The Way Home (2002) - 집으로... (Jib-eu-ro...)

2008/05/08 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

In tune with Family Month comes a heartwarming tale about cherished childhood memories, "Unforgettable". Set in an obscure village during the 1970s, the film captures the beauty of simplicity and signals a return to an age of innocence. The old becomes new ― the retro story will be like a breath of fresh air to computer game-addicted urbanites.

It's a small jewel of a film, where director Song Dong-yoon uses analog film rather than digital to immortalize the breathtaking natural scenery of Sindo. Mellow piano tunes compliment the visuals, though some of the overly dramatic soundtracks for touching moments are a bit cliche. Nevertheless, it shows how computer-generated imagery, no matter how glitzy or high-tech, cannot rival the sight of glistening, rolling hills on a sunny day or a golden sunset by the beach.

Korea's favorite child actor Yoo Seung-ho was much loved as the bratty city boy who learns to appreciate country life and his grandm...

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2008/04/21 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

YOO Seung-ho is one of Korea's most popular child actors since the film The Way Home (Jibero) in which he played a spoiled city boy left with his grandmother in the country. YOO's next film will be "Unforgettable" (Seouli Bonya, English translation: "can you see Seoul?"), two years after his latest film "Hearty Paws" ("Heart is.".. - Maeumi).

The film reunites YOO with director SONG Dong-yoon, the two also collaborated on Woori Seonsaengnim in 2005. The Cinema Service production will be released on May 8.

Seouli Bonya is set in the seventies. A school on the island Sindo of the Korean west coast receives an invitation from a Seoul based candy factory. The invitation is only for twelve students, but all the students start fantasising about eating candy in Seoul. The film employs the 'dreams can come true' theme.

"The Way Home" was a surprise hit film in 2002. The drama's warm content of a spoilt boy learning from his modest and poor grandmother struck a cord with Korean audie...

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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...

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2007/10/08 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

A crowd swarmed Haeundae Beach in Busan on Saturday, hoping to catch a glimpse of "the lady of Cannes" and "the lady of Venice". Kang Soo-yeon, winner of the Best Actress award at the 1987 Venice Film Festival for her role in "The Surrogate Womb", and Jeon Do-yeon, who won the same award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for "Secret Sunshine", were the star guests of an open talk show at the 12th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF).

Past open talk shows at PIFF have always included foreign actors. This was the first with only Korean actors, but the crowd was bigger than ever. Kang had high praise for Jeon, saying she is jealous of Jeon's acting skills. Jeon responded, "I've been a fan of Kang since her 1987 movie 'Springtime of Mi-mi and Cheol-su' and to be here with her now is a privilege for me".

Kang couldn't hold back her tears as she watched Jeon winning her award at Cannes on TV, she said. "When I saw her taking the platform, joy and tears welled up in my heart. I was v...

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2007/08/16 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

The Korean horror flick 'Epitaph' has been invited to the 55th San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain.

The film production company Dorothy said that, despite the approaching film submission deadline, the organizers invited 'Gidam' to be screened in the 'Zabaltegi' category of this year's festival, citing the depth and wit of the film as the reasons for their decision.

The 'Zabaltegi' category invites films that have received sound reviews in major international film festivals or films by up-and-coming directors worth noticing. In 2005, film director Kang Yi-kwan's 'Apple' was invited to the film festival, and he received the award for best new screenwriter. Director Kim Ki-duk's 'The Bow' also received good reviews.

Korean films have done particularly well at the San Sebastian film festival. In 2002, 'The Way Home' was invited to the new director category and received a special jury prize and in 2003, 'Memories of Murder' received awards for best director and best ...

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