Tag: korea
Cannes 2023 Review: IN OUR DAY, Luminous Korean Miniature
Prolific Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo premieres his 30th film in the Director's Fortnight section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
New York 2022 Review: Hong Sang-soo's THE NOVELIST'S FILM, Compulsion and Stagnation
Prolific as ever, Hong is not stagnating for sure. But I guess with the pandemic it crossed his mind. I hope his compulsion never stops.
Review: IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE Defies Conventional Romances
The voice-over that starts Hong Sang-soo's In Front of Your Face is more like a prayer. It belongs to Sang-ok (Lee Hye-young), a serene faced, aging beauty crashing on the couch in her younger sister Jeong-ok (Cho Yun-hee)'s high-rise apartment...
Udine 2022 Review: KINGMAKER, Sumptuous Character Study and Tense Political Drama Makes for Thrilling History Lesson
The easiest way to describe Kingmaker, the latest film from The Merciless director Byung Sung-hyun, is as the Korean equivalent of George Clooney's election drama The Ides of March, a film that incidentally used the English word 'Kingmaker' as its...
KILLING OLD PEOPLE CLUB Up Next for SQUID GAME Director
If you loved Squid Game and hate old people, director Hwang Dong-hyuk has something in the works that should utterly delight. As reported by Variety, the filmmaker has already written a 25-page treatment for an adaptation of a novel supposedly...
Now Streaming: PACHINKO, Extreme Prejudice
Minha Kim, Jin Ha, Lee Minho and Yuh-Jung Youn star in a sterling new series, directed by Kogonada and Justin Chon, debuting globally on Apple TV+.
Korean Sci-Fi Series DR. BRAIN: Be Smart, Watch Trailer Now
How smart do you have to be to be called "Dr. Brain"? We're about to find out. The sci-fi series Dr. Brain will be the first Korean-language series from Apple TV+ when it "premieres globally on Thursday, November 4 (Wednesday,...
Review: ESCAPE FROM MOGADISHU, Big, Brash, Empty Spectacle
As violence erupts in the African nation of Somalia, delegates from both North and South Korea scramble to evacuate the capital city of Mogadishu in Ryoo Seung-wan's action-packed political thriller Escape From Mogadishu. In the late 1980s, South Korea and...
New York 2021 Review: IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE, Emotionally Resonant, Horny Dramedy
Directed by Hong Sang-soo, the film may lack his narrative and structural inventiveness but it has a nasty hook that gets you at the end, defying the conventional romance narrative. It's wickedly funny, too.
Now On Demand: MEMORIES OF MURDER, Harrowing, Mesmerizing, Shattering
Song Kang Ho, Kim Sang Kyung, and Park Hae Il star in a masterpiece by director Bong Joon Ho.
Now Streaming: THE SCHOOL NURSE FILES, Fight Monsters, Save Kids, Eat Lunch
Directed by Lee Kyoung-mi ('The Truth Beneath'), the Korean series, now streaming on Netflix, stars Jung Yu-mi and is a wonderfully wild sci-fi fantasy concoction.
STEEL RAIN 2: SUMMIT Trailer: This Is My Submarine!
As if reality hasn't been sufficiently harrowing, especially over the past few months, Steel Rain 2: Summit proposes that the leaders of North Korea and South Korea meet with the leader of the United States to hammer out a proposal...
TRAIN TO BUSAN Extended Version Trailer: Zombies Returning to Theaters
Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the rails, an extended version of Yeon Sang-ho's Train to Busan is heading to theaters in various Asian territories. It sounds like good timing. Where cinemas are open, new...
Review: MONSTRUM, Very Silly, Very Gory, Fun Action Movie
Several entries were added to the sub-sub-genre of Korean history-slash-horror films in 2018 (and there's even a Korean historical zombie series, Kingdom, on Netflix). The Imagine Film Festival showed one of these early in 2019: Korean director Huh Jong-ho's historical...
ALL OF US ARE DEAD: Korean Zombies Will Return to Life on Netflix
Just when we thought it was safe to stay inside and avoid the coming zombie apocalypse, here comes Netflix with All of Us Are Dead, a new adaptation of Korean webtoon series Now At Our School. Per Deadline, the series...
ASHFALL Trailer Blows Up Korea
You say "ridiculous," I say "awesome," let's call the whole thing Ashfall. Heading to theaters in Asia beginning on December 19 -- hitting Hong Kong on January 1, 2020 -- from CJ Entertainment, Ashfall looks to be a big-spectacle type...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DURI: Watch Matt Halsall's Engrossing Short Now
Writer-director Matt Halsall has appeared in these pages before, the Korean based director having turned out a number of striking short films in the past. And while Halsall's focus in recent days has been on developing a slate of feature...
Australia Korean Fest 2019: Celebrating Ten Years of KOFFIA
The Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) celebrates ten years this year, powered by the Cultural Office, the festival is a wonderful initiative to showcase not only great films, but promote Korean culture as a whole. With exciting special guests...
LOVE ALARM Trailer: Live-Action Korean YA Romance Rings Cartoon Bells
Netflix does not appear to have a unified strategy for programming Asian movies and TV show, which makes it all the more intriguing to a Western outsider. Here in the U.S., we are long accustomed to seeing all Asian titles...
