Min Ji-hye (민지혜)

'Beautiful Sunday' at the Park Inferno

2008/06/19 | Permalink |

Park Yong-woo gives it all in a convoluted thriller

Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

Well, here is another Korean movie that you suspect that the title (the Korean-language moniker, too, is the English phrase "Beautiful Sunday") was meant to be heavily ironic, given that it involves a police detective who gradually sinks into the cesspool of corruption and moral confusion in order to pay medical bills for his comatose wife, and an uber-creep who rapes a woman and then marries her later, hiding his true identity. "Beautiful Sunday", indeed.

Detective Kang (Park Yong-woo, "My Scary Girl", "Blood Rain") is making deals with scumbag drug lords, marked for death by his arch-enemy Sang-tae (Kim Dong-ha), falling asleep at a stakeout, and otherwise unraveling at the seams. His colleagues openly question his motives, and the sympathetic department chief can do only so much for him. In a separate stand of...| More

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Korean musicals licensed to Japanese firms

2007/07/26 | Source | Permalink |

PMC Production, one of the country's major musical producers, sold the licenses of two homegrown musicals to production companies in Japan, it said in a statement released Monday.

PMC, led by actor-turned-producer Song Seung-hwan, concluded a $147,000 contract with Japan's Shochiku, which allows the Japanese production company to use the contents and music of the musical "Great Janggeum". It also signed a one-year contract with Amuse, one of the major entertainment companies in Japan, for use of characters and contents of the Korean musical "Dalgona".

This is the first case of Korean musicals being exported overseas and adapted for local versions.

"Great Janggeum" is a musical adaptation of the major hit MBC drama "Dae Jang Geum", which has been recently staged in local theaters. It follows the same storyline as the TV drama that portrays a woman who serves at a palace cooking for the royal family during the Joseon Dynasty.

However, Shochiku, PMC's Japan partner, is to tran...| More

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Actor Park Yong-woo

2007/03/22 | Source | Permalink |

Jin Kwang-gyo, director of the film "Beautiful Sunday": What was the most difficult scene to film in "Beautiful Sunday"?

"I'd say it was the scene where I meet Nam Goong-min at the end of the film. Although it was the most important scene, where the intensity of emotion reached its climax, it was shot during the early stages of filming. I wasn't sure whether or not it was right".

Seok Myeong-hong, CEO of Cineline, the production company of "Beautiful Sunday": Have you ever regretted rejecting an offer to star in a film?

"Many times. Some films became very successful while others didn't. I don't want to name the titles. Some people call it destiny which repeatedly torments actors. There is no correct answer and regretting does not do any good. However, the success of a film does not last forever".

Shin Gyeong-ho, Director of Star Park – management agency of Park Yong-woo: You have been driving your car for eight years? Would you like to sell it to me at a low price? And how ...| More

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[MOVIE REVIEW] 'Beautiful Sunday' not fit for its beautified title

2007/03/15 | Source | Permalink |

Jin Kwang-gyo's "Beautiful Sunday" pretends to be a detective-mob thriller, delving into an underground power struggle, and with police colluding with gangsters, drug trafficking and conspiracies. But the real message is so inadequately delivered that audiences leave the theater feeling more bewilderment than sympathy.

The movie starts with a seemingly routine drug bust at an anonymous port, and Kang (Park Yeong-woo), a police detective, is the point man. Rolling his eyeballs wildly, he sips a bottle of liquor before racing frantically to the crime scene.

What follows is a series of fist-fighting and chase scenes, with kicks and punches flying all over the place. A big chunk of the illegal drugs, however, ends up in the wrong hands - it turns out that Kang has a secret deal with another mob group.

Kang is not a hopelessly corrupt police detective, however. He has to care of his wife, who is in hospital with a coma. The medical bills are mounting and he needs more money, regard...| More

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