A Dirty Carnival (2006) - 비열한 거리 (Bi-yeol-han Geo-ri)

2008/05/12 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

MBC's upcoming drama "Spotlight", which airs this Wednesday night, promises to bring back a bit of excitement to the small screen.

Following on the heels of its more-than-lackluster predecessor "Who Are You?", "Spotlight" focuses on the gritty and enterprising lives of city desk broadcast news reporters. The drama tracks one woman's rise to fame, from her struggles at the city desk to her eventual success as an anchorwoman.

With a plot like that, the success of "Spotlight" rides on the strength of its heroine and on its scripting.

And the script promises to be solid. The drama's writer Lee Ki-won possesses a finesse for drawing out the dark political power struggles that go on in the workplace. And his intense and cutthroat writing will play out well in the newsroom. Lee also wrote last year's hit medical drama "White Tower".

"I focused on the inner struggles that reporters face as humans", Lee said at a press conference held last week. "While there is romance, more importa...

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2008/04/04 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Writer/director KONG Soo-chang's latest film "The Guard Post" (GP506) opens on April 3. Like his previously directed film R-point, the film is a horror film situated in the military. This time the setting is the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.

JO Hyeon-jae and CHEON Ho-jin star in the horror film about a mysterious slaughtering at guard post 506 and the investigating team who gets trapped at the same guard post due to worsening weather. CHEON Ho-jin played in director YOO Ha's crime film "A Dirty Carnival" (Biyeorhan Geori) and alongside JEON Ji-hyeon in "Daisy". JO Hyeon-jae starred in "Untold Scandal" (Scandal).

KONG initially worked as a scenario writer. He wrote the scenario for the JANG Yoon-hyeon directed thriller "Tell Me Something" starring HAN Seok-kyu. He debuted as a director with "R-point" which unfolds in Cambodia where a Korean military unit is dispatched during the Vietnam War.

Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)...

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2008/04/04 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Among the new slate of talented young Korean directors, the brothers JEONG Beom-sik and JEONG Sik are among its leading exponents; the latest development around their debut film "Epitaph" (Gidam) is the sale of its distribution rights to North America (TLA Releasing), Hong Kong (Celestial Movies Channel) and Japan (CCRE) by Studio 2.0 at the Hong Kong Filmart.

Studio 2.0 also sold the rights of "Highway Star" (Bokmyeon Dalho), starring CHA Tae-hyeon, to Hong Kong (Celestial Movies Channel), China (H.G.C.) and Vietnam (Diamond Cinema). Animation "Aachi and Ssipak" was picked up by Spain's Notro and "Lovers of 6 Years" (Yooknyeonjjae Yeonae Joong) with KIM Ha-neul will be released in Vietnam (Diamond Cinema).

TLA Releasing describes its prized acquisition "Epitaph" as, "Beautifully lush, Korean supernatural, psychological horror", and, "A reinvention of Korean horror and moving it into a refreshingly, new direction". JIN Goo ("A Dirty Carnival"/Biyeorhan Geori), KIM Bo-kyeong ("W...

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2008/04/01 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Korean-American director Jieho Lee was better known in Korea for marrying star actress Kim Min, but recently made headlines near and far by making his feature film debut with five of Hollywood's top stars. Before "The Air I Breathe" opens across theaters here April 9, the 35-year-old met with the press Tuesday at a hotel in northern Seoul.

Lee expressed thanks for a warm reception, speaking in a mixture of Korean and English. "Working in Hollywood was a blessing and I had a lot of luck. There's no set path", he said.
"It took me a very long time. (Hollywood is) a very closed society and it's hard to break into that. The first thing that was important was that I wrote a script people responded to", he said.

"Air" is an omnibus-type film that explores four basic human emotions through four characters: happiness (Forest Whitaker), pleasure (Brendan Fraser), sorrow (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and love (Kevin Bacon). Andy Garcia, Lee's "favorite charact...

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2008/02/18 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

A mixed martial arts fighter plays a single father to his seven-year-old son in KBS's new drama "Single Dad in Love".

Set to air its first episode tonight, "Single Dad in Love" follows on the heels of the star-studded melodrama "Bad Love". And, unlike its melancholy predecessor, this comic drama promises to bring laughter into households nationwide with its talented cast and quirky plot.

"[This drama] is like a fairy tale that is filled with the warm laughter and love of people who want to build their own families", said director Moon Bo-hyeon.

And veteran actors Oh Ji-ho and Kang Seong-yeon, along with newcomer Heo I-jae, promise to give this fairy tale drama the levity and warmth it needs to have its happy ending.

Oh, 31, who won audiences over with his comic performance in MBC's drama "Fantastic Couple" (2006), now takes on the challenging role of Kang Poong-ho, a single father who ekes out a living for his small family as a mixed martial arts fighter.

But playing a s...

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