[Movie 2008] The Good, The Bad, The Weird 좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈

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March 11, 2012

Kim Ji-woon: International or Korean?...Take Your Pick

Posted by Paul Bramhall at KOFFIA Blog

If anybody asks me who my favourite director is working in cinema today, I’m always able to answer without hesitation that it’s Kim Ji-woon. I first experienced his work with 2003s ‘A Tale of Two Sisters / 장화, 홍련’, and have been a fan ever since. He’s the rare director that seems to be able to turn his hand to whichever genre he chooses, and create an excellent piece of cinema.

Kim Ji-woon...contemplating what to put in each version of his next movie.

However despite my admiration, there is one frustrating element to Ji-woon’s work that started with 2005’s ‘A Bittersweet Life / 달콤한 인생’, and has been a recurring event with both of his movies released since then. It’s what I’ve come to call the curse of the International version & the Korean version. That is to say, all three of his most recent movies have come released in two versions, and each one has enough differences to warrant a separate viewing of each. While seeing a different version of the same movie might hold novelty value for some, I for one personally wish that he would simply create his definitive vision of the movie, and release that for the world to see, not just a certain version for his local audience and a different one for the rest of the world. For me the most frustrating factor is when I try to switch my friends onto his work by showing them one of his movies, I often find myself scratching my head for far longer than any reasonable person should contemplating which version I should show.

To get mathematical for a second, let me provide the exact breakdown. For ‘A Bittersweet Life’, which to be fair had the two versions entitled the Theatrical cut & the Director’s cut, comparing them against each other the Director’s cut has 16 scenes removed, and 2 scenes rearranged & slightly lengthened which results in the Director's cut being 30 seconds longer. For ‘The Good The Bad The Weird / 좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈’, comparing the International version to the Korean version there are 30 alterations, including 7 scenes of alternative footage, 13 scenes in which the International version runs longer, & 1 recut. The difference in running time has the Korean version running 5:24 minutes longer. Finally for ‘I Saw the Devil / 악마를 보았다’, comparing again there are 14 extended scenes in the International version totaling 3:20 minutes, 15 extended scenes in the Korean version totaling 5:37 minutes, and 3 alternative sequences.

Confused? It’s understandable. To give people some idea of what you’re in for and the reasons behind such decisions, not to mention the fact that unless you buy the Korean DVD release you might not even be aware of the different versions, I’ll take a look at each movie individually.

For ‘A Bittersweet Life’, out of the three the differences made between the Theatrical cut & the Director’s cut make the most sense. The Director’s cut for the most part takes the movie and makes it flow more, while adding more narrative structure which results in things making more sense. The best example of this is probably when Lee Byung-hun’s character Sun-woo drives back to the girl’s apartment to confront her. In the Theatrical version we don’t get to see why, however in the Director’s cut it shows Sun-woo in his car watching her talk to a man outside her apartment, who is her boyfriend. Once her boyfriend leaves Sun-woo also drives away, not knowing that she is watching him, and once he’s gone she calls her boyfriend to advise that the coast is clear, but by chance Sun-woo almost gets into a car accident with him. Realizing he’s been deliberately deceived, this scene shows why he is so brutal when returning to the apartment.

Other changes for the most part actually involve small cuts here and there, the stabbing in the ice-rink is trimmed a little along with how many times Sun-woo gets shot in the final scene, although totally these changes don’t even equate to a second. Interestingly one of my favourite scenes in the movie only exists in the Director’s cut, when Sun-woo has been badly beaten and is on his knees in front of his boss Kang in the rain, Kang asks him why he decided to keep that fact that his girlfriend was seeing somebody a secret and not just call him, saying it’s very out of character for him. Sun-woo stays silent and doesn’t answer, and for me I thought this was a really powerful scene in portraying the feelings Sun-woo was harbouring for the girl.

It was with ‘The Good, The Bad, The Weird’ that the changes being made essentially contribute towards changing the tone, and even in this case the ending, of the movie. While to detail every change would be tiresome, I will outline the couple of significant differences between the two. Firstly, in the International version the scenes containing the character of Korean Freedom Fighter Song-yi, played by Eom Ji-won, are completely cut out. In the Korean version it’s shown that she is the person who hires The Good, played by Jeong Woo-seong, to find the map, as it’s very important it doesn’t get into the hands of the Japanese army. Her character also has several short scenes throughout the movie, all of which are gone in the International version.

Eom Ji-won, the girl who wasn't there

Secondly, and probably most significant, the ending is extended by several minutes in the Korean version. According to CJ Entertainment, it’s actually the ending of the International version that matched Ji-woon’s original version, which in my opinion is also

Secondly, and probably most significant, the ending is extended by several minutes in the Korean version. According to CJ Entertainment, it’s actually the ending of the International version that matched Ji-woon’s original version, which in my opinion is also the better or the two. For the Korean version, the ending goes on continuing directly where the International version finishes to show the fates of the Good & the Weird. Song Kang-ho’s character sits up and wonders why he’s so heavy, and upon lifting his shirt reveals a metal plate in a homage to ‘A Fistful of Dollars’, however the Japanese army soon catch up with him and after accidentally lighting a stack of dynamite, everyone runs for cover. Additionally it then cuts to a scene of Jeong Woo-seong entering a room of men playing cards around a table, and asking them where he can find the Weird, after a moment’s silence he shoots everyone except the boss and asks again. It’s at this point the movie cuts to the shot of him on the motorbike which finishes both versions.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two versions is the Korean version more heavily leaning on the resistance fighters element of the story, so adding more of a historical background to the proceedings, which is completely absent from the International version. It also gives a several minutes more screen time to heart throb Jeong Woo-seong, which no doubt his legions of female fans appreciated on local soil.

Lastly with ‘I Saw the Devil’, it’s fair to say the majority of changes here were to do with satisfying the Korean Media Rating Board, but once again there are also some significant dialogue scenes missing from both versions, which makes it the most frustrating movie in trying to decide which is best. In total Ji-woon went through three edits of the movie to get his movie through for Korean release, so some of the violence is trimmed down, and pretty much every direct reference to cannibalism is gone from the Korean version. With that in mind, it’s interesting to point out that the Korean version actually runs 2 minutes longer than the International version, as with the International version he took the opportunity to cut out various dialogue or connecting scenes that he didn’t feel necessary, which makes the added violence even more powerful.

This will of course make each version an either more rewarding or less rewarding experience depending on which one you see first. For me personally I saw the Korean version upon its release in Korea, and was left more than satisfied with the experience. However upon my second viewing I watched the International version, and although the added violence (& there is a fair few scenes) will leave gore hounds drooling, I found myself frustrated at the fact that nothing is explained as to how Byung-hun’s character finds who the suspects are so easily, as the scenes are all cut out which show that the police already have some perpetrators in mind. Also, although in the International version it’s made more than clear that Choi Moo-seong’s character is a cannibal both verbally and visually, I’m not sure what the reason is behind cutting out the sex scene that occurs between Choi Min-sik & Kim In-seo in the kitchen.

In the end, it’s hard to recommend either version as the superior viewing experience, and ultimately it’s best to watch both and reach your own conclusion. My hope is that when it comes to Ji-woon’s English language debut next year with ‘Last Stand’, it will also herald the last time we have to choose which version of the movie we want to watch.

Paul Bramhall@Paul Bramhall

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March 10, 2012

Ten Reasons to become a Korean Cinema Addict

Posted by Gail Kavanagh at Asian Cinema Cafe

Of course I can just start with the standard fangurl's list - Jung Woo Sung, Lee Byung Hun, Rain - but there are plenty of blogs and websites that will give you that.

My top ten reasons for becoming addicted to Korean cinema will in fact quickly get you addicted to Korean cinema if you follow them up, even if you don't just fall over and die the first time you see Lee Byung Hun - but I guarantee you will anyway.

On with the lust - I mean list. Freudian slip!

1: The first and most important reason is that you are sick to the back teeth of Hollywood. All those endless sequels, addle brained chick flicks, comic book characters (even when the characters aren't from a comic book) and of course, the remakes. Remakes of old movies, classic movies, foreign movies, movies that just should have English speaking actors in America or no one will watch them because of the subtitles, and Korean movies. That's right, Korean movies, because Hollywood hasn't come up with anything original in decades, so it copies Korea to find fresh ideas. Enough said.

