Film Descriptions

New Korean Cinema | Power, Corruption & Lies | Kim Ki-young's Wild Women

New Korean Cinema

Secret Reunion
Friday, April 8, 7 PM, FGA
This spy thriller/melodrama/comedy exemplifies the dazzling combinations that fans of popular Korean cinema have come to expect and love. It begins with a bravura action sequence in which a South Korean spy chaser rushes to thwart an assassination attempt by a North Korean agent. The plot then leaps to six years later, when spy and spy catcher, now both abandoned by their countries, meet up again by chance and go into business together. This suspenseful narrative culminates in an explosive action scene every bit as thrilling as the opening. Starring the formidable Song Kang-ho (The Host; Secret Sunshine; The Good, the Bad, the Weird) and charismatic heartthrob Kang Dong-won, Jang Hun's second feature delivers on the promise of his clever debut, Rough Cut. (dir.: Jang Hun, 2010, 116 min.)

Breathless
Sunday, April 10, 2 PM, FGA
The cycle of violence that afflicts many working-class families is vividly dramatized in this "astonishing debut for writer-director Yang Ik-june" (Tony Rayns, Sight & Sound). The multitalented Yang also stars as a terrifyingly brutal debt collector. He stumbles into a friendship with a high school girl (Kim Kkot-bi) from a wildly dysfunctional family, who proves to be just as tough as he is. Their bickering love/hate relationship forms the core of the film, offering a counterpoint to the violence swirling around them. This very personal film (it was inspired by Yang's own family) struck a chord with Koreans familiar with the social issues it addresses. It also won over critics and audiences, who rewarded it with more than a dozen awards and nominations at film festivals in Asia, Europe, and North America. (dir.: Yang Ik-june, 2008, 130 min.)

Possessed
Friday, April 15, 7 PM, FGA
Hee-jin rushes home from college when her younger sister So-jin mysteriously disappears, but gets little help from her ultra-religious mother or a skeptical police detective in her search. But when her neighbors start committing suicide in increasingly gruesome ways—each time leaving a note behind for So-jin—it becomes clear that something supernatural is afoot. Former architect Lee Yong-ju's debut feature breathes new life into the horror genre with crime-movie tropes, hauntingly surreal images, and a sophisticated take on the meaning and manifestations of religious faith. It is "simply put, one of the best horror movies to come out of Korea in recent years" (Kyu Hyun Kim, Udine Far East Film Festival). (dir.: Lee Yong-ju, 2009, 106 min.)

Hahaha
Sunday, April 17, 2 PM, FGA
This brilliantly constructed, Cannes Film Festival award-winning film finds director Hong Sang-soo (Night and Day, Woman is the Future of Man) at the height of his comedic and creative powers. Two friends—an aspiring filmmaker and a depressed film critic—get together for drinks. Their conversation spurs a series of flashbacks that reveal a baroque roundelay of awkward encounters, missed connections, and bungled flirtations. Hong's characteristic biting humor and clever structural games are evident as these two would-be womanizers meet their match in a high-strung tour guide—played magnificently by Moon So-ri (Forever the Moment, A Good Lawyer's Wife)—who harbors an obsession with Korean naval hero Admiral Yi. (dir.: Hong Sang-soo, 2010, 115 min.)

Poetry
Friday, April 22, 7 PM, FGA
Lee Chang-dong's last film, Secret Sunshine, is a wrenching tale of a woman's spiritual crisis. His latest, Poetry, is an equally powerful story of artistic expression as solace for an old woman confronting her mortality. The winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, this intense drama stars Yun Jung-hee, one of Korea's greatest actresses, in a tour-de-force performance as a grandmother in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Even as language begins to escape her, she finds in writing poetry the strength to endure her increasing frailty—as well as the moral dilemma that confronts her when her teenage grandson is implicated in a sexual abuse scandal. Full of hauntingly beautiful images and difficult philosophical questions, Poetry is another high watermark in the career of a master filmmaker. (dir.: Lee Chang-dong, 2010, 139 min.)

