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April 18, 2008
Top Korean Actress records official Beijing Olympics song
Korean actress Jang Na-ra recently contributed to the recording of the official song for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, along with 99 other Chinese entertainers, according to her official website.
The website "Narajjang.com" said Friday that Jang participated in the studio recording of the theme song, which marks the 100-day countdown to the Olympics and was released in Beijing on Thursday (Apr. 17).
The song was recorded by 100 entertainers in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Jang, who has been starring in popular Chinese TV shows since 2004, was the only Korean to perform in the project, the website said. Jackie Chan, Wang Lihong, Emil Chau and other Chinese singers and stars also took part.
The song will be performed by the participating entertainers on April 30 in Beijing during celebrations for the countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games.
Source: Korea.net
http://www.korea.net/news/news/newsView.asp?serial_no=20080418007&part=106&SearchDay=&page=1 |
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April 18, 2008
Glam affairs need dose of agony
Does a solemn vow as man and wife mean more to one person than another?
The movie "Cross Scandal" asks its viewers to probe the intricacies of that question about the meaning of marriage.
One-night stands, spouse swapping and seduction replete with exaggerated sexual movements: That was what I imagined when I first read the story line.
Cross Scandal, however, tries to convey more than just another love affair.
On the one hand, its main characters, Yun-a (Eom Jeong-hwa) and Min-jae (Park Yong-woo), who have been married for three years, are like best friends.
On the other hand, So-yeo (Han Chae-young) and Young-jun (Lee Dong-gun), another couple, barely talk to each another.
The two couples meet at a social gathering and the sparks fly |
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April 18, 2008
Lee Byung-heon Returns to TV Drama
[image=Hankyung]
Korean star Lee Byung-heon is returning to TV screen in a spy thriller titled 揑ris. |
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Friday, 18 April 2008
Lee Byung-hun to star in 'IRIS'
Show one of the most expensive Korean series
Written by Han Sunhee
SEOUL |
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April 19, 2008
In Jeonju, spring brings wonderful films
By Nigel D'Sa
Contributing Writer
The 9th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) is nearing, and an impressive line-up of films has been announced for this year's event.
Set in its picturesque namesake city in Jeollabuk-do (province), JIFF runs May 1-9, bringing together innovative and independent films and filmmakers from around the world.
This year's program boasts a record total of 169 films with opening night going to Manda Kunitoshi's The Kiss in its International Premiere. Japanese writer-turned-director Manda has already gained notice and won prizes at Cannes for his previous films, making this latest work highly anticipated.
JIFF's curtain-closer will be the Korean omnibus film If You Were Me 4, produced by the National Human Rights Commission. Each film in the series has a human rights issue as its theme with past concerns ranging from discrimination to forced surgery and bringing together a group of talented directors.
This year's project features five shorts on the theme of contemporary Korean youth and the stress of education and growing up. The participating directors were Bang Eun-jin (Princess Aurora), Kim Tae-yong (Family Ties), Lee Hyeon-seung (Il Mare), Jeon Gye-su (Midnight Ballad for Ghost Theater) and Yoon Seong-ho (Milky Way Liberation Front).
JIFF has renamed its 慖ndie Vision' section the 慖nternational Competition' section, raising its profile and adding a second-best film prize, the 慏aum Special Jury Prize' worth $7,000 alongside its existing first prize, the Woosuk Award worth $10,000.
The jury this year consists of one of Korea's top directors Bong Joon-ho (The Host), actress Um Ji-won (A Tale of Cinema), Iranian director Abolfazi Jalili, author and critic Chris Fujiwara, and Turkish culture writer Defne G黵soy.
 a scene from Manda Kunitoshi's 'The Kiss'
Ten Korean features will have their World Premiere with one of the highlights being documentary director Kim Dong-won's latest, 63 Years On, about the 慶omfort women' enslaved by the Japanese military in stations across Asia during WW2.
The film provides an historical investigation along with interviews with victims still living in Korea, China, and the Philippines. Kim is best known for his 2003 film Repatriation, which raised the documentary genre to commercial prominence in Korea.
In the Korean Cinema on the Move section, ten new independent features mostly by debut directors will be showcased. Among the most interesting is Synching Blue by Seo Won-tae, a director whose short films have garnered praise for their visual arrangements. This high-definition (HD) feature is about a man who seeks comfort in adult web sites but is unable to function in a relationship with a real woman.
