Friend (2001) - 친구 (Chin-goo)

2008/04/03 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

It seems we will meet "Friend", which premiered in 2001 and drew 8 million viewers, on television.

The production company is planning to produce "Friend" as a drama, and director Kwak Kyung-taek will hold the megaphone once more. "Friend" drew a lot of popularity from the start, left many catchphrases, and allowed Jang Dong-gun to officially rise up in stardom.

Jang Dong-gun and Yoo Oh-seong starred with strong Pusan accents and captivated audiences with their acting. The drama will cast stars with other styles but the list, of course, includes top stars.

Who will be the actors who receive judgment for following in Jang Dong-gun and Yoo Oh-seong's footsteps?

We cannot exclude Jang Dong-gun, who has worked with Director Kwak Gyeong-tae in "Typhoon" and "Friend". However, it doesn't seem likely that Jang Dong-gun will star in the drama after starring in the movie.

Because many directors work with actors they've already worked with, there is a possibility of Joo Jin-mo, who...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2008/03/21 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

In the last few years, Korean films, TV dramas and pop music have become immensely popular abroad, a phenomenon known as the Korean Wave. This is the 25th in a series of essays by a select group of scholars and journalists looking at the spread of Korean pop culture in Southeast Asian countries and beyond. - Ed.

"Hallyu", or the Korean Wave, marks the long overdue re-emergence of Korean culture into the global arena. Korean culture's newfound international vogue situates South Korean cinema, TV melodramas, K-pop, and computer games as active participants in the transformation of world culture.

These "domestic" electronic audio-visual cultural creations are no longer limited to just the Korean peninsula and the global Korean diaspora despite that they are produced in the Korean language - a language that is not one of the globalized imperial languages such as English, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese.

Despite this linguistic barrier, hallyu is now a recognized agent of gl...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2008/03/20 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

In the star-studded gangster film "Fate", friends become foes and "pretty" actors get rough. Actor-turned-director Kim Hae-gon casts hallyu TV stars Kwon Sang-woo ("Stairway to Heaven") and Song Seung-heon ("Autumn in my Heart") and other familiar faces to play unfamiliar roles.

"Fate" is a quintessential commercial flick that feeds on star power, provocative action and melodrama. While weak storytelling and exhausting running time wane the fun, the actors' engaging performances fill in the missing links.

In the dark criminal world of Seoul, U-min (Song), Cheol-jung (Kwon), Do-wan (Kim In-kwon) and Yeong-hwan (Ji Seong) are close friends in a gang. One day, with the help of an older member Gang-seop (Ahn Nae-seong), U-min, Cheol-jung and Do-wan attack the gang's casino so they can start new lives. But their plan goes awry when Cheol-jung betrays them, and U-min goes to prison. He becomes the scapegoat to save his friends' lives.

After serving...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

2008/02/07 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

What is a common thing between Yoon Eun-hye, "Rain", Han Ye-seul, Jo Seung-woo and Kim Ah-joong? They have all became big stars through 'substitute casting'. On 13th, the cable channel's Story On's 'Cover story' deals with those 'substitute casts' who earned their roles over their original casts and made a big hits.

The recent example is Yoon Eun-hye from drama "Coffee Prince" who literary was a centre of attention during the course of the drama. Initially, the role was first suggested to Kim Ah-joong but she was under an exclusive contract with a shampoo company and a contract term states that she maintains long hair until the contract finishes. So the role was given to Yoon Eun-hye, who was prepared to cut her hair short for the role.

Last year's big issue, "Fantastic Couple"'s Jo An-na, Han Ye-seul, was also a substitute cast of Uhm Jung-hwa who refused the role due to her busy schedule from releasing her 9th album at the time. Despite the fact, Han Ye-seul brought out the ...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?

go guyz! jan 2008-04-18 07:32:43

2008/01/02 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Director LIM Soon-rye is one of the key female directors in Korea and she returns with the sports drama "Forever the Moment" centred on the Korean women's handball team from 2004; the women took home the silver medal from the 2004 Athens Olympics after a heroic battle with women hand ball's leading nation Denmark.

LIM chose to make a character study rather than concentrating on the emotional finale at the Olympics. She even left out the other Olympic matches leading to the finale in favour of fleshing out the characters.

"Forever the Moment" distinguishes itself in this way from other sports dramas which usually try to exploit the dynamics and excitement that sports games can provide lengthily. In other ways, LIM's film contains the classic elements of a sports drama.

The film starts out with individuals who are far from Olympic contenders. MOON So-ri plays a former handball star who is now a mother and trapped in an unhappy marriage. KIM Jeong-eun is from the same generati...

To participate to HanCinema, you must sign up or log in. Sign up, Why ?