2: It's never bland. Funny, extraordinary, politically incorrect, but never bland. Korea is like the last frontier of movie making. The actors are always injuring themselves doing mad stunts. Korean Jackie Chans, the lot of them. The scripts are brutally honest, going where a mealy mouthed western script wouldn't dare unless it wants to get labelled an 'art movie'. I don't mean swearing and sex, that's so repetitive in western movies, it has become bland. I mean ideas, shocking ideas, and twists you never see coming. I mean no tame sticking to genre either. A Moment to Remember is a heart wrenching romantic weepie, yet it contains ones of the funniest scenes ever when a guy on a motor bike tries to snatch Son Ye-Jin's bag.

3: Korean cinema is about life. Remember those movies that actually made you resonate to the situations of the characters? When you could relate to them because they weren't all doctors and lawyers and lived in MacMansions? In Korean movies and drama, some characters live just like you do. And they feel and react just like you do, and they dress just like you do, and eat - yay, they actually eat! - and they say dumb things and smart things, and are just generally real folks, just like you. I think that is because Korean film makers and actors and actresses haven't lost touch with reality, and the beauty of truth in cinema.

4: Boy, can they creep you out. Korean horror is superb, scary, and you will soon amass a list of movies you will just never, never, never watch again. I saw the Devil is on mine, but not Old Boy. I love that movie.

5: Korean movies espouse old fashioned values like loyalty, duty and family. Maybe that's why Hollywood has to remake them. Notions of duty to family, especially to the older members, have little impact in the west. In fact, the more selfish, slack and downright arrogant you can be, especially if you are a woman, the more of a cinema role model you will be. I don't buy it. Politeness and respect are beautiful to see.

6: Korean movies make you think. They don't just follow Hollywood formulas. You actually have to pay attention, and leave your preconceptions at the door. Korean War movies give you insight into their view of the Korean War. M*A*S*H sometimes did that, but always filtered through American consciousness. For example, when family means as much as it does to Koreans, what is the impact of families being torn apart by war? Watch The Brotherhood of War and weep. War affects everyone, and this movie will give you a far better understanding than any Hollywood movie.

7: Korea can do blockbusters. Watch the gorgeous Musa, the action packed The Good, The Bad, The Weird, or any big costume epic from the land of spectacular scenery and headstrong actors launching themselves into thin air tied by a rope. Magnificent battle scenes, fantastic horsemanship, and production values that make your eyes water come together in unforgettable movies.

8: Romance is really romance. Not just couples rushing into bed and then spending the rest of the movie agonising over gender issues because there's really nothing left to do after you've already banged each other's brains out.

9: Korean movies go off topic. Personally I love this. Life doesn't stay on topic, or pack itself into different genres. Korean directors are quite happy to pursue a random thought, and I am more than happy to follow them. I can see that this would annoy someone whose idea of a movie is more Hollywood, though.

10: All right, I give in. Korea has some of the most attractive actors and actresses on the planet. Luckily, they are also some of the most talented, heartfelt, emotionally unleashed and totally natural as well. And Korea also has brilliant character actors, like Kang Ho Song, the Weird from The Good, the Bad, the Weird and the star of many other fine movies like Memory of Murder.

Where do you get Korean movies? eBay is a good place to start, or you can find some full length movies on YouTube if you want to dip your toe in. Sites like Far East Films and Yes Asia are also great places to find Korean DVDs. Check Amazon as well - never know what you'll find there. Dive in - cinema can become an adventure again.

[rubie]

March 10, 2012

An Introduction to Korean Cinema

Posted by Elwood Jones at fromthedepthsofdvdhell.com

In recent years Korea has become a cinema powerhouse, churning out a huge selection of quality films which has been something of a bonus for the established fans of Asian cinema, but can prove slightly bewildering to newcomers as to where to start.

So with today being the last day of “The Korean Cinema Blogathon”, a week long celebration of "Korean Cinema" currently being hosted by both “New Korean Cinema” and “cineAWSOME”, so here is my own introduction to Korean cinema aswell as possibly some of the most exciting cinema currently being produced today.

Brotherhood

Set in 1950 on the eve of the Korean war were two brothers are drafted to the frontlines, leading Jin-tae (Dong-gun Jang) on a desperate bid to win a medal of honor so that his younger brother Jin-seok (Bin Won) can be released from service, as the two brothers learn the true horrors of the war which has enveloped their country.

Frequently referred to as the Korean “Saving Private Ryan”, I actually preferred this over Spielberg’s war epic, especially as this tale of two brothers in the Korean war is none the less powerful, especially with it’s blood and snot finale which truly captures just how bloody a war it really was, while certainly not being afraid to run the audience through an emotional wringer. Needless to say director Je-kyu Kang is certainly one of the key directors of New Korean cinema, especially when he continue to craft Hollywood standard blockbusters like this and this film proves just why he is a director to watch.

I'm A Cyborg, But I'm Okay

Young-Goon (Su-Jeong Lim) believes she is cyborg, but after plugging herself into the mains, in a failed attempt to recharge her batteries, she finds herself committed to an Asylum, were she soon attracts the attentions of her fellow inmate Il-Sun (Rain) who believes that he can steal other people’s souls / attributes and with whom she soon forms an unusual bond.

Director Park Chan-wook supposedly made this for his eleven year old daughter and marked for the director a radical change in direction for this is the same director who brought us his dark and gripping “Vengeance Trilogy”, while proving here that he was capable of working in more than one genre as he would also prove with his follow up “Thirst” which also brought an interesting take to the overworked vampire genre. Still the idea of a watching a romantic and frequently surreal film set in a mental institution, let alone one without the prospect of anyone being beaten with a hammer, or eating live squid might prove to some not the most appealing of prospects, especially to the established fans and true while this offering from no doubt one of the most exciting and interesting directors currently working in modern Korean cinema, might not contain any of the shocking imagery of his earlier films which made them so memorable, there is still a lot to enjoy here even if this film is lighter in tone, he still allows for his darker side to seep into this film, I mean after all what other romantic comedy can you think of, which opens with the leading lady, wiring herself up to the mains?

Save the Green Planet!

Lee Byeong-gu (Shin Ha-Kyun), a man who believes that aliens are about to attack Earth and that more importantly that he is the only one who can prevent them, teams up with his childlike circus-performer girlfriend (Jeong-min Hwang) to kidnaps a powerful executive (Yun-shik Baek) whom he believes to be a top ranking extraterrestrial who can contact the prince of these aliens during the upcoming eclipse.

A masterpiece of genre bending antics from director Jang Jun-hwan as Comedy, Sci-fi, Thriller and Horror meet in a head on collision of styles, to create a truly unique viewing experience which constantly keeps the viewer guessing as to what is going to happen next, as the frequent switches between the genres makes it anything but predictable, while also featuring a punk rock version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on the soundtrack, which is never a bad thing.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Set in the desert wilderness of 1930s Manchuria were The Bad (Lee Byung-hun) - a bandit and hitman - is hired to acquire a treasure map from a Japanese official traveling by train. Before he can get it however, The Weird (Song Kang-ho) - a thief - steals the map while invertibly being caught up in The Bad's derailment of the train. Meanwhile the Good (Jung Woo-sung) an eagle-eyed bounty hunter appears to claim the bounty on The Bad, while The Weird escapes hoping to uncover the map's secrets and recover what he believes is gold and riches buried by the Qing Dynasty.

Personally I’ve never been a fan of Westerns, but for some strange reason I can’t get enough of Asian Westerns and having adored Takashi Miike’s “Sukiyaki Western Django” this film captures the same fun energy, as it takes traditional western themes and ideas and gives them an Eastern twist, with thrilling shoot out’s and several spectacular set pieces including the finale which see’s the Japanese army, Manchurian bandits, The Good, The Bad and his gang all chasing The Weird while heavily artillery shells decimate the surrounding area. This is one western which constantly seems to be playing a game of one-upmanship with itself, creating one hell of a fun ride in the process, which is anything but boring.

Park Chan-Wook's Vengeance Trilogy

Park Chan-wook’s highly memorable trilogy of films comprised of “Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance”, the insanely popular “Oldboy” and the severely underrated “Lady Vengeance”. Three films linked by shared themes and ideas, rather than characters and plots, much like Miike Takashi’s “Triad Society Trilogy” whose trilogy also followed these same rules. As a result all three films can be watched on their own and in any order, but together form a devastating and beautifully shocking trilogy of movies, which not only helped mark out Chan-wook as a director to watch, but with "Oldboy" also helped launched the Korean movie invasion into the public conscious, while showing to established fans of Asian cinema that Korea was producing films just as exciting as those being produced by Japan and China who had dominated the Asian market at that point.

