Christine is having dinner with her boyfriend Clay and his parents at their home. On their plates are pieces of homemade cake that Christine brought as a gift for Clay's parents. Christine is uneasy because she has been suffering ominous hallucinations from time to time ever since she was cursed by an old gypsy woman. As she feared, strange noises begin to scratch Christine's ears again, and the middle of the piece of cake on her plate starts to pulse. She cautiously digs into the cake with her fork and discovers an eye of the gypsy woman staring back at her! Christine, stifling a scream, aggressively stabs the cake with her fork.
This is a scene from the American horror movie "Drag Me to Hell", which was released here this summer. The scene reminds me of the work of Sam Raimi, whose horror movies include the famous "Evil Dead" series and creatively combine both horror and black humor. But I also think the scene with the eye in the cake might have been influenced by a painting by Belgian surrealist artist Rene Magritte (1898-1967).
The painting, titled "Portrait" (1935), depicts a seemingly ordinary table setting with a thin slice of ham on a plate. But in the middle of the piece of ham there's a large eye staring at us, the viewers. Our...
MoreCJ/CGV, Korea's leading cinema chain, announced a 49.1% domestic market share for Korean films in May. Of the 16,322,551 million visitors, 8,018,465 people bought tickets to a Korean film. It is the highest May record for Korean cinema since 2005.
Since 2005, the highest percentage for Korean films in May was in 2006 when Korean films captured a 36.1% market share. Last year May, Korean films accounted for merely 7.8% of the box office.
50% of the top ten most popular films were Korean. ...
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The Korean comedy movie "
My Girlfriend is an Agent" (directed by
Sin Tae-ra and produced by Harimao Pictures) is off to an impressive start.
The production costs of "
My Girlfriend is an Agent" amounted to 4.2 billion won, which is quite a lofty amount given the low-budget trend these days. But just 19 days since its opening, it has already drawn more than 2.4 million viewers – the break-even point, according to the production company's estimates.
Since week one, "
My Girlfriend is an Agent" has maintained its edge even despite a number of Hollywood blockbusters that opened, including "Knowing", "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and "Star Trek XI". During the third week, it even beat ...
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By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Don't be discouraged by the rather familiar plotline or the tacky English title. This reporter had been expecting the worst for what appeared to be a spin-off of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", but
Sin Tae-ra's buoyant spy romance "My Girlfriend Isn't an Agent" is a promising asset to the South Korean romantic comedy genre.
It's predictable and cliched, but features some surprisingly good B-rate laughter, winning the audience with a series of small but tactile tickles rather than a big K.O. After dabbling with blood in the slasher film "
Black House", the director returns with something more digestible, while actors
Kim Ha-neul and
Kang Ji-hwan make their mark on the silver screen.
Following a few mediocre franchises, Kim reclaims...
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Actress
Kim Ha-neul has said that she is excited about trying her hand at playing an action character. She has been cast in the upcoming film "
My Girlfriend is an Agent".
The spy comedy is directed by
Sin Tae-ra and the male lead is played by
Kang Ji-hwan. The story is about two secret agents who fall in love while hiding their profession from each other. The film is scheduled for a 2009 release.
Kim Ha-neul was in cinemas earlier this year with the melodrama "...
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