Old Partner
Sunday, April 24, 1 PM, FGA
This "deep and poignant" (A.O. Scott, New York Times) documentary about an elderly farming couple and their ox is a touching chronicle of interspecies devotion and an intimate portrait of rural life in Korea. A surprise hit at the Korean box office, it follows a year in the lives of octogenarian farmer Choi Won-kyun, his long-suffering wife Lee Sam-soon, and the ox—thought to be the oldest in Korea—that Choi uses to plough his fields but treats as his best friend. This bizarre love triangle is at the heart of this gentle film that evokes traditional Korean landscape painting to document a vanishing way of life. (dir.: Lee Chung-ryoul, 2008, 78 min.)

Oki's Movie
Sunday, April 24, 3 PM, FGA
Hong Sang-soo is on a creative roll. Just a few months after winning the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival for Hahaha (screening on April 17), he debuted this sly, "formally irreverent exercise in minimalism" (Giovanna Fulvi, Toronto International Film Festival). The story of a film student's affairs with her professor and a fellow student, it turns romance-movie conventions on their head by shuffling the chronology of events to emphasize the alternately humorous and heartbreaking trajectories of each relationship. It is "the work of a self-assured artist unafraid to expose the inner worlds of his characters to reveal their flawed humanity" (Fulvi). (dir.: Hong Sang-soo, 2010, 80 min.)

Paju
Friday, April 29, 7 PM, FGA
Park Chan-ok waited seven years to follow up on her acclaimed feature debut Jealousy is my Middle Name. Named for the grim suburb of Seoul in which it is set, Paju is a film about buried secrets revealed in a series of nested flashbacks. It tells the story of Eun Mo, who returns home after several years to confront her brother-in-law about the mysterious death of her sister long ago. Incorporating several characters' points of view, Park creates a rich, compelling drama in a bold and original style. "Visually impressive and emotionally affecting … a deeply humanistic and thoughtful piece of cinema" (James Mudge, beyondhollywood.com). (dir.: Park Chan-ok, 2009, 111 min.)

I Saw the Devil
Saturday, May 14, 9:30 PM, AFI
Monday, May 16, 8:15 PM, AFI
This revenge thriller from genre-master Kim Ji-woon (The Good, the Bad, the Weird; A Bittersweet Life) became infamous before most people saw it. It was originally banned from public release in Korea because of its extreme violence. The film features terrific acting performances from Choi Min-sik as a serial killer and Lee Byun-hun as a rogue cop who, having lost his wife to this murderous madman, exacts his revenge by tracking the killer down, torturing him, and releasing him. The next day, he does it all again. Fans of cinematic bloody mayhem will love its many gory set pieces, but beneath the splatter lurk intriguing questions about the nature of revenge. This "wickedly enjoyable film," writes Todd Rigney of Beyondhollywood.com, is "one of the most genuinely intense experiences I've had the pleasure of encountering all year." Intended for mature audiences. (dir.: Kim Ji-woon, 2010, 143 min.)

Scandal Makers
Monday, May 23, 6:30 PM, AFI
Wednesday, May 25, 6:30 PM, AFI
First-time director Kang Hyung-chul scored a box-office hit with this bright, fizzy comedy, which has already been tapped for a Hollywood remake. Cha Tae-hyun plays Hyun-soo, a radio DJ whose swinging bachelor lifestyle screeches to a halt when a young woman shows up at his door claiming to be his daughter, along with a little boy she asserts is his grandson. Now Hyun-soo must try to save his career from the resulting scandal while adjusting to his new family. This delightful confection is full of great comic performances, including by the adorable Wang Suk-hyun, who steals the show as Hyun-soo's grandson. (dir.: Kang Hyung-chul, 2008, 108 min.)

Actresses
Sunday, June 5, 5:15 PM, AFI
Wednesday, June 8, 7 PM, AFI
E. J-yong (Dasepo Naughty Girls, An Untold Scandal) brought together six of Korea's most famous female screen stars for this amusing showbiz exposé. The premise—they've all been called in for a Vogue fashion shoot on Christmas Eve—is really just an excuse for a torrent of backstage tales and faux-diva behavior. Then, an impromptu Christmas party with free-flowing champagne inspires some real revelations about the psychological stresses of being a leading lady in Korea. The women play themselves to the hilt, and the director deliberately doesn't clarify what is true and what is pure performance. (dir.: E. J-yong, 2009, 104 min.)

