I am back in Korea again. The biggest difference between Korea and Spain? The light. It is 8pm and it is already dark here. Over in Spain, there are still signs of light in the sky at 10pm. For me, I prefer to have the additional light in the evening.
Okay, maybe that is not the biggest difference. But as I look out over western Seoul from my 12th floor window, that is the one that comes to mind.
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By the way, the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival had its big press conference yesterday, announcing their lineup for this year. While I was sad to miss it (after going to so many over the years), I was rather impressed by much of the selection.
PiFan has even managed to snag a World Premier for its opening night film — the Hollywood remake of THE EXPERIMENT, by Paul Scheuring (of the TV series Prison Break), and starring Adrien Brody, Maggie Grace and Forest Whitaker.
Wow. Hong Sangsoo’s latest film, HA HA HA, has just won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival.
Hong has been to Cannes before, but it always seemed to me that his films usually got some pretty mediocre reviews. I am rather surprised that he pulled off the big win for this year. Good for him.
I have not seen HA HA HA yet. Derek Elley said it was not as good as his last film, SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW IT ALL … but Hong strikes me as one of those directors who is remembered more fondly than he is appreciated. It seems like each new film gets mixed reviews, while the critics claim that his earlier films were better (David Cronenberg is the king of that condition).
Anyhow, big congratulations to Hong. I am looking forward to seeing HA HA HA before too long.
Oh, you can see a trailer (with English subtitles) for his new movie here.
The Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (July 15-25) just announced a pretty sweet program in its lineup this summer — a retrospective of eight Gundam movies. In fact, I believe this is the first official screening on all eight films in Korea (as Japanese culture and animation was officially banned in Korea until recently).
Gundam is one of the most famous and popular of the Japanese giant robot series (although I was more of a Robotech geek myself), having started way back in 1979.
Scheduled to be screened are MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM I, II, III (1981-1982), MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: CHAR’S COUNTERATTACK (1988), MOBILE SUIT Z GUNDAM I, II, III (2005-2006), and MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UC (UNICORN) EPISODE: 1 (2010)
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In other news, Im Sangsoo’s remake of THE HOUSEMAID had a very strong opening in Korea, with 815,111 admissions (about 6.2 billion won, or $5.4 million). Mirovision is saying that is the biggest opening for any Korean movie so far in 2010.
Considering THE PRESIDENT’S LAST BANG had about 1.1 million admissions, GOOD LAWYER’S WIFE had 633,000 admissions, GIRLS’ NIGHT OUT about 800,000 admissions and THE OLD GARDEN was a total dud, it is safe to say THE HOUSEMAID is going to be Im’s biggest hit.
It seems like most years, Korean films at Cannes come late in the schedule. This year, however, Im Sangsoo’s THE HOUSEMAID was one of the first movies to be screened (you can see the trailer here). Reviews of Im’s remake of the Kim Ki-young classic have been mixed, with the general gist being it is outrageous, full of sex, Jeon Do-yeon is great, the story is a little weak and overwrought. Here is an overview of some of the reviews:
– Derek Elley, Film Biz Asia: Actress Jeon Do-yeon shines in a super-stylish, erotic drama with less depth than it thinks. Robust festival potential, plus decent arthouse chances beyond Asia.
– Maggie Lee, Hollywood Reporter: An operatic, sensuous social satire that dares to be different from the original classic.
– Lee Marshall, Screen International: Tasty, full of black humour, but finally upended by the mannerist games it plays so ably, erotic thriller The Housemaid is a smart but shallow remake of Kim Ki-young’s cult 1960 Korean movie of the same name.
– Justin Chang, Variety (behind a firewall, so no point in linking): Doing an elegant upholstery job on one of the key Korean films of the ’60s, writer-director Im Sang-soo demonstrates an eye for luscious surfaces but fairly ludicrous dramatic instincts in “The Housemaid.” Not just a remake but a wholesale rethink of Kim Ki-young’s deranged black-and-white classic, this high-end softcore thriller is juicily watchable from start to over-the-top finish, but its gleeful skewering of the upper classes comes off as curiously passe, a luxe exercise in one-note nastiness.
