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

Cops and robbers are often defined in terms of absolute good and evil. Granted, there's such a thing as a bad cop or a good criminal- but the crimes themselves are a clearly set line. Bad cops only become truly bad when they break a law, and good criminals only become truly good when they stop breaking laws. Mind, only "important" laws count for these distinctions. Technicalities and noble law-breaking are perfectly fine...More

This year's Nonsan Strawberry Festival (논산 딸기축제) was a rainy affair, but that didn't stop a few avid locals and foreigners from taking the trip out to see Korea's largest strawberry producer at work. The festival is held each year in mid-April where visitors can try a range of food made with strawberries (jams, pancakes, and even hot sauce!) as well as enjoy an exhibition, cake baking, and fireworks display. 2013 may not have been the festival's best year, but I thought I would share just a few of the day's pictures in the hope that maybe next year you'll go and perhaps have better luck with the weather!...More

Seong-Gun (played by Kim Soo-ro) is an eccentric high school gym teacher who doesn't really teach his students anything academically useful. Whenever he is confronted with students engaging in unsavory behavior, be it through fighting, indolence, or poorly considered after-school activities, Seong-Gun reacts in the manner which involves the most possible violent physical exertion by all parties involved. A simple lecture amounting to "study more" seems quite beyond him...More

Jo Dong-oh's action thriller "Running Man" is off to a good start as it snatched the top spot in its first weekend out. The film claimed 501,908 (30.89%) admissions over 568 screens, only just pushing outs its closest rival "G.I. Joe 2" which came close itself with 464,619 (30.49%). "Running Man" stars Sin Ha-gyoon as Cha Jong-woo, a young man who accidentally gets caught up in a murder case and soon finds himself on the run because of it. This week's chart saw a number of new entries both local and foreign, in addition to some regular faces that have made the top ten their own the last few months. But overall admissions were low, with only the top two films seeing much action in this quieter week at the movies...More

With its intriguing naturalistic style and strong psychological veneer, Jeon Soo-il's "Pink" is art-house film of note. The film made its world debut at the 16th Busan International Film festival and stars Lee Seung-yeon-I as the troubled and traumatised young woman Soo-jin. It's what one would consider a women's film that follows this young woman journey's as she moves to overcome her disturbing past in this forgotten, and soon to be demolished, little river-side town.

Soo-jin arrives in a shabby town to work at a hole-in-the-wall bar run by Ok-ryeon (Seo Kap-sook), an elderly woman who lives with her mentally challenged son Sang-gook (Park Hyeon-woo). Ok-ryeon is a peculiar character herself who, when she's not protesting the re-development plans of a big corporation, runs this tiny bar-outside of which hangs a broken pink neon sign...More

Tension across the Korean peninsula continues to rise this week but in addition to both sides raising the stakes in terms of their military and political prowess, a new player has apparently stepped in the fray. The 'hacktivists', known as collectively as 'Anonymous', have been reported to have targeted a number of North Korea's social media sites and other nettings, suggesting they have penetrated the country's hermetically sealed intra-net.

Messages are flying across and towards the crisis as the conflict seems set to boil and burst at any moment. The U.S has ramped up its military efforts with the South as the spittle from the North's bellicose rhetoric resurrects new fears of an inevitable confrontation...More

Romantic relationships are often defined not so much by love as a sad desperation for intimacy. "The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well" has no pig, no well, and doesn't even take place over the course of a single day. But it does very accurately portray the kind of simplistic emotional need that drives a pig, normally a perfectly intelligent animal, to be so foolhardy as to plunge into a giant hole in the ground...More