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Quick note for anybody in the DC Area. The South Korean embassy has free movie nights the second and fourth Thursday of every month. They did My Way this month. DC Korean Film Festival begins 3/1 as well. Tons of free movies for about seven weeks at the Smithsonian Institution. A handful of paid ones at well at AFI Silver. The director of Thirst will be in town doing a Q and A.
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Mar 1, 2013 05:50
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WillBBC3 posted:The director of Thirst will be in town doing a Q and A. That's awesome, someone go and post about it.
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Mar 1, 2013 07:02
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I'm writing my dissertation on SK Cinema, so this thread's been great for filling in any gaps. I'd seen a lot of the films mentioned but some that I've never heard of in here sound really great, so just chiming in to say thanks for cluing me onto them. Great thread guys.
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Mar 1, 2013 12:09
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Speaking of Park Chan-Wook (Thirst), Stoker is getting some mixed reviews, but a lot of critics (the ones I pay attention to anyway) seem to really love it, like Ebert. I haven't read much about it yet and I think I'm going to keep it that way. It's "limited" release right now unfortunately, which means good luck if you don't live in NY, LA or the other city that I'm forgetting.
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Mar 1, 2013 14:28
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I saw it last night at the Museum of the Moving Image and quite liked it, even more than some of his other films, but then I'm also of the opinion that the gore in his movies is a bit TOO gratuitous at times (the tongue-cutting scene in Oldboy, for example). I really want to see it again, actually. Probably my favorite movie of his so far. But I can see why some wouldn't like it, particularly if they're expecting something in particular from his other movies and aren't getting it. I wasn't going in with any expectations in particular and ended up quite happy with it.
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Mar 1, 2013 18:13
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I loved Thirst and Oldboy and was really hyped for Stoker. Unfortunately it's such limited release so it looks like I won't be able to see it for months. Why did they do that? Why not try to to see if it catches on mainstream?
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Mar 4, 2013 07:18
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Limited release is its own form of marketing. Few theaters means that everyone who really wants to see the film will flock to them, resulting in really high per-screen averages. Those people in turn spread word of mouth praise to friends and online, hopefully hyping up the casual viewer when the film eventually goes wider.
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Mar 4, 2013 07:46
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RightClickSaveAs posted:...a lot of critics (the ones I pay attention to anyway) seem to really love it, like Ebert. I got to the facebook joke then scrolled up to see who the review was really written by. It's Roeper. Most of the reviews on Ebert's site are by guests right now, as he's currently dealing with surgery. Bugblatter fucked around with this message at 10:59 on Mar 4, 2013 |
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Mar 4, 2013 10:57
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I liked Stoker, but predictably felt that it fell a little bit short of his other films. It's nice that it's an actual 18 certificate film and it doesn't feel watered down, but i'd have it at around a JSA kind of level. It has a few memorable scenes and i'd definitely entertain the idea that it might get better on a second and third viewing.
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Mar 5, 2013 13:07
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I've just seen Stoker and I think it's my favourite of his so far although I've only seen the Vengeance trilogy so take that with a pinch of salt. It was amazingly crafted and you can see a lot of thought went into it, really showed his talent. The atmosphere was crushingly well built and the performances from the main three actors were all superb.
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Mar 7, 2013 00:57
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All you people saying good things are making me cry inside. Just put it out on bluray end of the month!
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Mar 8, 2013 01:18
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At the Korean box office Stoker is pulling in about the same numbers that Cloud Atlas did, and has a comparable screen presence. Interesting to consider, given that in the United States Cloud Atlas was much more heavily marketed. Although in the abstract sense, I think about as many people would enjoy either movie. Unless they were being stupid and went into Cloud Atlas expecting to see explosions. I don't personally recommend Two Weddings and a Funeral because it's rather uneven, but it's worth noting here if only because it's a gay film. The gay film industry in South Korea puts out one or two movies each year that run the local art house theater circuit. They're interesting in that, relative to gay American films, they're less concerned with abstract notions of homosexuality and more with the day-to-day life of actual gays and the discrimination they face. The plot of this particular movie? It's about a gay guy and a lesbian getting married so she can adopt a kid with her lesbian partner. But most of the actual story is a romantic comedy-drama about the gay guy with this new gay in town. There's also this gay choir that they hang out with. And there's social commentary. The idea is more interesting than the execution in my opinion, but someone might find the concept to be enough, so here it is.