– USA Today (do not know who wrote it, sorry): The Housemade is 99 percent a solid, sexy thriller. But the audience’s collective reaction to the final two scenes can only be described as: “??????????”
– Jon Frosch, France24: Im pushes the more lurid elements of his story – the sex, the violence – to the extreme; too bad he forgot to make the rest of it matter.
– Roger Ebert Barbara Scharres (sorry for that mixup), Suntimes: Today’s biggest treat, hands down, was Im Sang-soo’s “The Housemaid,” a remake of cult director Kim Ki-young’ sizzling 1960 film of the same title. This could be another triumphant year for the Korean cinema at Cannes. “The Housemaid” is a twisty suspense movie that takes its time getting to its shocking, utterly surprising conclusion. Thanks to a tight script, evocative cinematography and production design, and a stunning cast, every minute along the way is enjoyable.
Actually, this is a decent year for Asian films at Cannes, especially Korean films. You can read more about Asian entries here. And I will post more links as I come across them over the next couple of weeks.
– Big congratulations to Film Business Asia on the launch of the phase of their website. There is more news and features than ever, with plenty of room to grow in the future. Creators, Stephen Cremin and Patrick Frater (and new hire Derek Elley) look like they are going to build something really useful and interesting.
– The Barcelona Asian Film Festival came to close on Sunday. The jury awarded top prize to AU REVOIR TAIPEI, directed by Arvin Chen of Taiwan. Special mention went to AT THE END OF DAYBREAK, by Ho Yuhang (the film apparently hails from Malaysia, Hong Kong, and South Korea).
The NETPAC Prize award went to BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, by Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka, France). The jury also made special mention to the Korean film I AM IN TROUBLE (Nanneu Gonkyeonge Cheohaetda!), by director So Ming Sang.
Audiences, however, showed very different interests, and the Audience Award went to Munehisa Sakai’s anime ONE PIECE: STRONG WORLD. Second place also went to an anime, Mamoru Hosoda’s SUMMER WARS. Third place went to Bong Joon-ho’s MOTHER.
– I think INCEPTION is going to be the film that MATRIX 2 should have been (the latest trailer is especially good, now that they are beginning to reveal the plot of the film).
The Barcelona Asia Film Festival kicked off last Friday, and so far, despite not being as famous as some other Asia-themed film festivals, I am quite enjoying it.
BAFF runs from April 30 to May 9, and is held at a few locations in central Barcelona. This year there are special sections on Korean cinema, New Talent, Anime and more, some 70 films in all.
The festival opened with the Indian film LUCK BY CHANCE, and while that is not the newest movie, it was pretty good (and surprisingly cynical for a mainstream, modern Indian film).
Also fun is that I happened to know several of the guests and jurors. Always nice to see old friends who usually live far away.
One other good thing about the festival — the weather suddenly got terrible here. Cold and rainy. Most of the guests are pretty sad about it, but if you are going to spend the day sitting inside in the dark, this is the ideal weather. No temptation to run off to Costa Brava or anywhere fun like that.
One odd thing, though, are the subtitles here. Because we are in Catalan country, all the films have both Spanish and Catalan subtitles. Instead of projecting them onto the screen, they are subtitled with red LED lights below the film. It is a little different, but I guess it is the best solution to a rather awkward problem.
Anyhow, I will try to post a few comments on the festival throughout the week. It seems like a good festival and I hope more people get to know it in the future.
– Patrick Frater has a solid rundown of the Asian films going to the Cannes Film Festival next month. The list features mostly festival regulars (like Hong Sangsoo and Im Sangsoo), but looks pretty good.
– An article about Korean comic books in the United States (although I am pretty sure the much ballyhooed Sam Raimi movie of PRIEST is dead now). Mostly about the new-ish company Net Comics. You can go to the company’s website for some free comics and other goodies, too.
– Korea hiphop group Epik High will be featured on CNN’s Talk Asia program this week. Tune in on Wednesday (9:30pm), Thursday (12:30pm), Saturday (8pm) or Sunday (4:30am and 5:30pm) to catch the program.
