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Stories about moral conundrums and the slippery side of justice and integrity are universally attractive and tent to travel well from one side to the other of the world. It's what happened to Herman Koch's novel “The Dinner”, an international bestseller translated in many languages and adapted into four films, Dutch, Italian, American and finally a Korean version directed by Hur Jin-ho with a different title, “A Normal Family”.

A Normal Family is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

The film's tone of voice is immediately established when we witness a horrific road rage between two cars, ending in one of the drivers being killed and his 6-yer-old daughter left critically injured. The culprit, a rich and arrogant kid with a powerful father, will likely get away with it, as his case is given to the capable hands of rampant and expensive attorney Jae-wan (Suo Kyung-gu). Coincidentally, the...

In the years at the start of the Korean New Wave, a number of titles from the country broke out that showed the wider audience what the cinema of the country was capable of in an all-round fashion. One genre that the filmmakers there have always been rather proficient at is the romantic melodrama and works like “Christmas in August” reiterated the same at the start of the New Wave. However, in 2000 came “Ditto”, a “science-fiction” romance that was unlike something the South Korea had produced before, a feature that went on to be a big hit with the audience. The story, a high-concept romance which connects two people in different eras through a ham radio, resonated with and is much loved by audiences and storytellers alike, so much so that 22 years later, we get a modern day namesake retelling from “Go Back” director Seo Eun-young.

on...

There’s perhaps no movie sub-genre as simultaneously and paradoxically relevant and expired as the internet romance. Relevant in the fact that online matchmaking and hook-ups have, over the last decade, become the new definition of modern dating; expired for the same reason. Cyber-dating is now, for better or worse, *so* synonymous with our daily lives that a movie based on the concept almost feels redundant in retrospect. After all, the idea of meeting someone digitally before becoming acquainted in real life (if that) is about as second nature as brushing your teeth in the morning. This makes Chan Yoon-Hyun’s 1997 melodrama “The Contact” somewhat of a relic, or rather, an origin story for the new era of ‘connection’ that we’ve found ourselves in. It certainly sent a pulse through audiences at the initial time of release, winning the Grand Bell Award for Best Picture (not to mention a...

About This Film

The 1995 South Korean film “A Single Spark” is the second collaborative project between the highly political New Wave director Park Kwang-su and the writer and director Lee Chang-dong. The movie is co-written by Hur Jin-ho of “Christmas in August” fame and co-produced by The Jeon Tae-il Commemorative Association. It has won numerous awards in Korea and abroad.

Synopsis

The film depicts the real story of Jeon Tae-il (played by Hong Kyoung-in), a young tailor at a garment factory in the Pyung-hwa market in Seoul who committed suicide by self-immolation in November 1970 as a means of protest against the abject working condition in his country, sparking the creation of the labor unions in South Korea and consequently, the anti-government and pro-democracy movements in the country. His story is told through black and white flashbacks from the perspective of Kim Young-su (played by Moon Sung-keun), a law graduate and...

From now until the end of Monday, find some classics of Asian films to re-watch and own, or take the plunge and grab some films you’d like to try out at an affordable price.

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If you’re in the UK, Terracotta has added some more new films to their streaming site, including classic Korean films from the New Wave era: April Snow, Christmas in August and Il Mare – hard to believe that these great films are only just available now for the first time in the UK.

This weekend, there is an...

The Korean New Wave in cinema really kicked off late-90s onwards, when South Korean blockbusters, financed partly or largely by large conglomerates’ fundings, began to have an exposure in the West, courtesy of home video releases and limited theatrical engagements. Of these, arguably the first major hit, and certainly among the first South Korean films that many western audiences saw, was Kang Je-gyu’s “Shiri”, a massive financial and critical success domestically that took the west by storm when it was introduced there too. Backed by technology giants Samsung, “Shiri” was at that time the biggest budgeted cinematic project in Korea and one that pulled in vast dividends.

As the two Koreas gear up for a football match against each other, in a move that the government hopes will move public sentiments and work towards talks of a reunification, a rogue militant North Korean group activates...

Korean production and sales group Show East said Thursday that Universal Japan has acquired Hur Jin-ho's new project, April Snow, leading the company to aim for the first simultaneous pan-Asian release of a Korean film. "Regardless of the huge public popularity that Korean films are receiving in all parts of Asia, there haven't been many theatrically successful movies (partly) ... because of DVD piracy and illegal downloads through the Internet," the company said. "Therefore, a simultaneous Asian release of 'April Snow' is a meaningful step and it is the first time that all our Asian (distribution) partners have united to make this happen." As well as Japan territories will include, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, while deals are "very close" with distributors in Thailand, Philippine, Indonesia, and China. Production on April Snow, a romance, started earlier this month. Hur's previous films include Christmas In August and One Fine Spring Day.