| 5 Directors Explore Sensuality in 'Eros' |
2009/07/02 |
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Amid the high tide of summer action movies, five star directors are bringing a modest omnibus project with a different sensibility.
"Five Senses of Eros", each depicting unique aspects of sensuality and sexuality, as well as featuring a host of high-profile actors, will provide moviegoers with a more colorful audiovisual experience.
Contrary to expectations, the five shorts don't deal with each of the five senses, nor are they pure erotica. Rather, participating filmmakers experiment with a distinct language and style, be it B-rate comedy or subtle melodrama, to deliver deliciously short episodes about human desire and its perceived complexities ― or basic simplicity.
Daniel H. Byun (Byeon Hyeok, "The Scarlet Letter") opens "Eros" with a stylish urban romance about the thrills of chance encounters and first dates. "His Concern" unfolds like a live journal ― or a guy's version of chick lit ― as it follows the stream of consci... |More
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| 3rd French-Korean Film Festival in Paris (Source) |
2008/12/09 |
The third edition of the French-Korean Film Festival will take place in Paris, Dec 17 – 23, at Cinema Action Christine. This year's selection includes NA Hong-jin's hit thriller "The Chaser" and KIM Dong-won's documentary of Japan's forcible conscription of 'comfort women' during the wars, "63 Years On".
A special retrospective will be held on female director LIM Soon-rye, showcasing four of her films. Her 2008 hit "Forever the Moment" will screen along with previous gem "Waikiki Brothers" (2001), and two shorts, "The 'Weight' of Her" from 2003 omnibus "If You Were Me", and "Keeping the Vision Alive", a 2002 documentary.
Other highlights include SONG Il-gon's one-take no-cut drama "The Magicians", YOON Seong-ho's debut comedy, "Milky Way Liberation Front", HWANG Kyoo-deok's fantasy-drama "For Eternal Hearts", MIN Byong-hoon's clerical drama "Pruning the Grapevine" and PARK Joon-beom's "Dodari".
A total of 16 Korean films will screen during the event. Director SONG Il-go... |More
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| Dreamless Drifters Take 'Nowhere' Far (Source) |
2008/08/14 |
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
There's no breathtaking drama or enlightening moral message, nor does it feature something ingeniously surreal as one might expect in an independent movie. Nevertheless, "Nowhere to Turn" by Lee Seung-yeong is a small gem of a film that shows the art of simplicity and the hallmark of creativity only possible in low-budget projects.
This coming-of-age drama finally meets the larger public since premiering at the 2007 Pusan (Busan) International Film Festival (PIFF). The 29-year-old director writes "youth" all over it: mellow music by indie band 'Sogyumo Acacia Band' heightens the narrative and fresh faces portray unforgettably forgettable, antiheroic personas. While digitally shot, the movie's audiovisuals are surprisingly polished (fine touches by top cineastes like Jo Min-ho and Go Nak-seon) and veteran actors play hilarious cameo roles.
Soo-yeon (Cha Soo-yeon) is an unemployed 26-year-old college graduate unable to abandon her dreams to become... |More
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| [Talk of the town] "Kung Fu Panda" kicks his way into the spotlight (Source) |
2008/06/25 |
Po (Jack Black), the obese and lazy panda in Mark Osborne and John Stevenson's animated film, "Kung Fu Panda", is now a star.
According to the Korean Film Council, the film attracted some 3.31 million Korean viewers as of last weekend, since its release on June 5.
Past animated films that attracted as many viewers were "Shrek 2" (2006), with some 3.3 million, and "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004), with 3 million.
While Kung Fu Panda ranked second at the box office last week, Kang Woo-seok's action-thriller "Public Enemy Returns", released last Thursday, ranked first. It attracted 1.3 million viewers in three days, according to the council.
Meanwhile, for those moviegoers hoping to see more Korean films on the big screen among Hollywood blockbusters like "Incredible Hulk" and "Sex and the City", wait till next month.
These films are on standby director Kim Ji-woon's "The Good, the Bad, the Weird", Lee Joon-ik's "Sunny" and Kwak Gyeong-taek's "Eye For and Eye" ("Eye For and Ey... |More
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| Art Film Showcase 2008 to screen in Japan (Source) |
2008/03/06 |
For the second year in a row, four Korean arthouse films will be presented to audiences in Japan through the Art Film Showcase in Tokyo. The eight-week series of screenings is sponsored by KOFIC and the Image Forum arthouse theater in Tokyo.
The showcase is an effort to introduce Japanese viewers to a wider spectrum of Korean cinema by presenting high quality works that would otherwise not receive a theatrical release in Japan. Each selected film will screen for two weeks in relay fashion.
The Art Film Showcase 2008 will open on March 8 with a screening of JEON Soo-il's "With a Girl of Black Soil" (2007). The film originally premiered in the Horizons section of the 2007 Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Art Cinema CICAE Award and the Lina Mangiacapre Award. The film tells the story of a single father who loses his job in a coal mine.
On March 22, NOH Dong-seok's "Boys of Tomorrow" (2006) will open its run. The story of two young men who struggle to ... |More
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