Ryoo Seung-yong (류승용)

Korean shows picked at 'European Emmies'

2008/05/22 | Source | Permalink |

Five Korean programs have been nominated for awards at the 48th Monte-Carlo Television Festival.

Slated to run from June 8 to 12, the festival -- regarded as the European Emmies -- has been selecting the best of worldwide television programming since 1961, after it was founded by Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

This year, Korea is making its mark at this international event, receiving nominations for five out of eight programming categories.

Among the five nominations, MBC managed to nab three, with its cable series "BSG Police" (ByeolSunGeom) and drama "Coffee Prince" as strong contenders for the best TV series categories. Four "BSG Police" cast members -- Ryoo Seung-yong, On Joo-wan, Ahn Nae-sang and Park Hyo-joo -- are also up for the best outstanding actor and actress awards.

Cable series "BSG Police", a Korean take on CSI set in the Joseon Dynasty, was nominated for best drama, while the hit series "Coffee Prince", starring celebrities Yoon Eun-hye and Gong Yoo, nabbed a...| More

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"My Love" Is Loathsomely Sweet

2007/12/20 | Source | Permalink |

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

"My Love" is a montage film that weaves together four different love stories like the popular romantic comedy "Love Actually". If the British flick is like a mosaic of thoughts on love, this homegrown family drama is more like a hand-knit scarf ― fuzzy, warm and a bit tickly. Those who are in the mood for something sappy will love it, whereas humbugs will find it loathsomely sweet.

Set during summertime, "My Love" brings together characters from different parts of Seoul in time for a solar eclipse. Ju-won (Choi Kang-hee) is an eccentric ― and slightly sadistic ― artist who takes pleasure in teasing her subway engineer boyfriend Se-jin (Kam Woo-seong): At one point, a wardrobe malfunction has poor Se-jin standing, boxers-exposed, while giving Ju-won a piggyback in the subway. A few years later, Ju-won has left him, but he discovers that traces of their love remain.

For college student So-hyeon (Lee Yeon-hee), it was love at fir...| More

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[MOVIE REVIEW] 'My Love' nowhere near 'Love Actually'

2007/12/13 | Source | Permalink |

"My Love" attempts to mimic the famous romantic comedy formula set by "Love Actually" (2003), and the effort itself deserves some attention because the Christmas holiday season is just around the corner, and young Korean couples are keen to watch sweet, feel-good films with the snow falling.

"My Love" has some common grounds with "Love Actually". Obviously, as the title suggests, its target audiences as well as screening time are already set at around the year-end. Both films present multiple couples. But that's the end of the tenuous similarities, and everything else in "My Love" is dramatically inferior to those featured in "Love Actually".

In fact, Lee Han, who has directed "My Love", has some credentials when it comes to romantic comedy in the domestic film market. He previously made romantic features such as "Lovers' Concerto" (2002) and "Almost Love" (2006). But Lee is not Richard Curtis, a master of romantic comedy who made "Love Actually" and wrote "Four Weddings and a Fu...| More

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Actors Keep "Eleventh Mom" Afloat

2007/11/29 | Source | Permalink |

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

When you have a classic storyline and an amazing cast of top-notch actors, what can possibly go wrong? While a movie can go terribly off beam, fine acting can sometimes keep a film from drowning completely.

"Eleventh Mom", is a conventional tearjerker. Director Kim Jin-seong ("Surprise", 2002) spices up the family genre a bit by throwing in some novel ingredients that work surprisingly well in the beginning. But the rest of the film goes sour ― rather than sweetly heart-wrenching ― and forcibly squeezes out tears.

Jae-su leads a cruel life for an 11-year-old. His father (Ryoo Seung-yong) is an abusive, gambling and jobless wreck of a guy, so the little boy has learned to survive on his own, cooking or carefully spending his food stamps and running a string of part-time jobs.

One day, his father shows up with a woman (Kim Hye-soo). Apparently used to the comings and goings of such transient mother figures ― this one being the...| More

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Kim Hye-soo is Eleventh Mom

2007/11/20 | Source | Permalink |

A woman with bad health and a broken bank account lived just to pity herself, until she met a young boy who had it worse than she did.

The woman is the 11th mother for the boy, whose stepmothers had come and gone after the death of his real mother. "Eleventh Mom", to be released on November 29, is a film about the bonding between a stepmother and stepson, each of whom insists they are more pathetic. The mother is played by actress Kim Hye-soo.

During the filming of "The War of Flower", Kim accidentally came across a script that was originally meant for another actress. Kim Jin-seong, director of the movie "Eleventh Mom", was brainstorming for a low-budget film under 500 million won at that time, but didn't have a specific production plan. Kim then politely suggested herself as the female lead even while thinking, "Production won't be easy". As luck would have it, she was given the part. Ryoo Seung-yong and Hwang Jeong-min joined the cast, and Kim Young-chan, who played Kim Jeong-...| More

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