Tag: South Korea

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Taegukgi
The Brotherhood of War
(Taegukgi Hwinallimyeo,
태극기 휘날리며)

Director – Kang Je-gyu – 2004 – South Korea – Cert. 15 – 140m

****

When two brothers are conscripted into the Korean War, the older one’s attempts to keep the younger from harm’s way irrevocably damage their filial relationship – plays in LEAFF10 (London East Asia Film Festival 2025) with an In Conversation session with Production Designer Shin Bo-kyeong on Monday, October 27th

Named after the South Korean national flag, this latest Kang Je-Gyu (The Gingko Bed, 1996; Shiri, 1999) offering tells the story of two young Korean brothers caught up in the Korean War (initiated when the Communist North invaded the South in 1950). Like numerous other Oriental movies (e.g Bullet In The Head, John Woo, 1990), the considerable, historical detail realised on the screen is secondary to the emotionally charged, interpersonal core drama.

Thus, shoe shine boy and older sibling Jin-Tae (Jang Dong-gun from Nowhere To Hide, Lee Myung-se, 1999) is saving to send little brother Jin-Seok (Won Bin) to university. When war breaks out, younger brother is conscripted, with elder brother forcibly joined up only when he tries to have Jin-Seok’s conscription reversed. Leaving behind girlfriend Young-Shin (Lee Eun-doo), Jin-Tae learns that his earning the medal of honour might secure Jin-Seok’s release, so sets about on the one hand undertaking as many dangerous missions as possible and on the other refusing to allow Jin-Seok to do so.… Read the rest

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Memories
Of Murder
(Salinui chueok,
살인의 추억)

Director – Bong Joon Ho – 2003 – South Korea – Cert. 15 – 131m

*****

Three cops attempt to track down a serial sex killer. Based on a real life, unsolved murder case... with Song Kang-ho – plays in LEAFF10 (London East Asia Film Festival 2025) with an In Conversation session with Cinematographer Kim Hyung-koo on Friday, October 24th

On one level, there’s nothing remarkable about Memories Of Murder, a crime movie about cops hunting a serial killer. This is a sub-genre done to death in Hollywood and elsewhere. On another level, however, it has the hallmarks of a really rich and strange talent getting hold of a well-worn formula and doing something fresh, new and original with it.

For one thing, it never dwells on the gore or fetishises the detail of the crimes. At the same time, like much Korean cinema, it never shies away from this material either. It’s unafraid to have an autopsy scene in which the pathologist discovers nine pieces of peach inside a corpse’s vagina but feels just as at ease that a testimony from a survivor throws up an important clue like, I didn’t see the killer’s face because if I had looked at him he’d have killed me, but I did notice he had soft hands.… Read the rest

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Mickey 17

Director – Bong Joon Ho – 2025 – US – Cert. 15 – 134m

*****

Contracted to have his fleshly body reprinted, and his memory restored every time he dies, the expendable Mickey is assigned to a ship run by a right-wing power couple who plan to colonise a distant planet – science fiction adaptation is out in UK cinemas on Friday, March 7th

The snow has given way beneath his feet. Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has plummeted through several layers of ice and now lies helpless on a subterranean ice shelf. His best friend Timo (Stephen Yuen) comes to rescue him. Sorry. To retrieve mickey’s his gun, but leave Mickey himself there to die. Because, after all, it’s easier to reboot Mickey and upload his memories. His friend can’t but help to ask, “Mickey, what’s it like? To die?”

Left alone in the planet’s underground ice caves, where he’s already seen a fellow crew member attacked by cow-sized, insect-mammals for which will later be named “creepers”, Mickey 17 expects to be digested alive by the alien life forms. Of course he does – that’s what happens in movies about alien life on other planets. However, the script has some surprises in store, and the creepers, who are set to play a much bigger role in the story, don’t so much play the role of unfriendly monster as that of the misunderstood race of indigenous outsiders in relation to invading, would-be colonisers.… Read the rest

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Beasts
Clawing At Straws
(Jipuragirado
Japgo Sipeun
Jimseungdeul,
지푸라기라도
잡고 싶은 짐승들)

Director – Kim Yong-hoon – 2020 – South Korea – Cert. 15 – 108m

****

A number of individuals in dire financial straits do whatever they can to get hold of a bag of money – on Arrow Channel from Friday, March 7th 2025

Seemingly disparate plot strands suggest a group of separate stories about to be narrated in parallel, but in fact they’re all part of the same story and eventually converge in this compelling thriller involving an ensemble of characters and a bag of money. A number of the characters are in dire and indeed impossible financial circumstances with no obvious way out. The bag of money, when it turns up in each of their lives, represents a possible escape route for each of them.