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Mar 8, 2013 05:49
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This week I'll be reviewing The Good, the Bad, and the Weird and Treeless Mountain. I feel disappointed in myself. They're both good movies, but they're also relatively well-known in the English speaking world. I'm kind of surprised the website didn't already have reviews for them, honestly, but this is what I'm stuck with until I'm back in Korea and have access to the more local stuff again. Oh well. Green Days: Dinosaur and I  Like this, for example. We don't hear much about Korean animated films because for the most part they don't exist. There's not much of a market for them, although the Korean voice actors are always on the promotional posters. This one's no different. Although the vocal talent is reasonably well-known, Green Days was mostly limited to the art house circuit. Which is a real shame- this is a beautiful story about a girl's emotional maturation that has surprisingly little to do with romance, or even friendship. Personally, I can't help but love a movie with a moral that can be directly applied to the real world, regardless of the viewer's personal life situation.
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Mar 15, 2013 19:26
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This week, I'd like to discuss the way box office numbers work in South Korea. This infographic is a little out of date (Miracle in Cell Number 7 is now at #3 all time), but it has useful information: Korean box office numbers are based off of admissions rather than ticket prices. So, for the sake of perspective, multiply by 8 (how much a ticket costs) and again by 6 (South Korea has about a sixth the population of the United States) and The Host's all-time gross is around 625 million dollars. On the local cultural scale, it was as big a movie event as The Avengers was in the United States. A significant difference in the Korean box office, though, is that the top-ranked films get there, not through an overpowering opening weekend followed by diminishing returns, but through word-of-mouth. The Thieves is the only movie listed here that studios were expecting to hit numbers this high, and even it only opened with 3 million admissions in its opening weekend. The other 10 were on the strength of its legs. Miracle in Cell Number 7 is a good example of a typical breakout hit, as it's a comedic melodrama with no major studio pushing or major stars as headliners. It's at the place where it is solely its popularity spread, and its performance over the past couple of months has been pretty consistent, as the chart demonstrates. As you can see, this culture has resulted in a bit more of an eclectic top 5. There's as many historical costume dramas on the list as there are summer blockbusters. Funny thing- I did not realize that Masquerade and The King and the Clown had near identical posing in their posters until I saw this graphic. Also, that The King and the Clown is on here at all is pretty weird, considering how it's about gay street performers. Some Guy TT fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Mar 22, 2013 |
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Mar 22, 2013 22:30
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I seem to be the only person in this thread thus far that thought Stoker was poo poo. First of all, the choices used for shots were rather odd and as well as the framing. I find it difficult to describe, but many scenes had characters framed with a hell of a lot of head room and wide shots with two characters speaking to one another rather than cutting back and forth. It just looked very awkward to me. The cinematography as a whole was rubbish, really. I am surprised no one else has mentioned this. There are a few neat/stylized shots, but it isn't enough to make up for the rest of it. xzoto1 fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Mar 23, 2013 |
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Mar 23, 2013 00:40
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I thought they put The King and the Clown twice those posters are so similar. How is Masquerade?
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Mar 23, 2013 00:47
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I lived in Japan for a couple years and was aware that all the middle aged women loved the Korean television dramas, but I never knew their film was so good. About 8 months ago I stumbled on a Korean film on youtube that I loved, and have been watching a lot of K movies since, but I haven't seen anyone mention it here. 2005 romance - My Girl and I You all seem so knowledgable that it not being mentioned makes me think it might be terrible, haha. Someone go watch it and back me up so I know whether I'm on to something here.
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Mar 25, 2013 23:02
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I've recently started getting into Korean horror. I've been finding it very refreshing given the general stagnation of the American scene. So far I have seen: White: The Melody of the Curse: This was the first movie I saw. I found it while searching through Hulu for horror movies, and was struck by the visuals in the preview images. It's the first time in a long, long time I've seen a horror movie that had a point to make that wasn't about the genre itself (it's also a deconstruction of the Korean Idol industry.) The cinematography was great, the titular song is catchy which is good as it is played constantly throughout the movie, and the movie does a great job of keeping an unsettling atmosphere even when it isn't gearing up for a scare. The plot's a little weak and is largely lifted strait from the Ring, but the dialog is good and the technicality of the movie make up for the formulaic script. It also has the honor of being the only horror moive in the fifteen or so years I've been into the genre that has given me nightmares. Yoga: This one was weak. An anemic, predictable plot leads into a weak ending. It has several great creepy scenes, but they don't make up for the hour of boredom between them. Cinderella: There are some really great visuals in this movie and when the movie is trying to build tension it does it well. There's not much else to it though. It wasn't a bad movie; it just didn't catch with me. Face: This one blew me away, I would hesitate to call it horror, it's more of a crime drama with supernatural elements thrown in to enhance the tension. The protagonists are very likable, and they carry the movie well. The story is captivating and paces itself well , and the twist at the end completely caught me of guard. If it has a weakness it's that the supernatural element could have largely been lifted from the movie with out affecting it and for the most part they feel very superfluous.
