Comedy/Horror
Directed by Shin Jeong-won
The majority of Korean films I have seen recently have all started out with interesting premises and gave the impression that they would be thought-provoking dramas, only for the film to turn into some kind of farce. It’s not that I mind slapstick humor; I just I wish I could watch a film that knew what it wanted to be and had some focus.
Hana Mae Lee is one of the breakout stars of “Pitch Perfect” — a “Glee”-meets-“Bridesmaids” procedural that, thanks to a razor-sharp script and an ensemble cast of talented young thespians including Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, was one of 2012’s most surprising hit comedies.
Directed by Jo Beom-gu, Action/Comedy
Grossing over 4 billion won in its first week, this 2011 blockbuster provides an adrenaline-packed rush through the streets of Seoul. In the movie, Han Gi-su (Lee Min-ki), a once-popular playboy in a motorcycle gang, now earns an honest living as an express motorcycle delivery driver.
Iron Man opens in theatres across Korea April 25.
Sci-fi/Action
Directed by Shane Black
Six years of meticulous planning and production finally came to a head last year with the release of Marvel’s “The Avengers.” It was a calculated strategy to introduce a world of superheroes through their own stand-alone films, but each was connected and contained several crossovers.
Directed by Kang Hyo-jin, Action/Drama
I hate to admit it, but I’ve been slightly disappointed with a lot of the Korean films I’ve seen in the last few months. After scratching my head, wondering where the next Kim Ki-duk or Park Chan-wook were, I thought my wait for a great film was over when a friend of mine suggested I watch a film called “Punch,” (2011), which had been a success at several major Asian film festivals.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski
Sci-fi/Action
There have been mixed reactions to Tom Cruise movies in recent years. “Knight and Day” (2010), which he produced, was a failure both critically and commercially, and his most recent release “Jack Reacher” (2012) crawled over the $200 million mark, $50 million short of its anticipated return.
On an early December morning during Seoul’s first real cold spell of winter, a small team of filmmakers marked the end of two months of rewrites, fundraising, races against the setting sun, run-ins with local Korean authorities and locals, late nights, early mornings, and experiments in guerrilla filmmaking. This is not to leave out the ample mix of skill, determination and luck that were also indispensible to finishing the task. Now that principal photography has wrapped up on their upcoming feature film, the easy part is over.
There is something to be said about the lasting impressions of children’s books; whether it is the cushy feeling of colorful jigsaw mats in the sunny corner of a local library or the vivid power of imagination that made storybook characters a very real part of reality, one is bound to have a mental imprint from those ice cream-filled days of yore.
Directed by Kim Han-min
Action
122 minutes
After watching “My Way” and learning a thing or two about Korea’s past, I wanted to see another period piece that covered a different era in Korean history. I have always been interested in some of the Joseon period dramas on Korean TV (well, I think they are; I don’t have a clue what they are saying), which led me to Kim Han-min’s “War of the Arrows.”
Directed by Kang Je-gyu
Action/War
137 minutes
If I were a filmmaker I would hate Steven Spielberg. Not because I think his films are great, because I don’t, but if I wanted to make a war film, I couldn’t film a battle sequence without someone comparing it to “Saving Private (Bloody) Ryan”!