Lowly bathhouse attendant Jung-man (Bae Seong-woo) finds the abandoned carryall stuffed full of wads of banknotes in a locker on the premises. Of course, the right thing to do would be to hand it in to his boss, but his boss is a nasty piece of work who fires any employee who’s late twice. Besides, Jung-man’s incontinent mother (Youn Yuh-jung) who lives in his home has dementia, refuses to wear incontinence pads and makes life hell for his wife who works a menial cleaner’s job at the airport.… Read the rest

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Animation Documentary Features Live Action Movies Top Ten

Top Ten Movies (and more, excluding re-releases) 2024

The Old Man and the Land

All films received either a theatrical or an online release in the UK between 01/01/24 and 31/12/24.

Prior to 2020, I’d never included online releases (well, maybe the odd one or two as a special case) but that year saw the film distribution business turned upside down by COVID-19. The movie business is still changing, and the dust hasn’t yet settled.

This version excludes re-releases (My Neighbour Totoro and Seven Samurai would top everything here). In addition to re-releases, this version also excludes films seen in festivals which haven’t had any other UK release in 2024. For that even longer list, click here.

Beyond the first 25 titles, there may be numerous errors (missing links to reviews where I wrote one, year of release, country, and maybe more). All this will be fixed in time, but I wanted to get something online in the holidays.

Finally, last year’s list is here.

Top Ten Movies (and more, excluding re-releases) 2024

Please click on titles to see reviews.

The numbering will mostly be added later when I’ve watched more of the outstanding 2022 titles, and they have stopped moving around. So, currently, positions in this list should be taken with a pinch of salt (and my notes that they might need to move position up or down ignored.… Read the rest

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Animation Documentary Features Live Action Movies Top Ten

Top Ten Movies
(and more)
2024

The Old Man and the Land

All films received either a theatrical or an online release in the UK between 01/01/24 and 31/12/24.

This version includes re-releases, but those aren’t numbered. It’s hard to imagine movies improving on Miyazaki’s My Neighbour Totoro or Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.

In addition to re-releases, this version also includes films seen in festivals which haven’t had any other UK release in 2024.

The star ratings may occasionally differ from the star rating I gave a particular film at the time of review.

Beyond the first 25 numbered titles, there may be numerous errors (missing links to reviews where I wrote one, year of release, country, and maybe more). All this will be fixed in time, but I wanted to get something online.

Finally, last year’s list is here.

Top Ten Movies (and more) 2024

Please click on titles to see reviews.

The numbering will mostly be added later when I’ve watched more of the outstanding 2024 titles, and they have stopped moving around. So, currently, positions in this list should be taken with a pinch of salt.

*****

My Neighbour Totoro reissue (Japan, 1988)

Seven Samurai restoration (Japan, 1954)

1. The Old Man and the Land (UK, 2023)

2. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (UK, 2024)

3.… Read the rest

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12.12: The Day
(Seour-ui Bom,
서울의 봄,
lit. Seoul Spring)

Director – Kim Sung Soo – 2023 – South Korea – Cert. 15 – 141m

*****

In 1980, one Major General attempts to stop another from successfully orchestrating a military coup in South Korea – historical drama is South Korea’s entry for 2025 Best International Feature

In the aftermath of the assassination of President Park in 1979, an event portrayed in The Man Standing Next (Woo Min-ho, 2020), Chief of Staff Jeong (Lee Sung-min) promotes Major General Lee (Jung Woo-sung) to head of the Capital Garrison Command “because you’re not motivated by greed” and charges him with the job of defending Seoul. His concern is another Major General, Director of Joint Investigation Chun (Hwang Jung-min), who has access to the country’s surveillance services and is a member of the secret society Hanahoo which is rife within the military. Chun is already behaving like a king, and Jeong is worried what he might be planning.

