Im Won-hee (임원희)

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Ten rising South Korean filmmakers present seriocomic stories about money matters in the omnibus project "Short! Short! Short! 2009": Show Me the Money.

As much as the opening film for the 10th Jeonju International Film Festival is about money, the tight budget for the project ($5,000 per director) is most palpable. The screaming individuality and experimentalism of each episode compensate, but commercial prospects seem slight and the flick will most likely find a small niche in arthouse cinemas.

The omnibus reel opens with Choi Ik-hwan's one-cut flick "Our Last Words, Live". The "Life is Cool" director offers a mock home video featuring two despairing young men, who, defrauded, bankrupt and about to get arrested for false charges, try to assert their innocence by recording their last words on tape before committing suicide. But life ― and death ― are often beyond one's control.

In "A Tip for Cigarettes" by Nam Da-jeon, a news reporter stages a story about teenage smoking. What seemed simple enough ― paying an underage smoker to act like she is askin...More

Major Korean film magazine Movieweek polled to find out who Koreans regard as the ten greatest screen personas. Jeon Ji-hyeon's role in "My Sassy Girl" claimed the top spot for greatest female character with 21% of the votes. 25% votes for Seol Kyeong-gu's character in the "Public Enemy" trilogy secured SEOL the greatest male character title.

In close pursuit of SEOL is Choi Min-sik's "Old Boy" character (20%). ...More

"Dachimawa Lee", directed by Ryoo Seung-wan, is a quirky action comedy that mercilessly pokes fun at almost everything related to the genre to which it pretends to belong, resulting in an unpredictable mixture of cheesy parodies, unnerving humor and pseudo action sequences.

Director Ryoo made a 35-minute short film of the same title in 2000 and distributed it on the internet. It started a wave of rave reviews from Korean online users, many of whom were impressed by the film's creative use of satirical humor.

The title, which sounds like a Japanese word, is a film term that Korean filmmakers in the 1960s and 1970s used to refer to an action movie. But Ryoo's latest film is much more than a simple action-packed comedy; it's a grandiose attempt to show that people love a shamelessly fun-oriented movie.

In the big-screen version, the central character remains the same: a mysterious agent known as Dachimawa Lee. Played by ...More

Actress Kong Hyo-jin fell in love with "Dachimawa Lee".

The new movie "Dachimawa Lee: Evil Man Get on the Train Headed to Hell" stars Kong Hyo-jin as a female spy who encounters a triangle relationship with Dajimawa Lee (Im Won-hee) and Marie (Park Si-yeon)....More

Posters for the new movie "Dachimawa Lee" are released to the public!

3 different posters represent three different genres that are within this new action movie. First one, 'the action poster' is where Dajimawa, Im Won-hee takes on a pose representing a body guard waiting for action not afraid to risk his life. ...More