Mark James Russell

Books, blog and other blather

Month: May 2007 (Page 2 of 2)

All by Myself (Don’t Wanna Bi)

May 12, 2007 / / 2 Comments

So, Rain (aka, “Bi”) has walked away from JYP Entertainment (you can read the Chosun Ilbo’s take on the matter here). It was an amicable parting, with Park Jin-young and Rain remaining on good terms (from what I am hearing from a very good source… not just PR spin). Rain is in Europe at the moment, and in the middle of a really busy tour, so I doubt we will be hearing much in the way of news any time soon.


Of course, Rain is good friends with Jang Dong-gun, so joining Jang’s management company, M Star Entertainment, is a possibility. But has his own personal support team to take care of business, so signing up with new management is not too terribly pressing. Oh who knows? And, more importantly, who cares?

The more significant part of the Rain story, imho, is what was not mentioned in the Chosun Ilbo story — that Rain is more interested in acting these days than singing. That is in part because Korea’s music industry is such a mess, you cannot make much money here anymore (except from product endorsements, and Rain already has plenty of those). And, as the Chosun story did mention, he has not exactly been lighting up the Korean charts for a while. But I think the major issue is that Rain just enjoys acting more, and would like to be a movie star.

(Sorry if the pictures disappoints, but I was not in the mood to look at anyone’s abs this morning).

UPDATE: Sorry I nearly missed this, but Rain was called out by Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report on Thursday. We even get to see Stephen Colbert singing in his own Korean music video. Summary of the show is here. Too funny.

Film History by KOFIC

May 10, 2007 / / 2 Comments

The Korean Film Council just published KOREAN CINEMA: FROM ORIGINS TO RENAISSANCE, a history of movies in Korea, from 1897-ish to the present. Anyhow, you can download the entire book, chapter by chapter.

(Btw, it was a pain the butt finding that URL, in KOFIC’s all-frames website. If the link does not work, go to www.koreanfilm.or.kr, and click on “Publications,” and then “Korean Film History.”)

While I appreciate KOFIC taking the effort to put out a work like that, I must say I found it somewhat disappointing (or at least the parts I have checked out so far). It really is the same old, typical history of Korean film, concentrating on the same old topics, while ignoring some pretty significant, newer research — for example, Brian Yecies’ work on the success of Hollywood in Korea in the 1920s and 30s.

One problem is that the book is basically a translation of a Korean book. The Korean academic writing style is often quite exasperating, especially for people not very well versed in the subject at hand — oodles of statistics and names and jargon, but not much narrative or overarching ideas. Think of the muddled signs you come across at the entrance to Korea’s national parks and major historical sites, but going on for a hundred or so pages.

Also, since the book has no index, its use as a scholarly reference is rather limited, too.

Basically, it reads a lot like a more accessible version of Lee Young-il’s THE HISTORY OF KOREAN CINEMA.

Anyhow, while I complain, I am currently struggling to write my own book (and not a terribly successful struggle), so I have some sympathy with anyone who just gets a project finished. So thanks to KOFIC for continuing to publish more information about the local movie industry.

Korea Weekend Box Office – May 4-6

May 7, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Reminding me once again why I am not a gambler, SPIDER-MAN 3 way outstripped my predictions with a monster opening — the second-biggest opening ever, next to THE HOST. Yeah, like most of the world, the Spider-Man juggernaut stormed through South Korea last week, smashing all sorts of box office records.

SPIDEY3 opened on 617 screens on Tuesday, pulling in $3.4 million on that day alone (that is the biggest opening day ever in Korea, at least according to Sony Pictures). By the weekend, its screen count had soared to a record 816. 816! In a country with only a little over 1,800 screens. Wow. By the time the first week was done, S3 had earned about $18.3 million.

Other records Sony is claiming include biggest one day attendance, at 825,000, and second-biggest opening week ever, at 2.56 million admissions (just below THE HOST’s 2.64 million).

S3 accounted for 69.7% of all ticket sales, just a smidgen below THE HOST’s opening weekend of 69.8%.

