Mark James Russell

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2008’s Indie Music

December 17, 2008 / / 1 Comment

Hey, Philip finally posted my thoughts about the year 2008 in music over at his London Korean Links. I think 2008 was the best year in music in Korea in ages and really enjoyed writing something so positive.

You can also read Anna Lindgren’s choices for 2008 here. I have said it before, but Anna just amazes me with her ability to discover and write so much about Korean indie music from the other side of the world. Check out her music blog if you don’t believe me.

Someone names Saharial also wrote on LKL about her 2008 choices. Much more conventional Korean pop, but still well written and interesting.

Korea Weekend Box Office – Dec. 12-14

December 16, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Despite two big Hollywood openings this week — TWILIGHT and AUSTRALIA — the Korean film OVERSPEED SCANDAL held on to the No. 1 spot last weekend, taking in $2.7 million. Its 10-day total is now at $7.3 million.

TROPIC THUNDER flopped badly, but not unexpectedly, as most comedies of this sort flop in Korea. Animated animals do fine, and romantic comedies are okay, but the Ben Stiller, Jack Black, gross-out, school of modern American comedy just does not travel well at all.

PORTRAIT OF THE BEAUTY is slowing down after a month in release, but still did well enough to land in fourth. It also officially moved ahead of QUANTUM OF SOLACE last week.

Oh, and MAMMA MIA may be down to 15th, but it has now topped 30 billion won (about $22 million), a nice, round achievement.

This Week Title…………………………………….. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Revenue (bil. won) Total Revenue (bil. won)
1. Overspeed Scandal (Gwasok Scandal – Korean) 12.04 487 3.64 9.96
2. Twilight 12.11 441 2.72 3.57
3. Australia 12.11 509 2.02 2.62
4. Portrait of a Beauty (Miindo – Korean) 11.13 306 0.51 15.19
5. Tropic Thunder 12.11 131 0.26 0.33
6. Hello, Schoolgirl (Sunjeong Manhwa – Korean) 11.27 288 0.25 4.56
7. The Accidental Gangster and the Mistaken Courtesan (1724 Gibang Nandong Sageon – Korean) 12.04 303 0.21 1.79
8. Saw V 12.04 191 0.11 0.98
9. 4-Yoil – Korean 12.11 160 0.089 0.13
10. Quantum of Solace 11.05 104 0.051 14.61

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 98% of nationwide box office)

A big week ahead, as DALKOMHAN GEOJITMAL, PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA and JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH all square off. I will take the sentimental favorite and guess that Miyazaki’s latest will come out on top.

About iFricking Time…

December 11, 2008 / / 1 Comment

Looks like Korea will finally be getting the iPhone, the Blackberry and all those other nice, international goodies of the modern age. The Korea Communications Commission has just ruled that started in April 2009, companies will be able to see phones in Korea without its obnoxious WIPI non-standard. Huzzah!


WIPI was a local “standard” developed back in 2001 that, unfortunately, no one else in the world considered worth using. Instead it became a de facto trade barrier, as it was not worth it for non-Korean phone companies to make their phones WIKI-compatible just for this one market. The result — no Blackberries, no Nokia, no iPhones in this supposedly tech-savvy market. Kind of weird. Definitely inconvenient.

You could tell that the barrier had to fall sooner or later. Blackberry, for example, hosted an event at the Pusan International Film Festival back in October; I doubt they would have done that unless they knew they would be coming to Korea soon.

Now, do I go for the Blackberry or the iPhone… (Since none of my friends like their Heptic or Prada phones, I doubt I will be buying either of those options).

POP GOES KOREA Comes to Korea

December 10, 2008 / / 3 Comments

At long (loooong) last, it is done — I now have copies of POP GOES KOREA in my hands.


(And there was much rejoicing.)

My first thought — Nice!

My second thought — Don’t let there by a typo on the cover.

My third thought — Dontlettherebeatypoonthecover-dontlettherebeatypoonthecover…

Fortunately, I am pretty sure there are no typos on the cover.