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Mar 26, 2013 08:30
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Cross posting from the Stoker Thread since I loved the film so much.Chichevache posted:I just saw this film last night and absolutely loved it. Mia Wasikowska portrayed India in an amazingly dangerous way. Matthew Goode? Holy poo poo. I am not really familiar with him as an actor but after this I feel the urge to go through his prior works and see if he is that incredible in other films. Both of these characters constantly had a sense of violence simmering just beneath the surface and it made for an incredibly tense film.
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Mar 26, 2013 08:59
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TheMaskedChemist posted:Face: This one blew me away, I would hesitate to call it horror, it's more of a crime drama with supernatural elements thrown in to enhance the tension. The protagonists are very likable, and they carry the movie well. The story is captivating and paces itself well , and the twist at the end completely caught me of guard. If it has a weakness it's that the supernatural element could have largely been lifted from the movie with out affecting it and for the most part they feel very superfluous. Chichevache posted:Cross posting from the Stoker Thread since I loved the film so much.
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Mar 26, 2013 14:39
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Gringo Heisenberg posted:I thought they put The King and the Clown twice those posters are so similar. How is Masquerade? I enjoyed it. What makes the story interesting is that it's a pretty clear allegory for the gulf between how rich people treat leadership and what a normal person actually expects of leaders. I'm kind of surprised I've never seen a Prince and the Pauper story go this way before. Usually it's just comedy about class differences. It's not the greatest movie I've ever seen (and it was way over-represented at the Grand Bell Awards last year, but I can see how it became such a huge hit.  So, has anyone ever gone to a really famous place or city, and just been a little surprised that there wasn't really that much to do there since you don't know anybody? That's what Night and Day is about. The main character is an artist trying to wait out a drug bust by hanging out in France and he spends most his time doing pointless, boring, non-constructive stuff. It's a lot of fun to watch as a comedy because the view toward travelling is just so comically unromantic compared to the way tourist tropes are normally used.
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Mar 30, 2013 03:52
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Why is South Korea, specifically, the Asian country putting out the most interesting and well made cinema right now? What happened to the good Chinese filmmakers from 10-15 years ago, did they just fizzle out or lose government support? What of Japan, seems like you don't hear a lot about Japanese film anymore.
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Mar 30, 2013 21:55
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Some Guy TT posted:
As someone who has become incredibly jaded towards traveling I am really intrigued by this. Thanks for pointing it out.
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Mar 30, 2013 22:08
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 Just got done watching The Front Line on Netflix and it has to be the hands down best war movie I have seen in years. The Front Line takes place during "peace" talks in the final months of the Korean war. The story starts with a Korean officer being sent to the front lines to investigate a report of a unit leader being K.I.A. with a bullet to the head from a allied pistol. As you can guess things quickly go down hill from there.  It reminds me of starship troopers or the forever war books where the main characters are put into a impossible situation that looks pretty much like a meat blender where the people freazing there asses off in the trenches have lost all preconception about the political justification for the war. The interesting twist in this one is that it covers the north and the south and the units from both sides tasked with capturing the hill. Both units slog it out and the hill changes hands over 30 times with a twist They start burying food in the bottom of a bunker in the hill and as each side retakes the hill they exchange things, with the peace talks finally signed and the war over....  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGBAAKZiUk8 -the trailer really does not do this movie justice Edit: "loving Pohang" Crash74 fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Apr 1, 2013 |
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Apr 1, 2013 01:15
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Zwabu posted:Why is South Korea, specifically, the Asian country putting out the most interesting and well made cinema right now? What happened to the good Chinese filmmakers from 10-15 years ago, did they just fizzle out or lose government support? What of Japan, seems like you don't hear a lot about Japanese film anymore. Local Chinese and Japanese movies have also been doing increasingly well at the box office lately. The main difference is that these movies are deliberately tailored for local markets. Korean cinema is unusually broad in that big budget movies are intended for export as part of Hallyu Wave and the more independent pictures are often directed toward international film festivals. I want to say quality is a factor, but I honestly haven't seen enough recent Chinese or Japanese film to know that for sure.  The Bow is a Kim Ki-Duk film about a fisherman who lives on an isolated fishing platform in the middle of nowhere and the sixteen year old girl he's been raising for the past ten years to eventually become his wife. It's a fairy tale. Not one of those sanitized kid's fairy tales, but one where the fairy is a creepy, frightening, yet friendly entity who can't really be understood with human logic.
