[movie 2009] Sisters On The Road 지금, 이대로가 좋아요

[melusine]

Cast Profiles

as Park Myung-Eun

신민아 / Shin Min-Ah {Soompi thread}

Birthdate: 5 April 1984

Height: 168cm

Weight: 45kg

Blood type: O

Management agency: AM Entertainment (AM엔터테인먼트)

Daum Cafe

Movies

2009 십억 Billion / A Million

2009 지금, 이대로가 좋아요 Sisters on the Road

2009 키친 The Naked Kitchen

2008 고고70 Go Go 70s

2007 무림여대생 My Mighty Princess

2005 야수와 미녀 Beast and the Beauty

2005 새드무비 Sad Movie

2005 달콤한 인생 A Bittersweet Life

2003 마들렌 Madeleine

2001 화산고 Volcano High

TV Dramas

2007 KBS 마왕 The Devil

2005 KBS 이 죽일 놈의 사랑 A Love to Kill

2003 SBS 때려 Punch

2001 SBS 아름다운 날들 Beautiful Days

Music Videos

2009 Loveholics feat. Shin Min-Ah -

2008 Yoo Hee-Yeol feat. Shin Min-Ah - 즐거운 나의 하루 "My Happy Day"

2008 Yoo Hee-Yeol feat. Shin Jae-Pyung of Peppertones -

2001 G.O.D. -

2001 G.O.D. -

2001 G.O.D. - 슬픈사랑 "Sad Love"

2001 Cha Tae-Hyun -

2001 Brown Eyes -

2000 Jo Sung-Mo -

2000 G.O.D. - 니가 필요해 "I Need You"

1999 G.O.D. -

1999 G.O.D. -

1999 Leon Lai -

1999 Lee Seung-Hwan - 당부 "A Request"

Discography

2009 [track from In the Air] Loveholics feat. Shin Min-Ah -

2009 [track from The Naked Kitchen OST] Shin Min-Ah -

2008 Go Go 70s OST

2008 [track from Summer Days] Yoo Hee-Yeol feat. Shin Min-Ah - 즐거운 나의 하루 "My Happy Day"

Awards

2009 6th MaxMovie Awards - Best Actress (Go Go 70s)

2008 4th University Film Festival of Korea - Best Supporting Actress (Go Go 70s)

2003 SBS Drama Awards - New Star Award (Punch)

as Oh Myung-Ju

공효진 / Gong Hyo-Jin {Soompi thread}

Birthdate: 4 April 1980

Height: 172cm

Weight: 48kg

Blood type: A

Management agency: N.O.A. Entertainment (NOA엔터테인먼트)

Daum Cafe

Movies

2009 지금, 이대로가 좋아요 Sisters on the Road

2008 미쓰 홍당무 Crush and Blush

2008 다찌마와 리: 악인이여 지옥행 급행열차를 타라! Dachimawa Lee

2007 엠 M

2007 행복 Happiness

2007 아들 My Son (cameo, voice)

2006 가족의 탄생 Family Ties

2005 천군 Heaven's Soldiers

2002 품행제로 Conduct Zero

2002 철없는 아내와 파란만장한 남편 그리고 태권소녀 A Bizarre Love Triangle / Taekwon Girl

2002 긴급조치 19호 Emergency Act 19

2002 서프라이즈 Surprise Party

2001 화산고 Volcano High

2001 킬러들의 수다 Guns & Talks

2001 선물 Last Present (cameo)

1999 여고괴담 2(메멘토 모리) Whispering Corridors 2: Memento Mori

TV Dramas

2007 MBC 고맙습니다 Thank You

2005 SBS 건빵선생과 별사탕 Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy

2003 KBS 상두야 학교가자 Sang-Doo, Let's Go to School!

2003 MBC 눈사람 Snowman

2002 MBC 네 멋대로 해라 Ruler of Your Own World

2001 KBS 사랑하라 희망없이 Drama City: Love Without Hope

2001 SBS 화려한 시절 Wonderful Days

1999 MBC 가문의 영광 My Funky Family (sitcom)

Music Videos

2003 Yoon Gun -

2003 Lee Soo-Young -

<Part 1>

<Part 2>

Awards

2009 New York Asian Film Festival - Rising Star Asia Award (Crush and Blush)

2008 Women in Film Korea Awards - Best Actress (Crush and Blush)

2008 11th Director's CUT Awards - Best Actress (Crush and Blush)

