Seen in Jeonju

Archive for December, 2009

Yoo Hyeon-mok Box Set

6th December 2009

yoo hyeon-mok

Here is some good news!  Yoo Hyeon-mok is famous for several films including The Aimless Bullet, School Excursion and Robot Taekwon V.  These, and several other of his films have already received the DVD treatment.  Now some of his lesser known films will be available on DVD with English subtitles.   This set of four dvds will include Forever With You (1958), The Guest who Came on the Last Train, The Daughters of Kim’s Pharmacy (1963) and Rainy Season (1979)

Unfamilar with the stories?  Forever With You looks at the lives of three young men who are petty criminals.  One day they try a bigger heist than just picking pockets and attempt to rob a US Army warehouse.  They are interrupted and one of them is captured.  Escaping briefly to meet his girlfriend who now works in a bar to make ends meet, he is recaptured and sentenced to ten years in prison.  When his sentence is up, he and his old friends meet again and sparks fly.

The Guest Who Came on the Last Car is the melodramatic tale of Bo-yeong who cuts contact with her family after her best friend marries her father.  Her friend inherits everything after her father dies while Bo-yeong lives with a man dying of lung cancer and struggles to help him.

The Daughters of Kim’s Pharmacy occassionally pops up at local film festivals.  Kim’s four daughters have very different personalities –often with many faults– but they share the same fate… unhappy marriages.

The Rainy Season is the story of one family divided by the Korean War.  Forced to live under one roof, Dong-man’s maternal grandmother despises his paternal grandmother because her family were all killed while fighting for South Korea while Dong-man’s paternal uncle supports the North Korean cause. 

This excellent collection of films will be available to purchase from December 10, 2009.  I have already pre-ordered!

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Director Son Chang-ho

5th December 2009

son chang-hoOriginally posted on November 14, 2007—Son Chang-ho was born in 1954 and majored in English Literature at Danguk Unversity. However, it was not literature that interested him–it was acting. Especially comic acting. He debuted onscreen in 1974 with the film It Is You, a ’high-teen’ drama. Most of the films that Son would appear in would be  dramas aimed at young people and he would often play the role of comic relief in some of the more serious stories. However, his acting was most natural when he was paired with other comic actors such as Lee Seung-heon of the ‘Joker’ series (the most famous of which is The High School Joker).  Son went on to have numerous movie roles throughout the mid-70s to the mid-80s.   As time passed, Son couldn’t help but notice that the style of movie he was known for was rapidly falling out of popularity and his age was becoming a little too old for the kinds of characters he played.

This is what led to him taking a hiatus from acting after 1986.  He decided that he wanted to study movie-making techniques and went to Tokyo to attend a director’s course at the University of Japan.  Upon the completion of his studies, Son returned to Korea and made the film Tokyo Arirang in 1990. And not only did he direct it but he also wrote the script and had a part as a supporting actor. The film was a melodrama about a woman named Seon-hee who goes to Japan to search for her fiance, Dae-pyeong. Dae-pyeong had gone there in order to complete some unfinished business before their wedding, but disappeared. Unable to locate him, Seon-hee is forced to buy a false id card so she can remain in Japan after her visa expired. Eventually she locates Dae-pyeong, but he is with another woman. Seon-hee decides that she needs to make money, so she becomes the mistress of an elderly but wealthy Japanese businessman.  By all accounts, this movie was a complete failure.

Son Chang-ho did not get another chance to try again. He was plagued health problems and died at only 44 years old in 1998.  His dying wish was to have his ashes spread in the East Sea near the city of Sokcho.

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30th Blue Dragon Awards

2nd December 2009

blue dragonTonight at 8 pm were the Blue Dragon Awards held.  Unliked the recent Grand Bell Awards, this event was not plagued by scandals and Jang Na-ra’s father.  The results are below–winners are in caps

Best Short Film:   –GOOKYEONG

Most Popular Stars: –LEE BYEONG-HEON –HA JEONG-WOO –HA JI-WON –CHOI KANG-HEE 

Best New Director: –KANG HYEONG-CHEOL (Scandal Makers) –Park Geon-yeong (Bronze Medalist) –Yang Ik-joon –LeeYong-ju (Possessed) –Jeong Ki-hoon (Goodbye Mother) 

Best Scenario: –POSSESSED

Best Art Direction: –PRIVATE EYE

Best Music:  –THIRST

Best Special Effects: –HAEUNDAE

Best Lighting:  –MOTHER

Best Cinematography:    –TAKE OFF

Best New Actress: (tie) –Kang Ye-won (Haeundae) –KIM GGOT-BI (Breathless) –PARK BO-YEONG (Scandal Makers) –Seon Woo-seon (Running Turtle) –Oh Yeon-seo (Whispering Corridors 5: Blood Pledge)

Best New Actor: –Kim Moo-yeol (Scam) –Kim Ji-seok (Take Off) –Song Chang-ui (Boys Don’t Cry) –YANG IK-JOON (Breathless) –Choi Jae-woong (Sword With No Name)

Best Supporting Actress: –Kim Bo-yeon (Possessed) –Kim Yeong-ae (Goodbye Mother) –KIM HAE-SOOK (Thrist) –Jang Yeong-nam (My Girlfriend is an Agent) –Choo Cha-hyeon (Portrait of Beauty)

Best Supporting Actor: –Kim In-gwon (Haeundae) –Seong Dong-il (Take Off) –Shin Ha-gyun (Thirst) –Lee Min-gi (Haeundae) –JIN GU (Mother) 

Best Actress: –Kim Ok-bin (Thirst) –Kim Ha-neul (My Girlfriend is an Agent) –Kim Hye-ja (Mother) –Choi Kang-hee (Goodbye Mother) –HA JI-WON (Closer to Heaven)

Best Actor: –KIM MYEONG-MIN (Closer to Heaven) –Kim Yoon-seok (Running Turtle) –Song Kang-ho (Thirst) –Jang Dong-geon (Good Morning President) –Ha Jeong-woo (Take Off)

Best Director: –KIM YONG-HWA (Take Off) –Park Chan-wook (Thirst)–Bong Joon-ho (Mother) –Yoon Je-gyun (Haeundae) –Jang Jin (Good Morning President)

Best Film:  –Take Off–Haeundae–Good Morning President–MOTHER–Thirst

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