Great box office, however, is about sustaining. The amazing thing about THE HOST was not just its opening, but the fact that it did nearly the same business in its second weekend, at 67.5%. Will SPIDER-MAN 3 sustain? Probably not. Foreign films tend not to have as strong legs as domestic films in Korea. And I think S3’s mediocrity will keep away repeat viewers.

But, as I have said, I would not bet money on my precog abilities.

(FYI, according to Film 2.0, TAEGUKGI opened at 63.2% and SILMIDO a more modest 40%. THE KING AND THE CLOWN opened at just 23%, but did not peak until its third weekend, at 41%.)

There were a few non-Spidery movies, believe it or not. MY SON opened in (distant) second. PARADISE MURDERED is at No. 3.

Further down the chart gets more interesting. After four weekends, MEMORIES OF MATSUKO finally made the top-10 list, landing in ninth (on just five screens around the nation). And Im Kwon-taek’s BEYOND THE YEARS made a reappearance, down in tenth.

This Week Title…………………………………. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Attendance (Seoul only) Total Attendance
1. Spider-Man 3 5.01 816 460,179 2,559,902
2. My Son 5.01 298 47,568 256,595
3. Paradise Murdered 4.12 255 41,135 2,000,332
4. The Reaping 4.19 122 28,000 577,500
5. Shooter 4.26 137 26,000 354,000
6. Bunt 4.26 236 25,441 329,112
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4.26 212 18,595 164,860
8. My Tutor Friend 2 4.19 133 5,000 528,000
9. Memories of Matsuko 4.12 5 1,869 19,547
10. Beyond the Years 4.12 12 1,858 138,045

(Source: Film2.0)

  • And another reminder that I am no Kreskin — I just saw the latest SOPRANOS episode. I think we can safely ignore my prediction for that show, too. Sigh.

    UPDATE: A very strange error is sweeping the world. It started in Variety, and has been picked up by Nikki Finke:

    In Korea, SM3 did three times the business of the previous record holder (Korean film The Host) and bested the previous-best Hollywood film (Warner’s The Matrix Reloaded) by more than four times.

    Which is, of course, blatantly wrong. No idea what happened at Variety (maybe someone confused admissions and revenue?), but hopefully people will correct that error before it becomes commonly accepted “fact.”

    UPDATE 2: My mistake. The error was made by Sony Pictures, then reprinted by all the trades and Nikki Finke and others. Sorry for casting aspersions on the nice people at Variety (especially since The Hollywood Reporter made the same mistake).

    Really, though, how could no one catch that? “three times the business of the previous record holder”? THREE TIMES! Could that be remotely possible? Really a mistake that should have been caught somewhere in the editorial chain.

    • Sopranos’ Last Aria

    May 6, 2007 / / 0 Comments

    Okay, since people seem to be giving their SOPRANOS finale predictions these days, I suppose I’ll weigh in with my random guesses. (I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum, and even then I will write them in white, so you can skip them).

    Since we returned from hiatus, for the second half of season 6, we have seen four very different episodes. Some people on the Internet have described this as a curtain call, others say it is just bad writing. Some people think Tony will die in the end, either by Carmilla or Janice. My theory is a little different. (And here come my spoilers, in invisible text… highlight to read).

    I think what is happening now is that we are seeing the total alienation of Tony from his friends, from his insular little world. Episode 13, he fought with Bobby (and scared the hell out of Janice). Episode 14 he fought with Christopher, Episode 15 was Paulie, and Episode 16 was Hesh.

    So when trouble really hits the fan in the final couple of episodes (and I assume this will mean the Feds finally getting RICO on Tony), I think Tony will find himself without allies. Maybe his friends will even turn on him outright.

    His back against the walls, his friends turned hostile, his life over, Tony will do the unthinkable — he will turn snitch. Not, of course, on the family (which would be unthinkable). Instead, he will offer information on potential terrorists in New Jersey/New York to the Feds in exchange for a new life.

    The big question, to me, is whether Tony will have one last, mega-therapy session with Dr. Melfi. Certainly in traditional dramas, that is the kind of climax one would expect. But THE SOPRANOS have been fairly unconventional during most of their run, and series creator David Chase seems to dislike the artificial therapy breakthrough.

