Jo Geun-sik (조근식)

Lee Joon-ik Casts Soo-ae and Eom Tae-woong

2007/08/29 | Source | Permalink |

The leading roles for Lee Joon-ik's "Sunny" (Nimeun Meon Gose, English translation: "someone dear is far away") went to Soo-ae and Eom Tae-woong. Soo-ae will play the female lead role. Her character joins an entertainment group bound for Vietnam to entertain military troops, but her real agenda is to search for her husband who serves in Vietnam. The husband will be portrayed by Eom. The film is set during the Vietnam War in the 70s.

Director LEE has been influential with films like: "The King and the Clown", "Radio Star", and "Once upon a Time in a Battlefield" ("Hwangsanbul"). "The King and the Clown" became the most popular Korean film in 2006 and is currently second after BONG Joon-ho's "The Host". "The King and the clown" was a surprise hit when the film went on from a modest release to become a record breaking film through positive word-of-mouth.

Soo-ae starred opposite LEE Byeong-heon in JO Geun-sik's drama "Once in a Summer". Eom played in "Family Ties" ("The Birth of a Fa...| More

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[DVD review]Time and space obscured for money

2007/02/21 | Source | Permalink |

"Once in a Summer" is a romance fantasy that deliberately obscures the time and place in which it is set.
The film is a love epic that features an affair between two intellectuals, and it's set "somewhere, sometime" in a turbulent phase of Korean history.
Seok-young (played by Lee Byeong-heon) is an unwilling student activist. He rarely attends student protests and does not care much for politics, at a time when most college students are politically active ― either from a sense of duty or as a way to seduce girls.
But when he joins his fellow students to help farmers in a fictional town called "Sunari", he meets Jeong-in, the beautiful daughter of a communist who runs the village library.
The story taps into the ideological conflicts of Korean history while focusing on the couple's love affair. But the tensions between them are all too familiar. In fact it wouldn't be surprising to find a similar drama featuring two people surrounded by political upheavals in other parts of A...| More

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'Once' Travels in Time for Love

2006/11/30 | Source | Permalink |

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

Love from the past tends to feel more pure, innocent and beautiful than it was in reality because of time. Time erases details, and sifts out any chance that you can damage the memory, especially if it was a good one.

New melodrama "Once in a Summer (Ku Hae Yorum)" tactfully takes advantage of that tendency. It tells of a couple's love story that is inextricably intermingled with turbulent modern history. The result is that the couple's love appears rather pathetic and the hardships that they go through are felt severely.

Directed by Jo Geun-sik, director of the 2002 hit comedy "Conduct Zero" ("No Manners"), the melodrama is set in 1969. It's the year when man walked on the moon for the first time, but a lot of citizens and university students here fought against the dictatorship of then-President Park Chung-hee and anti-communist movements victimized innocent lives.

In the film, the year is vividly remembered by professor Yoon Suk-young (pla...| More

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Comedy-maker Jo directs tear-jerker set in dictatorial regime

2006/11/28 | Source | Permalink |

It is unnecessary for movies to show tearful scenes to make audience members cry. Show a boy and a girl, and adroitly tell the audience that they were never meant to be and soon soft sniffling will ripple across the room.
Such sounds were particularly noticeable during the press premiere of "Once in a Summer" by Jo Geun-sik, a former comedy-maker who directed this tear-jerking romance featuring Lee Byeong-heon and Soo-ae.

To get a peek at their favorite Korean pop star, some Japanese fans also filled seats among the press at the Megabox theater in COEX, southern Seoul, last week. A middle-aged Japanese woman who introduced herself as simply "Lee Byeong-heon's fan" said she "loved the movie" and that she had to wipe away tears throughout the screening.
Another woman, who said she came from Yokohama to see her favorite actor at the special screening before the film is released, said Lee was a better actor than Bae Yong-joon, or Yonsama, as he is widely known in Japan.
"[Lee and Bae...| More

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[HERALD INTERVIEW] Lee Byeong-heon eyes Hollywood

2006/11/20 | Source | Permalink |

Given that Lee Byeong-heon is one of the top-rated Korean Wave stars, it comes as no surprise that he is interested in grabbing a role for a Hollywood movie. The question is when and how he pulls it off.

"Some news media reported that I already entered Hollywood, but it's not true at all", Lee said in an interview. "Our agents are arranging meetings with Hollywood people, but I haven't found a role I could take".

Lee said he has indeed met with some of the top officials at famous studios such as Fox and Universal and got some proposals, but found the proposed roles not suitable for his image.

"I don't want to debut as another Asian actor who does some martial art. I want to play an independent role on an equal footing with other American actors in a Hollywood film", he said.

Lee received two casting proposals to play Asia's "James Bond", a main supporting role to top Hollywood actors, but he has not opted for such roles yet. The main reason was that he did not want to play ...| More

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