Korean Film Review

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Film critic Molly Kim recommends you two Korean films every week. She tells a brief story of the film with witty commentary and talks about the stars in it. Writer: Molly Kim Producer: Goh Min-suk Edit producer: Cha Jun-mee

  1. 24/08/2022

    42 Silenced (도가니)

    #crime #drama #child abuse #Gong Yoo #Jung Yu-Mi #Kim Hyun-soo #Jeong In Seo #2011 #recorded in March, 2022 Gang In-ho, who is working to earn money for his daughter’s surgery, is appointed to a school for hearing-impaired children in Gwangju. But what he discovers there is an ugly truth; the children are being physically and sexually abused by their teachers. When he decides to fight for the children’s rights and expose the crimes, he teams up with human rights activist Seo Yu-Jin. But they soon realize the school’s principal and teachers, and even the police, prosecutors and churches in the community are actually trying to cover up the truth. Silenced (Korean: 도가니; RR: Dogani) is based on events that took place at Gwangju Inwha School for the Deaf, where young deaf students were the victims of repeated sexual assaults by faculty members over a period of five years in the early 2000s. Depicting both the crimes and the court proceedings that led the teachers off with minimal punishment, the film sparked public outrage, which eventually resulted in a reopening of the investigations into the incidents. The demand for legislative reform eventually reaches its way to the National Assembly of South Korea, where a revised bill, dubbed the Dogani Bill, was passed in late October 2011 to abolish the statute of limitations for sex crimes against minors and the disabled.

    8 min

  2. 21/08/2022

    41 The Bacchus Lady(죽여주는 여자)

    #drama #Youn Yuh Jung #Jeon Mu-Song #Yoon Kye-Sang #2016 #recorded in March, 2022 The story takes us through a few weeks in life of So Young (Youn Yuh Jung), an independent, spunky, and experienced ‘Bacchus Lady’ (an elderly prostitute who offers Korean energy drink Bacchus-F to potential clientele) in Seoul. One day, she happens across a young Filipino boy whose mother is arrested for assaulting a doctor for fathering her child and then abandoning them. Taking pity of the boy, So-young befriends and takes him under her wing. In the meantime, she meets a client who asks her for a strange favour: to help him commit suicide. “The Bacchus Lady” is a film about those who have often been hidden away ad looked down upon in Korean society, particularly the elderly. Outside of the protective circle with whom she lives, she has to face down demeaning assignments. Set mostly in Beautifully maintained public parks, especially around Jungmyo Confucian Shrine in Jongno park and replete with shots of autumn leaves in their burnished splendor, the gorgeous mise-en-scene reinforces the paradox of Korea’s economic clout and her class disparity.

    10 min

  3. 17/08/2022

    40 Perhaps Love (장르만 로맨스)

    #comedy #drama #Cho Eun-ji #Ryu Seung-ryong #Oh Na-ra #Kim Hie-won #2021 #recorded in February, 2022 Hyun is one of the most prominent writer since he published a very successful novel. However he has not written any book for seven years. One night, he meets Yoo-jin, a young aspiring writer, and he later reveals that he has had a crush on Hyun for years. Yoo-jin keeps approaching to Hyun as one of the students attending his college class, and Hyun does not know what to do about this tricky circumstance—especially after Yoo-jin gives him a short story too good to be ignored. Deftly juggling its several plotlines, the movie smoothly moves back and forth between comedy and drama. We already get a pretty good idea of what will happen among several main characters, but we cannot help but tickled more and more thanks to the precise coming timing between the performers on the screen, and then there comes a payoff moment much more uproarious and hilarious than expected.

    9 min

  4. 14/08/2022

    39 The Secret Mission (Mal-Mo-E, 말모이)

    #history #drama #Eom Yu-na #Yoo Hae-jin #Yoon Kye-sang #2019 #recorded in June, 2021 In 1941, when the use of the Japanese language was forced during the colonial rule era in Korean peninsula, Kim Pan-su(Yoo Hae-jin) gets a job running errands at the secret organization, the Korean Language Society despite being illiterate. Gradually, he realize that recording and preserving the Korean language is a crucial means to obtaining independence. Eom Yu-na used to be a scriptwriter, she is know for her groundbreaking script, A Taxi Driver(2017) which presents a story about Gwangju Democratic Movement. This movie marks the young director’s successful transition from quality screenwriter to director.