2008 7th Korea Film Awards - Best Actress (Crush and Blush)

2008 9th Korea Visual Arts Festival (Korea Broadcasting Camera Directors Association) - Photogenic Award (Crush and Blush)

2007 MBC Drama Awards - Best Actress <Top Excellence> (Thank You)

2007 6th Korea Film Awards - Best Supporting Actress (Happiness)

2006 47th Thessaloniki International Film Festival - Best Actress (Family Ties)

2003 KBS Drama Awards - Best Actress <Excellence>, Netizen Popularity Award, Best Couple <with Bi> (Sang-Doo, Let's Go to School!)

2002 MBC Drama Awards - Netizen Popularity Award (Ruler of Your Own World)

2002 38th Baeksang Arts Awards - Best New Actress for TV (Wonderful Days)

2001 SBS Drama Awards - New Star Award (Wonderful Days)

[melusine]

BOO Ji-young 부지영

A graduate of Ewha Womans University's department of Educational Psychology and Korean Academy of Film Arts, Director Boo has made many short films. She won the special award at Daegu Independent Short Film Festival with her 2002 work A Drop of Clear Salty Liquid. Having participated as staff in Virgin Strapped Bare by her Bachelors (Hong Sang Soo, 2000) and Untold Scandal (Lee Jae Yong, 2003), Director Boo made her feature-length debut with Sisters on the Road, an HD film supported by the Korean Film Council which shows Boo's detailed directing style. [IWFFIS,PIFF]

1997 [spark] 16mm, color, 14min.

--- {IndieStory profile}

--- 2nd Seoul Int'l Short Film Festival (2000, Korea)

--- No Budget Competition, 15th Hamburg Int'l Short Film Festival (1999, Germany)

--- IndieForum, Korean Independent Film & Video Makers' Forum (1998, Korea)

--- Encouragement Award, 24th Golden Crown Youth Film Festival (1998, Korea)

2000 [His Humming] DV 6mm, color, 12min.

--- Excellent Film Awards, Daegu Independent Short Film Festival (Oct.-Nov, 2001, Korea)

--- Competition, Busan Asian Film Festival (2001, Korea)

--- Excellent Film Awards, 1st Women in Film Korea Festival (2000, Korea)

2001 [The Way They Are] 16mm, 15min.

2002 [A Drop of Clear Salty Liquid] 16mm, b&w/color, 17min.

--- Korean Film Special Screenings, 22nd Upssala Int'l Film Festival (2003, Sweden)

--- 2nd Jeju Tmong Film Festival (2003, Korea)

--- Gwangju Int'l Film Festival (2002, Korea)

--- Special Prize, Daegu Independent Short Film Festival (2002, Korea)

--- 6th Puchon Int'l Fantastic Film Festival (2002, Korea) {PiFan page}

2009 [sisters on the Road] 35mm, color, 90min.

--- 8th Third Eye Asian Film Festival Mumbai (2009, India)

--- Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (2009, Hong Kong)

--- 22nd Tokyo International Women’s Film Festival (2009, Japan)

--- 2nd Asian Women's Film Festival (2009, Japan)

--- 14th Aichi International Women's Film Festival (2009, Japan)

--- Forum of Independents, 44th Karlovy Vary Int'l Film Festival (2009, Czech Republic)

--- 11th International Women's Film Festival in Seoul (2009, Korea)

--- 13th Pusan Int'l Film Festival (2008, Korea)

"Family" exists to support family members with unstinted help, assistance and love in mental and physical ways closely. "Family" should overcome blood ties in a fragmental society like the present.

Two sisters who are dissimilar in character, lifestyle and even fathers go traveling together. Although their purpose is to find the younger sister’s father, they make the trip like strangers. Their search for the father is far away like a mirage.

At the end of journey, they finally meet in silence, not the father, but the aunt Hyun-a, an old friend of their mother's from a long time ago.