While all containing moments of shocking violence, it’s also safe to say that vengeance has never looked as good as Chan-Wook how chooses to portray it with surprising moments of tenderness scattered throughout the three films, to balance out the more shocking ones.

Death Bell

A group of top students are chosen to study over their vacation in order to take a test and impress a sister school. With the best students in the school chosen, it is soon to be an unfortunate fate, as a sadistic killer traps them in the school and starts kidnapping them one by one. Each kidnapped student is then threatened with a torturous death unless the rest of the students can solve the questions being given to them by the killer.

A recent discovery for myself this simple horror plays out in a similar style to “Saw”, a concept now firmly run into the ground, but with the refreshing lack of extreme gore and more of a focus on the mystery, makes it still a fun watch while also containing more than a few surreal shocks along the way to help it stand out from the numerous “Saw” clones which have flooded the market recently, especially as it has enough originality on show here to help it stand on it’s own.

H

Shin Hyun (Jo Seung-woo) a serial killer who preyed on pregnant women has been behind bars for 10 months when a copycat killer becomes active. Detectives Kim (Yeom Jeong-ah) and Kang (Ji Jin-hee) meet with the imprisoned killer and search for clues in an effort to head off the copy cat killer before he finishes.

Largely over looked since it’s release due to mixed opinion, it is still dark “Se7en” esq style thriller, which is still a good mystery with plenty of style while perhaps making several large leaps in plausibility, but certainly none as preposterous as M. Night Shyamalan has made with any of his recent films, though best not watched expecting high art to avoid any disappointment.

Pulgasari

An evil king (Yong-Hok Pak) aware of the peasant rebellion being planned, steals all the iron in the country, to make weapons for his own personal army. After discovering bandits in the local village he imprisons them along with their leaders grandfather (Gwon Ri), who staves himself to death, while creating a tiny figurine of the mythical creature Pulgasari, which comes to life when combined with the blood of his daughter. Growing bigger with the more Iron it consumes the creature helps the peasants to fight back against their corrupt king.

Pulgasari is a film most commonly known for the tales behind it’s making, rather than the film itself, seeing how its creation was the result of the former North Korean dictator and film fanatic Kim Jong-il Kim, who being a fan of South Korean director Sang-ok Shin and apparently not being content with perhaps an autograph, instead had Shin kidnapped, forcing him to direct seven films for him, which Kim Jong-il also acted as executive producer for. Shin eventually managed to escape back to the South, but out of those film, this is one is the most well known, no doubt a result of its ties to the Kaiju genre, which is no doubt the reason it hasn't been forgotten entirely.

[rubie]

July 16, 2009

The East is Red #2 – Why You Won’t Be Seeing This Summer’s Best Movie

Posted by lisam The East Is Red

So you’ve already seen most of the 2009 summer blockbusters, and you’ve so far been somewhat underwhelmed. STAR TREK was fun, but somehow you never quite got the “wow” factor you suspect the filmmakers were going for. TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN mainly left you with a sense of your own impending middle-aged grumpiness. UP was enjoyable, but you’re wondering why a live-action film can’t work that well.

They can, and one has – but you, American moviegoers, won’t get to see it (at least not on a big screen) any time soon.

Before I tell you what that movie is and why you’re being rooked, let’s start this on-topic and with a statement that’s sure to raise hackles on a few of you: South Korea’s Kim Ji-woon is the world’s greatest living horror filmmaker.

If you’ve seen his 2003 masterpiece A TALE OF TWO SISTERS, chances are you’re thinking, Well, okay…I might go along with that. If you haven’t seen it – well, stop wasting time with this column, and go rent – no, strike that, BUY – a copy now. Watch it twice (yes, trust me on this), then come back. I’ll wait. Feel free to take the time to watch the DVD supplements, too (Kim apparently oversees much of this material himself, and SISTERS’ bonus materials are incredible).

(And by the way, telling me that you don’t need to see the original because you’ve seen the lameass American remake THE UNINVITED not only doesn’t count, it will get you kicked off the island.)

You’re back? Good. Then let’s talk first about TWO SISTERS. Enough has already been written about the film that a detailed discussion here would just be superfluous. However, I’d like to address a few of the reasons why I think the film works so spectacularly well, especially in relation to Kim Ji-woon’s body of work.

Based on a traditional Korean fairy tale (which I’ve been unable to locate an English translation of), TWO SISTERS employs some of the same reverse narrative structure found in American films like MEMENTO, but whereas MEMENTO unravels on subsequent viewings, TWO SISTERS is so perfectly plotted that it actually gets even better on subsequent viewings. This is partly due to the fact that Kim invests his characters with tremendous emotional hooks; the final revelation in TWO SISTERS is devastating not because it’s a clever gimmick, but because the depth of its tragedy is genuinely shocking. Kim understands that all storytelling, but horror in particular, needs to resonate with us on some gut level beyond the mere grossout; many of the best horror stories live side-by-side with great tragedy, and TWO SISTERS is a prime example of this.

But Kim’s talents don’t stop at being merely a great storyteller. He’s that rarest of auteurs, the triple threat who’s also a master visual stylist and a brilliant director of actors. The production design and cinematography of SISTERS is elegant and fluid, with the sets offering a mix of eastern and western motifs that’s somehow uncomfortable by itself. Kim (thankfully) eschews two of the most overused camera techniques of Hollywood horror – the subjective p.o.v. (usually from the killer) and the ShakyCam – preferring instead to have his camera glide along the hallways of his Gothic Korean mansion like one of the ghostly presences infesting it. He often uses traditional angles – the extreme low angle up on the antagonist, the tight close-up on the terrified girl – in a way that somehow makes them seem fresh and new again.

There’s an argument to be made in the notion that great directors must ally themselves with great actors (think Mifune and Kurosawa, Lynch and MacLachlan, Welles and…well, Welles), and Kim certainly fits that. He’s used South Korea’s comic genius Song Kang-ho from the beginning of his career (more about Song later), and his last two films starred the handsome and gifted Lee Byung-hun. But he’s yet to work again with Yeum Jung-ah, the actress who plays the stepmother in TWO SISTERS, and that’s a pity, because Yeum gives one of horror cinema’s great performances. From the moment we first see her, walking towards us with her tight smile and perfect grooming, we know there’s something VERY WRONG with this woman; when she realizes younger sister Soo-yeon is terrified of her, she barks out a surprised and delighted laugh that sets her up in no uncertain terms as the villainess. As the film delineates her slow transformation from merely brittle to downright psychopathic, her performance becomes more and more ferocious. It’s one of the great female monsters in all of horror cinema, and a performance unlikely to be rivaled any time soon (and TWO SISTERS isn’t the only great horror movie Yeum’s starred in, but I’m saving a discussion of her other work for a future column).

A TALE OF TWO SISTERS was Kim’s third feature as director. He started his career in 1998 with a funny and disturbing horror comedy called THE QUIET FAMILY, starring Song Kang-ho and OLD BOY’s Choi Min-sik as two members of the eponymous family who buy an isolated mountain inn with the idea of renovating it, then run into problems when their guests keep dropping dead. QUIET FAMILY provided the basis for Takashi Miike’s demented HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, but is both better made and genuinely funnier. It also features some of the most outrageous use of pop tunes ever, ending with the Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You” played over its climax. At a time when the Korean film industry was exploding in popularity, it established Kim as one of the young directors to watch.

Before he made TWO SISTERS, Kim made a mega-hit wrestling comedy called THE FOUL KING (once again starring Song Kang-ho), but more interesting were two shorts, both horror. One was a vampire dramedy called “Coming Out”, and the other was a creepy, surreal segment of the anthology film THREE (which also featured shorts from Thailand’s Nonzee Nimibutr and Hong Kong’s Peter Chan). Kim’s “Memories” is essentially plotless (a woman with no memory wanders the streets of a somewhat desolate city), but is rich in atmosphere and tension.

Kim followed A TALE OF TWO SISTERS with 2005′s international thriller hit A BITTERSWEET LIFE, starring Lee Byung-hun as a young gangster who is assigned to watch the bossman’s girlfriend; when he finds that she’s seeing another man, he lets them go, then faces off against his own fellow gang members. The plot is slight but the action is dense and showy, and Lee is resolved and sympathetic in the lead. A finale shoot-out in a club really is a GRAND finale, with breathtaking action and more than a little blood spattered.