Many thanks to all the good people at Stone Bridge Press for doing such a nice job. Great design, lots of color pictures, and very catchy. And there is a very well done index in the book, to help out any academic types.

It took a long time to get here. Well over a year (two years?) of just pitching the idea to numerous publishers. Then writing the first draft. Then re-writing, answering questions, and all the work needed to get the book into good enough shape to go to press.

Thanks to the many, many people I bothered and pestered, too. A lot of people had to answer a lot of questions for me to write this. I really appreciate everybody’s help very much.

And now, we wait for the reviews…

So… what to do next? Another book? Something totally different? Hopefully I will have something interesting to report here before too long.

(Oh, and so far I have found two typos in the book. Sigh.)

Korea Weekend Box Office – Dec. 5-7

December 9, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Ack! Like a monster from a 1950s horror film, MAMMA MIA! just won’t die. Over three months on, and the silly singing showcase has re-emerged on the top 10. Blessedly, way down in 10th (making less than $20,000). But still, kind of scary.

Anyhow, on with the real top-10. For the most part, this was a pretty good week for Korean films, as they accounted for the entire top 4 films. Plus ANTIQUE down in eighth, that gives Korean movies half of the top-10. Not bad.

After a strong preview release last week, OVERSPEED SCANDAL took the top spot with about $2.2 million or so (at about 1,450 won/dollar); that’s about 475,000 admissions. Thanks to its early opening, that brings its total box office to about $3 million.

PORTRAIT OF A BEAUTY continued its strong run, landing in second this week, raising its total to nearly $10 million.

I have no idea what’s up with THE ACCIDENTAL GANGSTER AND THE MISTAKEN COURTESAN (as KOFIC calls it) — or DISTURBANCE IN HER BARROOM (as Darcy calls it). Two very odd English titles.

Down in fourth was HELLO, SCHOOLGIRL, which has not received very good reviews from my friends. As for me, I’ll just re-read the comic book.

This Week Title…………………………………….. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Revenue (bil. won) Total Revenue (bil. won)
1. Overspeed Scandal (Gwasok Scandal – Korean) 12.04 470 3.16 4.38
2. Portrait of a Beauty (Miindo – Korean) 11.13 368 1.17 14.17
3. The Accidental Gangster and the Mistaken Courtesan (1724 Gibang Nandong Sageon – Korean) 12.04 401 0.95 1.27
4. Hello, Schoolgirl (Sunjeong Manhwa – Korean) 11.27 358 0.90 4.05
5. Saw V 12.04 176 0.54 0.72
6. Blindness 11.20 230 0.44 4.19
7. Quantum of Solace 11.05 270 0.41 14.46
8. Antique (Seoyang Goldong Yanggwajajeom Antique – Korean) 11.13 237 0.19 7.30
9. Max Payne 11.20 83 0.063 1.61
10. Mamma Mia! 9.04 59 0.27 29.14

(Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 98% of nationwide box office)

Pop Wars and Economic Skirmishes (and Random Ramblings)

December 8, 2008 / / 1 Comment

Hard to say if the global economic downturn is affecting Korea’s media market much: popular sentiment here was already pretty dismal, long before Wall Street started to crash and burn.

Even during the record-breaking days of 2006, many producers complained that all the money was just going to a couple of big hits and that average films were being hammered. Which I always found a pretty crazy argument. You’re telling me movie attendance can go from 42 million to 160 million in 10 years, but business is bad?

Then when attendance declined in 2007 and this year, the industry really got scared. A lot of apocalyptic talk. Producers trying to move into theatrical musicals (the big growth field in the Korean cultural industry these days). You would think it was the end of days.

So far, though, I have not heard about any interesting projects being canceled because of financing problems (key word, “interesting”). Sure, Park Kwang-hyun’s FIST got the axe (along with the entire Motion 101 production company), but that was a most unusual situation (who knows what is going on with parent company Orion?). Plus, I would argue, the movie did not look very interesting.