Interviews

Film2.0

Movieweek

Busan Ilbo

(w/ Crush & Blush director Lee Kyung-Mi)

Kyunghyang.com

(w/ Crush & Blush director Lee Kyung-Mi)

Star News

(w/ Crush & Blush director Lee Kyung-Mi and Sleeping Beauty director Hanna Lee)

Mk.co.kr / Asia Economy / Sports Hankook / MHJ21 / Arts News / My Daily / eto.co.kr / Asia Economy / Newsen

(w/ Paju director Park Chan-Ok, Fly, Penguin director Im Soon-Rye and Why Did You Come to My House? director Hwang Soo-Ah)

Women News

Hankook Ilbo

Joins.com

Yes24

Segye

[melusine]

Finally, a release date! In theaters: April 23, 2009.

News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News

SISTERS ON THE ROAD. (Jigeum, idaeroga johayo) Director Bu Ji-yeong, creator of numerous short films including His Humming and A Drop of Clear Salty Liquid, unabashedly targets the ladies in the audience with a female road movie featuring two sisters, polar opposites in character, on a search for their father following the death of their mother. Kong Hyo-jin (Crush and Blush, Dajjimawa Lee) and Shin Min-ah (GoGo 70s, Bittersweet Life) play the sisters Myeong-joo and Myeong-eun. This DNA drama will grace theaters on April 23. [Koreanfilm.org]

Stills <via Daum + Cine21>

No hotlinking pls!

[melusine]

Shin Mina and Gong Hyo-jin are Sisters on the Road

March 23rd, 2009 // by javabeans

Gong Hyo-jin and Shin Mina are teaming up as half-sisters in the upcoming film Sisters on the Road [지금, 이대로가 좋아요]. This could be interesting, as both ladies are among their generation's more visible rising actresses (and fashionistas), having worked steadily and increased their profiles over the past several years in projects like Crush and Blush and The Naked Kitchen.

In the film, the two share the same mother, but because they have different fathers, the sisters have never cultivated a close bond. However, when their mother suddenly dies, they set off on a trip to locate the younger one's (Shin) father, encountering unexpected obstacles, accidents, and the revelation of startling family histories as they unravel what it means to be family, and sisters.

(The English title is given as Sisters on the Road, but the literal Korean translation means "I like how things are here, now.")

Gong Hyo-jin plays the easygoing older sister who inherits their mother's fish shop and cares for the house in their Jeju Island hometown. Meanwhile, Shin Mina's character is the intelligent but more sensitive, prickly career-woman sister; she struck out on her own and has been independent ever since her university days, and now works in a corporate job in Seoul.

The film comes from director Bu Ji-young, who also wrote her 2003 film Untold Scandal [스캔들 - 조선남녀상열지사]. She also won a special award at Daegu International Short Film Festival for her 2002 short, A Drop of Clear Salty Liquid [눈물, aka Tears].

Gong Hyo-jin was most recently in the film Crush and Blush [미쓰 홍당무], for which she drew in many accolades last year. Preceding that, she'd acted in action-spy comedy Dachimawa Lee [다찌마와 리] and the heartwarming 2007 MBC drama Thank You.

Meanwhile, Shin Mina's most recent project was romance film The Naked Kitchen, in which she reteamed with her previous co-star Joo Ji-hoon (they'd first paired in the 2007 thriller drama Devil).

Sisters on the Road releases on April 23.

Via Kuki News

[melusine]

Poster and trailer alert~!!

Trailer: <Screencaps>

mms://vod.cine21.com/cine21.com/movie/trailer/2009/04/sisters_tr.wmv

mms://media1.maxmovie.com/movieinfo/image/av/Maxsistersontheroad_tr.wmv

mms://stream.cineseoul.com/hepk/hepk041308.wmv

[MegaUpload] [MediaFire] [SendSpace] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J-Qsd-jgdM] [News Hankuk]

I liked the low-key, indie feel of it. It made me miss my sister. T_T

via No Cut News + International Business Times + Asia Today + Arts News + CNBNews + MHJ21.com

[melusine]

