HanCinema's Korean Blog - Korea's Diary, Pictures, Reviews

Jong-Woo (played by Sin Ha-gyoon) is a poor, beleagured taxi driver with a bad attitude, understandable given the kind of clients he has to deal with. So when one night, a polite, well-dressed man offers an outrageous sum of money to rent the taxi for an extended period, Jong Woo doesn't ask any questions, though he does make rather cheerful and inappropriate conversation with his uninterested charge. It's difficult to blame Jong-Woo for this, given that it takes him some time to realize that he is not the protagonist of a low-brow comedy, but of an action-packed thriller...More

Tony Stark may be under some psychological pressure in his third outing but his Korean fans continued to storm the cinemas in support. "Iron Man 3" once again dominated proceedings over this past weekend, adding 1,865,121 (75%) admissions and bringing its total tally now to almost six million. That places Marvel's blockbuster as the third highest grossing release in Korea for 2013; just behind "The Berlin File" (7.1 Million), which it will surely surpass in the coming week. There were only three new entries that made the top grade this past weekend: Lee Jong-pil's "The Singing Contest, a re-release of "Finding Nemo 3D", and the Japanese animation "One Stormy Night"...More

April proved to be a slow month at the box office as local films gave way to foreign favourites. It wasn't until last weekend that things were given a shot in the arm as Marvel's blockbuster "Iron Man 3" sounded the horn that cause more than 2 million fans to stream in. Tom Cruise's latest efforts in "Oblivion" held down the top spot during the middle weeks, leaving Jo Dong-oh's "Running Man" to be the only Korean film to taste gold in week one. The release of both "Oblivion" and "Iron Man 3" denied Kang Woo-seok's eighth film "Fist of Legend" any traction, leaving to sit in second place spinning its tyres for much of the month...More

Choi Yeong-in (Park Jin-young) emerges battered and bruised from an unlikely robbery gone horribly wrong. After being charged with delivering a ridiculous sum of cold hard cash, $5 Million to be precise, to complete a dubious business deal, Choi discovers that his partner may not have in fact had his best interests at heart. With bags full of currency and two rival gangsters interested in his whereabouts, Choi hits the road and keeps low as he tries to formulate a plan to clear his name.

"A Millionaire on the Run" is director Kim Ik-ro's first feature after having been invovled in the production of such films as "My Girlfriend is an Agent" (2009), "Doll Master" (2004) and "Singles" (2003). Kim was working from Cheon Seong-il's scripting efforts that contained a questionable amount of already saturated Korean comedy motifs and themes...More

The last day of JIFF started with "Dear Dolphin", the final Korean competition piece that I had not yet seen. This film left me feeling very ambiguous and uncertain. Reflexively, I want to write that I didn't like it- the problem is that the film's deeply personal subject matter is about failing to come to terms with grief. It's about as painful an emotion as I can think of, and if the film's goal was to impart this despondency onto my own person, I had to admit that it succeeded. As much as I would like to, I can't fault any individual aspect of the film as being insincere to its characters or larger story...More

On April 29th I had the chance to attend the Guest Visit with the cast of "Lebanon Emotion". Following is a paraphrased transcript of that event.

Q: Why the traditionally dressed mother?

Director Jung Young-heun: She's emblematic of my own mother, and that's how I remember her.

Q: Why the construction sites?

Director: When we were trying to film the movie we saw construction sites everywhere. It was an interesting metaphor...More

On April 28th, I had the chance to attend the Guest Visit with Kim Ji-gon, the director of "Grandma-Cement Garden". He had a lot to say about his rather unconventional film about a neighborhood in Busan soon to undergo demolition.

Q: What does the movie mean to you?

A: It represents a state of transition. Really, from the minute we arrived there that's what it had to be. This was a very different Busan since the last time I had been there...More