kdrama and kpop

Hit thriller, The Chaser, the top Korean film at the box office for the first half of 2008, was also tops last Friday at the nation’s annual film awards fest, the 45th Daejong (Grand Bell) film festival, held in southern Seoul. Director NA Hong-jin’s debut feature picked up six awards including Best Picture, Director, Cinematography and Actor for KIM Yun-seok).

Actor KIM, known for numerous supporting roles, won for his first lead performance as the cop-turned-pimp who is hot on the trail of a serial-killer played by the equally gifted HA Jung-woo. KIM also won the BMW Popularity award at Daejon. The Chaser went on to captured the Best Production award as well.

The Best Actress award went to KIM Yoon-jin for her role in another successful thriller, Seven Days, a tale of kidnapping and blackmail. KIM is known to American audiences for her role in the hit TV sevies “Lost”, for which she has also won acting awards. The fast-paced plot-twister also won awards for Best Editing and Sound Mixing.

In supporting actors category, YOO Joon-sang took the male award for Return while actress KIM Hae-sook won for her role as an ex-convict in Open City. Romantic drama Viva ! Love won OH Jeom-gyoon the award for Best New Director and PARK Yoon a prize for Best Screenplay.

Best New Actor and Actress awards went to Daniel Henney (My Father) and HAN Ye-seul (Little Miss Gold Digger) respectively. HAN also won the BMW Popularity award. Other notable winners included the period drama Hwang Jin-yi for best Costume Design and Music, horror-thriller Shadows in the Palace for best Lighting, and LEE Myung-se’s moody mystery M for best Art Design. SHIM Hyung-rae’s big-budget monster, D-War, won in the category of best Visual Effects.

Credits: Nigel D’Sa (KOFIC)

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Anyone watched it yet?I'm still dl it = P. No Good korean recently for a loong time, the last one that I saw was "The Guard Post", horror military flick. Not bad

Director Lee Jun-ik built up a lofty reputation with "King and the Clown," a surprising hit which sold more than 10 million tickets in 2005. Naturally, expectations are mounting for his latest project, titled "Sunny" (Nim-eun meongose)."

But Lee expressed his displeasure at the current film industry trend in which the public judge a film only in terms of ticket sales. "Making films is not a record-setting competition," he told reporters on Monday at a news conference held in Seoul to promote his new film that cost a hefty 7.1 billion won to produce.

Lee's terse remark came as a response to a reporter's question about his conjecture about the number of viewers. "Nobody knows how many people will watch my film," he said. "Even though the film industry is now going through a drastic change, we should try to strike a balance between cultural value and economic value."

Set in 1971 when the Vietnam War is under way, the movie features Sun-i (played by Su Ae) who takes up a performing art job and embarks on an unlikely journey to reunite with her missing husband in the pernicious war zone.

Lee said he has made particular efforts to highlight the role of a female character for "Sunny." "I have been criticized for making male-oriented films, so I have tried to change my style to bring to the front a female character," he said.

The focus is duly placed on the trouble-laden path of Sun-i, who belatedly searches for her husband (Uhm Tae-woong). She summons an incredible courage to track down her loved one, and to that end, joins a troupe that is set to head for Vietnam to stage a performance for Korean soldiers. In the process, she relies on Jeong-man (Jung Jin-young) to make it to the dangerous region.

Director Lee stressed that Su Ae, a queen of Korean melodrama, was a perfect match for the cinematic image he had conjured up for the drama. "No other actress in Korea has the distinctively pure image that Su Ae has," he said.

The character she plays offers a totally different perspective about the movie, in a welcome departure from the traditional war movies where male voices dominate and female characters are largely sidelined. "A woman's point of view provides an objective angle that can reflect the war as it is," Lee said.

Su Ae said she took a two-month training to refine her dancing and singing, which are poetically inserted into the film. "I was very worried about whether I could pull off this character, and once the shooting started, the character itself was evolving on a daily basis, so I had to dig up the character to get it right," she said.