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Power, Corruption, and Lies: A Weekend with Im Sang-soo

The Housemaid
Friday, May 6, 7 PM, FGA
Saturday, May 7, 5:30 PM, AFI
In Person: Im Sang-soo, director
In Im Sang-soo's reimagining of Kim Ki-young's legendary classic (playing on May 15), a new live-in maid spurs an escalating war of wills between an imperious, wine-swilling husband and his materialistic, pregnant wife. When the husband seduces the maid, and his wife and mother-in-law catch wind of the affair, the film becomes a tale of sexual intrigue and backstabbing. Set almost entirely within the family's sprawling mansion, it employs sumptuous imagery, Hitchcockian suspense, and melodrama reminiscent of Douglas Sirk. Featuring a top-notch performance from Jeon Do-yeon (the award-winning star of Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine) in the title role, The Housemaid is "a deliciously perverse melodrama" (Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor). Intended for mature audiences. (2010, 107 min.)

A Good Lawyer's Wife
Saturday, May 7, 1 PM, FGA
Sunday, May 8, 4:45 PM, AFI
In Person: Im Sang-soo, director
A number-one hit at the Korean box office, this dark, erotic drama stars Moon So-ri in a daring performance as a housewife who, neglected by her philandering husband, embarks on an affair with a teenage neighbor. It takes an unexpected family tragedy to shock them both into realizing the consequences of their actions. The film's frank depiction of female sexual desire, explicit sex scenes, and condemnation of the hypocrisy of traditional family life made it a cause célèbre both in Korea and at film festivals around the world. Intended for mature audiences. (2003, 104 min.)

The President's Last Bang
Sunday, May 8, 2 PM, FGA
In Person: Im Sang-soo, director
Variety's Derek Elley praises Im's most notorious film as "a virtuoso slice of sustained black humor … a Korean Dr. Strangelove." A taut political thriller laced with dark, ironic comedy, it chronicles the final days of President Park Chung-hee, who ruled Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979 at the hands of the Korean CIA. Im portrays Park's cronies as decadent thugs, and the president's death as at the hands of officials sick of babysitting one too many weekends of booze and hired female companionship. Its portrait of Park caused controversy in Korea, but its sleek visuals, suspenseful plot, and biting comedy have universal appeal. Intended for mature audiences. (2005, 104 min.)

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Kim Ki-young's Wild Women

The Housemaid
Sunday, May 15, 2 PM, FGA
Consistently voted one of the greatest Korean films of all time, Kim Ki-young's masterpiece is presented in a print newly restored by the World Cinema Foundation. Set in a rambling, claustrophobic house straight out of an Edgar Allan Poe tale, this gripping psychodrama stars an unhinged maid who seduces a mild-mannered composer and terrorizes his family. The film continues to surprise audiences a half-century after its original release. "The shocking nature of this film is both disturbing and pleasurable," writes Cahier du Cinema editor Jean-Michel Frodon, who praises Kim as "a truly extraordinary image maker." (1960, 108 min., B&W)

Woman of Fire '82
Friday, May 20, 7 PM, FGA
In this variation on the theme of his original film The Housemaid (one of three he made in his career), Kim Ki-young moves the action to a chicken farm. A newly hired maid seduces the owner and clashes with his wife, unleashing a torrent of murder, jealousy, and flying feathers. As florid in its emotions as it is in its visual design, this film is stuffed with exaggerated sounds, garish images, and the unique brand of psychological hysteria that only Kim can pull off. (1982, 121 min.)

Carnivore
Sunday, May 22, 2 PM, FGA
When his wife's real estate business starts to take off, an incompetent executive's inferiority complex manifests itself in the bedroom. But when a young secretary sparks his desire again, a rivalry grows between the two women. In Kim Ki-young's hands, this seemingly conventional love triangle becomes very unconventional indeed. The women set up a timetable for sharing the hero, and one love scene involves diapers, a baby bottle, and a huge pile of candy. (1984, 105 min.)