By the time Kim got around to making his next film, the Korean film industry was in a slump. The boom of the late ’90s and early 2000s – when homegrown films had actually out-earned Hollywood product in the local movieplexes – was fading, and the industry was running out of cash. It took Kim Ji-woon to come up with an audacious move to reinvigorate the biz: He would make the most expensive film in South Korea’s history (wow, 17 million in US dollars!), amp up the action, throw in three of their biggest stars, and base it on -astonishingly – spaghetti westerns.

Kim’s gamble hit pay dirt. THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD became the biggest hit in Korea in 2008. Once again, Kim’s considerable visual talents come into play with an epic action story of three very different men all scrambling for a map that may reveal the location of a hidden treasure. Set during World War II, there are also Japanese forces in search of the map, outland barbarian hordes, and sophisticated gangsters. The three leads are Song Kang-ho (obviously “The Weird”), as a funky, gum-chewing train robber; Lee Byung-hun as “The Bad”, a scarred, well-dressed and ruthless mobster; and Jung Woo-sung as the cool and suave rifleman who is “The Good”. The movie starts with a train robbery that is as virtuosic a set-piece as you’re every likely to find in an action flick, and ends with an epic chase across a desert that’s (if possible) even more jaw-dropping. It’s all accompanied by a delightfully daffy score (think Morricone by way of disco), colorful production design, and a trainload of daffy supporting characters that all add up to one of the most entertaining films in years. Oh, and horror fans – there’s plenty of sheer weirdness here, too, including a sequence in an opium den and a running joke involving impalement of a particularly tender part of the human anatomy.

Even before THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD opened in its native country, it was acquired for U.S. distribution by IFC Films. The plan was to release it “in the first half of 2009″. Well, in case your calendar’s missing a few pages, we’re now officially past the year’s first six months, and not only was the film not released, it seems to have vanished from all U.S. radar at this point. Internet rumors suggest that MGM, who owns the Sergio Leone catalog, found the film’s title somewhat objectionable and indicated that they would move to block its release here; however, given that the film comes with its own built-in second title (the end credits call it “An Oriental Western”), it seems odd that IFC wouldn’t simply retitle it.

Whatever the reason, you’ve been denied the pleasure of the one action film that would have left you in an actual blissful state of “Wow” wonder. All is not lost, however – you can purchase a legit DVD copy of the film from places like yesaia.com. I haven’t yet seen it on the small screen (I was lucky enough to catch it at an AFI Festival screening in L.A. a few months back), so I don’t know how it will work translated to television.

But I’m betting it’ll still be better than anything at your local multiplex this summer.

(This column originally appeared at FearZone)

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Full credit and complete article (232 movies listed) HERE

March 22, 2011

Best Of, South Korean Cinema.

by Eric-Scissorhands imdb.com

I LOVE Asian Cinema. Films from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan as well as a few South East Asian features. However, for the past few years Ive been noticing a trend... a lot of the truly GREAT, Original films Asian or Non Asian alike have been coming out of SOUTH Korea. It seems they have been going through a "film renaissance" in the past few years and have been releasing great film after great film after another.

Today their film industry reminds me of how Hollywood used to be, from way back in the 70's BEFORE they started remaking EVERYTHING and adapting every comic book and video game there is (and doing a horrible job mind you), back when the movies that came out were original and superbly directed.

Ive compiled a list of some of the Best South Korean films Ive seen so far. And if you're anything like me, burnt out on crappy Superhero films (not counting the Nolan Batman Trilogy of course.), Pointless Horror Sequels and more mindless Hollywood turds, Feel free to give this list a look through and provide a few suggestions if i missed any notable ones... im always upen to "discover" more gems.

1. Oldboy (2003) 8.4/10

2. I Saw the Devil (2010) 7.8/10

“ No one does Modern Revenge films quite like East Asian Cinema.

Another instant Classic. Brutal stuff. ” - Eric-Scissorhands

3. Memories of Murder (2003) 8.1/10

4. Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004) 8.1/10

5. Castaway on the Moon (2009) 8.0/10

6. J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (2000) 7.8/10

“ Another Great, Great film from master story teller Chan Wook Park. ” - Eric-Scissorhands

7. Lady Vengeance (2005) 7.7/10

8. Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005) 7.7/10

9. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003) 8.1/10

10. My Sassy Girl (2001) 8.1/10

11. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) 7.8/10

12. A Bittersweet Life (2005) 7.7/10

“ Imagine if Tony Montana SURVIVED the hit put out on him at the end of Scarface. Thats what this film expands on, after refusing to execute a woman, Korean Gangster Sun-woo gets beaten half to death, tortured, and even buried alive, he somehow escapes and takes REVENGE on the people who wronged him up until the highly stylized climactic shootout, there is even a great homage to Taxi Driver at the end. ” - Eric-Scissorhands

