The Old Garden (2006) - 오래된 정원 (O-rae-doin Jeong-won)

2008/03/18 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

The internationally acclaimed Korean film "Secret Sunshine" (Miryang) grabbed the spotlight at the second annual Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong, picking up three top awards including Best Film.

"Secret Sunshine", which is about a young widow moving to her late husband's hometown, beat other Asian films such as the controversial thriller "Lust, Caution", Hong Kong's "The Sun Also Rises" and Japan's "I Just Didn't Do It".

Actress Jeon Do-yeon won Best Actress, adding another award to her collection, which includes several Korean acting awards and the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival last May. She won over Korean actress Kim Yun-jin and Chinese actress Tang Wei.

"I don't usually need time to recover from most of the roles I portray. But this time, because my character was so damaged, it took some time to recover from it", Jeon was quoted by the Associated Press, after winning the award.

The film's director Lee Chang-dong...

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2007/12/26 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Lim Sang-soo's black comical take on the assassination of military dictator PARK Chung Hee "The President's Last Bang" has been released in Tokyo, Japan, on the 15th. From there the film will travel to other Japanese cities for screenings. The film stars HAN Seok-kyu and BAEK Yoon-sik.

Lim told Japanese fans that up until now "The President's Last Bang" is the film he wanted to make the most. The film was somewhat controversial in Korea, since it deals with a sensitive event in Korea's modern history. However, the film was praised by critics for its bold and humorous approach of the subject matter.

Writer/director Lim enriches Korean cinema by not shying away from possible controversial subjects. In "A Good Lawyer's Wife", he tackled the institution marriage and conservative concepts about relationships between men and women. With his latest "The Old Garden", he returned to Korea's tumultuous modern history by portraying a man who is released after seventeen years of imprisonme...

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2007/11/30 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

The seventh edition of the Gwangju International Film Festival opened on November 29 with a screening of Chinese film Western Trunk Line by LI Jixian.

A total of 40 films from 8 countries will be shown at the event, which has downsized in recent years after a reduction in public funding. The closing film, to be screened on December 3, will be the winner of the audience award.

The festival's program consists of four main sections. "World Cinema Best" consists of five films from Europe and Asia including one Korean title, the recent horror film Epitaph. "Cinema on 518" is a collection of films about the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, including LEE Jeong-guk's "The Song of Revival", JANG Sun-woo's "A Petal", LEE Chang-dong's "Peppermint Candy", LIM Sang-soo's "The Old Garden", and KIM Ji-hoon's recent hit "May 18". Meanwhile there will also be a retrospective of Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti, and an "Animation Special" devoted to Daniel Greaves and Simone Massi.

More informati...

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2007/11/05 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Two Korean films invited to the Cannes Film Festival last May are opening one after another across France, gathering attention from many. The films are "Secret Sunshine", directed by Korea's one of the most representative directors LEE Chang-dong, and "Breath" by another famous director, KIM Ki-duk.

Ever since JEON Do-yeon won the Best Actress Award at Cannes as the lead in Secret Sunshine, the film has been invited to many major film festivals around the world. In France, its theatrical run began on October 17, screening at 59 theaters across the country, including 11 in and around Paris. Distributed through local distributor Diaphana Films, it debuted the same week as Jackie Chan's Rush Hour 3. In its first week Secret Sunshine gathered 25 333 admissions, placing it 18th at the French box office, marking a good start. With an accumulated viewer count of 46 881, it is expected that the film will break the record set by director LIM Sang-soo's "The Old Garden", which attracted 56 0...

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2007/09/25 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

The New York Times ran a story in June headlined "Korea emerges as epicenter of Asian film and music", which focused on the rise of Korean films in world cinema.

The story said Asian genre films, especially those from Korea, have built a steady following in the West since Hong Kong cinema broke out of Chinatown theaters.

The Korean monster blockbuster "D-War", directed by comedian-turned-director Shim Hyung-rae, earned $1.55 million in the U.S. on its opening day Sept. 14. The figure was the highest for a Korean film in the U.S. The flick opened in 2,275 theaters across the nation.

Shim's movie is different from other Korean movies in that it was made outside Chungmuro, a road in Seoul known as the Korean Hollywood.

Chungmuro was named after legendary Korean Admiral Yi Sun-shin, who earned the posthumous title of Chungmugong, meaning "martial subject of loyalty". The "gong" was dropped and replaced with "ro", or road.

Movies made in Chungmuro witnessed phenomenal growth ...

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