Lim Pil-seong (임필성)

Korean Films at the 12th PiFan

2008/07/18 | Source | Permalink |

The 12th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) kicks off this July 18 – 27 with the biggest line-up of genre films in Asia. Best of all are the return of high-profile Korean films to the fest and a warmer interaction with the local film industry after setbacks in previous years. KOFIC will again host a Korean film night event, this time an outdoor barbeque reception for guests during the festival.

Two Korean films will vie along with 10 foreign films in PiFan's main competition section Puchon Choice for a variety of cash awards including best feature. First is the critically praised sleeper hit "The Chaser" by NA Hong-jin. The tale of an ex-cop-turned-pimp on the trail of a prostitute-killer, made stars of its two leads, HA Jeong-woo and KIM Yoon-seok.

Also in this section is the World Premiere of new Korean horror, "Death Bell", by debut director CHANG. The HD feature is set in a high school where the brightest 20 students are struggling to survive as cla...| More

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BONG Joon-ho to Switch Pace with Crime-drama " Mother "

2008/02/05 | Permalink |

Director BONG Joon-ho, known best for his 2006 monster hit "The Host", which remains the top-grossing film of all time in Korea, will change gears on his next feature project, with a moving but hard-hitting crime-drama tentatively titled " Mother ". Presented at the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum, details of the new project are now available.

Budgeted at $US 5 million, the film centers on a devoted and determined mother up against incompetence and corruption in the police and legal system. When her shy, innocent son is accused of a horrible murder in their neighborhood and nothing can save him, she sets out to uncover the truth and prove his innocence.

The film is to be produced by Barunson Film Division, the company behind LIM Pil-seong's "Hansel and Gretel" and KIM Ji-woon's upcoming "The Good, The Bad, The Weird". BONG shares writing credits with PARK Eun-kyo. CHOI Jae-won is producer, having produced BONG's previous hit crime-thriller, "Memories of Murder".

N...| More

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"Hansel and Gretel" ends the year on a high

2008/01/02 | Source | Permalink |

Director Lim Pil-seong assembled a fine cast and a great team of experts, the result is a well-crafted film, finely calibrated on every level.

Production designer Ryoo Seong-hee's ("The Host", "A Bittersweet Life", "Memories of Murder", "Old Boy") fairy tale world is beautifully shot by director of photography KIM Jee-yong ("A Bittersweet Life"). The visual style is at times complemented and at times contrasted by the music of LEE Byeong-woo ("The King and the Clown", "Voice of Murderer"). The result is a warm fairy tale feeling; but some unsettling events are foreboded, tangibly in the air.

The palpable darker edges create tension early on and keep the viewers captivated. The child actors admirably sensed the particular atmosphere of the film and their awareness – in combination with acting skills – is another highly beneficial factor to the collaborative achievement that is "Hansel and Gretel".

The oldest of the three children is a boy with paranormal abilities played by E...| More

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A Selective View on 2007

2007/12/28 | Source | Permalink |

2007 offered some fine Korean films, although journalists had a tendency to focus on the decreased numbers and percentages for Korean films; "Driving with My Wife's Lover", "Hansel and Gretel", and "M" are – arguably – among this year's outstanding films.

The three films display diversity in Korean cinema and also interesting commonalities. In varying degrees they seize upon the opportunities offered to them by science in an imaginative way in order to explore different dimensions of reality.

We no longer see the world as that privileged place created by a god(s) for humans. Earth is part of the universe and obeys its laws. Subsequently, classical physics' clockwork universe has been challenged by Einstein's relativity and the 'strange' world of quantum physics.

Without applying the incorrect and dangerous notion that everything is relative, the curvature of space and time, and quantum physics' overthrowing of what used to be logical thinking according to the common Aristot...| More

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Cruel Innocence

2007/12/27 | Source | Permalink |

The production company, as well as its director Lim Pil-seong ("Antarctic Journal", 2004), was concerned that the movie was "not scary enough", and kept emphasizing that the movie does not belong to the "horror" genre.

They are right. The move due to open today, "Hansel and Gretel", has "sadness" as its main theme. The movie is a cruel fairy tale and shows a role reversal unlike the original tale of Hansel and Gretel that we know. In the original tale, a witch captured the children, while the movie is about children spooking grown-ups.

Eun-soo (Cheon Jeong-myeong) wakes up after getting lost in the middle of a forest. He comes across a girl named Yeong-hee (Sim Eun-kyeong) and she takes him to a house where her older brother Manbok (Eun Won-jae) and younger sister Jeong-soon (Jin Ji-hee) live along with their parents. He arrives in a picturesque house but there is something strange about the family. He cannot find his way out of the forest, even though he tries hard to.

Ryoo S...| More

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