Bromance comedy ‘My World Only,’ starring Lee Byung-hun, slated for January release

Actor Lee Byung-hun is returning with a family-friendly comedy in the upcoming film “My World Only,” slated for a Jan. 17 release, the film’s distributor CJ Entertainment announced Monday.The film, helmed by director Choi Sung-hyun and produced by JK Film, stars Lee as Jo-ha, a former boxer who relies only on his fists to get by in the world.Up-and-coming actor Park Jung-min will play Jo-ha’s brother Jin-tae, an autistic genius who has Savant syndrome.  "My World Only" (CJ Entertainment)The film

Dec. 12, 2017

[Herald Review] Imagining coup d’etat in North Korea

Speculations abound on what action the volatile North Korean regime is to take next following its recent series of missile and nuclear tests. Upcoming political thriller “Steel Rain” takes it one step further, imagining a scenario where the threat of nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula becomes imminent. Viewers witness what unfolds after North Korea’s ruler -- unnamed in the film -- is overthrown in a coup d’etat and an even more belligerent commander takes his place. “I asked myself to brutally

Dec. 12, 2017

'Swindlers' takes box office for third straight weekend

Domestic crime film "The Swindlers" topped the box office for the third straight weekend, data showed on Monday.The film starring Hyunbin and Yoo Ji-tae led all films, selling 417,534 tickets from Friday to Sunday, according to estimates from the Korean Film Council. It has been on top of the daily box office charts since it opened on Nov. 22 and is expected to surpass the 4 million mark in cumulative attendance this week. The tally was 3.722 million as of Sunday.The movie revolves around a team

Dec. 11, 2017

‘Forgotten’ draws 1 million viewers in 12 days

Mystery thriller “Forgotten,” starring Kang Ha-neul and Kim Moo-yeol as brothers, drew over 1 million cinemagoers in the 12 days since its release. “Forgotten” revolves around the two brothers who doubt each other. Kim Moo-yeol plays the older brother who loses his memory and becomes a completely different person after an abduction. Kang Ha-neul plays the younger brother who grows suspicious of his changed brother and subsequently begins to doubt his own memories. Official poster for “Forgotten”

Dec. 10, 2017

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

American Assassin (US)Opened Dec. 7Action, thriller. Directed by Michael CuestaAfter losing his fiancee to a violent group which wreaks random violence, Mitch Rapp (Dylan O‘Brien) trains himself everyday vowing revenge. The CIA, impressed by his efforts, scouts him as a new member, and Mitch is taken under the wing of former US Navy SEAL Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton) for training. The two spot a pattern of violence and team up with a deadly Turkish agent in a counterterrorist attack, seeking to p

Dec. 8, 2017

Int'l award-winning filmmaker faces fine for assaulting actress

Kim Ki-duk, an internationally famed filmmaker, will likely face a fine for hitting and insulting a female actress during a film shoot in 2012, according to prosecutors on Thursday. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said it has indicted Kim on a summary offense with a penalty of 5 million won ($4,570). The actress, whose identity was withheld, filed a complaint with the prosecution in August seeking a probe against Kim. She claimed that while they were filming his new movie, Kim sla

Dec. 7, 2017

Hong Sang-soo’s ‘Day After’ included in Cahiers du Cinema top 10

Hong Sang-soo’s “The Day After” has been selected as one of the top 10 films of the year by Cahiers du Cinema, a prominent French movie magazine.　The film is the sole Korean film to make the list this year. 　Other films by Hong, including “Our Sunhi” and “In Another Country” have in the past been named in the annual top-ten list. 　The film stars Kim Min-hee as Areum, a new employee at a small publishing company, who discovers that her married boss Bong-wan (Kwon Hae-hyo) has been having an affai

Dec. 7, 2017

Lee Young-ae donates for independent film

Actress Lee Young-ae made a donation to support the Seoul Independent Film Festival.According to the festival’s organizer on Tuesday, Lee has donated to the fest her entire salary from her appearance on JTBC reality show “Suitable for General Viewing,” which features independent filmmakers working on a short film.Lee appeared in the reality show as an actress for a short film directed by Lee Kyung-mi. Actress Lee Young-ae (SIFF)The actress is well known for her charitable works. Earlier this yea

Dec. 5, 2017

PETA names Bong Joon-ho Person of the Year

PETA Asia, the Asian affiliate of international animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has selected director Bong Joon-ho as 2017’s Person of the Year, the group announced Monday. 　Bong’s latest film “Okja,” released on Netflix and in select theaters in June, draws on the tale of mountainside girl Mija and her best friend, the genetically-modified, docile super-pig Okja. 　The film competed at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival in May. 　 Director Bong Joo

Dec. 5, 2017

[Herald Review] ‘The First Lap’ offers no fantasy, but is ultimate romantic comedy

Like his debut film “End of Winter,” Kim Dae-hwan’s sophomore feature “The First Lap” takes place in the wintry cold, zooming in on two characters huddled together in bulky parkas, rubbing their hands and wondering where to go. 　The film follows a fresh-faced thirty-something couple who are clumsy when it comes to life and romance. After seven years of dating, they’re under pressure, both from families and others, to move forward to marriage. 　That next looming step of adulthood causes anxieties