Character/Making video: GHJ as Myung-Ju

mms://vod.cine21.com/cine21.com/movie/making/2009/04/sisters_char_kong.wmv

mms://media1.maxmovie.com/movieinfo/image/av/Maxsistersontheroad_kong.wmv

mms://stream.cineseoul.com/hhc/hhc000484.wmv

[MegaUpload] [MediaFire] [SendSpace] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrzzVK8vMh0] [TVDaily] [eto.co.kr]

via JK News

'GHJ transforms into a fishmonger lady'

News / News / News / News / News / News / News

[Guest lot_lot]

thanks for sharing the latest news on the movie, melusine. Do you know when the presscon will be held? The presscon should be soon, considering the premiere is April 23. I cannot wait to see GHJ and SMA on screen together again.

[melusine]

lot_lot You're welcome. I also can't wait, am a fan of both actresses.

I don't know when the presscon will be either, but you're right, it should be soon. The staggered release of stills and videos (trailer, character/making, hopefully an MV) has started, so I'm sure more info will trickle out in the coming days. Keep it mind that this is an indie movie, hence the small budget for PR. Though GHJ and SMA are name stars, they're not exactly sure box-office draws (i.e. can "open" a movie), and the film got mixed~good reviews in PIFF. Which explains why writer/director Bu JiYoung said in a recent interview that with the bad economy/film industry slump, she had been anxious that it would just make the festival rounds and not get picked up for distribution. So we should be glad it's getting a theater release at all.^^ I hope it does relatively well eventhough it's up against spy caper (and potential crowd-pleaser) Level 7 Civil Servant/My Girlfriend is an Agent.

Edited to add: <via MaxMovie>

According to the survey "Which movie do you most want to watch in April?" conducted by Korea's largest movie ticketing website Ticket Interpark on April 6-10 with a total of 4,725 respondents, the results are:

Level 7 Civil Servant/My Girlfriend is an Agent: 50.79% (2,400 votes)

Admiral (Адмиралъ - Russia): 20.49% (968 votes)

Monsters vs. Aliens (USA): 16.53% (781 votes)

Black Ice (Musta jää - Finland): 6.24% (295 votes)

Sisters on the Road: 5.95% (281 votes)

[melusine]

To HyoJin

(April 4)

and MinAh

(April 5)

...Saengil chukahae!!

[melusine]

11th Int'l Women's Film Festival in Seoul

by Nigel D'Sa, KOFIC

Mar 19 2009

The 11th International Women's Film Festival in Seoul (IWFFIS) kicks off its second decade of femme power this month, bringing 105 films from 23 countries to the Artreon Theater in Sinchon, western Seoul. Under the banner "See the World through Women's Eyes" the event runs April 9 - 16.

Opening the fest is the multi-culturally tense feature Half-Life, which premiered at Sundance last year to rave reviews. The festival's only competition section, Asian Short Film Competition section will screen 18 shorts from around Asia. This year's jury includes Korean actress GONG Hyo-jin, director LEE Mi-yeon, director of the fest opener Jennifer Phang, and Japanese women's film festival chief Yukiko Hibino.

The New Currents section presents 24 features from around the world, including several Korean features. Debut director LEE Kyoung-mi's Crush and Blush, KIM So-Young's award-winning Treeless Mountain, LEE Sook-kyoung's The Day After, and BOO Ji-young's Sisters on the Road will screen in this section.

Other sections in the program include Queer Rainbow, On Aging, Women's Labor and Poverty, Girls on the Road - a road-movie spotlight that includes Korean film Seri and Harr by JANG Soo-young, and a Media Workshop for Migrant Women.

The festival can be reached from Sinchon subway station exit 4. Go straight 5 minutes and the Artreon multiplex will be on your left. Almost all films have English subtitles or dialogue. The IWFFIS website can be found at http://www.wffis.or.kr.

related links:

[JoongAng Daily] Women’s voices come through on film

[Korea Times] See the World Through Women’s Eyes

[Korea Herald] Women's film festival kicks off in Seoul Thursday

[Cine21] Film Review

Source: IWFFIS website

A forefront section of IWFFIS, New Currents provides a precious opportunity for casting a look at the tendency of recent women’s films by showcasing carefully selected up-to-date works that have been made by prominent female directors for the last two years. Two most remarkable features of this year’s edition are summarized as the balanced positioning of seventeen feature-length films amongst 24 selections, and as the rise of new talents.

