Thursday 19 November 2009

Korean Films

I have recently embarked on a quest to watch as many Korean films as I can before my time here comes to an end. To that end I have started making a regular date at a DVD bang to watch at least one film a week. I have always had an interest in films and ever since I came to Korea I have had an interest in Korean films but have never really made any headway into the vast library of Korean films.

Better late than never I suppose.

Before I get into what I have watched recently, here are a few links that have helped me decide which films to watch as well as where to buy them and enter into lengthy discussions about every aspect of them, if you want to.
  • The DVD shop at Seoul Selection is pretty good
  • The English language pages of the Korean film archive are here
  • Koreanfilm.org is here
  • The personal blog of Tom Giammarco, a contributor to Koreanfilm.org and a resident of Jeonju is here
  • The Korean Movie Database can found here,

In Jeonju, DVDs can be bought at Hot Tracks, underneath Kyobo bookshop and Tom recommended www.madmad.co.kr, but you will probably need a Korean friend to help you navigate the site an to use their ID to order things.

친구 (Friend) by 곽경택 is a 2001 film about three friends in the port city of Busan. It is semi autobiographical and the characters speak in a Busan dialect. It is a tale of tragedy and friendship and is very watchable indeed.

친절한 금자씨 (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) was next after I had already watched the smash hit 공동경비구역JSA by the same director. Park Chan Wook made this film as part of his vengeance trilogy and along with 올드보이 (Old Boy) and 복수는 나의 것 (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), there is indeed a lot of vengeance. 친절한 금자씨 is very in keeping with the theme of the trilogy and features a woman who has been wronged by a very bad man (I don't want to give too much of the plot away.) It is a very good film and deals with an issue that would test the resolve of even the most ardent pacifist and offers an insight into what prison life for women in Korea might be like. I think it's a very good film and will look forward to watching Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.

It has been said that his films are too gory but there is very little actual gore, just the implication of gore. That is not to say there is no blood, there is plenty of it but there is very little graphic violence, the camera is used as an effective tool to make you think you are seeing something you really aren't. An interview with Park to talk about his career and his latest film can be found here.

The most recent film I have watched was 낮술 (Daytime Drinking). A black comedy about a young man who escapes from the city to pine over the loss of a girl. It has been compared to Sideways but is not nearly as good. The film is set almost entirely in the northern part of the country during winter and there are a few times when the ridiculousness of the scenario becomes funny, but they are few and far between. Over all I would recommend this instead of watching, say, rubbish Korean TV but there are better films. It moves slowly and never really gathers pace and there are moments when I may have considered fast forwarding had I been at home. Read into that what you will. Watch the trailer here and make your own mind up.


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