location for the wedding, but it will take place in either late May or early June, according to news reports.

Though they have known each other for a long time, they are said to have become romantically involved just last year.

Kim Seung-woo made his debut in 1990 in Im Kwon-taek's film "The General's Son" and has appeared in numerous films, including "Ghost Mama", "Yesterday", "Spring Breeze", and "Reversal of Fortune", as well as various television dramas.

Kim Nam-joo is mostly known for her numerous television commercials. She has also appeared in dramas such as "Model", "Crystal" and "That Woman's House".

The couple will hold a news conference to officially announce their engagement in the near future. ...| More

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Korean Earns Academy Award Nomination for Animated Short

2005/01/26 | Source | Permalink |

Korean-Australian director Park Se-jong's animated short "Birthday Boy", which deals with Korea, was nominated for a 2005 Academy Award Tuesday night. It was the first time in the 77-year-history of the Academy Awards that a film made by a Korean has been nominated for an award. Meanwhile, the runaway success "Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War", picked as the Korean submission to the Academy after some controversy, failed to earn a nomination for best foreign-language film.

In its list of nominees announced Tuesday, the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected "Birthday Boy" as one of five nominees in the best animated short film category, along with "Gopher Broke", "Lorenzo", "Guard Dog" and "Ryan".

"Birthday Boy", a 10 minute movie that focuses on a child suddenly orphaned in the middle of the Korean War, has been well received for its quiet depiction of the pain of war felt by Koreans through the eyes of a child playing war games among the ruins of his village. P...| More

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