I am happy to see that Modern Boy is doing well. To me, this film seems to be exactly what Once Upon a Time in Korea should have been.

———-Coming This Week to Korean Theaters———-

Eagle Eye (us)- d. D.J. Caruso, starring Shia LeBeouf, Michelle Monaghan www.eagleeyemovie.com

Made of Honor (us/uk)- d. Paul Weilland, starring Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan www.madeofhonor2008.com

Sad Dream (kr)- d. Kim Ki-duk, starring Jo Odagiri, Lee Na-yeong www.saddream.co.kr (early listings showed the English title as The Dream but Cineseoul now lists it as Sad Dream)

Women (us)- d. Diane English, starring Meg Ryan, Annette Benning http://thewomenthemovie.com/index.html

———-Coming This Week to Korean Theaters———-

Babylon A.D. (us)- d. Matthieu Kassovitz, starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh www.foxkorea.co.kr/babylonad

Deception (us)- d. Marcel Langeneggar, starring Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor www.theclub2008.kr (aka The List. Released in Korea as The Club)

Go Go 70’s (kr)- d. Choi Ho, starring Jo Seung-woo, Shin Min-ah www.gogo70.kr

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (uk)- d. Bharat Nalluri, starring Amy Adams, Frances McDormand http://cafe.naver.com/movieonstyle.cafe

Modern Boy (kr)- d. Jeong Jin-woo, starring Park Hae-il, Kim Hye-su www.modernboy.co.kr

Not many differences between this week’s box office list and last weeks but things are sure to be stirred up a little with Jeon Do-yeon’s new movie being released on Thursday -My Dear Enemy- and I suspect Truck will do fairly well also. 

———-Coming This Week to Korean Theaters——-

Donkey Xote (it/sp)- d. Jose Pozo, starring Jose Luis Gil, Andreu Buenafuenta www.donkeyxote.com

Hellboy 2 (us)- d. Guillermo del Toro, starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair http://hellboy2008.kr

In Bloom (us)- d. Vadim Perelman, starring Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood www.in-bloom.co.kr (aka Life Before Her Eyes)

It’s a Free World (us/uk/ger/sp)- d. Ken Loach, starring Kierston Wareing, Julliet Ellis

My Dear Enemy (kr)- d. Lee Yun-gi, starring Jeon Do-yeon, Ha Jeong-woo www.haru2008.co.kr

Truck (kr)- d. Kwon Hyeong-jin, starring Yu Hae-jin, Jin Gu www.thetruck.co.kr

Here are the next ten films of the the 203 movies produced in Korea in 1971.  Many of these illustrate just how influential the Hong Kong films had become. Enjoy!

I received this letter the other day from Jinna Lee, the publicity manager of the 2009 edition of the Jeonju International Film Festival and was asked to pass it along. It is a call for entries. Any aspiring film makers who want to show their work, just follow the lin below.

Jeonju International Film Festival 2009

Call for Entries of the 10^th Jeonju International Film Festival

The 10^th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) will be held from April 30^th to May 8^th, 2009 in Jeonju, the traditional city of Korea. Launching in 2000 and entering its tenth year, JIFF is now recognized as one of the important film festivals in Asia that introduces Independent and Experimental films around the world. This year, JIFF will greet the audience with an event more diverse program consisting of 200 films from approximately 40 countries.

We are now accepting your submission for feature films and short films including fiction, documentaries, animations, experimental films, and so on. Especially “International Competition” Section is a main program at JIFF. This section will screen feature films and documentaries over 60 minutes. The Jury Committee will select the films for the “Woosuk Award”(10,000 USD) and “Daum Special Jury Prize”(7,000 USD).

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

English Entry Form and Regulations can be downloaded at JIFF website (www.jiff.or.kr).

Entry Deadline: 31 January, 2009.

No fee required for entry.

–
Jinna LEE

Well, last weekend was the Chuseok holiday. Normally this is a long break from work and school that proves to be one of the most profitable for films.  BUT…this year the holiday fell on Saturday. Usually the day before and the day after are days off, so this year people only had Friday free (unless their company or schools were kind enough to give them a little extra time).  Saying Friday is ‘free’ is not really accurate. Most people wind up stuck in traffic trying to get to their hometowns and there is a lot to prepare before meeting family.  In short, it was not a good year for movie theater attendance. The numbers are very low. 

