South Korea
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The closing film at PiFan this year was this modest, yet mostly effective thriller starring Ha Jung-woo as a shamed TV anchor, now radio DJ, who is forced back on… Read More
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There was such a giddy sense of anticipation for Bong Joon-ho’s first English language film that ultimate disappointment seemed almost inevitable. But, where his countrymen Park Chan-wook and Kim Ji-woon… Read More
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Intriguing Korean thriller about the pressures of studying at an elite boarding school and the lengths the top students will go to in order to maintain their grades and get… Read More
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While Fernando is otherwise engaged relocating himself somewhere new in Asia, James is joined by special guest Pierce Conran (@pierceconran) from Twitch and Modern Korean Cinema, to discuss the highlights… Read More
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I’m ashamed to say that I’ve largely allowed the films of Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong to pass me by until now. I did catch Poetry (although I much preferred Bong… Read More
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I had heard decidedly mixed things about Ryu Seung-wan’s latest Korean action thriller, so was pleasantly surprised by this neo-Cold War tale of duplicitous North and South Korean agents working… Read More
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Slick Korean revenge thriller starring So Ji-sub as a stylish, yet solitary assassin, whose company operates behind the facade of a legitimate metal merchant. When he fails to liquidate a… Read More
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Kim’s output reaches a stunning climax here in a film that marries strong characterization with glossy production values in a story that could only come from this singular filmmaker. A… Read More
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When a highschooler’s efforts to prostitute her best friend end in tragedy, Yeo-jin (Kwak Ji-min) resolves to sleep with the clients herself and return their money. But when her cop… Read More
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Kim addresses faith, human nature and free will head on in this beautiful film, which charts the evolution of a Buddhist monk through the different chapters of his life. Located… Read More
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In Kim’s most extreme portrayal of “tough love”, a low-level pimp (Jo Jae-hyeon) targets a respectable college student (Seo Won), forcing her into a life of prostitution, only to become… Read More
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At a remote fishing resort, the beautiful yet mute Hee-jin (Suh Jung) services her guests with tackle, alcohol and even sex, for the right price. When she intervenes to stop… Read More
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The last film in my Park Chan-wook retrospective is his utterly bonkers vampire film from 2009. Song Kang-ho plays Sang-hyun, a Catholic priest who volunteers to help find a cure… Read More
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Early on in Stoker, South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s English language debut, a series of lap dissolves shows us the identical pairs of shoes our heroine, India (played by Mia… Read More
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Following the international success of his “Vengeance Trilogy”, Park Chan-wook shifts gears completely with this good natured, day-glo coloured romantic comedy set in a mental institute. Lim Su-jeong plays a… Read More
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South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s English language debut is a sultry and languid noir set in the American Deep South. At the funeral of her father, who died on her… Read More
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Lee Young-ae stars as a convicted child murderer, released from prison after 13 years, who heads out on a trail of revenge against the man she believes really committed the… Read More
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Re-watching this film for the first time since it played at the HK Asian Film Festival in 2005, I was finally able to check out the “Fade to Black &… Read More
The James Marsh film review archive 