Most of the featured directors are new faces who all have produced no more than three feature films, saving Agnès Varda, the godmother of ‘women’s film,’ who revisits IWFFIS with an autobiographical reflection on her own career in cinema - The Beaches of Agnès. Varda’s unexhausted appetite for filmmaking and stainless mastery sides with the young directors’ formidable depth and abilities in terms of the point of view on our world, poignancy of expression, and will to the resistance to established values. In this year’s New Currents is the pleasure of enjoying their aspiring challenges.

“Individuated landscapes of life” is the most remarkable characteristic of all the feature-length films of this year. Having claimed international film scene’s attention, Wendy and Lucy, Cold Lunch, Little Soldier, and Treeless Mountain all do not withdraw an emphatic approach to the modes of women’s life that are thoroughly individuated under global capitalism - women from so-called developed countries who are forced out to the blind spot of welfare - while throwing a serene and sometimes pitiless gaze on them. Everyone Else provides a detached and unfamiliar perspective on a woman who seeks an escape from her life as it is individuated by the repetition of romance and love.

There are two documentaries that portray a conflict between the nation-community and young women’s desire; Carmen Meets Borat, setting at the Romanian gypsy village known as the location of mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, and Lady Kul El Arab, a moving story of a muslim woman preparing for a beauty contest. Besides this subject matter, however, attention has to be paid to them inasmuch as they shrewdly capture a contact point at which women’s life and desire meets the capital of global entertainment. In a similar vein, richard simmons Academy unapologetically gazes at Russian chicks who are driven into the “richard simmons Academy”where they are taught the art of being chosen by wealthy men, as capitalist values sweep over Russia. In all the three documentaries, women’s desire is constructed, negotiated, and sometimes frustrated at the point where the traditional community and the global capital collide.

Two French films, Home and Darling, questions the meaning of family and the status of women in the patriarchal society, and particularly the former is an experimental film that attractively uses the idiom of horror film to associate repressive and environment-disrupting national developmentalism with patriarch’s madness. With incisive episodes and character deployment, The Day After - a debut feature film by a former scholar of women’s studies, Lee Suk-gyung - manages to reveal the inner turmoil of a “divorced woman.”

This year’s New Currents is also marked by a multitude of women on the road, as demonstrated by three road movies that deal with women who go on their own journey. It is there that the characters of Sisters on the Road, Dunya & Desie and Lovers on the Road all unwind the entangled thread of identity, friendship, family, and love. We are also pleased to present as a special screening Ulrike Ottinger’s The Korean Wedding Chest co-produced by IWFFIS, after its world premier at the Forum section of this year’s Berlin International Film Festival on last February. Along with Treeless Mountain by American-Korean Kim So Yong, it will provide an opportunity to see the modernized landscape of

Korea with the compound eyes. (KWON Eun-sun)

Synopsis

After the mother's funeral, the younger sister suggests a trip to the older sister. The two sisters not only have different fathers, but different lifestyles and personalities as well. During the trip, the two constantly quarrel, but they also share the secrets of their fathers and gradually understand each other. The film tells the story of the two women that embrace each other as family as they travel to find their fathers.

Program Note

Myung-eun was living all by herself away from home. Her mother's sudden death brings her back to her hometown. Myung-eun makes a suggestion to her sister Myung-ju that they should go to find Myung-eun's father, who abandoned Myung-eun. They are different in personality, preferences, and have different fathers. They frequently confront each other on the road. While Myung-eun regards the journey itself as a burden, Myung-ju pays more attention to small details they encounter on the road. Myung-eun is fairly sick and tired of her family, whereas Myung-ju simply accepts the family situation as her fate. Myung-ju actually finds Myung-eun more distant than a stranger would be. The two sisters' journey seems to be going nowhere, but it enters into a new phase as they begin to discover that they are in fact the two closest members of the family. The movie deals with a variety of problems and sensitive issues. But its seriousness does not bog it down as each of the complicated characters and their entangled relationships unfold in a quiet, delicate manner. What are slowly revealed are the multilayered feelings and complicated thoughts of the characters who struggle and do indeed get closer to their own true colors and identities. The picture reveals the two women as family members who could not reveal themselves or understand each other. But then they start breaking their long silences and begin communicating with each other as they travel. Having denied her past and yet been bound in it, Myung-eun comes back to it in the present, thanks to their journey. The director, Boo Ji-young, with her first full-length movie, poignantly captures on film the situations the two women experience on the unfamiliar road - and the changes of heart they undergo as a result of their significant journey on this remarkable road. (Amy LEE)