Coming This Week to Korean Theaters

The Children of Huang Shi (germany/australia, china)- d. Roger Spottiswoode, starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Yun-Fat Chow www.huangshi.co.kr (aka Children of the Silk Road)

Lineage of the Voice (kr)- d. Byeon Yeon-ah, starring Park Su-beom, Park Seong-yeol www.sori-i.co.kr (documentary)

Mad Detective (hk)- d. Johnny To & Ka-Fai Wai, starring Ching-wan Lau, Andy On www.maddetective.co.kr (aka Godly Detective)

Marriage Ring (jp)- d. Kei Shichiri, starring Megumi Koahashi, Naoli Hosaka www.m-ring.jp

Mirrors (us)- d. Alexandre Aja, starring Kieffer Sutherland, Paula Patton www.mirrorsmovie.com

Naoko (jp)- d. Tomoyuki Furumaya, Juri Ueco, Harume Miura http://blog.naver.com/naoko2008

Woetoli (kr)- d. Park Jae-shik, Ko Eun-ah, Jeong Yu-seok www.hiki2008.co.kr

I had first heard about the making of Hansel and Gretel on the pages of the Korean film magazine CINE21. Reading the articles and looking at the pictures, I was extremely impressed with the detail going into the sets and backgrounds.  The house design looked beautiful, the paintings of the slightly malignant rabbits were suitably and subtlely creepy and the amazing piles of cakes and candy were simaltaneously tempting and sickening to look at.  In fact, I don’t think I had seen I set so carefully designed since the house in A Tale of Two Sisters. It is such a pity that the same level of imagination and attention to detail were not given to the story as well.  It could have been a great, dark fantasy with elements of horror.  Instead,  director Im Pil-seong went the opposite way and tried to craft a horror film with touches of fantasy.  It did not work as well.

I have appreciated what director Im attempt to do in his films. His previous work, Antarctic Journal, also just missed the mark. He clearly has a lot of imagination and wants to do something different with the horror genre, but for some reason he winds up doing a lot of unnecessary things that drag the production down.  For example, in Hansel and Gretel the three mysterious children punish the bad adults in several ways among them-turning them into trees, flowers or porcelain dolls. This is actually interesting. However, it could (and should) have been done without the use of buckets of fake blood. This took away from the fantasy aspect of the story by trying to include a dose of realism–completely out of place in this film. It also reduced the amount of sympathy that we are meant to feel for the children-especially when we consider the way that their latest father figure was done away with.

Also, there was a problem with the lead actor, Cheon Jeong-myeong.  He looks far too young for the role he was playing. Now, of course, this is not the case. Cheon was 27 or 28 when he made this film.  However, he is one of those people with a very youthful face-too youthful in this case. I kept associating him a child himself. I was first introduced to Cheon in the movie RU Ready? and the tv sitcom Do the Right Thing. There he played teenagers even though he was well into his twenties.  Unlike many actors who try to play younger roles (and fail because of their ages) I think Cheon should continue playing parts that have him no more than college-aged until he looks old enough to do more…

The children actors do very well, especially the boy playing Man-bok (Eun Won-jae) and the girl playing the youngest sister, Jeong-soon (Jin Ji-hee).  Won-jae especially was very expressive and has mastered the ability of acting with his eyes– a talent that will serve him very well if he decides to go into acting as a career. I was less impressed with Shim Eun-kyeong as Yeong-hee but that may be because her character was (inexplicably) sleepwalking in many of her scenes, so there was not a lot of acting necessary for her to do other than look languid. The rest of the cast, the adults, were a little over-the-top in there performances.  Park Hee-soon had a double role as the Deacon Byeon and as the director of the orphanage.  His latter role was handled perfectly by director Im as the director’s face is never seen and the character is almost always in total darkness where we can only see his pants legs or torso. Occassionaly we are given a close-up of his teeth in a chilling smile.

Hansel and Gretel is not a bad film, but unfortunately it is not a great film. It could have been a beatiful dark fairytale, but it turned out to be a pale horror film with a somewhat anti-climatic end.

For the past two weeks, I have not posted anything on this site… and when I was posting, it seemed I was only doing the box office reports.  Well, there was a reason for this.

 Back in July, I had to return to the USA. For quite a while now, my mother has been in poor health.  She is 70 and has a pacemaker which is keeping her active and alive, but her heart is degenerating.  I have been out of the country for exactly 20 years. I left in 1988, when I joined Peace Corps and went to Africa.  I have been back for visits, but I felt that I wanted to spend time with her seeing that she probably does not have many years left.  Woosuk University has been very understanding and has said that I can come back at any time.  I plan to do just that.