And well he should be, because Chun is figuratively and literally empire-building, planning a coup d’etat and working out who is loyal to him (and will carry out his commands) and who isn’t. As far as he is concerned, Jeong is the enemy, and although the latter has been cleared of any involvement in the assassination, his presence at the scene of the assassination is enough to justify arrest and further interrogation.… Read the rest

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Goryeojang
(고려장)

Director – Kim Ki-young – 1963 – South Korea – 89m

2019 Korean Film Archive (KOFA) Restoration (two reels missing)

****

Goryeojang is the concept of taking your elders up a mountain when they reach 70 so that they can face death – plays in Echoes In Time | Korean Films of the Golden Age and New Cinema which runs from Monday, October 28th until the end of 2024 at BFI Southbank – from the London Korean Film Festival 2019

Over fifty years old, Goryeojang is sadly available as only a print with two reels (three and six) missing. The LKFF screened the version where the missing scenes are explained by a brief series of intertitles so that the rest of the film can make sense. It’s a tough film to pigeonhole. A description like period drama, which genre it absolutely fits, proves woefully inadequate. To a Western viewer, it plays out like a classic fairy tale, with archetypal characters and considerable amounts of cruelty. The art direction is light years away from any sort of social realism with its rural sets obviously artificially constructed in a studio, recalling (to name but one obvious example) The Singing Ringing Tree (Francesco Stefani, 1957), especially for all those British people who saw that latter film in black and white on BBC children’s television in the 1960s.… Read the rest

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Animation Documentary Features Live Action Movies Top Ten

Top Ten Movies
(and more),
excluding re-releases)
2023

Full Tiime

All films received either a theatrical or an online release in the UK between 01/01/23 and 31/12/23.

List with re-releases and festival films added in is here.

*****

1. Full Time (France, 2021)

2. Girl (UK, 2023)

3. The First Slam Dunk (Japan, 2022)

4. Junk Head (Japan, 2023)

5=. 20 Days In Mariupol (Ukraine, 2023)

5=. Beyond Utopia (US, 2023)

5=. The Blue Caftan (Morocco, 2022)

5=. Infinity Pool (Canada, Hungary, France, 2023)

9=. Past Lives (US, South Korea, 2022)

9=. Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (China, 2023)

9=. Reality (US, 2023)

12=. Godzilla Minus One (Japan, 2023)

12=. Bobi Wine: The People’s President (UK, 2022)

12=. Smoking Causes Coughing (France, 2022)

12=. Enys Men (UK, 2022)

12=. Holy Spider (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, 2022)

12=. Blue Jean (UK, 2022)

12=. Fashion Reimagined (UK, 2022)

12=. Name Me Lawand (UK, 2022)

12=. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (US, 2023)

Tokyo Story (Japan, 1953)

12=. Ferrari (US, 2023)

—

22=. The Boy And The Heron (Japan, 2023)

22=. Killers of the Flower Moon (US, 2023)

24. How To Blow Up A Pipeline (US, 2023)

25. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning: Part One (US, 2022)

26. Klokkenluider (UK, 2022)

27.… Read the rest

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The Contestant

Director – Clair Titley – 2023 – UK – Cert.12a – 90m

*****

How a man’s incarceration in a room, broadcast on TV, became a media sensation in Japan– out in UK cinemas on Friday, November 29th

Before The Truman Show (Peter Weir, 1998), which would be released later the same year, a couple of years before Big Brother and the start of the UK’s reality TV phenomenon, a Japanese TV show breaks new boundaries. A man is put in a room where he had to earn a million yen in prizes from magazine competitions before being released. The facilities are basic – there is a sink unit and a gas ring, but no cooking utensils. The whole situation is filmed by two cameras. The man in the room, Nasubi, knows it is being filmed, but has been told by the producer that most of it will be thrown away. He is completely unaware that this setup is being edited into a weekly, six-minute TV spot and going out on the weekly, magazine format, endurance TV show Denpa Shonen.

The Denpa Shonen show is the brainchild of TV producer Tsuchiya, who for this segment auditions a dozen or so male hopefuls and chooses one of them, Nasubi, by lottery.… Read the rest