Jung Jin-young, who has long worked with director Lee, said the role he takes in "Sunny" was an interesting trip to a new world. "He always brings me to a new, exciting place, and I'm curious about where I should be led when we work together again," he said.

The Vietnam War is an important -- and troubling -- chapter for Korean history. Back in the 1970s, Korea was desperate to kickstart its economic growth and the country opted for joining the controversial war, and the movie, to be released here on July 24, tackles the issue from a fresh angle.

Director Lee said it's time to look back on the Vietnam War in a different, more objective angle. "When men ponder the war, the result is almost always black and white, good and bad, in a chain of confrontation. But when women look at the war, all the men, whether they are Vietnamese, American or Korean, are by and large the same human beings," Lee said.

By Yang Sung-jin (insight@heraldm.com), image from empas.com

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/

Eun-soo (center), a Seoulite in her 30s, finds herself torn
between Young-soo (left) and the younger Tae-o (right). [SBS-TV]

I was feeling restless on a recent Friday at a dinner with acquaintances, watching the clock ticking away close to 10 p.m. As the clock ticked to 9:58 p.m., I finally found myself automatically standing up, mumbling the most awkward excuse that I don’t even remember now, and running toward the door.

There was nothing wrong with the delicious dinner and the healthy discussion about the crisis of the Lee Myung-bak administration. The truth was that it was Friday night, and that’s when I have to hail my new religion ? “My Sweet Seoul,” a TV series whose two consecutive episodes air from 10 p.m. Fridays.

Go ahead and laugh at me, but all I could think of then was to not lose a single minute of My Sweet Seoul.

I felt like the queen of the world when I finally reached my remote control at home. In my defense, I have to say that I am not alone in this new Friday religion, as it is giving birth to a big, fat group of followers including some of my friends, who are even canceling every Friday appointment.

The lead character is Eun-soo, a 31-year-old single woman with a seven-year-old career at a small publication company. An average girl-next-door type, she has her worries and troubles, yet manages to keep up with her reality.

She has two best friends ? Jae-in, who marries a urologist for money and social status and Yoo-hee, who gives up a successful career to pursue her dream of becoming a musical actress.

These friends are an important axis of the show, helping 30-something women viewers relate to the characters.

I mean, these women are facing a time when they are too old to overcome new challenges and yet too young to settle for reality for several more decades to come. These women may have no regrets about the career of their own choices, but they are also troubled by the temptation of change.

Am I doing O.K.? Am I on the right track? These are the questions that confront the 30-something single women, and “My Sweet Seoul” addresses such issues to a point.

In a word, this series deals with the real stories that average women viewers can relate to, and this is the secret of its success among women viewers.

Another virtue of the TV series is its eye-candy images concocted by director Park Heung-shik, who searches every nook and cranny of Seoul to find ideal locations to make the city look pretty. The serial novel that this series is based on was titled “My Sweet City,” but the original writer and the director agreed to make it “My Sweet Seoul.”

Then there are Eun-soo’s relationships with men, as she is torn among men, not knowing which one is right for her.

First, there is Tae-o, a filmmaker wannabe who is seven years her junior, whom she met on her ex-boyfriend’s wedding night. He is filled with pure-hearted passion that enchants Eun-soo, and she manages to keep the relationship developing from a one-night stand to cohabitation at her apartment.

Yet Eun-soo feels that Tae-o is still too young and immature, so she turns to Young-soo, the established 38-year-old owner of an organic food company. On the sidelines, there is Eun-soo’s best guy friend, Yoo-jun, who casually asks her to get married.

Indeed, it’s like the whole enchilada of relationships that a 30-something single woman could possibly face. Yet, there is no single correct answer, and viewers all have room to relate to.

Viewers of the similar age group can take solace in that they are not alone in the world facing formidable uncertainty. After all, watching this TV series is more like having a heart-to-heart with some of your best friends, rather than getting an injection of fantasy.

The world out there is tough, and happiness seems so elusive, but at least we have friends and this TV series to go through the ebb and tide.

By Chun Su jin [sujiney@joongang.co.kr]
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2891785