In fact, from what I can see, there are a lot of interesting projects proceeding quite nicely. All too early to talk about, but there is still plenty of ambition and creativity in the pipeline. And it seems that there is still plenty of foreign money ready to come into Korea. Not in the form of presales, like a few years ago, but for investing and co-productions.

So the biggest problem remains that same problem that the industry has had for several years — developing new talent. There is no problem finding financing for the Park Chan-wooks and Kim Jee-woons of this world. Where life is toughest is for the budding talents trying to make a name for themselves. The new blood that is so needed to keep an industry fresh and full of life.

  • And to give you an idea how much things are changing, you now have movies and short videos being made just for mobile players (DMB phones, those hand-held screens you see on the subway). Sure, there is no money in that yet, and no one has made a project for mobile that has been a big hit. But it is certainly a sign that yet another medium in Korea is being transformed by the digital age.
  • Just to give you some statistics… According to the latest box office report by CJ CGV (no link, sorry), attendance is well off this year from the last two years — through November, Korea had 134.9 million admissions, down from 141.5 million last year and 150.4 from the record-breaking 2006. That is down 10 percent over the past two years.

    But what is really interesting to me is where attendance is down. For example, Seoul attendance is down only slightly from 2006, and actually up a little from last year. It is the countryside where attendance has plummeted.

    Not coincidentally, local movie attendance is way down (since the countryside is much more interested in Korean films than Seoul is) — 98.5 million admissions in the first 11 months of 2006, but 56.8 million this year. That’s a plunge of 42.3 percent. Yikes.

  • Btw, for all you screen quota fans out there, even with the plunge, Korean films have still accounted for over 42 percent of all admissions this year, still above the old quota’s 40 percent. So no blaming the reduction of the screen quota on the industry’s current mess.
  • Btw 2, according to KOBIS, there have been 91 Korean films released this year. About the same as the last couple of years. I am surprised, though, because the story I heard earlier in the year was that many fewer films had been made and released in 2008. Certainly in the first half of the year, very few Korean films were released. I guess they caught up since the summer. Or maybe KOBIS is not accurate. I need to find someone to explain this to me better.
  • Only one South Korean film at Sundance in January (at least in the competitive sections):

    Old Partner/South Korea (Director: Chung-ryoul Lee) – A humble octogenarian farmer lives out his final days with his spitfire wife and his loyal old ox in the Korean countryside. North American Premiere.

  • What’s this rumor I heard about a prominent producer taking the money and running? I just called his/her office and the phones were working and the employees were coming in (so the worst stories are untrue). But if it is basically true, it is kind of amazing. I just hope things work out for the employees there.
  • Hong Sang-soo will be one of the three filmmakers making a digital short film for the Jeonju International Film Festival this year.
  • Lately, I have been spending far more time than I would like in Seoul’s trendy Gangnam district. But one thing I have been pleasantly surprised by is the number of Indian and ethnic restaurants there. Definitely a good sign for Korea, that it is getting more and more diverse restaurants. Heck, there is an Indian restaurant around the corner from my house (which is not, I assure you, in a hip neighborhood at all).
  • On the other hand, could there be more coffee shops down in Gangnam? Four Coffee Beans just on this one stretch of road by the subway station. Plus all the Starbucks, Twosome Places, Tom & Tom’s, etc… Crazy.

    • Korea Weekend Box Office – Nov. 28-Dec. 1

    December 2, 2008 / / 0 Comments

    Five out of the top-10 films this week were Korean, including the top two films. That is a surprisingly strong showing for them. Yeah, Korean movies. Who knows, maybe they can creep up over 45% of the box office for year (at the moment they are just under 42%). No, there is nothing super-exciting coming in the way of Korean movies, but the Hollywood competition looks even more underwhelming. In fact, I would not be surprised if Miyazaki’s PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA was the biggest hit of December.