Dec. 3, 2017

[Box office] Movies in theaters this week

Forgotten(Korea)Opened Nov. 29Mystery, thriller. Directed by Jang Hang-jun　On the night two brothers move into a new home, the older sibling Yoo-seok (Kim Moo-yeol) is kidnapped by a group of unidentified criminals. Younger brother Jin-seok (Kang Ha-neul) is haunted by hallucinations, both visual and auditory, since that day on. Yoo-seok miraculously resurfaces 19 days later with no memory of his disappearance or capture, but seems different. While tailing his returned brother, who disappears wi

Dec. 2, 2017

Famed director Kim Ki-duk grilled for assault

Korean film director Kim Ki-duk has recently been investigated for allegations of assaulting an actress, the prosecution said Thursday.Seoul Central District Prosecutor summoned Kim on Monday and questioned him on a complaint filed in August. In the complaint, a 41-year-old actress accused him of slapping and coercing her to shoot an unscripted sex scene while filming the 2013 movie “Moebius.” The actress left the production after the said quarrel.  Kim Ki-duk (Yonhap)Kim admitted to having slap

Nov. 30, 2017

Korean crime film to open in 10 foreign regions

The domestic crime flick "The Swindlers" will be released in 10 foreign regions, its local distributor said Thursday.Beginning with Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, the film starring Hyunbin and Yoo Ji-tae will open in North America on Friday, Hong Kong and Macao next Thursday, and Taiwan on Dec. 22, Showbox said.The film is also scheduled to open in Japan early next year, while discussions are under way for its release in the Philippines and Britain. Hyun Bin (left), Yoo Ji-tae star in "T

Nov. 30, 2017

Women, rookie directors to be spotlighted at Seoul Independent Film fest

The Seoul Independent Film Festival is set to spotlight films by female directors and debut features by promising indie filmmakers this year.The 43rd edition of the nine-day festival -- Korea’s only competition film festival for indie films -- takes place from Thursday to Dec. 8. This year’s opening film is “Cinema With You,” a 36-minute omnibus film by Yoo Ji-young, Jeong Ga-young and Kim Tae-jin. The film begins by tracing the life of Sun-mi, an office worker who has been dispatched to a remot

Nov. 29, 2017

Ryu Jun-yeol to star in hit-and-run unit police film

Ryu Jun-yeol is in the last stages of accepting an offer to star in the upcoming police film “Hit and Run Unit (Bbaengban),” his agency C-Jes Entertainment said Monday.If confirmed, the actor will be teaming up with Gong Hyo-jin in a film dealing with a group of idiosyncratic police detectives in the hit-and-run unit of a police station.   Ryu Jun-yeol (Herald Pop)The film is set to hit theaters next year.It will be helmed by director Han Jun-hee, who previously helmed the female-driven crime th

Nov. 28, 2017

Kim Min-hee wins best actress at Gijon Int’l Film Fest

Kim Min-hee wins best actress at Gijon Int’l Film Fest Actress Kim Min-hee has nabbed another award for best actress, this time at the Gijon International Film Festival which took place in Spain from Nov. 17-25. Kim won the award for her performance in Hong Sang-soo’s “On the Beach at Night Alone.” Kim previously won best actress at the Berlin International Film Festival in February for the same role. Actress Kim Min-hee speaks during the award winners press conference for the film “On the Beach

Nov. 27, 2017

Male-centric thrillers continue to flood box office in 2018

This year’s Korean box office has once more seen a deluge of dark thrillers spotlighting tortured male characters.From the Cannes-screened “The Merciless,” starring Sol Kyung-gu and Im Si-wan as gangsters, to “Bluebeard,” in which Cho Jin-woong plays a doctor driven to psychological and financial edge, films this year presented struggling male characters as leads. “Memoir of a Murderer” saw Sol Kyung-gu as a serial killer with Alzheimer’s disease. The recently opened “The Swindlers” features Yoo

Nov. 26, 2017

'A Taxi Driver' wins best picture at Blue Dragon Awards

"A Taxi Driver," a local box office hit about a pro-democracy uprising in the country, won best picture at the 38th annual Blue Dragon Awards, one of the nation's top two film honors, on Saturday.The movie took home best film and best actor awards during the ceremony held at Kyunghee University in eastern Seoul. This image released by Showbox shows a promotional poster for "A Taxi Driver." (Yonhap)Song Kang-ho was honored for his role as the eponymous Seoul taxi driver who takes the late German

Nov. 26, 2017

[Box office] Movies in theaters this week

The Swindlers (Korea)Opened Nov. 22Action, crime. Directed by Jang Chang-won Ambitious, ruthless prosecutor Park Hee-soo (Yoo Ji-tae) decides to venture outside the law and employ the help of a gang of scammers to entrap another renowned scam artist. Skilled scammer Hwang Ji-sung (Hyun Bin) is central to the plan, hatching a grand scheme to both help Park and catch his father’s killer. Prosecutor Park goes on to form precarious ties with politicians and does not hesitate to delve into the illega

Nov. 24, 2017

‘1987’ to depict birth year of Korean democracy

The monthslong protests starting from October last year -- which took place mostly at Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Plaza and toppled former President Park Geun-hye’s scandal-ridden administration -- may seem like just yesterday to many Koreans. “Whether it is 1987 or 2017, the plaza has always belonged to the people. I wanted to tell a story in which the people are the main characters,” said director Jang Joon-hwan of his upcoming film “1987: When the Day Comes” in a press conference Wednesday.Born from

Nov. 22, 2017