Failan (Movie - 2001)

Breathless and The Chaser win in Europe

Source | 2009/03/19 | 0 comments | Permalink |

YANG Ik-joon continued his victorious round along European film festivals. YANG's "Breathless" won four more awards over the weekend. Deauville Asian Film Festival awarded Breathless the Grand prix (best film) and the International critic's award.

At International Film Festival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria it were the actors who took the honours for "Breathless" with a Best actor (YANG Ik-joon) and Best actress award KIM Kkob-bi).

NA Hong-jin's "The Chaser" is still not running out of breath, this time adding the Best action Asia film award from Deauville to its impressive tally. Deauville categorised The Chaser in the Action Asia section.

It is the second year in a row for a Korean film to sweep the top honours at Deauville; last year Deauville crowned JEON Soo-il's "With a Girl of Black Soil" with the Grand prix and the International Critic's award.

Korean films enjoy a high reputation at Deauville, winning numerous awards in various categories. Deauville's top award wen...| More

'The Chaser' Is a Superb Thriller

Source | 2009/01/04 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Na Hong-jin's debut feature restores faith in Korean genre cinema
Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)

Jung-ho (Kim Yoon-seok, "Tazza: The High Rollers" - "The War of Flower") is a former cop turned pimp for a "massage parlor". He is convinced that a young, dorky customer Young-min (Ha Jeong-woo, recently on a roll, also excellent in US-lensed "Never Forever") has kidnapped and sold his "girls", including Mi-jin (Seo Yeong-hee). Unfortunately, what the cops uncover is far worse: Young-min is an impotent serial killer who uses a chisel and a hammer to slaughter his female victims. While the police investigation stumbles and takes detour, Jung-ho becomes increasingly aware that Young-min's latest victim, Mi-jin, is still alive somewhere, bleeding and bound: and that he is the only person who can rescue her.

"The Chaser" is the hands-down grittiest, snazziest and gutsiest Korean thriller of 2008, possibly in last three years or so. It is difficult to believe that this is a feature film debut fo...| More

Theater in 2008: 'Movical' Booms, 'Best Play Series' Hits

Source | 2008/12/16 | 0 comments | Permalink |

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

The economic recession that has affected almost every part of the world hasn't touched the local theater industry.

This year, musicals and plays have stayed afloat through their distinctive strategies.

The musical industry highly relied on producing movie-based musicals, called "movical" while the plays gained bigger popularity than ever through the success of "Yeongeuk Yeoljeon 2" (A Series of the Best Plays). The two genres also used a star-studded marketing strategy.

Musicals

The buzzword in this year's musical trend was "movical", referring to the combination of movies and musicals.

The boom in re-creating the cinematic arts on the musical stage draws from the success of hit films such as "Radio Star'", "The Harmonium in My Memory" and "200 Pounds Beauty".

It marks a big contrast from last year when homegrown blockbuster musicals such as "Dancing Shadows" and "Dae Jang Geum", were produced prolifically but without commercial su...| More

Lyon Asian Film Fest Awards Korean Films

Source | 2008/11/19 | 0 comments | Permalink |

The 14th Lyon Asian Film Festival ended its 5-day run November 9, closing with the French premiere of Korean film "The Chaser" by NA Hong-jin. Korean films won the majority of the 20 awards handed out at the closing ceremony.

KIM Dong-hyun's "Hello, Stranger" won third place in the Grand Prize category, and second place in both the Youth Prize and the New Asian Cinema Prize category. "Tropical" by LEE Sang-woo won third place also in the latter category.

In the Best Feature Animation section, "If You Were Me - Anima Vision 2" took third place prize. Prizes for short films went to animated short Stop by PARK Jae-wook, winning first prize, and "Sweat", a short by "The Chaser" director NA Hong-jin, which took second prize.

The festival also screened a retrospective on Korean actor CHOI Min-sik, showcasing five features from throughout the respected thespians film career. "Our Twisted Hero" (1992), "Failan" (2001), "Chihwaseon" ("Strokes of Fire", 2002), "Old Boy" (2003) an...| More

CHOI Min-sik retrospective at Lyon fest

Source | 2008/10/24 | 0 comments | Permalink |

The 14th Lyon Asian Film Festival will dedicate a retrospective to Korea's leading actor CHOI Min-sik. The French film festival holds the special program on 4 November. "Old Boy", "Strokes of Fire", "Failan", "Crying Fist", and "Our Twisted Hero" are selected from CHOI's filmography. CHOI is to attend the festival to meet fans and press.

CHOI is to return to cinemas next year with the indie film "Himalaya, Where the Wind Dwells". In JEON Soo-il's film, CHOI is the only Korean actor working with locally cast actors in Tibet. CHOI plays a factory owner who travels to Tibet with the remains of an immigrant worker who died in an accident to return him to his family.

CHOI has been absent from the big screen for three years. He was last seen in PARK Chan-wook's "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" in 2005. Since then he has been in the news while protesting against the screen quota cut as part of the Free Trade Agreement with the US.

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