    Top film over the weekend was the adaptation of Kang Full‘s CARTOON ROMANCE comic book, retitled by MNFC as HELLO, SCHOOLGIRL. CARTOON ROMANCE was, of course, the online comic strip that made Kang famous (and went a long way to making online comics popular in Korea). Other movies made from his stories have not fared so well (APT, BA:BO), but I think it is safe to say that CARTOON ROMANCE is Kang’s most loved series, so it is not surprising it had a built-in audience.

    A strong pre-opening for OVERSPEED SCANDAL, the latest Cha Tae-hyun film. I have only seen the trailer so far, but I was pretty unimpressed. Especially considering how the biggest “joke” in the trailer was a PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES-esque sequence… but involving a potential father-daughter relationship. Two straight guys in bed together — funny. A guy and a girl who might be father-daughter — not funny. Just icky. Or maybe I am just an uptight fuddy-duddy. Who knows?

    PORTRAIT OF A LADY is still doing quite well, with nearly $8 million so far. The new Bond film is doing all right, too, although it is definitely flagging. Oh, and ANTIQUE is not over the 1-million admissions point, which is always nice.

    This Week Title…………………………………….. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Revenue (bil. won) Total Revenue (bil. won)
    1. Hello, Schoolgirl (Sunjeong Manhwa – Korean) 11.27 461 2.01 2.45
    2. Portrait of a Beauty (Miindo – Korean) 11.13 475 2.04 12.10
    3. Blindness 11.20 296 1.04 3.40
    4. Quantum of Solace 11.05 422 1.00 13.75
    5. Antique (Seoyang Goldong Yanggwajajeom Antique – Korean) 11.13 374 0.72 6.88
    6. Overspeed Scandal (Gwasok Scandal – Korean) 12.04 227 0.48 0.57
    7. Max Payne 11.20 194 0.28 1.46
    8. Connected 11.20 266 0.21 1.03
    9. My Wife Got Married (Anaega Gyeolhonhaessda – Korean) 10.23 166 0.14 12.01
    10. Lie With Me 11.13 42 0.068 0.41

    (Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 98% of nationwide box office)

    So I saw PORTRAIT OF THE LADY over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised. No, the film is not a classic. And the last hour or so is a hopeless simpa cryfest. But when the film is light and sexual, it is surprisingly fun and engaging. The sex is at once erotic and amusing (for the most part). These scene with the sex book and the dude calling out numbers was pretty daring, too.

    The cinematographer needs to learn how to film Kim Min-sun, though. Sometimes she looked quite pretty, but other times she looked dreadful. Someone had no idea how to photograph her correctly.

    Anyhow, funny to think how 10 years ago, people were all upset over Jang Sun-woo’s LIES, a sexual film about a man’s relationship with a high school girl. And now the top two films are all about sex and a man’s relationship with a high school girl (although, since I have not seen SCHOOLGIRL yet, I don’t know how much the filmmakers changed the storyline from the graphic novel).

    We’ll Be Right Back, After This Word — And Why That’s a Good Thing

    November 28, 2008 / / 3 Comments

    Some very happy news from the Korean courts Thursday — Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled that the state-run television ad agency KOBACO is unconstitutional.

    Now, that might seem like an obscure thing to be happy about, but I assure you this is great news. You see, the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation currently is responsible for all aspects of TV advertising in Korea. It sets the rates and times for ads, collects the money and doles it out, all in one shop. And only KOBACO is allowed to do this. The result is the highly regulated, uncompetitive, and bizarre thing we call Korean television.

    Of course, KOBACO justifies what it does in the name of “fairness” (as bureaucrats always do). But the result of KOBACO is anything but fair.

  • Advertisers get very little control over when their ads air.
  • TV stations do not get as much ad revenue as they could on the open market.
  • Neither advertiser nor broadcaster has much flexibility over the ad market.
  • Therefore TV stations have much less money to create programs, so their programs are that much cheaper and cheesier than they could be.
  • Also, there is little incentive to experiment with program styles, since the channels’ revenues do not vary much, regardless of what they air.

    Years ago, a former ad guy told me that KOBACO is a “zombie corporation” — that is, it is already dead, but it keeps on moving. In fact, the government passed legislation what would have ended KOBACO’s monopoly back in 2001, but that was not enough to kill it either.