13. The Man from Nowhere (2010) 7.8/10

14. The Host (2006) 7.0/10

15. A Moment to Remember (2004) 8.2/10

16. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) 7.3/10

17. 3-Iron (2004) 8.0/10

18. The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008) 7.4/10

19. Crying Fist (2005)7.4/10

20. Thirst (2009) 7.1/10

21. Mother (2009) 7.9/10

22. The Chaser (2008) 7.9/10

23. The Classic (2003) 7.7/10

24. Save the Green Planet! (2003) 7.4/10

25. Peppermint Candy (1999) 7.7/10

26. Poetry (2010) 7.7/10

27. Failan (2001) 7.7/10

28. Bedevilled (2010) 7.2/10

29. Oasis (2002) 7.9/10

30. I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006) 7.0/10

31. Mr. Socrates (2005) 6.5/10

32. Secret Sunshine (2007) 7.4/10

33. The Warrior (2001) 7.3/10

34. Some (2004) 6.1/10

35. Public Enemy (2002) 7.1/10

36. Samaritan Girl (2004) 7.2/10

37. Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) 7.0/10

38. Kiss Me, Kill Me (2009) 6.9/10

39. The City of Violence (2006) 6.7/10

40. The Coast Guard (2002) 6.5/10

41. A Brand New Life (2009) 7.3/10

42. The King and the Clown (2005) 7.5/10

43. Arahan (2004) 6.7/10

44. Guns & Talks (2001) 6.9/10

45. The Bow (2005) 7.1/10

46. The Show Must Go On (2007) 7.1/10

47. The Isle (2000) 7.0/10

48. Time (2006) 7.2/10

49. No Mercy for the Rude (2006) 7.3/10

50. The Recipe (2010) 7.0/10

51. Attack the Gas Station! (1999) 6.9/10

52. Daisy (2006) 7.3/10

53. The Housemaid (2010) 6.6/10

54. Address Unknown (2001) 7.3/10

55. Friend (2001) 7.3/10

56. Last Present (2008) 7.2/10

57. A Dirty Carnival (2006) 7.5/10

58. The Quiet Family (1998) 7.0/10

59. Die Bad (2000) 7.0/10

60. Christmas in August (1998) 7.6/10

61.To Sir with Love (2006) 6.0/10

62.Treeless Mountain (2008) 7.0/10

63. Holy Daddy (2006) 6.3/10

64. Painted Fire (2002) 7.1/10

65. The World of Silence (2006) 7.1/10

66. Secret Reunion (2010) 7.1/10

67. Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000) 6.9/10

68. Punch Lady (2007) 7.2/10

69. Fighter in the Wind (2004) 6.9/10

70. The Foul King (2000) 7.0/10

71. Breathless (2008) 7.5/10

72. The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do (2004) 7.5/10

73. Champion (2002) 6.5/10

74. Shadowless Sword (2005) 6.5/10

75. Driving with My Wife's Lover (2006) 6.5/10

76. My Brother (2004) 7.2/10

77. Three... Extremes (2004) 7.1/10

“ Chan-wook Park (segment "Cut") ” - Eric-Scissorhands

78. Hahaha (2010) 6.8/10

79. Man of Vendetta (2010) 6.8/10

80. The Way Home (2002) 7.5/10

81. Addicted (2002) 7.2/10

82. Rules of Dating (2005) 6.5/10

83. No. 3 (1997) 6.7/10

84. Windstruck (2004) 7.1/10

85. The Yellow Sea (2010) 7.3/10

86. Bad Guy (2001) 6.8/10

87. More Than Blue (2009) 7.2/10

88. Acacia (2003) 5.8/10

89. Into the Mirror (2003) 6.5/10

90. Murder, Take One (2005) 6.4/10

91. Feathers in the Wind (2004) 7.3/10

92. With a Girl of Himalaya (2008) 6.7/10

93. Marriage Is a Crazy Thing (2002) 7.3/10

94. Oishii Man (2008) 7.1/10

95. Antarctic Journal (2005) 6.3/10

96. Take Care of My Cat (2001) 7.3/10

97. Maundy Thursday (2006) 7.3/10

98. Il Mare (2000) 7.6/10

99. Lover's Concerto (2002) 7.3/10

100. Enemy at the Dead End (2010) 7.1/10

+

106. Once in a Summer (2006) 7.2/10

124. The Harmonium in My Memory (1999) 7.3/10

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June 16, 2012
The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008): A Kimchi WesternSource: mikesfilmtalk.com
Written and directed by Jee-woon Kim (I Saw The Devil, A Tale of Two Sisters) and starring Kang-ho Song (Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, The Quiet Family), Byung-hun Lee (I Saw the Devil, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) and Woo-sung Jung (Demon Empire, Daisy) The Good, The Bad, The Weird is Jee-woon Kim’s loving homage to the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone.
Winning four awards and receiving nine nominations, TGTBTW is the second highest grossing film from South Korea only being beaten by Speedy Scandlal.
Set in 1930′s Manchuria, the film begins with The Bad(Byung-hu Lee) being paid to get hold of a Japanese treasure map being transported by train. Unfortunately for The Bad, someone else has just beat him to it. The Weird (Kang-ho Song) is already on the train and disguised as a snack vendor makes his way into the guarded rail car that has the map.
The train is stopped by The Bad and his cronies who have blocked the track. The Weird uses this opportunity to escape from the train, with the map, on his side car motorcycle. The Good, a bounty hunter (Woo-sung Jung) attempts to shoot both The Bad and The Weird.
The Good finally decides to chase after The Weird. They all wind up in a village where the Ghost Market operates from. The Ghost Market is a black market meeting place and since everyone seems to know about the treasure map, a gang of Manchurian bandits also want it.
Cue a brilliantly choreographed shoot out between all of the warring factions.
This film does mimic the Sergio Leone classic The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly to a degree, but only in rough terms of characters and the overall plot. Byung-hun Lee is the Lee Van Cleef of the picture, Kang-ho Song is the Eli Wallach, and Woo-sung Jung is the Clint Eastwood.
Jee-woon Kim adds just the right amount of pathos and humour to the film. It is paced perfectly and does not waste a single frame of film. The only complaint that I might possibly have about the film is the casting of Byung-hun Lee as The Bad. He was so charismatic and charmingly bad that I actually liked him.
Kang-ho Song as The Weird, almost steals the film. He is both comic relief and deadly enemy. He is also the slowest of the three mentally, but what he lacks in brain power he makes up in sheer enthusiasm. He is a bumbling bad man and only chances upon the Japanese treasure map by accident.
Woo-sung Jung is very, very good…as The Good. He lacks the stoic ability of Clint Eastwood’s Character but he makes up for it in his taciturn attitude about bringing the bad guys in for the bounty.
The group of bandits also provided a lot of comic relief, but they also were very deadly if somewhat dense foes.
The Good, The Bad, The Weird is Jee-woon Kim at his finest. He has so far done a couple of horror films, a gangster film, a psychological thriller and an epic western. I cannot wait to see his next venture. What ever it is, I sincerely hope that is has room for Byung-hun Lee,  Kang-ho Song, Woo-sung Jung and maybe Min-sik Choi.
I really feel that South Korean Cinema is leading the rest of the world in producing brilliant films. I also think that they are one of the few countries that still see the director as Auteur. That French invention that likens the director to a sort of demi-god status.
Asian Cinema seems to have more than its fair share of writer/directors and for the most part what ever accolades that they’ve received for their works is well deserved. I think that Jee-woon Kim has earned the title Auteur and may he continue to make films to prove it.

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June 20, 2012
A close look at Chinese cinemaBy Claire Lee The Korea Herald
KOFIC’s new book explores Korea’s foray into Chinese movie market
While K-pop and Korean TV shows have been exerting a significant influence in Asia’s entertainment industry in the last decade, Korean cinema has been often excluded from the so-called “hallyu glory.”
One of the major reasons behind the phenomenon is the ever-booming movie industry of neighboring country China. In 2010, China became the world’s third-largest maker of movies after the U.S. and India. It rolled out 558 feature-length commercial films last year, generating 2.4 trillion won ($ 2.1 billion) in revenue. The Chinese film industry has become something that Korean cinema cannot avoid in its efforts to carve its niche in the international market. 
In an effort to break into China’s film market -- as well as to launch more Korean-Chinese joint movie projects, -- the Korean Film Council recently published a book titled “The Current Status of Chinese Cinema and Korean-Chinese Film Co-productions.” 
The state-run film institute has been actively involved in promoting Korean cinema in China for the past few years. In April, it opened its film business center in Beijing, where Korean and Beijing-based producers, writers and directors can work on their joint film projects. The institute has been investing in Korean-Chinese joint productions, as they are relatively easier to distribute in China compared to exclusively Korean-made films. 
The cover of KOFIC’s latest book, “The Present of Chinese Cinema and Korean-Chinese Co-Production of Films” (KOFIC) “When it comes to researching the current movie industry in China, it is very important to learn about the state’s censorship and policies on cultural content first,” said Kim Soo-hyun, one of the book’s authors.
“China is a communist country, and the way its market is developing is heavily influenced by the state and its policies.”
Because of the state censorship of various subject matters, including violence, religion, history and sexual content, the film industry in China has been mostly rolling out movies that can be enjoyed by all age groups. According to the book, China currently does not have a ratings system, and every movie is legally obligated to be what is equivalent to the PG-rating in the U.S. As a result, the Chinese moviegoers have formed a strong taste for light blockbusters or 3-D movies.
Such taste of the Chinese audience is also evident in the box office performance of Korean movies released in the country. The Korean movie that drew the most number of viewers in China is comedian-turned-director Shim Hyung-rae’s 2007 fantasy action “D-War.” Following “D-War” is director Kim Ji-hun’s 2011 3-D disaster flick “Sector 7.” Although the two films were box-office successes in China, in Korea both were severely criticized for their lack of substance.
According to the book, a total 29 Korean-Chinese movies have been produced since 2000, including Hur Jin-ho’s 2009 romance “A Good Rain Knows” and Kim Ji-woon’s 2008 drama “The Good, the Bad, the Weird.” The book reveals that a 2011 incident involving the killing of a Korean coast guard by a Chinese fisherman in Korean waters triggered an anti-Korean sentiment in China and possibly led the Chinese authorities not to screen Korean films in the country. The last Korean movie that was released in China was “Sector 7” (2011).

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July 4, 2012     Kim Ji-woon talks Arnold, Hollywood debut filmBy Lee Kyeong-min Korea JoongAng Daily
Director Kim Ji-woon makes his Hollywood debut with action film “Last Stand.” [JoongAng Ilbo]
LOS ANGELES - Film director Kim Ji-woon, 48, is often dubbed a “cinematic stylist” in the Korean film industry. With a filmography that spans a variety of genres, from the horror film “A Tale of Two Sisters” (2003) to noir film “A Bittersweet Life” (2005) to the Korean spaghetti western “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” (2008), Kim has shown the Korean public a versatility as an auteur and a talent for stylish cinematography. 
With his latest film, “Last Stand,” to come out early next year, Kim makes his foray into Hollywood. The action film, distributed by Lionsgate with a $50 million budget, has also grabbed headlines as the comeback film for actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger. 
In “Last Stand,” Schwarzenegger plays Ray Owens, who leaves the Los Angeles Police Department after an unsavory operation and becomes a sheriff in a small border town in New Mexico. The film follows the action-packed chase between the police and a notorious drug baron and his gang, who try to cross the U.S. border. The JoongAng Ilbo met with Kim in Los Angeles during final production for the film.
Q. Can you describe what it’s like shooting your first Hollywood film?
A. Hollywood has wanted new blood to inject a fresh take on films for a while now. Making it to Hollywood was not necessarily my goal as a director, but somehow I got here doing something I like. But I don’t think of my role here as a representative of Korea. I just want to give the audience a chance to enjoy a film that speaks of a universal experience. 
The film feels almost like a western.
The plot revolves around ordinary people along the U.S.-Mexico border who risk their lives to fight off a strong enemy. It’s a character-based action film. I think that the film’s lighthearted spectacle can be enjoyed in the same way as “The Good, the Bad, the Weird.” 
“Last Stand” has already created a lot of buzz.
Maybe it’s because it’s an entertaining, commercial film. I like the fact that it’s a commercial action film that deals with ordinary, universal situations. 
Arnold Schwarzenegger, center right, poses with fellow cast members on the set of “Last Stand.”
How was it working with Schwarzenegger and the rest of the cast?
Schwarzenegger is always full of energy. He is a diligent and smart actor. Regardless of the nationality, I felt lucky to be working with good actors and being able to achieve an end result with them. I also realized that there is something that reaches beyond language in the art of cinema. 
Did you have any trouble communicating?
There are a lot of talented experts in Hollywood and they have a logical, scientific system. I don’t expect to have an emotional bond here like I do in Korea. In Korea, the filmmaking process is centered on the director, but not in Hollywood. You need to constantly request things and appeal to those you work with. I felt the need to form my own logic in how to persuade others. 
You must have been lonely in Hollywood.
I found I was just another foreign worker here. [Laughs] I don’t have a lot of friends here and all I did was work, so in a way, I felt empathy toward foreign workers. I felt myself getting stronger when I set the goal for myself not to give up and to endure this loneliness. I liked the fact that here I had more time to read books and think more. 
You must feel a mix of a sense of accomplishment as well as anxiety.
I feel the same way as when I debuted in Korea. Like then, it’s difficult and I feel nervous about my debut. Also, I feel pleasure in the fact that I was able to make a film with top actors in Hollywood, the center of the global film industry.
You’ve made noir, action, thriller and even horror films. What’s next?
When I finished shooting the crime thriller “I Saw the Devil” (2010), I spent a lot of time just thinking. After a lonely year in the U.S., I thought a lot about love. Maybe that’s why, but I think I’ve changed a lot. I now like beautiful melodramas rather than cruel ones.

