Bae Doona (배두나)

2008/04/24 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

In the last few years, Korean films, TV dramas and pop music have become immensely popular abroad, a phenomenon known as the Korean Wave. This is the 33rd in a series of essays by a select group of scholars and journalists looking at the spread of Korean pop culture in Southeast Asian countries and beyond. - Ed.

Following is an email interview with Tom Larsen, president of YA Entertainment, the largest distributor of Korean TV drama DVDs in the United States. - Ed.

The Korea Herald: What is the current market position of Korean TV dramas in the U.S. market? How are they perceived in comparison with mainstream U.S., Chinese and Japanese programming?

Tom Larsen: Like most other TV programming from international markets, Korean TV dramas are generally considered a specialty entertainment niche here in the United States. Having said that, the popularity of Korean TV dramas in the United States has grown dramatically over the past five years. Korean TV dramas are now widely recogni...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

I am in LOVE with Korean Dramas!!!!!!! fighting 2008-04-25 20:47:50

2008/03/20 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Stars In Love: Star couples rumored to be together

We're Married: Star couples who have even married

Although broken up, star couples that hopefully get back together

Our fantasies: Desiring to date?! Best couples in dramas!...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

.....and they lived happily ever after......... Aziah A'ala 2008-04-13 21:59:53 eilyn510 2008-03-28 21:46:01 or at least include rain and song hye kyo in the category for best couples in drama! those two ROCK! why didn't you include rain and song hye kyo? they are rumored to be "sweethearts" in real life... and please that lee beyong heon issue is sooo old- and so "uncool" PLEASE! song hye kyo is best seen with rain and only rain! aja eilyn510 2008-03-28 21:43:08 dada ding 2008-03-21 18:21:37 Our fantasies: Desiring to date?! Best couples in dramas! Our fantasies: Desiring to date?! Best couples in dramas! desiring to date best couples in drama kim rae-won/kim tae-hee

2007/10/20 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

He was imprinted on my mind when I read a review of "Dress to Kill" quite some time ago. Though I didn't master Lamaze breathing, he and I have many things in common: we have loving daughters, we once enjoyed watching grand videos, we were both afraid of the World Cup, and we both like Thomas Alan Waits songs. His name is Park Chan-wook.

I could immerse myself in movies for several years as if I was mesmerized, and I could have inclinations to do something bizarre and electrifying. This is because I read his book, "The Secret Glamour of Watching Movies", which is like the bible for me. The book, written by him who knows altogether too much about films and published again recently with a new title, "Park Chan-wook's Homage", would make me stay up all night.

In the book, while exercising his extraordinary imagination, he gives each movie a subtitle borrowed from other movies in order to epitomize images of the movie. For example, he gave "The Silence of the Lambs" a subtitle of "La...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2007/10/02 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

While the female persona Korean entertainment remains largely reminiscent of Hollywood during the 1950~60s, a few in recently released or upcoming films are beginning to reflect, with some realism, Korean women today.

Women onscreen tend to be either innocent asexual Audrey Hepburns (think Lee Young-ae, Choi Ji-woo, Song Hye-kyo) or smoldering Marylin Monroes oozing with sex appeal (Kim Hye-soo, Uhm Jung-hwa). Then there exists a third, very minor group of eccentrics like Katherine Hepburn that fit into neither category, like actresses Kang Hye-jeong, Bae Doona and Kong Hyo-jin.

In other words, it is rather difficult to meet truly realistic female characters in movies. A most disappointing example is director Kwak Gyeong-taek's latest offering "A Love". In this terribly old-fashioned story about a modern-day Romeo and Juliet, the heroine is but a mere caricature embodying romantic fantasies: the unforgettable first love, frail damsel in distress ...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2007/09/07 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

The viewer bulletin board of the SBS drama series "How to meet a perfect neighbor" is overflowing with posts about Yoon Hee and Joon Suk's love line. The love between the CEO with a rich family and the ever so normal Yoon Hee and the obstacles that are placed along their path are the clicha of all melodramas, but their tears are keeping the viewers by their televisions.

Amidst all of this, the transformation of Yoon Hee has been gathering attention. Until recently, she was a messy character all over the place, considered a 'thing' rather than a 'person' even from her mom. But through her struggles about love and relationships, she has been changing. It is a change that can, if done wrong, be blamed on the immaturity of the actor or crew. But nobody is criticizing her change and that is the power of Bae Doona who is playing the role.

"Yoon Hee changed all of a sudden, didn't she? She changed a lot as the drama flowed towards the love line and I think that is the charm of Yoon Hee....

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?