Actor
Cha In-pyo has formed a musical group, the "Compassion Band", comprised of more than 120 members to help poor children around the world.
By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter
While Hollywood's Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are busy saving the world through charity donations, Korea's famous stars are also opening their wallets and doling out their talents to help the needy.
Actor
Cha In-pyo and his wife, actress
Sin Ae-ra, have been supporting underprivileged children around the world for the past several years though Compassion International, a child support orgainzation. They have even formed a musical group, the "Compassion Band", comprised of more than 120 members.
With the help of fellow stars including singer Hwang Bo, celebrity couple
Jeong Hye-yeong...
More46th Annual Daejong Film Awards Nominees
- Best Movie:
"Take Off",
"Mother - 2009", "
The Divine Weapon", "
Sky and Sea",
"Haeundae"
- Best Director :
Kim Yong-hwa (
"Take Off"),
Yoon Je-kyoon (
"Haeundae"),
Jeon Yoon-soo ("
Portrait of a Beauty"),
Jeong Gi-hoon (
"Ae-ja"),
Bong Joon-ho (
"Mother - 2009")
- Best Actor :
Kim Myeong-min ("
Closer to Heaven"),
Kim Yoon-seok (
Running Turtle),
Seol Kyeong-gu (
"Haeundae"),
Jeong Jae-yeong ("
The Divine Weapon"),
Ha Jeong-woo (
"Take Off")
- Best Actress :
Kim Min-seon ("
Portrait of a Beauty"),
Kim Hye-ja (
"Mother - 2009"),
Soo-ae (
"Sunny"),
Jang Nara ("
Sky and Sea"),
Choi Kang-hee (
"Ae-ja")
- Best Supporting Actor :
Kim In-kwon (
"Haeundae"),
Jin Goo (
"Mother - 2009"),
Jeong Kyeong-ho (
"Sunny"),
Jang Geun-seok ("
The Case of Itaewon Homicide"),
Kim Nam-gil ("
Modern Boy")
- Best Supporting Actress :
Kim Bo-yeon ("...
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Howard Shumann rates
"Mother - 2009" by
Bong Joon-ho an A. Editor's Note
After a night of drinking, Do Joon (
Won Bin), an intellectually-challenged young man, encouraged by his reckless buddy Jin-tae (
Jin Goo), attempts to pick up a young high school girl Ah-jung walking home alone. Shockingly, the next day, Do Joon is arrested for the girl's murder as his mother looks on helplessly. Seen at the Vancouver Film Festival,
Bong Joon-ho's Mother is an intelligent, suspenseful, and darkly comic revelation of the lengths to which an overbearing but deeply loving mother will go to pursue justice for her son who, she believes, has been wrongly convicted of murder.
Though there is an evocative score by ...
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By Kyu Hyun Kim
Kim Hye-ja marvels in an overwhelming thriller
Small country town, Korea. Do-joon (
Won Bin, returning to the screen after four years of military service) is a pretty-faced young man, treated as a village idiot and perpetually causing minor havoc with his ne'er-do-well friend Jin-tae (
Jin Goo). Do-joon's devoted mother Hye-ja (
Kim Hye-ja) is left to clean up the aftermath.
Then one day everyone is stunned to find Do-joon arrested for the murder of a high school girl Ah-jung (
Moon Hee-ra). The evidence seems incontrovertible, but Hye-ja launches her own awkward investigation into the murder case, hoping to nab the real culprit. However, everyone in the town, including Hye-ja and Doo-jun themselves, seems to harbor some dark secret, threatened to be uncovered by her sleuthing.
While the film's plot and set-up superficially resemble Bong's based-on-real-life police procedural "
Memories of Murder",
"Mother - 2009" is even more emotionally shocking and devilishly manipulative of the viewer's expectations.
Director Bong spares no authority figure in his searing indictment of contemporary Korean society, all the more effective due to the black-comic tone it assu...
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By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
"Mother - 2009", coming to theaters May 28, had its world premiere at the 62nd Cannes International Film Festival. Variety magazine was not kidding when it said the
Bong Joon-ho film was "unjustly denied a competition berth" in the prestigious French event.
The film is certainly not as edgy as "
Memories of Murder" nor does it have the mainstream appeal of the blockbuster
"The Host".
But, featuring South Korea's symbolic
Kim Hye-ja as a mom with a formidable mission and heartthrob
Won Bin in the improbable role of her vulnerable "baby", Bong brings an arresting tale that is at once quintessentially Korean yet universally classic, and uniquely visionary.
Complete with composer ...
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