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August 2, 2012
Not too sure if it was already aired on August 2 or going to be aired on August 3, a National Geographic (+ Movieweek Korea) feature on Director Kim Ji Woon.
This preview clip features the 3 top actors from GBW.. JWS, LBH (worked with Dir. Kim in BSL as well) and SKH who worked with the director twice prior in The Foul King and The Quiet Family.
Thanks to the highlight at PlanetBH0712 and Korean article on this (rough gist via Google translate only)
[Cable and satellite TV Highlights]Master Stylist Kim Ji Woon, Korea's Top Box Office Director 

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July 21, 2012
[HanCinema's Film Corner] "The Dark Knight Rises" VS "The Avengers": What does it take to be number one in Korea?Credit: Hancinema.net
What kinds of films do well in Korea and who are the foreign favorites that have made waves in the past? "The Dark Knight Rises" hit Korean cinemas this past week and is hoping to possibly steal the top spot from Marvel's massively successful hit, "The Avengers", as Korea's highest grossing film of 2012. Marvel's titan sucked in 7,061,050 during its run in Korea, memorizing millions with its larger than life visual prowess as well as its grand over-arching narrative within their superhero universe. It went straight to number one and held that position for three weeks, during which it amassed an impressive 5,447,728 admissions. Can the final film in Christopher Nolan's trilogy swoop in and serious challenge "The Avengers" in the Korean market? But before I dive into this question, I first wanted to look back and see what films have been the most successful in Korea over the past five years and discover the type of films, both foreign and local, that are cashing in.

"The Avengers" may currently be the highest grossing film of the year so far, but what about previous years? Last year it was a three horse race between the uplifting drama "Sunny -2010", the action-packed historical piece "War of Arrows" and the third installment of the "Transformer" series. All three exceeded seven million admissions, but it was the American blockbuster that took it with 7,790,434. In 2010 and 2009, the winner was a little more apparent with "Avatar" (8,173,375) and the Korean disaster film "Haeundae" (11,397,749) standing tall and beyond. In 2008, Kim Ji-woon's "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" won gold with 6,604,652 admissions, followed closely by the impressive revenge thriller "The Chaser" on 5,077,284. Interestingly, "The Dark Knight" came in at number ten that year with just 4,080,172, a bad sign for those of you who think it might be Korea's new film of the year.
American dramas and comedies don't tend to do particularly well in Korea, making Phyllida Lloyd's "Mamma Mia!" in the 2008 chart the only real foreign drama to crack the top ten in the last five years. It seems that the blockbusters are to blame for that, as big budget films seem to invariable find a way to muscle profit from the international market. Films like "Avatar", "Transformers 3" and "The Avengers" all bathed in glory around the world, making their successes no surprise at all. But there is another force at work here that could help our understanding of what types of films do well in Korea, something perhaps more closer to home that dictates the constant flow of tickets being sold.
A quick look at the highest grossing Korean films of 2012 (left) will show that dramas, more specifically melodramas, are what local audiences relate to the most. Recently, films such as "Architecture 101", "Everything about my Wife" and "The Concubine" have been climbing up the ranks, achieving respectable digits as they compete with themselves. Drama. It's that almost primal conflict that sparks our interest and attention in a story, and the more relatable the context is to the target audience the better. America dramas don't do well in Korea because they exist more in realm of fantasy than a down-to-earth drama. There is that cultural void that permeates through cinema, and nowhere is it more apparent that in the drama genre.
Whether or not you think "Batman" will out perform "The Avengers" or not, we can start to think of ways these two films differ in relation to what pulls Koreans into the cinema. If Koreans prefer their own local flavor of dramas/comedies, and a number of Hollywood blockbusters tend to come out on top each year, what is it about these big hits that puts them on top of the Korean charts?
If the Korean cinema industry has done anything right, its produces a staggering amount of stellar films on a reasonable budget. True drama doesn't require the million dollar budgets that we see coming out of Hollywood, Korean dramas are a little more personal and grounded in their culture to become an exorbitant expense. Fantasy, however, is another area that allows many of Hollywood's big films to achieve success in the Korean market. In the realm of fantasy, the world you see is not confined to daily cultural norms and beliefs. It is a place where one's world is challenged and twisted to life, and what better way to feed that dreamscape than with the most lavish films that have ever been conceived. Hollywood is the dream factory, and its dream-works are culturally primed for international consumption, and Korea is starving for it.
So perhaps the more fantastical the film is, the better it will do in Korea? Not quite. For fantasy to be a pleasurable experience, there needs to be some form of connection between the viewer and the film itself. Cinema, with all its tools and means of creating, is one way that that divided is leveled; even the raw emotions being characterized will play a part in the audiences intimacy to the screen. Through constants such as these, Korean audiences maintain a reference point from which they depart when watching the magical spectacle only American blockbusters seem to be able to create.
So between "Batman" and "The Avengers", which is better suited to striking that balance between pleasurable fantasies of the 'cultural other', while still managing to avoiding alienating Korea's collective consciousness and their relationship to the film? "The Avengers" has proven that it had what it takes to appeal to Korean audiences' wants. Its stunning visuals and generally light content made for great family entertainment as they all flock to catch the action. Batman, however, while still being a supposed 'comic book' film, contains darker elements, depression and lacks that bright and sharp world that "The Avengers" tapped into, and that Korea's love about superhero films. Superhero films generally do well in Korea, but Batman is a bit of a different beast in this regard. The technology and big budget are all there for it, but the Batman saga seems to me to be a little off base with Korea.
"The Dark Knight Rises" has entered the race here in Korea, but will it have the push, as well as the pull, to challenge the local favorites as well as big foreign hits like "The Avengers"?
* All Korean box office figures and tables were obtained from Asianwiki.com

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Thanks to ylin at LBH thread for the highlight
National Geographic Channel feat. Korea's Top Box Office Directors

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September 4, 2012
Lee Byung-hun and Park Chan-wook help ring in CGV Yeouidoby Ji Yong-jin KOBIZ
New multiplex celebrates its opening with "Talk Plus" events CGV Yeouido, which opened in the International Financial Center in Yeouido on the 30th of August, is set to become a new kind of culture-plex. It's the very first multiplex in Yeouidi, holding 1345 seats across nine screens, all equipped with SOUNDX, a 3-D sound system that follows the images on-screen. Lee Eun-seon, head of CGV's Diversity Team, said, "CGV Yoido is a culture-plex that is different from other theaters in that it seeks to be diverse in its programming, has a specialized sound system and a unique design scheme. Our aim is to make the theater a trendy cultural attraction that will become a landmark in Yeouido.  
The venue will hold a special event called "Talk Plus" to celebrate its opening, where audiences will be able to meet actor Lee Byung-hun and film director Park Chan-wook in person. On the 5th of September at 6:30pm in the Business Theater of CGV Yeouido, Lee will talk about his latest work, Masquerade, after the film's screening. Then on the 12th of September at 7pm, Park and film critic Lee Dong-jin will have a Q&A session following a screening of Thirst. From September 5-16, Park's I'm A Cyborg, But That's O.K, Old Boy, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance and Sympathy For Mr. Vengence will be screened, as will Lee's I Saw The Devil, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Good, The Bad, and The Weird, A Bittersweet Life and Joint Security Area /JSA. These will be appear as part of two special showcases highlighting the works of Park and Lee.

