Jeong Gil-yeong (정길영)

A clever thriller cannot quite overcome genre conventions

Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

A gruesomely murdered body of a young woman is found hanging from an elementary school gym iron, in the form of a crucifix. Exhausted cop Jae-sin (Lee Seon-gyoon) realizes that a serial killer is lurking in his neighborhood: the victims range from an eight-year-old girl to a middle-aged businesswoman. He gets unexpected help from his game designer friend Kyung-joo (musical actor Oh Man-seok, popular from the Korean stage version of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch").

But nothing is what it seems: Kyung-joo drops in a stationary store run by child-like and strangely-named Hyo-yi (Ryoo Deok-hwan), and receives a text message that reads: "Sir, I know you are the murderer".
...More

The 24th Santa Barbara International Film Festival kicks off this week with 3 Korean features invited to screen during 11-day run January 22 – February 1. In the International Features competition section, Kim So-yong's "Treeless Mountain" will have its U.S. premiere, vying for top honors along with 12 other features.

Another U.S. premiere is Kim Yoo-jin's Chosun dynasty-set adventure "The Divine Weapon" selected to screen in the East X West section, along with 2007 Korean horror, "Our Town", directed by ...More

European and Asian buyers closed deals on several Korean films' rights at the Berlin Film festival's market. Jeon Ji-hyeon's star power in Asia resulted in "A Man Who Was Superman" being sold to Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Thailand (J-Bics), and Singapore (Festive Films) by CJ Entertainment. The human interest drama was directed by Jeong Yoon-cheol and stars Hwang Jeong-min as a traumatised man.

German Splendid pre-bought the rights for "The Divine Weapon" and ...More

The Korean movie industry got off to a shaky start this year, due to the weakened market position of local flicks versus Hollywood blockbusters, but it received a big shining ray of hope from director Lee Chang-dong's thought-provoking drama, "Secret Sunshine".

Jeon Do-yeon, the heroine of "Secret Sunshine", grabbed the prestigious Best Actress award at the 60th Cannes Film Festival in May, setting the upbeat tone for the domestic film industry.

The 34-year-old actress won international acclaim for her brave and inspiring depiction of a grieving Korean woman struggling to rebuild her life in a new city in "Secret Sunshine", the first picture in four years by Lee Chang-dong, a former Korean culture minister.

Despite the positive turn on the filmfest front, the local movie market faced increasing pressure this year. Although the market volume of the Korean film industry remains relatively solid, with 104 films released between January and November this year, the number of moviegoers is steadily declining, and the profitability of major production houses is worsening, leaving a slew of projects stranded.

"The number of Korean movies with box-office influence is going down, and the campaign to export Korean films to foreign markets is nowhere near the target level", said Shim Young-seop, a leading movie critic. Meanwhile, Hollywo...More

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Unlike what its title might suggest, director Jeong Gil-yeong's "Our Town" is not some fuzzy family drama. It's a crime thriller where five women are brutally killed. Not another serial killer story, you may say. But, again, the film kills your expectations as it takes you on a novel cinematic experience ― a flight into the mind of not one, but two, killers on the loose in what could be "our" neighborhood.

First off, the title needs some explanation. It is a literal translation of the original title "Uri dongne". A Los Angeles Times column (July 24, 2006) once highlighted how the Korean language thoroughly reflects the collective nature of Koreans, who prefer the unassuming "we" over the individual "I", and thus leads to the stapling of group pronouns "our" (uri) rather than "my" in front of objects. So saying "our house" or "Our Town" creates a communal sense of ownership and establishes a sense of mutual connection.

That's the irony. This is a violent and disturbi...More