Children of God by director Yi Seung-jun is a documentary about the coexistence of life and death along a holy river in Nepal where people go to cremate their loved ones. My Dear Diary by debut directing duo Kim Baek-jun and Jung Seong-wook examines the ups and downs of a woman in her late 20's, as she seeks love in the beautiful and bumpy city of Busan. Another Busan-set film, House of Freshness is a fiction deceptively presented as a documentary that centers around a family running a sashimi restaurant.
a scene from the festival's curtain-closer, 'If You Were Me 4' 
In the Korean Cinema Showcase section, director Kim Eung-su (Desire) returns with his latest, a documentary titled The Past is a Strange Country, about the lives, 20 years later, of radical students who protested in the 1986 pro-democracy riots. Epitaph, a well-crafted horror film by the Jung Brothers will screen along with Hong Sang-soo's latest, Night and Day, the first HD film from the acclaimed auteur, shot mainly in Paris and presented in competition at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year.
In the HD Cinema: Special Screening section is the world premiere of Hong Hyeon-gi's Thirsty, Thirsty, the tale of a meddlesome loan-collector with a heart of gold who is unable to make his quotas and even has a loan collector pressing down on him. Despite harsh realities and dog-eat-dog conduct, the film portrays its characters in a sympathetic light. Korean Shorts: Critic's Week will present 19 highly regarded short films by young directors in the past year, while the Jeonju Local Cinema section will screen four shorts made in and around the city.
A number of Korean family-oriented features will show on the free outdoor screen at JIFF, including director Kim Hyun-sik's Scout, about a college baseball team and set in Gwangju just days before the tragic events of May 18, 1980; Going By the Book, Ra Hee-chan's comedy-caper about a befuddled police officer; Forever the Moment, a true tale of the victory of the Korean women's handball team at the 2004 Athens Olympics; and The Happy Life, director Lee Joon-ik's rock-redemption movie about a group of dissatisfied family men in their 40's who rediscover their passion for playing rock 憂' roll.
The latest films by world class directors include Rolf De Heer's Dr. Plonk, John Sayles' Honeydripper, Alexander Sokurov's Alexander, Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth, Wakamatsu Koji's United Red Army, Raul Ruiz's La Recta Provincia, Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg, and Manoel de Oliveira's Christopher Columbus: The Enigma.
Highlights this year include a retrospective on Hungarian master, B閘a Tarr along with his latest film The Man From London. The Stranger Than Cinema section will focus on New German Cinema 慻odfather' Alexander Kluge and the Jeonju Digital Project 2008 with screen works by three prominent African directors. The Discovery section will provide an exploration of Vietnamese and Central Asian cinema with many of the most outstanding works in the last 25 years gathered together.
The notorious Midnight Obsession section will present gruesome horrors by three top directors. George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead, his latest in the zombie franchise he created will screen along with Bug by veteran director William Friedkin (who turned heads with his classic horror The Exorcist) and the comic-horror The Cottage by UK director Paul Andrew Williams.
A screenwriter's Masterclass featuring Korean writer-director Kong Su-chang (R-Point, GP 506) and Chinese writer Lu Wei (Tuyu's Marriage, To Live) will be offered to those keen to learn more about the art of the screenplay. More information on the festival can be found at JIFF's official website: http://eng.jiff.or.kr or by calling (063)-288-5433.
Source: KOREA.net
http://www.korea.net/news/news/n ... archDay=&page=1 |
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MCs for Jeonju film festival
April 21, JEONJU, South Korea -- Actor An Seong-ki and actress Choi Jeong-won will emcee the opening ceremony of the 9th Jeonju International Film Festival that is scheduled to be held May 1-9 in the South Korean city. (Yonhap) (END)
Source: Yonhap News
http://app.yonhapnews.co.kr/YNA/ ... ticlePhotoMain.aspx |
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April 20, 2008
[MOVIE REVIEW] 'The Moonlight of Seoul' portrays twisted role of men at a host bar
Director Yoon Jong-bin created a favorable buzz in 2006 when he unveiled his thought-provoking debut feature "The Unforgiven," highlighting the hidden talent of actor Ha Jung-woo. Yoon's casting choice turned out to be prescient. Ha is now the most sought-after film star following the runaway success of "The Chaser," a thriller that further showcases the actor's passionate acting spirit.