DIRECTOR

BOO Ji-young

Source: IWFFIS website

Edited to add: GV in the sked stands for 'Guest Visit' which means that BJY +/- GHJ & SMA attended the screenings to greet the audience and discuss their film.

April 12

credit: Daum, http://whiteshouse.co.kr/150046108467

April 10

credit: Daum, http://blog.naver.com/sulla77/65226572

[melusine]

Character/Making video: SMA as Myung-Eun

mms://vod.cine21.com/cine21.com/movie/making/2009/04/sisters_char_sin.wmv

mms://media1.maxmovie.com/movieinfo/image/av/Maxsisters_mina.wmv

[MegaUpload] [MediaFire] [SendSpace] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9flvJR_-bMc] [TVDaily]

via JK News + MJKNews

New stills

[melusine]

Making clip: '2 sisters, 2 completely different styles'

mms://vod.cine21.com/cine21.com/movie/making/2009/04/sisters_fashion.wmv

[MegaUpload] [MediaFire] [SendSpace] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG6VS46Csbo]

News / News / News / News / News

News / News - 'A fresh movie'

OhmyNews review (in Korean)

[melusine]

Yonhap News article | Asia Today article

[melusine]

Press Screening

April 13, 2009, 4:30pm - CGV Wangsimni

News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News

News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News / News

Videos

[Y-Star|DL] [YTN TV|DL] [YTN TV|DL] [YTN TV|DL]

[Sportsseoul TV|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ37NNDQBcU] [Sportsseoul TV|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z5Qeg6nn0k] [Sportsseoul TV|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqxuo9bseg8] [eto.co.kr|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V61JBhBKhZ0]

[Spot TV|DL] [Spot TV|DL] [Spot TV|DL] [Spot TV|DL] [Spot TV|DL] [Spot TV|DL] [Spot TV|DL] [Spot TV|DL]

[TVDaily|mms://yahoomedia.hscdn.com/yahoomedia/tvdaily/41307.wmv]

More pics @ HyoJin's and MinAh's threads

[melusine]

Arirang Showbiz Extra - Entertainment Report (English subbed) [MegaUpload] [MediaFire] [SendSpace] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd9O7QFxGxs]

video+screencaps credit: Cutiepie's Drama Goodies

Yonhap News interviews:

[Streaming|DL]

mms://yonhapnews.hvod.nefficient.co.kr/yonhapnews/200904/MYH20090413006800355_WMV700Kbps.wmv

mms://navernews.hvod.nefficient.co.kr/navernews/0010/2009/0413/02606655.wmv

[Streaming|DL]

mms://yonhapnews.hvod.nefficient.co.kr/yonhapnews/200904/MYH20090415003800355_WMV700Kbps.wmv

mms://navernews.hvod.nefficient.co.kr/navernews/0010/2009/0415/02609839.wmv

ETN interview: [Streaming|DL]

Star News interview | Star News interview

GomTV interview

dongA.com article

Hankyoreh article

Netizen reaction: Arts News

[rubie]

April 14, 2009

Movie Review

Stunning ending polarizes audiences in sisterhood movie

By Shin Hae-in

SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- There cannot be a halfway critique for this peculiar movie: you will either like it, or hate it.

At first, "Sisters on the Road (Jigeum idaeroga joayo)" puts itself forward as a melodrama of self-discovery as two half-sisters embark on a journey in search of the younger sibling's absentee father after the sudden death of their mother.

