kdrama and kpop

Leading Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho expressed confidence in the artistic quality of his latest film "Mother," set to join the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes film festival next month.

"When I looked at the lineup in the competition section at the Cannes film festival this year, I felt there's a clear limit for me to join the power list, but I'm confident about my new film's artistic level," Bong told reporters at a news conference in Seoul on Monday.

Bong's failure to join the prestigious competition section at Cannes, however, does not mean he's an outsider. After all, with "Mother" Bong has now been invited to Cannes for a third time, a recognition coveted by filmmakers around the world.



Kim Hye-ja, the veteran actress who plays the title role, said she's relieved about the entry into the non-competition section of Cannes. "I don't like competition in the first place and I think it's good that we are not competing with other films," she said.

Kim said that Bong provided her acting career with new impetus. "He helped me reactivate all the cells that have been dormant in my body," Kim said. "I ran a lot for the film, even when it was raining, but I didn't feel any fatigue because that's what I was supposed to do for the role."

Kim is widely regarded for acting skills closely related with the traditional image of a Korean mother. Since she has enhanced this image by appearing as a parent in many television dramas, Bong said he would have given up the project if Kim did not accept his offer to play the main role.



Bong said Won Bin, who plays Kim Hye-ja's son in the film, performed even better than expected. "When I met Won Bin for the first time, I noticed he has innocent eyes -- eyes that are perfect for the son character. Although he looks innocent, he was very eager to push the limit and top expectations at the shooting," Bong said.

Won Bin returns to Korean cinema in five years after his high-profile role in "Taegukgi," the 2004 Korean War blockbuster.

In the film, a mother lives alone with her only son, who is 28. Their life turns upside down when the young man is implicated in a murder case. Despite there being no credible evidence against him, he is implicated by the police, forcing his mother to do whatever she can to prove his innocence.

By Yang Sung-jin (insight@heraldm.com) via koreaherald.co.kr, captures credit as stated on images from daum.net

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter


The late Woo Seung-yeon

Actress, Woo Seung-yeon, 25, was found dead in her home in Seoul in what appears to be a suicide, police said Monday.

Woo apparently hanged herself in her room and was found dead by her roommate who notified police, according to the Seoul Songpa Police Station.

She left a note stating she loved her family and she was sorry to leave them. She also sent a text message stating "I'm sorry" to her sister, who tried to reach her by phone, a police officer said.

Woo debuted as a model for fashion magazines and appeared in minor roles in the movies "Herb" (2007) and "Private Eye" (2009). She was taking leave from the Department of French Language and Literature at Chung-Ang University.

She was signed by the Oracle Entertainment agency two months ago and expected to broaden her acting career.

Her agency said she was undergoing treatment for depression and spoke to her sister and friends about her failures at auditions. Police believe the depression might have driven her to the suicide.

Woo's death is the latest in a series of celebrity suicides. Top actress Choi Jin-sil, actor, Ahn Jae-hwan and TV actress Jang Ja-yeon all took their own lives.

Credits: meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr

Similar update at yonhapnews.co.kr / koreaherald.com

This post has been edited by rubie: Today, 09:02 AM

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter



Police are expanding their investigation into the smuggling and use of drugs involving movie stars and models.

In the latest drug bust of entertainers, police booked popular film star Ju Ji-hun, 27, on suspicion of drug use and arrest warrants were sought for actress Yun Seol-hee, 28, and model Ye Hak-young, 26, for alleged smuggling ecstasy tablets and ketamine into the country from Japan. Two other residents were booked on similar suspicions.

"Besides the suspects on the list we have secured, there are likely more, given the amount of drugs smuggled. Further investigations are unavoidable," an officer of the Seoul Metropolitan Policy Agency said.