    Everybody knows that it is a relic from Korea’s authoritarian past, but the government loved KOBACO, and was loath to give it up. It was set up under Chun Doo-hwan to keep control over Korea’s television stations (way back before SBS began and long before anyone had even thought of cable TV).

    The government tried to dress up KOBACO and make it pretty — for example, it must use a certain percentage (around 6%) of revenues for public projects. The Press Center, the Korean Broadcasters Center, and the Seoul Arts Center were all built using KOBACO money (and the Arirang TV building).

    With KOBACO’s monopoly coming to an end in 2009, this could potentially really open up the Korean TV markets. Which should mean more money for the TV channels, more money for TV programs, and then hopefully better TV programs. And, if we are really lucky, we might get some more diversity, too.

    • Korea Weekend Box Office – Nov. 21-23

    November 25, 2008 / / 0 Comments

    Sorry for the lack of updates last week. I was in Spain and did not have access to my computer. Had a very good time, though. If you are tempted to go, I highly recommend November (at least for the south) — clear skies and 20 degrees every day, not so many tourists around, plenty of hotel rooms to be found.

    Anyhow, as for movies, the sexy Kim Min-sun film PORTRAIT OF A BEAUTY was the top film for a second week in a row, taking in 2.8 billion won (or about $1.9 million… thanks to the every more depressing exchange rate). After two weeks, it has now made about $6 million, or a decent 1.3 million admissions.

    By the way, isn’t it amazing that it has been about nine years since Kim starred in MEMENTO MORI? Definitely one of the most interesting films from the heyday of the Korean film boom.

    Second also went to a Korean film, ANTIQUE, an adaption from a Japanese comic book.

    The latest James Bond film continued to do okay, but nothing overwhelming — around $8.2 million after three weeks. (I miss the great Bond riots of 2002, when DIE ANOTHER DAY was in the theaters).

    This Week Title…………………………………….. Release Date Screens Nationwide Weekend Revenue (bil. won) Total Revenue (bil. won)
    1. Portrait of a Beauty (Miindo – Korean) 11.13 498 2.80 8.59
    2. Antique (Seoyang Goldong Yanggwajajeom Antique – Korean) 11.13 437 1.38 5.52
    3. Quantum of Solace 11.05 435 1.37 12.16
    4. Blindness 11.20 284 1.37 1.65
    5. Max Paine 11.20 197 0.70 0.88
    6. Connected 11.20 222 0.44 0.57
    7. My Wife Got Married (Anaega Gyeolhonhaessda – Korean) 10.23 242 0.30 11.71
    8. The Bank Job 10.30 133 0.13 3.52
    9. Fly Me to the Moon 10.30 96 0.095 1.07
    10. Let Me In 11.13 42 0.094 0.30

    (Source: KOBIS – Figures represent 98% of nationwide box office)

    Will try to think of something interesting or useful to say this week, once I have re-adjusted to the Korean time zone.

    Unearthing the Past II — Even More Past

    November 13, 2008 / / 0 Comments

    I had a nice little surprise today when I went browsing through Kyobo Books downtown — I discovered a new volume of THE PAST UNEARTHED, the Korean Film Archive’s collection of colonial era Korean films.


    If you recall, I wrote about the first box set of colonial era films here. This set has three films in it — SWEET DREAM (1936), MILITARY TRAIN (1938) and FISHERMAN’S FIRE (1939). Sadly, I have not had time to watch them yet, but I hope to write about them fairly soon.

    SWEET DREAM in particular looks interesting, as it is the oldest surviving Korean film (at least that we know of). The set also has a few bits of pieces from other films that have survived.

    As usual, the packaging is superb (except perhaps for being too tight… hard to get the booklet and DVDs out the first time). Most interesting to me was the inner DVD box, which had a reproduction of a newspaper page from the colonial era.

    You can buy your own copy of THE PAST UNEARTHED from Kyobo Books. You can even order it online.

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