Actress Lee Na-young is unique. She has a strong individuality as an actress in movies--showing hesitating attitudes, speaking in a low mumble, and expressing emotions through her eyes.
For Lee, portraying unrequited love is her specialty. Lee shows her personality well through the movies "Please Teach Me English" and "Some Special". She played Young-ju, who secretly loves Mun-su (Jang Hyeok), in "Please Teach Me English" (2002, Director: Kim Seong-su), and Han E-yeon, who loves Dong Chi-sung for 10 years, in the movie "Someone Special".
Now, Lee Na-young once again plays a character who hesitates to express her love. The character that she plays cannot easily express her feelings due to being a transsexual....More
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
The past year represented hope and revitalization for Korean cinema. While problems such as piracy linger on, the forecast for 2010 cinema appears promising with diverse projects in the making.
Cineastes are finding inspiration from the past and are bringing remakes of Korean classics as well as unique period movies. Big action flicks are gearing up for the 60th anniversary of the Korean War (1950-53) while much-anticipated sequels will cater to fans. Furthermore, a couple of Hollywood projects will head here for shoots.
2009 in Review
Both commercial blockbusters and unique indie films pulled the industry out of a three-year slump and cineastes made their mark near and far.
Kim Choung-ryoul's documentary
"Old Partner" rewrote box-office history for the genre, while
Yang Ik-joon's
"Breathless" made waves by sweeping almost two dozen prizes at international festivals.
Park Chan-ok's low-budget drama
"Paju" was well-received among critics and moviegoers and the micro-budget road movie "
Daytime Drinking" gained popularity near and far.
The positivity peaked in the summer. The success of the sports movie
"Take Off" fed directly into the big-time box office scores set by the tsunami blockbuster
"Haeundae", which drew over 10 million audience members in Korea for the first time in three years since
"The Host" in 2006.
Stars shined strongly through the big screen. Korean actors debuted in foreign works, most notably
Lee Byeong-Heon in "G.I. Joe" and
Rain in "
Ninja Assassin", while
Kim Myeong-min made headlines for shedding 20 kilograms for his role in "
Closer to Heaven".
Celebrity directors also made long-awaited returns.
Park Chan-wook revisited the Cannes Festival with his vampire flick
"Thirst" while
Bong Joon-ho made a splash with the thriller
"Mother - 2009".
On the flip side, illegal online distributions of
"Haeundae", before its release in Chinese theaters, and of
"Thirst", before DVD sales opened in the United States, led to big financial blows and signaled the red light on piracy. The country's top stars, including
Jang Dong-gun and
Kim Tae-hee, stepped up as representatives for the anti-piracy campaign: "Good Downloader".
Meanwhile, imported 3D movies tapped into the local theater market. While the number of theaters catering to the genre remains relatively small, there seems to be growing reception for 3D films. Animations such as "Monster vs. Aliens" and "Up" drew family audiences while "Avatar", new in theaters, has drawn over 1 million audiences in the shortest timeframe among 2009 films.
2010 Forecast
Back to Classics
During Korean cinema's Golden Age of the 1960s, well over 100 films rolled out per year (more than 200 from 1968 to 1969), and cineastes are finding inspiration in films from that time. Classics never go out of style, and next year, "The House...
MoreKOFIC (chairperson KANG Han-sup) is commencing two events in order to revitalize the film interchange between Korea and China.
First of the two events is '2008 Korea-China Business Campus' which will take place from Thursday, November 13 to Monday, November 17, over the course of 5 days. The event will mainly focus on the process of sharing films as well as co-production opportunities. This event first took place in 2006 in China, and then moved to Pusan International Film Festival in 2007 as a forum format, thus making this year's event second edition to be held in Korea. First annual event focused on the effect of Korean manpower and resources in Chinese film industry, while the current Business Campus will concentrate on not only the further advancements of above but how Korea and China can collaborate on projects that promote exchange of resources between the two countries. The event will hold pitching/mentoring sessions, seminars, business meetings for producers, production/post-production/special effects staff members as well as personnel from other technical fields looking for more participation from both countries. Genesis CEO JEONG Julian Tae-sung (former COO of Showbox/Mediaplex, Inc.) and Chungeorahm Film CEO
MoreBy Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
The domestic film industry has had its eye on overseas markets and is introducing novelty by casting foreign actors in their works.
Musicals are now doing the same.
The 2001 Korean film "
Failan" starred Chinese actress
Cecilia Cheung and Korean actor Choi Min-shik. This year, Yin You Can, 22, was selected as the female lead out of 50 finalists at an audition in Beijing.
The musical "
Failan" will open Sept. 11 in Seoul's Daehangno district.
"It was a big challenge for me to come to Korea as I was doing plays and TV dramas in China. But I thought I shouldn't m...
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