by Pierce Conran

Review: SWING KIDS, Tap Dancing Miracle Will Keep You on Your Feet Long after the Credits Roll

The Korean War tap dancing musical drama you never knew you needed, Swing Kids is a Christmas miracle from one of Korean cinema's most vibrant directors. After works such as Scandal Makers and Sunny, Kang Hyoung-chul has outdone himself with...
by Pierce Conran

Review: DOORLOCK, Tense Korean SLEEP TIGHT Remake, Goes the Distance

A slow year for Korean thrillers gets a late shot in the arm with Doorlock, director Lee Kwon's tense remake of Jaume Balagueró's Spanish film Sleep Tight. Completely reworking the original narrative, actress Kong Hyo-jin anchors a story rooted in...
by Pierce Conran

Review: DEFAULT, Financial Thriller Overdraws Its Trump Card

Following a promising debut, Split director Choi Kook-hee steps up to the big league with the star-driven period financial thriller Default, a three-strand narrative detailing the calamitous week around Korea's IMF Crisis in 1997, featuring local leading lights Kim Hye-soo...
by Pierce Conran

Review: THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL, Park Chan-wook's Engrossing TV Debut

A new Park Chan-wook project is always something to get very excited about, but there was extra reason to get worked up last year when it was announced that the Korean master filmmaker was making his first foray into television,...
by Pierce Conran

Review: RAMPANT Fails to Catch On

The actor-director team behind last year's hit spy action-comedy Confidential Assignment returns with their latest tentpole Rampant, an action-horror that looks to put a period twist on Yeon Sang-ho's runaway 2016 zombie hit Train to Busan. Hyun Bin versus the...
by Pierce Conran

3rd Maskoon Fantastic Fest Brings Genre Cinema to Lebanon

The Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the first event to bring the world's best genre cinema to Lebanon, kicked off its 3rd edition this week. Opening this year's fest was the stellar Danish chamber thriller The Guilty, which our Managing Editor...
by Pierce Conran

London Korean Film Festival Kicks Off Stuffed 13th Edition Tonight!

The London Korean Film Festival is back for its 13th edition, with another stellar lineup from the East Asian filmmaking powerhouse. Kicking off a varied programme featuring close to 40 features and several more shorts tonight at London's Picturehouse Central...
by Pierce Conran

Review: BURNING, a Thriller Like No Other

Eight years after his phenomenal drama Poetry, Lee Chang-dong made a long-awaited return to the Cannes competition with his sixth film Burning, an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's short story 'Barn Burning'. Dense with symbolism, this tour de force burrows towards...
by Pierce Conran

Busan 2018 Review: HOUSE OF HUMMINGBIRD Soars As It Signals Major New Talent

Exploring modern themes and history through the eyes of a young girl, Kim Bora's sensational debut House of Hummingbird is the Korean indie drama par excellence. A subtle exploration of local family and societal pressures crafted in a way that...
by Pierce Conran

Busan 2018 Review: ODE TO THE GOOSE
 Serenades with Strong Performances and Playful Plot

Two years after opening the festival with A Quiet Dream, director Zhang Lu returns to Busan with Ode to the Goose, a terrifically performed and breezy art drama that meanders between allegories of national identity and literary and historical references....
by Pierce Conran

Busan 2018 Review: OUR BODY Hits the Ground Running and Sails to the Finish

If Korean cinema will be remembered for anything in 2018, it may well be for a batch of films that have found surprising ways to shine a spotlight on the country's youth. Specifically, the enduring image of the year may...
by Pierce Conran

Busan 2018 Review: BEAUTIFUL DAYS Handsomely Frames Somber Subject

As the veil of secrecy over the guarded North Korean regime threatens to give way (if only slightly) in the surprising geopolitical climate we find ourselves in today, the film industry in South Korea has also begun to change how...
by Pierce Conran

Review: THE GREAT BATTLE, Rip-Roaring War Film Eschews Nationalism

Going all the way back to the Goguryeo Dynasty, siege action epic The Great Battle chronicles the historic standoff of a small Korean garrison against the might of the Tang army in the 7th century. Light on jingoism and heavy...
by Pierce Conran

Busan 2018: BEAUTIFUL DAYS and MASTER Z: THE LEGACY OF IP MAN to Bookend Packed 23rd BIFF

The Busan International Film Festival held a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday to launch the program for next month's 23rd edition. Local indie drama Beautiful Days will kick off BIFF on October 4 while Master Z: The Ip Man...
by Pierce Conran

Review: HERSTORY Foregrounds Sensational Cast in Best Comfort Women Tale Yet (by a Margin)

One of the most sensitive issues in Korean society over the past few years has the been the acknowledgement of the plight of the Korean comfort women that were forced into sexual servitude by the Japanese military during World War...
by Pierce Conran

Review: THE SPY GONE NORTH, Bold and Sumptuous Espionage Yarn Eschews Action for Geopolitical Intrigue

Following his period action blockbuster Kundo: The Age of the Rampant in 2014, Yoon Jong-bin is back in the summer season lineup with his 90s-set espionage drama The Spy Gone North, which bowed earlier this year as part of the...
by Pierce Conran

Locarno 2018 Review: HOTEL BY THE RIVER, A Wonderfully Performed New Drama from Hong Sangsoo

Six months after the premiere of Grass at the Berlinale, prolific auteur Hong Sangsoo is back with another black and white drama which once again reunites him with his leading actress Kim Min-hee. Having just debuted at the Locarno International...
by Pierce Conran

Review: ALONG WITH THE GODS: THE LAST 49 DAYS Sacrifices Focus for Franchise-Building

I'll admit that eight months ago I may have brought a certain amount of prejudice with me when I went to see Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds, the fantasy epic blockbuster that would become the second most successful...
by Pierce Conran

BiFan 2018 Review: BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE Bites Into Endearing and Quirky Horror Romcom

Combining the stylings of a young Park Chan-wook with the emotional sensibilities of the Korean drama world, debut feature Beautiful Vampire stood out from the crop of local indie genre features making their debuts at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film...
by Pierce Conran

BiFan 2018: NAFF Awards Claimed by WORM and SOUL SEARCHING

Taking place just a few blocks away from the theaters screening the world's genre cinema delights in Bucheon, the Network of Asian Fantastic Film (NAFF) returned for its 11th edition to promote the global genre hits of tomorrow. In all,...