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Apr 5, 2013 17:04
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So a sequel to The Host, should I just give up waiting and assume its dead?
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Apr 9, 2013 22:56
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Only if you want to miss this: http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/first-clip-from-the-korean-sequel-the-host-2-is-chock-full-of-monster-goodness
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Apr 10, 2013 00:18
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Tars Tarkas posted:Only if you want to miss this: http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/first-clip-from-the-korean-sequel-the-host-2-is-chock-full-of-monster-goodness Santa?
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Apr 11, 2013 01:10
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Fist Of Legend is supposed to be in American theaters now. In theory, anyway. I've seen press releases to that effect but there's no direct information anywhere. I'd guess that they'd be showing at the same theaters that were playing The Berlin File earlier this year, so ask your local AMC Theater, if you have one. Woman on the Beach is about some filmmaking types who try to respose themselves on a seaside beach. It's a neurotic romantic comedy, but rather than fetishizing the characters' neuroses ala Woody Allen, they're treated as genuine intimacy issues. A lot of it is sheer mockery of overly analytical romantic thinking, which really hits peak when a normal person gets involved in the story. It's intriguing stuff, but be warned that it's a little long and may go down better if seen in parts.
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Apr 14, 2013 04:06
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Some Guy TT posted:The Bow is a Kim Ki-Duk film about a fisherman who lives on an isolated fishing platform in the middle of nowhere and the sixteen year old girl he's been raising for the past ten years to eventually become his wife. It's a fairy tale. Not one of those sanitized kid's fairy tales, but one where the fairy is a creepy, frightening, yet friendly entity who can't really be understood with human logic. On a related note, this inspired me to finally watch The Isle, also by Kim Ki-Duk, a story with a similar setting. It's a movie I'd avoided because the cover art Netflix is using made it look like a late night Cinemax special  "An exhilarating foray into forbidden pleasures!" Seriously, that's the quote they went with? It's definitely not, it's a meditative and often disturbing story of two damaged people. He's a very interesting filmmaker, I want to watch more of his work.
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Apr 14, 2013 21:53
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I've only seen one of his films (Samaritan Girl) but I wasn't really paying enough attention to follow it well enough to make a proper judgement on it, which is a bad habit I have when watching stuff on my laptop. His stuff at least always sounds interesting, even if it doesn't seem like something I'd necessarily like (or understand), that I want to check out more of his work. I've been sitting on 3-Iron and Spring, Summer... for a while now. Maybe I'll watch one of those tonight.
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Apr 15, 2013 23:09
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"Sumaria" (Samaritan Girl) is fantastic, but not a great introduction since it's one of his most difficult films; both in terms of being thematically complex and being rife with upsetting content. On the other hand, "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring" is probably his most accessible film, while "3-Iron" is (in my opinion) his best. So you can't really go wrong either of those. Both do require the audience to be attentive though.
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Apr 16, 2013 11:36
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Does anyone think Kim Ki-Duk's films are misogynist? It's a truism I commonly seen thrown about his work in online reviews, where it's written as if it's this totally obvious fact that anybody who's seen a Kim Ki-Duk film should know, but it's never clearly elaborated on. I personally don't see it myself, though I can see how a very superficial reading of the tropes he uses could create this impression. Time, for example, is about a woman who for misguided reasons decides to undergo radical plastic surgery. To write that this is a film about body image issues is frankly an understatement. The genius here is that Kim Ki-Duk recognizes plastic surgery as being a mere manifestation of cultural insecurities and ideals. The psychological damage it does to both men and women is far more pernicious, and the statement the film makes to that idea is an incredibly powerful. This is, no exaggeration, my favorite film of all time- though I was a Women's Studies major, so take that for what it's worth.