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September 25, 2012
Abu Dhabi Film Festival Announces Full Line-upBy NAZIA KHAN AhlanLive l Abu Dhabi Film Festival
The best of Arab and world cinema as well as Hollywood hits to feature at the sixth edition of the fest
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival [ADFF] has announced the full line-up of its sixth edition, running from 11 October to 20 October, and while it's not super-high on star power there's a fine selection of movies to catch. 
As we'd reported earlier, Richard Gere-starrer Arbitrage will open the fest and our fave silver fox will walk the red carpet with fellow actor Nate Parker, executive producer Mohammed Al Turki and director Nicholas Jarecki. The movie's got great reviews and there's already a strong Oscar nomination buzz around Gere.    
Also confirmed to attend opening night are South Indian megastar Mammootty and Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani. And then are the icons. ADFF will be presenting two Lifetime Achievement Awards this year, and the recipients are Egyptian screen legend Sawsan Badr and Italian star Claudia Cardinale. 
Overall, a total of 81 feature length films and 84 short films representing 48 countries will be screened at ADFF. The 10-day fest will also have master classes and workshops by regional and international film experts targeting emerging and established Arab filmmakers. 
Movies from the UAE include short film Murk Light, short narrative film Afwah and A Ride to Hell in the student short narrative competition. You'll also get a chance to see Palestine's Oscar entry When I Saw You, along with world premieres from Qatar, Lebanon and Egypt. 
Among the interesting Hollywood films showing at the fest are The Company You Keep starring Shia Le Bouf and Robert Redford, Zoe Kazan's quirky Ruby Sparks and Sparkle, starring Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks.  This year’s Special Programmes include a Spotlight on South Korea, with all-time top flicks like Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area, Kim Ki-duk’s Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring and Kim Jee-won’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird as well as exciting new works like Choo Chang-min’s Masquerade, Hong Sang-soo’s In Another Country and Jo Sung-hee’s A Werewolf Boy. There's also a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Algerian independence that includes The Battle of Algiers and Harraga Blues. 
Apart from this, restored prints of classics including Lawrence of Arabia (1962), 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954) and Singin’ in the Rain (1952) will also be screened at the festival.

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November 1, 2012
Director Kim Ji-woon Wins Vision Award at 15th VisionFest in U.S.
Reporter : Lee Tae Ho Editor : Monica Suk KSTAR10
Director Kim Ji-woon talks about his movie "Heavenly Creature," one of the three segments from "Doomsday Book" (2012). [End Credit]
“A Tale of Two Sisters” auteur Kim Ji-woon has become the first-ever Asian filmmaker to receive an award at the VisionFest in the United States. 
Kim grabbed the Vision Award at the 15th VisionFest hosted by Filmmakers Alliance, at The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California on Tuesday, local time. 
The award is given to an eminent director whose artistic ambition and consistent filmmaking excellence inspire contemporary movie directors all around the world, organizers said on the website.
Kim kicked off his directing career in 1998 with “The Quiet Family” and has since wielded the megaphone of hit Korean movies including “A Bittersweet Life” (2005), “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” (2008) and “I Saw the Devil” (2010).
Meanwhile, the director finished his first English-language film with Arnold Schwarzenegger called “Last Stand” and is currently putting final touches on it, a PR rep of the movie’s local distributer CJ Entertainment said Thursday.

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November 2, 2012
American Filmmakers Go for Kim Jee-woon
First asian director to receive the Vision Award from the Filmmakers Alliance by Ji Yong-jin KOFIC

According to a representative of CJ Entertainment, KIM Jee-woon, who debuted in Hollywood with  The Last Stand is going to be the first Asian director to receive the Vision Award given by the Filmmakers Alliance, an American filmmakers’ association. Kim will awarded in the afternoon of October 30th (PDT) at the 15th VisionFest hosted by the Filmmakers Alliance in Los Angeles. The VisionFest is a festival for independent films where independent film related people and cineastes in Los Angeles get together to have screening events and commemorative events. There will have been 13 recipients of the Vision Award as of this year. Among all the filmmakers of the world, globally renowned directors including Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Alexander Payne have owned the award so far. KIM will be the first Asian director receiving it. Since he debuted with The Quiet Family in 1998, he has pursued his unique style in making A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003), A Bittersweet Life (2005), The Good, The Bad, And The Weird (2008) and I Saw The Devil (2010). The Last Stand is an action film that portrays the confrontation between a drug dealer who breaks out of law court and tries to cross the border and a country sheriff going after him. Expectations grow as Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming back to the screen from the political circle and the film will be released in January, 2013.

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November 16, 2012
Exhibition shows how movie posters have changed
By Claire Lee The Korea Herald
Not many would be aware that filmmaker Lee Jun-ik, best known for his 2005 period drama “The King and the Clown,” used to be a copywriter and made movie posters, before making his foray into filmmaking.
From the 80s to the 90s, Lee created some 1,000 promotional posters for films. One of them was for director Jeong Ji-young’s 1990 drama “North Korean Partisan in South Korea.” Making posters used to be a lot more complicated than it is now; it required cutting and gluing using scissors and paper. 
Korean Film Archive’s current exhibition is featuring Korea’s movie posters from the 80s and the 90s as well as the ones used in contemporary cinema. Filmmaker Lee participated in this exhibition by re-creating a poster for Jeong Ji-young’s 1990 movie. He made the poster the old way, without using the latest computer technologies. 
An English-language promotional poster of director Kim Ji-woon’s 2008 film “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” (Korean Film Archive)
A promotional poster of director Jeong Ji-young’s 1990 film “North Korean Partisan in South Korea”
“He cut out the pictures of each actor, and glued them onto a piece of paper,” said Min Byeong-hyeon from Korean Film Archive. “The newly created poster looks exactly like the one that was created back in 1990.”
A video clip of Lee re-creating the poster for the 1990 movie is also being screened at the exhibition. The show also offers an opportunity for the visitors to see how posters were made before there were computer programs. 
The show also features the works of late film producer Jeong Seung-hye, who died of cancer in 2009. She was a long-time friend of filmmaker Lee Jun-ik, and she worked with him for their 2005 movie “The King and the Clown” as its producer. 
Jeong was also a prominent designer and copywriter for film posters and promotional images. A number of her famous works, including posters of Park Chan-wook’s 2005 thriller “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance,” Lee Jun-ik’s 2006 drama “Radio Star,” and Yoo Ha’s 2002 romance “Marriage is a Crazy Thing” are on display.
Along with the posters from the 80s and the 90s, the show also displays a number of contemporary movie posters. About 20 original sketches by designers Choi Ji-woong and Park Dong-woo, whose works include the posters of Kim Ki-duk’s “Pieta” and Jeong Ji-woo’s “Eungyo,” will be on display. 
The show also includes an English-language poster of director Kim Ji-woon’s 2008 Western film,“The Good, the Bad, the Weird,” which was also released in the U.S. in the same year. 
The exhibition runs until April 28 at Korean Film Archive in Sangam-dong, Seoul. Admission is free. For more information, call (02) 3153-2031. 

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November 28, 2012
Lee set for CineAsia honour
By Patrick Frater FilmBiz Asia
South Korean superstar Lee Byung-hun is to be named as Star of the Year at the CineAsia convention next month in Hong Kong.
"Lee is a wonderful actor who has delighted television audiences and movie-goers not only in Asia, but internationally as well," said Robert H Sunshine, CineAsia MD. The prize will be presented at an awards luncheon on 13 Dec.
Lee recently earned honours as the lead in Korean blockbuster hit Masquerade, in which he played an ancient king and his body double. Having made a Hollywood debut in GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, Lee will next be seen in GI Joe 2: Retaliation and the upcoming Red 2, which is now shooting in the UK.
Lee is also the star of hits I Saw The Devil and The Good The Bad The Weird and previously had an extensive TV career with series including Beautiful Days, All In, and IRIS.

