By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Ten rising South Korean filmmakers present seriocomic stories about money matters in the omnibus project "
Short! Short! Short! 2009": Show Me the Money.
As much as the opening film for the 10th Jeonju International Film Festival is about money, the tight budget for the project ($5,000 per director) is most palpable. The screaming individuality and experimentalism of each episode compensate, but commercial prospects seem slight and the flick will most likely find a small niche in arthouse cinemas.
The omnibus reel opens with
Choi Ik-hwan's one-cut flick "Our Last Words, Live". The "
Life is Cool" director offers a mock home video featuring two despairing young men, who, defrauded, bankrupt and about to get arrested for false charges, try to assert their innocence by recording their last words on tape before committing suicide. But life ― and death ― are often beyond one's control.
In "A Tip for Cigarettes" by Nam Da-jeon, a news reporter stages a story about teenage smoking. What seemed simple enough ― paying an underage smoker to act like she is askin...
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By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Debutant director
Park Dae-min brings a delicious mix of drama, comedy and adventure in "
Private Eye", which, moreover, paints rosy prospects for South Korean cinema as it signals the potential of homegrown detective films.
Set against the Japanese colonial period (1910-45), the movie invites viewers to hop on coolie-drawn carts and join an accidental Sherlock Holmes (
Hwang Jeong-min) in tracking down a serial killer on the loose.
If 2007's "
Shadows in the Palace" hinted at the possibility for an Agatha Christie-style suspense, "
Private Eye" promises something more solid, and perhaps even a serial franchise. It keeps things smart and intriguing rather than mind boggling or cryptic, and leads the audience half a step ahead in the cat and mouse game. The movie also manages to be entertaining without being too light ...
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"
A Tale of Legendary Libido" (Garoojigi), directed by
Sin Han-sol, is loosely based on "Byeon Gang-soe Tale", one of the most notoriously decadent and sexually provocative theatrical songs which took its current form in the late 19th century.
Byeon Gang-soe is a Joseon-era version of Austen Powers, as he has an amazing sexual energy. The original tale, transmitted by word of mouth, was documented and extensively edited by Shin Jae-hyo (1812-1884). Many of the explicit sexual descriptions were cut out in the process; nevertheless, the extant version contains imagery and expressions that are shockingly frank about sexuality, even by today's relatively liberal standards.
The challenges facing director Shin were obvious. First, the highly inflated and exaggerated metaphors throughout the risque story could not be easily revised for mainstream moviegoers, including s...
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'
The Show Must Go on' a vehicle for Korean star's amazing talent
Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)
Kang In-gu (
Song Kang-ho,
"The Host", "The
Secret Sunshine") is a middle-rank boss of a criminal gang. Recently, he is suffering from chronic fatigue, taken to falling asleep while caught in a traffic stop. His business is not exactly booming. His attractive wife Mi-ryung (
Park Ji-yeong) has had it with his broken promise to open a fruits and vegetables shop after washing his hands from racketeering and extortion business. His equally attractive teenage daughter Hee-soon (
Kim So-eun, "Someone behind Me") wishes he were dead. His supposed colleague Sang-jin (
Yoon Je-moon,
"The Host", again typecast as a mean thug) is looking for a chance to stick a knife in his gut, both figuratively and literally. The only sympathetic figure around him appears to be his childhood buddy Hyung-jin (
Oh Dal-soo,
"Old Boy") who now works for a rival gang.
"
The Show Must Go on" comes at ...
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By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Surefire hit maker
Song Kang-ho is back with a new film _ however, it is a gangster film, a genre that is now regarded as trite.
He said that the new film, "
The Show Must Go on", is different from other gangster films as it sheds light more on a man, a family man, rather than a member of a criminal gang.
"I tried to do my best to show a man in an ordinary world, rather than in a criminal circle", Song said Monday during a news conference at the Lotte Cinema in Chayang-dong, Seoul. "This man wants to lead an ordinary life with his family but his job makes it impossible".
Directed by ...
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