Lee Kyoo-man (이규만)

'White Tower' Fans Will Remain 'Wide Awake' ("Return")

2008/03/12 | Source | Permalink |

Kim Myeong-min enlivens a solid medical thriller

By Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

"Wide Awake" ("Return") takes a real-life medical mystery, "intra-operative awareness" -- patients who remain fully conscious (and responsive to pain) but paralyzed during operations -- and weaves a revenge-themed mystery plot around it.

(Intra-operative awareness takes place shockingly more often than people realize. A North American survey claims that approximately 20,000 to 40,000 surgery patients suffer through it every year, with 30 percent of them feeling acute pain.)

The film opens with a young boy completely traumatized by his heart operation, the experience of feeling a scalpel cutting into his chest, a bone saw whine-grinding into his sternum and a doctor fingering through the insides of his body. Despite the boy's tearful protestations, no one believes him: it's 1980s Korea, after all.

Twenty-five years later, the doctors and nurses who had operated on him begin to die mysteriously.
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Korean films' diverse genres pursue summer season niche

2007/07/23 | Source | Permalink |

With the crucial summer season in full swing, Korean filmmakers are getting ready to mount counterattacks against Hollywood blockbusters in August. This time around, what is noticeable is Korean films' strategic discretion in selecting and diversifying genres.

In recent years, a handful of the so-called Korean blockbusters clashed with American counterparts, only to end up with not-so-spectacular results. "The Host", for instance, garnered a rare success at box office, while the majority of hit wannabes withered helplessly.

To find some niche ground and increase the odds for survival, major films releasing in August zoom in on selective genres such as sex, monster and horror. Of course, these genres are hardly groundbreaking, but considering the uniformity in genres of Korean films during the past summer seasons, the latest penchant for diverse genres is a welcome development.

"Temptation of Eve", for example, is not aiming to hit it big at box office. This four-piece ("Tempta...| More

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