Police officiers said the entertainers appear to have been tempted to use drugs on assumption that that ecstasy and other drugs kill the appetite, helping them reduce their weight. Ecstasy is a mildly hallucinogenic amphetamine and the most popular illegal drug in Korea, while ketamine, also illegal here, is a veterinary medicine that has a strong hallucinatory effect on humans in dilute doses.

Experts said that more popular stars are blacklisted as suspects who used the drugs smuggled in by Yun.

The latest scandal is jolting the entertainment industry, already reeling following the suicide of actress Jang Ja-yeon, who left a note accusing media and entertainment firms' presidents of forcing her to have sex with them.

Ju is a hallyu (Korean wave) star in Japan and is now expected to lose opportunities to appear in Japanese media, let alone appearances on domestic TV programs or movies. He was scheduled to have a fan meeting in Tokyo next month.

Ju is a model-turned-actor who debuted in the 2006 drama 'Princess Hours," with the role of a crown prince of Korea. He recently starred in the movies "Antique" and "The Naked Kitchen" and the musical "Don Juan." He was going to shoot the drama "Tokyo Tower" next month, but the role is going to be given to another actor.

Ju admitted to using drugs, saying he took them when he was drunk at a party at Ye's house, according to police. Since both Ju and Ye are models-turned-actors, the entertainment industry expects other colleagues to be implicated in the scandal. Many fans are disappointed. "I was surprised at the news of Ju's drug use. Drug scandals involving entertainers seem to never end," said Kim Dong-hyun, 28, a graduate student.

Many other entertainers have also been caught for drug use. Actress Hwang Su-jung was caught using philopon ― an amphetamine ― in November 2001. She was known for her elegant image, but an attempted comeback was unsuccessful even years after the scandal. Singer Psy, or Park Jae-sang, was caught in the same month for smoking marijuana. Actresses Sung Hyun-ah was caught for taking ecstasy in 2002; Kim Boo-seon for marijuana in 2004; and Ko Ho-kyeong for marijuana in 2006.

The drug busts of entertainers continued last year as well, including jazz vocalist Pak Sun-zoo and Steve Kim of hip hop group Uptown. Some entertainers have campaigned for legalizing the use of drugs such as marijuana. Kim Boo-seon and singer Shin Hae-chul, both caught for drug use, have insisted that marijuana should be legalized in Korea.

However, the difference this time is that Yun and Ye smuggled the narcotics themselves ― police believe they did this to limit the possibility of exposure. Some experts cited relatively light punishment on drug users as one of the key reasons behind the scandals. Some have successfully returned to the business years afterward.

Bae Kuk-nam, a culture critic, said, "They can make a return after drug scandals but their wrongdoing is engraved in people's memories."

Credits: meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr

By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter


Moon Geun-young

Actress Moon Geun-young Thursday said she will donate a building used as a "study room" for poor students to a charity group, saying that she will continue to support the facility.

Moon has been running Ttangkkeut Gongbubang (study room at the end of the land) since 2006 by letting a Protestant clergyman take care of the facility. She will donate it to the NGO "Good People" to give students a better environment in which to study. "I think everyone wants children to be happy and study well. I hope the students there continue their studies just as they've been doing," the actress said.

Moon financed the building of the study facility in 2006 when she heard that children in Haenam, South Jeolla Province, were on the verge of being driven out of the facility that pastor Bae Yo-seob and his wife Kim Hye-won had been running due to financial difficulties. Bae and Kim taught them school subjects and mentored them, and Moon donated 300 million won ($230,000) to buy the land, build a proper facility with a library, computer room, shower facility and a restaurant.

Moon originally planned to donate the building to Bae, but he turned it down, saying that he is an ordinary clergyman and cannot accept it on a personal level. He instead recommended the charity group to Moon.

Good People World Family is an international charity group of UN UCOSCO special consultative status aiming to improve self-sustainability and eradicate extreme poverty through restoration of self-esteem using the principles of human dignity and equality at a global level.

