Kwon Chil-in (권칠인)

New York Korean Film Festival this August

2008/07/18 | Source | Permalink |

The seventh edition of the New York Korean Film Festival is set to run August 22 – 31. Sponsored by KOFIC and The Korea Society, the event will screen more than 15 recent Korean features, of which 14 have been finalized for the line-up.

Highlights include one of the top-grossing Korean films of 2008, "Forever the Moment", a sports-redemption-themed film directed by LIM Soon-rye and starring MOON So-ri and KIM Jeong-eun. Other 2008 releases in the line-up are "Hellcats" by KWON Chil-in, "Once Upon a Time" by JEONG Yong-ki, "Open City" by LEE Sang-gi, "Spare" by LEE Seong-han, and the Korea-Japanese co-production "Virgin Snow" starring LEE Joon-ki and Aoi Miyazaki.

Films in the program from 2007 include such high-profile films as the Chosun-set popular tale, "Hwangjin-y - Movie - 2007", starring SONG Hye-kyo, the Kwang-ju-set historical tragedy, May 18th, a Chosun-set tale of high stakes cooking, "Le Grand Chef", and Daniel Henney vehicle and tear-jerker, "My Father".

Othe...| More

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"Hellcats" Is Charmingly Off-Tune

2008/01/17 | Source | Permalink |

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Puberty, angst-ridden youth and menopause, first kisses, marriage and a Demi Moore-Ashton Kutcher-type romance. Director Kwon Chil-in dishes out an endearingly off-key romantic comedy "Hellcats" as he traces the lives and loves of three ladies at different stages of womanhood.

While the particular age of these ladies is their defining trait, the movie is no Klimt painting mapping out the "Three Ages of Woman".

It's a classic commercial flick that boasts mass appeal with its tactful casting, trend-spotting ploys and elements of fantasy. But there are nevertheless pleasant surprises that fill in for the holes of the loosely structured script, making it rather believable and even slightly touching.

First off, the movie unfolds, out of all places, in a crumby, third-rate motel room. In her less-than-fortunate "office", 27-year Ah-mi (Kim Min-hee) spends her birthday typing away the 17th draft of a hellish movie script she's been working on for th...| More

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KWON Chil-in returns with modern day relation drama

2008/01/09 | Source | Permalink |

Director KWON Chil-in previously helmed "A Good Day to Fall in Love" and "Singles". His latest film "Hellcats" also deals with romantic relationships and features three modern women who struggle when it comes to dating men. AHN So-hee of the popular girls band Wonder Girls makes her film debut as a high school girl. Her single mother is played by LEE Mi-sook and KIM Min-hee portrays the mother's younger sister.

KIM's character is a struggling film scenario writer, who has to choose between her poor boyfriend and a rich Korean-American suitor who wants to marry her and take her to the U.S., and has a hard time quitting smoking.

LEE is décor designer of a theatre group. She starts an affair with a younger man, an actor from the theatre group. Despite the actor's serious intentions, she keeps her distance, while she obsessively exercises to stay in shape.

AHN's high school character is pursuing her first kiss from a boy she fancies, but is suddenly faced by the fact that she is ...| More

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[MOVIE REVIEW] 'Hellcats' rejects men, holds girl-only party

2008/01/07 | Source | Permalink |

Killing wimpy men in a chick film is lots of fun. "Hellcats" (Ddeugeoun geotsi joa), a girls-only initiation drama, follows the feminist formula faithfully, but does not go the full nine yards; no guys ends up shot. Instead, the gals toy with the emasculated Korean men -- in and outside of bed.

The movie, to be released on Jan. 17, is chiefly concerned with the three representative women (or girls, if you like). The narrator is A-mi (Kim Min-hee), a twenty-something screenwriter who has yet to create her debut feature, and struggles with a deadbeat boyfriend whose prospect as a professional rocker seems slim, at best.

And in the bit-mature, quasi-womanly stage is her big sister Young-mi (Lee Mi-sook), a middle-aged, almost workaholic interior designer who gets entangled with a far younger boyfriend.

Making up the three-way girly scheme is Young-mi's daughter Kang-ae (Ahn So-hee), a sexually confused high school girl who wants her boyfriend to act more manly -- for instance, by...| More

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LEE Mi-sook, KIM Min-hee cast in new film

2007/04/12 | Source | Permalink |

Acclaimed actress LEE Mi-sook has signed on to her first new project since the 2003 drama "...ing".

LEE first emerged as a star in the 1980s in films such as BAE Chang-ho's box-office hit "Whale Hunting" and LEE Doo-yong's "Mulberry Tree". After retiring from the cinema for close to a decade, she made a highly-praised return in 1998 in LEE Jae-yong's "An Affair". More recently, she won local awards for her performance in the period drama "Untold Scandal" (2003).

In her new film she will be joined by actress KIM Min-hee ("Asako in Ruby Shoes", "Surprise Party") in the second feature by director KWON Chil-in, who enjoyed a box-office hit with "Singles" in 2003. The film focuses on the work and love lives of three women of various generations.

LEE plays the fortysomething single mom Young-mi, who balances a professional career and an active love life. KIM takes on the role of Ami, a woman in her twenties who must decide between two men played by KIM Heung-soo and KIM Sung-...| More

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