| 'Private Eye' Signals New Detective Genre (Source) |
2009/03/27 |
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Debutant director Park Dae-min brings a delicious mix of drama, comedy and adventure in "Private Eye", which, moreover, paints rosy prospects for South Korean cinema as it signals the potential of homegrown detective films.
Set against the Japanese colonial period (1910-45), the movie invites viewers to hop on coolie-drawn carts and join an accidental Sherlock Holmes (Hwang Jeong-min) in tracking down a serial killer on the loose.
If 2007's "Shadows in the Palace" hinted at the possibility for an Agatha Christie-style suspense, "Private Eye" promises something more solid, and perhaps even a serial franchise. It keeps things smart and intriguing rather than mind boggling or cryptic, and leads the audience half a step ahead in the cat and mouse game. The movie also manages to be entertaining without being too light as it gives birth to a detective with character.
Hwang plays Hong Jin-ho, one of those amiable rude people, whose successful surviva... |More
|
|
| 'Our Town', Haven for a Serial Murderer (Source) |
2009/03/01 |
A clever thriller cannot quite overcome genre conventions
Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)
A gruesomely murdered body of a young woman is found hanging from an elementary school gym iron, in the form of a crucifix. Exhausted cop Jae-sin (Lee Seon-gyoon) realizes that a serial killer is lurking in his neighborhood: the victims range from an eight-year-old girl to a middle-aged businesswoman. He gets unexpected help from his game designer friend Kyung-joo (musical actor Oh Man-seok, popular from the Korean stage version of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch").
But nothing is what it seems: Kyung-joo drops in a stationary store run by child-like and strangely-named Hyo-yi (Ryoo Deok-hwan), and receives a text message that reads: "Sir, I know you are the murderer".
Korean filmmakers tend to have trouble portraying unapologetically evil characters, always making excuses for them in their sad backgrounds (a fate that befell, to be fair, even Hannibal Lecter) or turning them into cartoonish abstra... |More
|
|
| Santa Barbara Invites 3 Korean Films (Source) |
2009/01/23 |
The 24th Santa Barbara International Film Festival kicks off this week with 3 Korean features invited to screen during 11-day run January 22 – February 1. In the International Features competition section, KIM So-yong's "Treeless Mountain" will have its U.S. premiere, vying for top honors along with 12 other features.
Another U.S. premiere is KIM Yoo-jin's Chosun dynasty-set adventure "The Divine Weapon" selected to screen in the East X West section, along with 2007 Korean horror, "Our Town", directed by JEONG Gil-yeong.
"Treeless Mountain" has already screened at numerous festivals, holding its world premiere in Toronto and going on to win the Best Film prize in Dubai and the Jury prize at Tokyo FILMeX. It tells the tale of two young sisters shuffled from home to home. Following Santa Barbara, it will screen at the 59th Berlinale.
"The Divine Weapon", loosely based on actually history is an epic tale of Korea's creation of Singijeon, a variation of the Chinese fire arrow.... |More
|
|
| 'The Chaser' Is a Superb Thriller (Source) |
2009/01/04 |
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
|
| |
| '90s Film Reborn as Musical Rendition
(Source) |
2008/07/08 |
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Actor Oh Man-seok will return to the stage with a new film-based musical, "The Harmonium in My Memory" from July 22.
The film (1999) of the same name featuring award-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon and hallyu star Lee Byeong-heon, will be adapted into the musical show.
Oh will alternate playing the leading role of Kang Dong-soo, an elementary school teacher with rising musical star Jo Jeong-seok.
The role of Yoon Hong-yeon, which was played by Jeon in the film version, will be played by Lee Jung-mi and Jang Eun-ah who starred in "Mamma Mia!"
According to Show Tic, the production company, the musical rendition will focus on reviving the romantic atmosphere and literary sensitivity of the 1960s on stage as the film did. "The Harmonium in My Memory" is also the big-screen adaptation of best-selling Korean novel "Female Student".
The story is about the first love of adolescents in a remote village area in the 1960s. It revolves around Kang, ... |More
|
|
|