What awaits them and what audiences won't be prepared for, however, is an astonishing ending that will leave viewers pondering long after the credits roll. For perfectionist Myeong-eun, played by Shin Min-ah, family has always been a "ball-and-chain." From her headstrong mother and talkative half-sister to soft-spoken, odd, aunt, family has been a source of humiliation that she has grown to hate. Not having a father didn't help.

Traveling back to her hometown on Jeju Island for her mother's funeral, Myeong-eun musters up the courage to put her longstanding plan into action: visit her long lost father and give him a piece of her mind.

Myeong-ju, played by Gong Hyo-iin, accompanies her neurotic little sister on the journey. A quirky, ne'er-do-well fishmonger and a single mom, she soon confronts a dilemma of whether to tell Myeong-eun a family secret that has kept hidden for decades.

Directed by Bu Ji-young, the low-key indie film, funded by the Korea Film Council, debuted at the Pusan International Film Festival last year, drawing very mixed reviews.

"I wanted to create a special story about an all women family," the Ehwa Womans University graduate told audiences at the movie's premiere Monday. "I hope the movie will make you think about how the essence of what you've been searching for all your life may actually have been right next to you all along."

Putting aside the reviews, the performances by these two versatile actresses are a sheer delight. Both still in their 20s, Gong and Shin manage to create a formidable vehicle for delivering the somewhat abstruse subject of the film to viewers. True to her reputation as an actress who can "pull off the quirkiest roles," Gong does a superb job as the boisterous yet warmhearted elder sister who has learned life doesn't always turn out the way she planned.

Shin, whose attractive looks seem out-of-place in this kind of low-key setting, also shines as the somewhat sullen and overly busy businesswoman whose subdued performance as a recently bereft daughter is nothing short of amazing. Another pith of the film is the real-life bond between the two actresses who have been close friends since teenagers. "I just thought it would be fun to do a movie with Min-ah," Gong said, while Shin described the shooting as a "fun journey with a buddy."

Working -- at least up until the secret is revealed -- within familiar melodramatic conventions, "Sisters" is a great woman's story in terms of the sheer quality of emotions that elevate into a unique and poignant cinematic experience.

"Sometimes, Myeong-eun, you just have to know when to let go," the elder sister tells her sibling who falls into a fitful sleep after mourning about her dysfunctional family. "Mom did that, I did that. You must do that and so will my daughter."

Sandwiched between mega budget films such as "My Girlfriend is an Agent," "Insa-dong Scandal," and "Thirst," all lined up for releases this month, "Sisters" may have a hard time earning commercial success. On the bright side, domestic indie films have been gaining faithful fans in recent months with the success of "Old Partner," "Daytime Drinking" and "Breathless."

The film, with a running-time of 96 minutes, will open in local theaters on April 23.

Credits: hayney@yna.co.kr via yonhapnews.co.kr

[Guest iluvjin]

This movie looks interesting! I'm a big fan of Shin Mina so i'll watch this!! I love her short hair it's so cute!!! But her purple outfit is very ugly! The director has great glasses!!! There isn't that much hype going for this movie but it could just be one of the best movies of the year!

[rubie]

コン・ヒョジン、シン・ミナ「一番記憶に残るシーンは？」

Gong Hyo Jin, Shin Mina, "the most memorable scenes?"

Clip to download

Clip to download

Source: innolife.net

[Guest lot_lot]

Thanks melusine and rubie for all the goodies. I hope there will be a big turn out on the VIP premiere, considering another movie is opening on the same day. GHJ and SMA, both look fabulous during the press con. I wonder what their fashions will be for the VIP premiere.

[melusine]

http://newsvod.nate.com/yt/2009/04/22/MYH2..._WMV700Kbps.wmv

mms://navernews.hvod.nefficient.co.kr/navernews/0010/2009/0422/02621750.wmv

mms://yahoomedia.hscdn.com/yahoomedia/yna/MYH20090422004600355_WMV700Kbps.wmv

mms://newsvod.imnews.imbc.com/imnews/desk/2009/04/mbc_desk_20090424_2_300k.asf [Streaming]

Arirang Showbiz Extra - Cinema Spotlight (English subbed)

[MegaUpload] [MediaFire] [SendSpace] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmYMtuWtBVU] [YouTube]

video+screencaps credit: Cutiepie's Drama Goodies