Credits: bjs@koreatimes.co.kr

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter


Some of the most outstanding skirts from Miuccia Prada's collection from 1988
to the present are exhibited as part of the "Waist Down" exhibition
at the Prada Transformer. / Courtesy of organizers

Italian luxury goods giant Prada unveiled its most ambitious cultural project to date, the Prada Transformer, in Seoul, Thursday.

Built on the grounds of the 16th century Gyeonghui Palace in downtown Seoul, the Prada Transformer is a one-of-a-kind tetrahedron-shaped pavilion designed by renowned architect Rem Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

Designer Miuccia Prada and her husband, Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli, as well as Koolhaas, were in Seoul for the inauguration of the Transformer pavilion. The Prada Transformer will be the venue for events devoted to art, film, fashion and of course, the Prada brand, for the next six months. Koolhaas described the Transformer as a "dynamic organism," since the steel-framed structure can be rotated into four distinct floor planes: hexagonal, rectangular, cruciform and circular, to fit the specific events.



Bertelli said the choice of Seoul for the Transformer project is the company's recognition of the importance of Asia and its rapid development of business and culture.

Tomaso Galli, Prada group communications and external relations director, said the project represents the culmination of the Prada's long-standing interest in art, architecture, fashion and film. "At Prada, the day to day work for fashion is to set trends and innovate every six months when we do our fashion shows in Milan, but today you have to go beyond that. This project is the way we can contribute to the world that goes beyond fashion," Galli told reporters, Wednesday.

The first event to be held at the Transformer is "Waist Down -- Skirts by Miuccia Prada," featuring 65 of the most outstanding skirts from Prada's collections since 1988. The exhibit first opened in 2004 at the Prada Epicenter, Aoyama, Tokyo, and has traveled to Shanghai, New York and Los Angeles. "Before the exhibition was shown in an existing space like a hotel or shopping district, so we always inhabit someone else's house. Now, we have created our own space. Here, it is totally free. The space was made to integrate the exhibition. There's a huge dynamism that we can enjoy here," Kayoko Ota, exhibition curator, told The Korea Times.

Ota said Prada unleashes her creativity in her favorite form, the skirt. With all the skirts that Prada has designed, it was difficult to pick which skirts to show, so Ota relied on intuition and picked the most eye-catching skirts. Prada's skirts are full of "curious contradictions." A skirt made of military uniform material has been embellished with glass beads and exquisite embroidery, transforming something utilitarian like a uniform into an utterly feminine creation.

Ota pointed to another skirt made of metal discs, which caught everyone's attention because of its noisy swishing sound. "It's very noisy and in a way, very impractical, unless you're thinking of haute couture. But this is one unique point about Miuccia Prada. As a woman, she tries to have more courage and more fun. Why not? Why not make a skirt that makes noise and have some fun? ... There's also the clarity of idea. The other skirts may look simple, but the material is not. Sometimes, the skirts exaggerate motion and other times, it can restrict mobility as a kind of humor," Ota said.

The skirts are displayed in unique ways, some are spinning or moving from side-to-side, while others are glowing with lights underneath. A few skirts look like delicate flowers packed in vacuum-sealed plastic, while skirts made of rigid materials are displayed like sculptural busts. Gigantic two-dimensional mannequins, which show images of skirts worn by models, are placed all over the pavilion's walls and ceilings. Adding a touch of Korean flavor to the exhibition, eight skirts designed by Korean fashion students have been included. The skirts reflect the traditional Korean culture and aesthetics, but with a very contemporary feel.

At the end of May, the Transformer will be rotated to create a new cinema auditorium for the film festival "Flesh, Mind and Soul." Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and film critic Elvis Mitchell specially chose the films to be shown.

The building will once again be rotated for the contemporary art exhibition "Beyond Control," curated by Prada Foundation artistic director Germano Celant. The special closing event has yet to be announced.

Admission is free. Visit www.pradatransformer.co.kr.

Credits: cathy@http://koreatimes.co.kr