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December 21, 2012
THN's Korean Cinema Style Week 5: Kim Jee Woon – The Good The Bad The Weird
BY LUKE RYAN BALDOCK The Hollywood News

With Gangnam Style destroying the charts the world over, we will soon see a second wave of the Korean invasion taking place. Three of South Koreas most commercially successful and critically acclaimed directors have their English language debuts set for next year. Kim Jee Woon (THE LAST STAND), Park Chan Wook (STOKER), and Bong Joon Ho (SNOWPIERCER) have already proved themselves in their homeland, and here at THN we are taking a look back over their past efforts. Starting with the films of Kim Jee Woon, join us each week over the course of the next few months as we explore The Land Of The Morning Calm.
Director: Kim Jee Woon
Year:  2008
Cast: Song Kang Ho,Lee Byung Hun, Jung Woo Sung, Yun Je Mun, Ryu Seung Su, Song Young Chang,  Son Byung Ho, Oh Dal Su
Plot:  Three men; a bounty hunter, a mercenary, and an opportunist, fight over a map they believe will lead them to treasure. However, they may also have some personal issues to resolve along the way.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD is what director Kim Jee Woon would like to be referred to as a ‘kimchi western’. Like spaghetti westerns in the past, this is certainly a western, but with a unique Korean flavour. It’s spicy, it’s different, and it takes a while to get used to. Kim jumps into the western and action genre would all the confidence of a pro. Although he has handled violence in a spectacular fashion in the past, THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD is a pure unadulterated action adventure of the highest calibre. At the time this was Korea’s most expensive film, and it certainly looks it. But still it only cost $10 million. Someone should give the producers a lot of credit for good budgeting because not once does this look like such a cheap film. It rivals, and greatly exceeds many Hollywood heavy hitters.

The film wastes no time in setting up the plot as we cut between The Good (Jung) and The Bad (Lee) as they are asked to steal a very important map. The Bad is asked to steal it for the man who sold it to Japanese officials, so that he can have both the money and the map, whereas The Good is asked to retrieve it by the Korean Independence Army. It’s simple enough, and feels like the final moments before the climax of a separate film. Things would all go swimmingly if not for The Weird (Song Kang Ho) who boards the same train that the map is on, and is out to steal from the wealthy passengers. The opening 20 minutes on the train is an incredible way to start a film. Having skipped over a real introduction to the main protagonists, you would think that the action would lose some of its bite. That is far from the case, as Kim pulls out a wide range of different cinematic techniques. Remember how people complain about the amount of slo-mo Zack Snyder uses? Well Kim varies his techniques, and never seems to use them more than once. It adds to a constant feeling of progression and kinetic energy. The violence is fun in an INDIANA JONES kind of way, but also packs the same punch as Sergio Leone’s westerns.
Another thing that is clear from this opening is how much loving detail has gone into every facet of design. As The Weird walks through the carriages you could pause it on any frame and revel in the detail of the individual costumes. Brightly coloured dresses, smart uniforms, traditional Manchurian garments, and more are all represented. Although yellows and oranges are very dominant throughout the film, they are accompanied by many other beautiful and strikingly warm colours, which do add to the feeling of heat and allow us to feel the blistering sunshine of the desert settings. One scene has a character’s eyes suddenly turn to yellow, with the kind of contacts usually reserved for werewolves of demons. Kim also uses these early scenes to instil his underlying themes of Korean identity and independence, as a man waves the Taegukgi (Korean flag) and shouts for the independence of Korea. Something that is echoed later when The Good mentions “Every Korean has a sad story.” And the fact that The Weird has left Korea for Manchuria in search of a new identity.

The plot may be simple, but the characters and performances are far from straightforward. The Bad is a smartly dressed sociopath. With such an awesome outfit and the coolest mullet you’ve ever seen, in another actor’s hands the look could easily dominate over the performance, but with Lee the look and the performance become one. As he walks into a room his head bobs from side-to-side in an almost playful but certainly sinister manner. Lee always looks so comfortable in the role that it is only gradually that he reveals a more vulnerable side as he makes The Bad’s insecurities clearer and clearer. The Good is named in an almost ironic fashion, because even though he is doing the “good” thing, he is also doing it for the wrong reasons; being more interested in the money. Jung has all the stoic charm of any all-American cowboy and also reveals his character little by little. Then we come to The Weird, who is most certainly the hardest role to play. On the surface Song Kang Ho is giving us a comedic character who is both over the top in his mannerisms and quite a slapstick natural. With his motorcycle goggles upon his head, he’s always ready to take off, leaping through windows and crashing around like something possessed. However, Song must also continuously remind us of how lethal The Weird can be. It is often stated of how talented he is, but we usually see his dumb luck favouring him. As his true identity is revealed to us he is all at once sympathetic, likable, cunning, and deadly.
As you can imagine, the map ends up switching hands and other gangsters and unsavoury characters become involved in the hunt, which leads to a number of excellent confrontations. One thing Kim shows himself to be a master of is camera placement. During action sequences he knows exactly where to place the camera and makes it feel like a living character itself. As The Weird is attacked at The Ghost Market, the camera is shaken to its core as a gang member flies through a window. It isn’t that the character impacts against the camera (or where it should be), but as he enters through the glass. It’s a technique that adds a brief thrill but isn’t overused. In fact, for some it may go unnoticed entirely. This Ghost Market attack is one of the times when you would think the sheer volume of people involved in the chase would become a confusing mess. That’s why Kim’s decision not to resort to shaky cam is a very wise one. We have gun battles, swords, motorcycle and horse chases, between various members of different gangs and yet we always know who is who and what it is they are after/doing, making every action scene an enjoyable, exciting, and understandable one.

Like A BITTERSWEET LIFE, Kim adds in brief moments of realism that also accentuate the dark humour. The Bad interrupts the slicing of a man’s finger to ask for a sharper knife. Just as Kim builds up the tension, he breaks it just for a moment which gives us a quick breather, but doesn’t excuse us from the squirming we feel inside. The harsh lighting brings about the delicacies in every actor’s face, as well as glittering off every particle of sand. The film could have easily looked sparse and lonely, but despite being set in Manchuria, the film feels warmer and more comfortable to be with than A BITTERSWEET LIFE, which was set in the bustling city of Seoul.
The film never really lets up on the action, and it gives birth to one of the greatest chase sequences ever filmed. As The Weird speeds off on a motorbike, he is chased by The Bad and his gang, the Ghost Market Gang, and the Japanese army. The chase includes horses, exploding artillery shells, and some brilliantly used music. An instrumental version of Santa Esmerelda’s Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, is used to just as much effect as it was in KILL BILL. But then again, that song would go with anything. Just like sweetcorn. The chase also includes some more of Kim’s inventive use of camerawork. We get a mace-eye-view as the camera takes on the role of a weapon as it spins around and around, and the chase becomes so intense that at one point after a motorcycle crash, the camera just collides straight into the debris. The film also includes some real harm to horses, which does put a dampener on things, but the UK version has those shots cut out for any of you horse lovers. The chase also segues into what we all came to see, the epic Mexican standoff between all three protagonists. Stood at a distance, there is no guessing who will come out on top, and Kim looks towards the classic genre pieces of the past to grab the same amount of expectation. Close-ups on the eyes, hands twitching where their hips be at, and the slow-motion draw. It’s all grand stuff that is made even more exciting thanks to some last minute character revelations.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD proves one thing for certain, that Kim is a chameleon, jumping from genre to genre, but always making his voice heard. He adds social commentary, but not at the risk of entertainment. He effortlessly glides through action sequences, but makes them original with a cavalcade of techniques. The film comes across as a cartoon, but one with real heart and emotional investment. If Kim set out to make a ‘Kimchi Western’ then he certainly succeeded. It’s fun without losing any integrity or sincerity. Despite the well choreographed action sequences, there is always a sense of threat to each character, which makes this a film you will probably return to a repeated amount of times.
What To Take To THE LAST STAND? This is the film that makes THE LAST STAND such an exciting prospect. Kim has proven he can handle incredible action and great characters, as well as integrating some unique techniques. Hopefully the humour remains intact, and also, Johnny Knoxville’s character certainly has an aesthetic resemblance to The Weird.
THE LAST STAND is released on 18th January 2013 in the US and 25th January 2013 in the UK. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Johnny Knoxville, Rodrigo Santoro, Jaimie Alexander, Forest Whitaker, Peter Stormare, Luis Guzman, and Genesis Rodriguez.

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Remember this from awhile ago .

July 11, 2012 Fan-Poll: The Best Movie Performance by Lee Byung Hunhttp://everythinglbh.com/entry_view.php?id=2526