Friday, April 29, 2011

This Week In Korean Cinema (25 - 29 April 2011)

Welcome back to our regular column here at the official KOFFIA Blog, where we look at all the latest news, box office and new releases to emerge from our favourite film industry. We trust you all had a happy Easter break?

New releases
After an impressive collection of 5 major releases in previous weeks, only a handful of new releases came out in South Korea this week: In Love and the War 적(과의 동침). Another film exploring the Korean War, this one is from the director of Lifting King Kong, Park Keon-Hong. The literal title for this is "Sleeping with the Enemy", and the Korean press has referred to this as the "second coming of the popular Welcome to Dongmakgol". Incidentally, that last film is screening at the KCO free Cinema on the Park in Sydney on June 23, so mark your calendars.

HanCinema also reports that If You Were Me 5 opened in Korean cinemas yesterday. The latest in line of omnibus films commissioned and funded by the Human Rights Commission of Korea. The film is made up of: "Q&A" is directed by Kim Dae-seung, "Her Story Taking" is directed by Sin Dong-il, "Two Teeth" is directed by Kang Yi-kwan, "Banana Shake" is directed by Yoon Sung hyun and "Nima" is directed by Boo Ji-young.


Box office
Over the Easter long weekend in South Korea, the release of the US action flick Fast Five (aka Fast and Furious 5) toppled South Korea's The Suicide Forecast (aka Suspicious Customers) from the top slot. Even so, homegrown films still accounted for 47% of the total box office revenue at the South Korean box office over the last weekend. Meet the In-Laws (aka Dangerous Meeting) is still performing strongly in the #3 position, having grossed a total of 15,940,898,500 Won (US$14.9 million approximately) since debuting a few weeks ago.The Most Beautiful Goodbye debuted at #4, while the other new South Korean release, I Am Father, came in at #7. (Source: AsianMediaWiki)

Meet the In-Laws: still performing strongly
News
What in the world is happening in the world of South Korean cinema?

  • Hyung-rae Shim's Hollywood blockbuster, The Last Godfather (a spoof of The Godfather trilogy), is confirmed to feature a cameo from K-Pop sensations, The Wonder Girls. (Source: Korea.com)
  • Two Korean films have been programmed at this year's 3rd Terracotta Festival, 5th - 8th May in London, UK: Woo Min-ho's thriller Man of Vendetta (파괴된 사나이) and Kim Jeong-hoon-II's Petty Romance (쩨쩨한 로맨스) (Source: Terracotta Far East Film Festival)
  • Kim Jung-ho's A Fresh Girl has won the Indie Spirit Best Picture Award at the 9th Boston International Film Festival. It was the first time that a South Korean film has received this award at the festival. (Source: HanCinema)
If you have any news to contribute, please email the Blog Editor with the scoop.

Richard is a KOFFIA Blog Editor and a  Marketing Assistant for KOFFIA.  He can be contacted via email on richard.gray@koffia.com.au

He is also the Editor-in-chief of DVD Bits and The Reel Bits. He can be found on Twitter @DVDBits and @The_ReelBits. In this guise, you can also reach him at richard@thereelbits.com

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