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Apr 19, 2013 06:18
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I just watched 3-Iron last night and I can kiiiiiiinda see where accusations of misogyny would come from, though I think for this film that would be a bit too strong a word. Problematic I can see, maybe veering on benevolent sexism depending on how you want to read it, but misogynist feels like a stretch. It's something that will be on my mind when I watch more of his films though, because I've heard that a lot, too. Anyway, 3-Iron. It was a fair bit different than I was expecting even knowing the premise. I wasn't expecting my first though afterwards to be about the disenfranchised as ghosts phasing in and out of "our" world. There were a lot really great scenes, and while I think the leads sometimes fell just a little bit short of carrying two wordless performances (should this even be a spoiler? I figure better safe than sorry), I liked it quite a lot.
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Apr 23, 2013 23:34
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So Stoker has started playing at a theater in my city, so maybe it's getting a bit of a wider release now?
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Apr 23, 2013 23:56
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I've been covering the Jeonju International Film Festival this week. While I've seen lots of Korean movies, I can't really describe them to you, since I have no idea when or if they'll be available in English subtitles overseas. It'd just be really mean to psych you up for something you might never be able to see. Luckily, one project showcased at the festival is available for English subtitled viewing right this minute- Youth Voice. The Youth Voice initiative is designed to empower teenagers into making their own short films. I was genuinely really impressed by most of what was showcased at the festival. The films emphasize the stuff that teenagers find really interesting while they're still teenagers. It's a very interesting departure from when adults make films on the same subject. The technique is a little crude, but very impressive considering they were made by teenagers. I very much get the feeling that they actually studied film and seriously thought about the best way to communicate their ideas through the medium. The mistakes are much more from inexperience than outright incompetence. These were my favorites: The food that lives in the refrigerator. Awkward romance talk. Teenage girls scheme. How the people teenagers know can actually be really cool. Let's just say this one lives on in my nightmares and leave it at that. There's a lot more of these here. They're in the boxes at the bottom. Not all of them have English subtitles, though. Probably only the dozen or so I saw screened.
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Apr 30, 2013 06:45
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So now I'm doing two film reviews a week of currently airing movies in Korean theaters. And my very first week, both of them turn out to be duds. Talk about a disappointment. At least there's still plenty of good Korean movies worth discussing. Love 911 is a romantic comedy-drama with a remarkably accurate poster. The woman, a doctor named Mi-Soo, aggressively pursues a chronically annoyed firefighter named Kang-Il. The humor comes mainly from the great chemistry between the actors. There are a lot of serious elements at play, but are extremely well-integrated into the story. The character flaws that end up defining most of the movie's drama are the same as the positive character traits that build up most of the comedy, so the characters come as very well-rounded, believable people. I really love the camerawork and set design here, too. The credits have a lot of excellent concept sketches that are replicated near perfectly in the equivalent scenes in-movie. I want to buy a DVD of this just on the off-chance it will contain an art book.
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May 11, 2013 03:39
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I watched The Chaser. It was fine. Not bad at all, and reminiscent of some better movies. One of my favorites of all time (Korean or otherwise) is Memories of Murder, partly because of the way it blends tone so effectively. It is immensely difficult to make, for instance, a drama with comedic elements. The Chaser does an OK job of this, though to lesser effect. It also had a "flawed"/superhero character seeking revenge, a la Oldboy; though again, not as good as that film. Frankly there were too many deus ex machina moments for me. Of course they keep the story going, but how many unlikely events can your story have before it begins to feel contrived and silly? Though I can honestly see this movie having an American remake. Whatever that says about this movie -- good, bad, or blockbuster -- at least the Koreans are willing to have an unhappy ending.
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May 11, 2013 18:04
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There's an artsy-ish theater not too far from me that's shown a lot of limited release movies before (I saw Stoker there), and I was browsing their showtimes when I came across the latest from Ki-duk Kim, Pieta. I'd never heard of it until now. Has anyone seen or heard anything about this? I may check it out tomorrow. I keep meaning to watch more of his films, so far I've only seen The Island and part of Bad Guy when it was still streaming on Netflix.
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May 18, 2013 02:12
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Good lord Pieta is an emotional gut punch. I thought I was used to heavy themes in SK film by now but this one floored me. It also contains a couple of the most uncomfortable scenes I've watched in a long while. I highly recommend this if you don't mind feeling drained for a couple hours.
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May 19, 2013 03:23
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