There are four Korean films being released this week.
The first is a political comedy that has not yet received an official English title. The Korean title is Gyeoljeongjeok Hanbang.
Next we have the lesbian love story Life is Peachy
The next film, Red Vacance, Black Wedding has no trailer and no website on Youtube. I did find a trailer on Daum, but was unable to embed it here.
Finally there is the Sea Without Water.
None of these are really high-profile films and, as they are going up against The Adventures of TinTin, Spellbound and Breaking Dawn, none will probably have an impact on the upper levels of the box office charts.
This coming week, the likely hot movie will be a film I have listed in English as both Chilling Romance and Eerie Romance– an official title will probably be posted by the weekend.
Next is the film Moscow–which I can’t find a proper trailer for.. but I did find this clip…
There is an award-winning documentary opening as well called White Jungle looking at the struggles of the poor of Seoul.
And finally, there is Gungdari Yurangdan, a documentary about an acting troupe consisting of differently abled performers.
This Thursday, there are several new Korean films being released. I have not yet seen an English name for the following film, but in Korean, it is pronounced Teuk.Soo.Bon. These are initials. The full name would be Teuksoo Soosa Bonboo. In the 1970s there were more than a half dozen of these TeukSooBon films–mostly directed by Lee Won-se or Seol Tae-ho. Some examples include: The Special Investigation Bureau: The Case of Lee Nan-hee, College Student, The Special Investigation Bureau: Kim So-san, the Kisaeng. All of the stories see the members of the Special Investigation Bureau stopping communist plots in Seoul. Here is the trailer of the 2011 version:
Queer-themed movies are still quite rare in Korea despite some high profile successes like Frozen Flower and The King and the Clown. REC is about two men who decide to record their night in a motel room. The film is only 65 minutes long.. I imagine it will screen primarily in art theaters.
I have seen the names The Lovely Child and Lovable referring to the following movie, but KOFIC has yet to post the English name on their website.
The next up is a documentary, The Color of Pain. Documentaries generally have limited releases as well. Fortunately, here in Jeonju, we do have an art/indie film theater that enables me to see most of these smaller releases. This looks like a quiet but interesting film.
Now that I know how to post trailers, I can show the Korean films that are opening this week in one convenient place. This week, five Korean movies will be opening in theaters. First up is a documentary about cats called Dancing Cat. The trailer I selected is the more upbeat of the two available as the film looks at the plight of stray cats in Korea. As a documentary, it will be receiving a limited opening.
Next is Secrets, Objects, a film directed by Son Gwang-ju and starring Jang Seo-hee, Jeong Seok-won and Lee Pil-mo
A third movie, called Characters, has no homepage or trailer and the fourth film, while it has a trailer, has no English name as of this writing. In Korean it is Wonbyeokhan Partner. It is about a forty-year old teacher who begins an affair with one of her students. Starring in this film are Kim Yeong-ho, Kim Hye-seon and Kim San-ho. It is directed by Park Heon-soo
I am probably looking forward to seeing the most out of the ones listed here. The film is called Ryangkang-do, Merry Christmas, North! Perhaps you know that there are some South Korean organizations that send balloons with messages and presents over the border into North Korea. This story is about what happens when a child includes a toy robot.
Finally, we close with another documentary– The Forgotten Bag.
korean old CF064 I am just testing to see if I can upload movie trailers. So far, I have learned that I can only upload 4MB of video. The trailer I tried was 8MB so now I am trying an old commercial– one of the earliest Korean animations from around 1960 or 61…and ad for Jinro Soju. I have no idea if this is going to work….
Ok– well the video seems to have been uploaded, but the image does not show up. If you click the above though, it will open whatever media player you use and it should show the commercial. It worked for me and it might be a useful feature to show short movie trailers of new release.