But it seems questionable whether Yoon has made a right casting choice for "The Moonlight of Seoul" (Korean title: "Beastie Boys"), a drama in which Ha is recruited to play a central character for the second time with the same director.
The film, to be released on April 30, loosely reflects filmmaker Yoon's continued interest in the painful social trap that puts a stifling screw upon the life of Korean men. Previously, Yoon brought to life the suffocating pain in his award-winning "The Unforgiven" in a way that impressed critics at film festivals. The trouble is that, unlike Yoon's first feature, "The Moonlight of Seoul" is a commercial project which can be easily tossed out at the cutthroat box office unless it's armed with some mainstream appeal.
Desperate, cash-strapped men who serve drinks and dance with female clients at what is called a "host bar" is not fantastic subject matter for such mass appeal, to begin with. Petty struggles, emotional tug-of-war, and a hunger for genuine love are juxtaposed with the exotic night life of male hosts, but the plot falters helplessly as if the intoxicated main characters try to remain sober after ceaseless drinking night after night.
In the film, Yoon Kye-sang plays Seung-woo, who has recently joined the peculiar nighttime business to stay afloat. His life, as far as he remembers in his dreams, was not always like this. He used to enjoy an affluent life and he knew every corner of Cheongdam-dong where he had lived with his family.
For some reason, which is not explained explicitly, his life plunged into poverty, and he is now forced to sell his handsome appearance and refined manners at the bar where dozens of similarly good-looking men await their female clients, most of whom are professional hostesses venting their frustrations with the money they have earned serving men at sleazy bars.
Ha Jung-woo's character, Jae-hyeon, is slightly different. He is the so-called PD, or partner director, a host bar equivalent to the madam at a men's club. Jae-hyeon is constantly testing his luck: gambling, lying and cheating on his girlfriend to squeeze out easy money. His world is steadily disintegrating; undaunted, he keeps rolling the dice to get away from an immediate crisis, only to confront another.
The host bar is portrayed as a sort of underground sex trade venue where female clients buy the attention and care of young, well-groomed host boys, but the film does not pay due focus to the shady details. Instead, Seung-woo's encounter with Ji-won (Yoon Jin-seo), one of his clients, takes the center stage in plot, bringing to the background the real travails supposedly embedded in the host business.
The couple, after a brief honeymoon-like period, falls into the depths of mistrust and deception, a development that pummels the soft-hearted Seung-woo -- a melodramatic set-up dragging the host bar drama back to the emotionally abrasive shouting game, plus a widely expected revelation that fails to steer the plot into a meaningful direction.
Jae-hyeon comes up with lame excuses around the clock to get by in his debt-laden life, but that's all there is to see. His life is so boringly predictable that even the last-minute twist does not generate the intended impact. Ha Jung-woo's nuanced performance occasionally lightens up the otherwise depressingly static storyline -- but doesn't do enough to save the movie.
By Yang Sung-jin (insight@heraldm.com), image from empas.com
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/ |
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April 21, 2008
Actor Kim Myung-min Attends First Fan Meeting in Japan
Actor Kim Myung-min attended a fan meeting event in Japan for the first time.
Kim's management company K&Entertainment said the actor attended the fan meeting at the Nagano Sun Plaza in Tokyo on April 20. The fan meeting was organized to celebrate the official release of the DVD of "White Tower," a popular drama series in which Kim starred. Kim was accompanied by actor Lee Sun-kyun, among others.
Prior to the fan meeting, Kim held a press conference with Japanese reporters. After the fan meeting, the actor personally shook hands with his fans who attended the event.
"White Tower" is a popular Japanese drama series which was aired in Japan in 1978 and 2003. The drama was remade into a Korean version last year and became a big hit. Kim appeared in the drama as cool-headed surgeon Jang Jun-hyuk.
In the meantime, Kim has been cast in the brand new drama series on MBC TV "Beethoven Virus." He will take on the role of orchestra maestro Kang Gun-woo alongside new actress Lee Ji-ah, who rose to stardom through her performance in "The Story of the First King's Four Gods."
Source: KBS Global
http://english.kbs.co.kr/mconten ... /1519892_11692.html |
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