Sorry for being so late with my wrap-up of the Fantasporto film festival. It actually ended last Saturday, but this week just got away from me.
Anyhow, rumors were correct, the big winner was Philip Ridley’s HEARTLESS. It won the grand prize, best director and best actor.
Best actress went to Scot Neve McIntosh for the SALVAGE.
Fantasporto also has a few sidebars. The Orient Express section was won by Park Chan-wook’s vampire film THIRST. The Director’s Week section was won by FISH TANK (it also picked up best screenplay).
The Jury Prize went to Danish director Ole Bornedal for DELIVER US FROM EVIL, and a special jury prized went to the Russian film WARD NO. 6 (which I thought was incredibly dull, but what do I know? I never read the original Chekhov story).
Overall, I had a great time at Fantasporto. One of the most enjoyable festivals I have been to, actually. The Vampire Ball party on the last night was good fun, too (even if Mario did not dress up as a vampire this year… Was looking forward to seeing that). Great town, great people, fun films.
Hard to believe that Fantasporto is nearly over already. But it has been a very fun five days so far. Rumor has it (from the Portuguese websites) that HEARTLESS is the big winning of the competitive section … And I think it was the best film I saw in the festival, so I am quite pleased with that result. It is not a perfect film (I especially dislike a few of the music choices), but overall is quite inventive, creepy and well done. You can see the trailer here.
I also had the chance to see SERBIAN MOVIE (not in the festival, but privately). And I must say, it really is as transgressive and disturbing as people are saying. It is also very smart, cynical and well made. It reminded me of a 1980s David Cronenberg film, in a lot of ways.
SERBIAN MOVIE is the story of a former porn star who comes out of retirement for one last, extreme film, the plot of which the crazy director refuses to reveal. But it is obviously quite metaphorical, and is a statement about what has happened to Serbia over the past few years. Anti-capitalist, perhaps? Anti-something, for sure. It is a very graphic, brutal tale, but not like those dumb torture films, like SAW or HOSTEL.
(I am not sure if I would recommend watching the NSFW trailers, short or long, because I think they might give away too much. But they certainly give you a sense of how graphic and brutal this film is).
The rhythms of Fantasporto are very different from the film festivals I am used to in Asia. At PIFF or PiFan, the first films of the day typically start around 11am, and they run every two hours or so until the last screening around 9pm.
But here, first screenings are at 3pm, and the last screening is around 11, so they whole day is much later. Which is quite nice, actually. It gives you time to sleep in, do some sightseeing, and then make your way to the theater in a very leisurely manner.
(This is the theater where all the movies are screened)
The oddest thing about this schedule, however, is when the Fantasporto organizers want to have some sort of event. Because the afternoon and evening are filled with movies, we end up having cocktail receptions at 11am. This morning, we gathered at the Porto Town Hall at 11am for some port wine and a little hobnobbing with local dignitaries. All very nice (and the Porto Town Hall is quite majestic), but it is a little odd drinking port before noon. Not that anyone was forcing us to drink, I guess.
(Porto City Hall)
(Beatrice, one of the festival bosses, speaking at City Hall)
(And this is the infamous Mario, also at City Hall)
And then there is Portuguese food, which thus far has been incredibly rich, even compared to the food in Spain that I have gotten used to. Most notably so far has been a chicken-rice stew, with the broth made from red wine and chicken blood. Complete with heady goodness.
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* I should mention that this is just day 3 of Fantasporto for me. The festival actually runs Feb. 26 to March 6, but I arrived halfway through.
Young-hee stumbles into a magical world, where the fairy stories of her childhood are real and all the frustrations of her everyday life fade away — until her little brother is kidnapped by a goblin. The only way Young-hee can save him is by finding a magical plant called a pullocho, but little does she realize the fate of a whole world hangs in the balance.
Pop Goes Korea: Behind the Revolution in Movies, Music and Internet Culture (2nd edition) is the only English-language book to examine the whole of Korea's entertainment industry and how it became such a powerhouse over the past 20 years. With profiles of many of Korea's top stars (including Lee Byung-hun and Rain), Pop Goes Korea features chapters on movies, music, television, comic books, the Internet, and more.
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