    9 min

  5. 10/08/2022

    38 Intimate Strangers (완벽한 타인)

    #comedy #drama #Lee Jae-kyu #Yoo Hae-jin #Cho Jin-woong #Lee Seo-jin #Yum Jung-ah #Kim Ji-soo #Song Ha-yoon #Yoon Kyung-ho #2018 #recorded in February, 2022 This is one of the several remake films of the 2016 Paolo Genovese’s film Perfect Strangers(Perfetti Sconosciuti). The story kicks off with seven longtime friends gathered together over a meal at a housewarming party. One of the friends suggests a game; everyone puts their mobile phones on the table, and each call is answered on speaker, whilst every alarm, email or test is read aloud. As the game progresses through the night, they find themselves in an unpredictable limbo as their secrets are spilled. In a sense, the movie made me realize how much of a role a smartphone plays in our everyday life. Watching this show brought me on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Would I watch this show again? For sure because this movie is the perfect marriage between comedy and drama.

    8 min

  6. 07/08/2022

    37 The Outlaws (범죄도시)

    #gangster #crime #thriller #Kang Yun-sung #Ma Dong-seok(Don Lee) #Yoon Kye-sang # 2017 #recorded in February, 2022 Well known for its Chinese immigrants and foreign cultures, the Chinatown of Garibong-dong is a low-rent district outside Seoul. It’s also a breeding ground for both local and mainland Chinese gang activities. Detective Ma and his squad have the dreaded task of restoring peace and prevent bloodshed in this troublesome neighborhood. Overall, The Outlaws is worth two hours viewing time, it’s very interesting, moves at a fast pace and is stylish filmed. The cinematography gives the back streets, seedy bars a life of their own. Don Lee is definitely the man to watch, he’s very lovable and hilarious despite his bulky physique. If you liked him in Train To Busan, you’ll love him here.

    9 min

  7. 03/08/2022

    36 Believer (독전)

    #noir #drug war #Lee Hae-young #Cho Jin-woong #Kim Sung-ryoung #Ryu Jun-yeol #Kim Joo-hyuck #2018 #recorded in July, 2021 This is a noir film that deals with a drug war. It is a remake of a Hong Kong film, literally, Drug War directed by action maestro, Johnny To. Same as the original, the story follows a detective who poses as a drug dealer to score a major narcotics bust. The director tries to reach the same existential conclusion as To’s film—everybody is a corrupt middleman, justice is a lie, and there’s no such thing as closure—by notably adding more twists, reversals of fortune, and character backstories. A vicious Chinese-Korean drug boss is played memorably by Kim Joo-hyuck in his final role before his tragic death in October, 2017. “He is the most heated character, and it is impossible to know what his boiling point is. He makes the others nervous as he is impossible to predict,” said director Lee.

    7 min

  8. 31/07/2022

    35 City Of The Rising Sun (태양은 없다)

    #lost generation #friendship #comedy noir #Kim Sung-soo #Jung Woo-sung #Lee Jung-jae #1999 #recorded in January, 2022 Simply become one of my favorite. The reason? Not only can I relate to the story and the characters, but every movie-making element is flawless. The acting is superb and the direction is worthy of a standing ovation. Actor Lee Jung-jae was discovered by designer Ha Yong-soo while he was working at a cafe in the Gangnam district, then worked as a fashion model for a number of years. Upon making his acting debut with the 1993 TV drama Dinosaur Teacher, he became a star practically overnight, and was almost always cast in lead roles thereafter. In September 2021, Lee starred as Seong Gi-hun, the main protagonist of Netflix’s hit survival drama Squid Game. Series creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk said he chose to cast Lee as Gi-hun as to ‘destroy his charismatic image portrayed in his previous roles.’

    9 min
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Film critic Molly Kim recommends you two Korean films every week. She tells a brief story of the film with witty commentary and talks about the stars in it. Writer: Molly Kim Producer: Goh Min-suk Edit producer: Cha Jun-mee

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