Starting this weekend and continuing until May 8th, the Cinematheque will present a program of three “B” movie genre directors whose careers ranged from the 50s-70s: Hollywood studio director Richard Fleischer, independent director-producer Roger Corman, and the British Hammer horror director Terence Fisher. Fleischer’s films include the well-known sci-fi SOYLENT GREEN (1973) and fantasy classic 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, the courtroom drama COMPULSION (1959), as well as lesser known crime films like VIOLENT SATURDAY (1955), THE BOSTON STRANGLER (1968), 10 RILLINGTON PLACE (1971), and THE LAST DON (1973). For Corman, they are screening two of his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, THE HOUSE OF USHER (1960) and THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961), along with X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES (1963). Fisher’s horror films include many reworkings of Universal horror classics, such as THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957), THE HORROR OF DRACULA (1958), THE MUMMY (1959), THE BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960), THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (1961), and FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1974). An unusual program for the cinematheque and a great chance to see these films in a theatrical setting.

The 13th International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul begins this Thursday night with the opening film THE HAIRDRESSER by Doris Dorrie, and continues with full days of programming until next Thursday, April 14th. The festival takes place in the Artreon cinema, close to Ewha Women’s University, along with some retrospective screenings at the Korean Film Archive. I have attended the festival the past few years, and have had the opportunity to see a number of great films, including TAKE CARE OF MY CAT and WENDY AND LUCY. As usual, the program is rather small and lacking in big names, and thus it is difficult to give much of a preview, since many of the films and directors are unknown. The following Top Ten list is fairly personal, reflecting my own knowledge of some of the filmmakers along with my personal interests. Like any festival, every audience member should be a bit adventurous and try some unknowns, particularly the short programs. But here is a guideline to some of the movies that seem the most interesting of the lineup. The festival schedule is available here. You can also click on each of the films (except for the two newer Korean films, which do not have pages yet) for the link to their imdb.com page for more information and details. (more…)

In the next couple of weeks, there are a few independent film screenings that may be of interest to cinephiles in Seoul. The Cinematheque is showing a large program of Korean indies, ending on April 7th. Unfortunately, most don’t have English subtitles, although there are four that do: RE-ENCOUNTER (Min Yong-geun, 2010), COME, CLOSER (Kim Jong-kwan, 2010), PASSERBY #3 (Sin Su-won, 2010) and EVIL SPIRIT: VIY (Park Jin-sung, 2008). The schedule is available here. Also, at the Arthouse Moma, Mike Leigh’s latest film ANOTHER YEAR is now playing. The schedule is here. And starting in a couple of weeks is the 13th International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul. I’ll write a full preview next week, but you can check out the schedule now on their website.

This review is part of the Korean Film Blogathon. Check out their homepage here.

Two weeks back, I attended a screening of Han Hyung-mo’s 1956 film MADAME FREEDOM at the Korean Film Archive, followed by a lecture by film critic Darcy Paquet as part of a six film series he is hosting on 20th Century Korean Cinema. It is a fine film, a melodrama with a lot of stylistic similarities to other masterpieces of the form, especially the work of Max Ophuls. In his discussion after the film, Paquet went over the technical advances of the production, including the use of a crane, which director Han considered essential to a telling of the popular story. Clearly, Han had a knowledge of the grammar of melodrama established by filmmakers like Ophuls, Douglas Sirk, and Kenji Mizoguchi. This week, I finally watched Han’s earlier work, HAND OF DESTINY (aka HAND OF FATE), released by the Korean Film Archive in a very impressive DVD set. Comparing the two films, the technical advances of MADAME FREEDOM are noticeable, as is the movement into pure melodrama. Nevertheless, HAND OF DESTINY is a work that shows Han’s directorial talent, as well as being a compelling look at a particular moment in Korean history. (more…)

This post is written as a contribution to the 2011 Korean Film Blogathon. Check out their homepage here.

Since the rise of the more mainstream work of the New Korean Cinema of the late 90s to the present, many directors of the Korean New Wave have become forgotten in favor of current auteurs such as Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho, and Kim Jee-woon. And while directors such as Park Kwang-su, Jang Sun-woo, and Lee Myung-se have remained well-known for their past work, others have almost disappeared completely. The most tragic example of this is the late Kwak Ji-gyun, who committed suicide last year at least partly in despair over his inability to make films. Last week, I found a copy of his most well-known film, 1991′s PORTRAIT OF YOUTH, released by Taewon as part of their Korean Film Retrospective series. Looking back now at the 20-year old movie, it is very striking how different it is from Korean cinema today. Like most other aspects of Korean society, the change in Korean film from 1991 to 2011 is enormous, almost like comparing Hollywood today to Hollywood of the early 70s. (more…)

Starting next Monday, the websites New Korean Cinema and cineAWESOME! are teaming up to host the 2011 Korean Cinema Blogathon, March 7-13. Details about the event can be found here. It should be a great opportunity to read about Korean film from many different global perspectives. I am going to try to post a few things during the week, maybe some reviews but also some lists, director or actor profiles, etc.

Tomorrow morning, 10:00 am local time, the CGV channel here in Korea will be broadcasting the 2010 Oscar ceremony live. Over the past few days, I finally caught up with the final two of the ten Best Picture nominees: the Coen Brothers’ TRUE GRIT and Pixar’s TOY STORY 3. This marks the first time in which I can remember seeing all of the Best Picture contenders before the ceremony. Even if we restrict the best pictures of the year to English language fiction features, my four favorite films from that criterion are not represented: BLUE VALENTINE, NEVER LET ME GO, ANIMAL KINGDOM, and RABBIT HOLE. Of the ten nominees, TRUE GRIT would be my favorite, followed closely by THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT. Many of the Oscar contenders are either on DVD or are now playing here in theatres, such as TRUE GRIT, BLACK SWAN, 127 HOURS, and, opening next week I believe, THE FIGHTER. Below is a comparison, listing my favorite English language features with my ranking of the ten Oscar nominess. (more…)