    (And if the invisible spoiler protection does not work on RSS feeds or other platforms or whatever, I apologize).
    —-
    Oh, back in the world of Korean-related subjects…. the Miro Space movie theater (in downtown Seoul, beside the Seoul History Museum) is having a couple of interesting Korean films with English subtitles. Right now, it is showing Kim Tae-shik’s RIDING WITH MY WIFE’S LOVER, and beginning on May 10 it will be showing TEXTURE OF SKIN, by Korea’s top animator Lee Sung-gang (in a surprising animation-free project).

    Miro is a pretty funky building with some decent restaurants. Its Korean site is here.

    Sexing Up Korean Cinema

    May 4, 2007 / / 0 Comments

    Amusing word on John Cameron Mitchell’s movie SHORTBUS, as it tries to make it to Korea. “Shortbus” is a very sexually frank and graphic film about a group of New Yorkers with a variety of sexual/relationship problems — a couple’s counselor who has never had an orgasm, a gay couple who has seemingly lost the spark after five years together, a distressed bondage queen, and more.

    Independent distributor Sponge was supposed to import the film, but was stopped by the Korea Media Ratings Board (KMRB). Two times. The first time, Sponge presented the original film in all its “glory,” the second time with blurred mosaics covering all the problem areas. But both times the KMRB gave the movie an adults-only “Restricted” rating — and as you may know, to get the Restricted rating in Korea means, in effect, that you are banned. There is only one movie theater in the entire country that can show Restricted movies, and that is way down in Gwangju.

    Turns out, however, there is a loophole to this rule. If you show movies as part of a film festival that has been sanctioned by the Korea Film Council and the KMRB, then anything goes. And Sponge has a little film festival of sorts about to kick off — the Cine Hue festival. Cine Hue runs May 10-16 in its Jongno theater, than May 17-23 at its Apgujeong theater. So they added SHORTBUS to the festival line-up, and voila.

    I am not sure how often SHORTBUS will run in that schedule (the new Sponge House website wreaks havoc on my web browsers… just a Flash mess), although I do believe it will kick off on May 10 at 9pm.

    And, even more fun, Mitchell himself should be on hand for one screening, perhaps around May 25. He is coming to Korea for a stage version of HEDWIG (always popular in Korea), and so should do some SHORTBUS-related publicity while he is here.

    Anyhow, yes, the film is very sexual (and some of the performances are a little amateurish), but it is also very good. For all its artifice and shock, I found SHORTBUS extremely real and engaging. If you can handle seeing sex on screen (and I know some people cannot), then I recommend SHORTBUS very highly.

    (Kudos to Wouter and Michael at Fortissimo Films for supporting a movie like this).

    The Craptacular Spider-Lame

    May 1, 2007 / / 4 Comments

    Okay, I am not a big fan of people (often on the web) who endlessly and cruelly pile on the insults and witty put-downs on movies they dislike. However, if I were such a person, I would be insulting and putting down SPIDER-MAN 3. Wow, it was bad.

    I just watched it (it made its debut a few days early in this part of the world), and I was so disappointed. It was basically a two-hour talkathon soap opera, with a 15-minute action finish. Now, if the talky stuff was well-done and interesting, I would have been fine with it. But S3 was no Eric Rohmer film. Or a Tarantino. Or anything. It was comic-book deep (and I don’t mean Alan Moore), with endless cliches and silly melodrama.

    As for the action, we had three villains this time, which was way too much for this movie. There just was not enough screen time to introduce each villain, show his origin, and create a personal conflict with Spider-Man.

    Despite the excess of super-powered characters, there was surprisingly little action. And most of that action was completely random and disjointed, not organic to the flow of the film at all. But after 100 minutes, we were still sitting through endless exposition and platitudes and nonsense. My friend and I were crazy bored.

    Basically, S3 feels like the studio had two or three ideas floating around and no one could decide which one to use, so they used them all.

    Anyhow, I am dramatically downgrading my estimates on how well SPIDER-MAN 3 will do. Doubtlessly it will have a big opening, but it is going to crash hard and fast, especially once SHREK 3 is released in a couple of weeks. Here is Korea, I think it should still get around 1.5 million or 1.7 million admissions by the end of Sunday. But I doubt the film will pass 4 million. Definitely not pass 5 million.

    Ugh. What a disappointment.

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