Right now though, I have been looking for a job in the USA-not the easiest thing. I am looking at various universities for positions of International Student Advisor, Study Abroad Advisor or ESL, but I haven’t had much luck yet. Most of the time I spend on computer has been for submitting resumes. I feel guilty about watching movies and writing reviews wehn I do not have a job.  I also have been having a hard time adjusting to life in the USA-and not really wanting to adjust to life here.  I miss Korea so much. All of my friends are there… This Chuseok weekend, my thoughts have been there constantly.

However, that does not meen I plan on stopping.  I have all my movies here and I have been buying many more.  I can keep up with the latest news through the internet and my friends in Korea have been sending me posters of the latest film so my collection.  And I prepared decades of film ad photos from the newspapers before I left so I can continue with the film index.

Anyway, I just thought I ought to explain why I have been lax posting here.  I will try to do better from now on.  

The box office was a little unusual this week with 9 of the 10 movies listed being less than 5 percentage points apart. It seems it was a combination of lack of interest in what was showing (most of the quality films have been out for several weeks–the new movies last week did not catch anyone’s interest) and the ‘back to school’ influence. This weekend, college students, who comprise among the greatest numbers of movie-goers, were moving into the dorms and reconnecting with friends they have not seen all summer. This is also why the total attendence figures are so low.

This week, there is quite a variety of films opening from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, Mexico, US/UK…  BUT I will strongly recommend Action Boys. This film swept the awards at the 2008 Jeonju International Film Festival.  It is very well done.  I have no illusions that it will do well in the box office–after all, it is a documentary and may not even be released on that many screens–but if you are able to watch it (or when it comes on DVD) take the chance. You won’t be disappointed.

———-Coming This Week to Korean Theaters———-

Action Boys (kr)- d. Jeong Byeong-gil, starring Kwon Gwi-deok, Kwak Jin-seok www.actionboys2008.co.kr

The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck and God (jp)- d. Yoshihiro Nakamura, starring Eita, Ryuhei Matsuda www.cinemavalleyent.com

Innocent Voices (mx/us)- d. Luis Mandoki, starring Carlos Padilla, Leonor Verela www.innocentvoicesmovie.com

Invisible Target (hk)- d. Benny Chan, starring Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue

Quiet Room (jp)- d. Suzuki Matsuo, starring Yuki Uchida, Kankuro Kuda www.quietroom-movie.com (also called Welcome to the Quiet Room)

Rudy: Return of the Racing Pig (ger)- d. Peter Timm, starring Sebastian Koch, Sophie Von Kessel

Shine a Light (us/uk)- d. Martin Scorsese, starring Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger www.shinealightmovie.com

Solstice (us)- d. Daniel Myrick, starring Shawn Ashmore, Hilarie Burton www.solstice2008.co.kr

Spare (kr)- d. Lee Seong-han, starring Jeong Woo, Im Joon-il www.sare2008.co.kr

I am mildly suprised how poorly X-Files fared here considering how popular the show was back in the mid-90s. My students always used to talk about it. Perhaps they waited too long to make this film and interest in the characters had already waned. I was very disappointed at how poorly Dajjima and Lee was received. It didn’t even knock the horror movie Gosa out of the third position!

———-Coming This Week to Korean Theaters———-

Annyeong? Hidaejja Sujjanim! (kr)- d. Jeong Ho-joong, starring Uhm Kyeong-hwan, Yoo Hyeok-joong  (I have no English title for this yet…)

CJ7 (hk)- d. Stephen Chow, starring Stephen Chow, Xu Jiao www.cj7.co.kr

Cougar Club (us)- d. Chris Duddy, starring Jason Jurman, Warren Cole  www.cougarclubthemovie.com (called American Host in Korea)

Midnight Meat Train (us)- d.Ryuhei Kitamura, starring Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb www.mmt2008.co.kr

Nowhere to Turn (kr)- d. Lee Seung-yeong, starring Cha Su-yeon, Yoo Ha-joon

Smart People (us)- d. Noam Murro, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Quaid www.smartpeople-themovie.com

Superhero Movie (us)- d.Craig Mazin, starring Drake Bell, Sara Paxton www.superhero2008.co.kr

Valet (fr)- d. Francis Veber, starring Gad Elmaleh, Alice Taglioni