The Korea Herald

Cannes, Berlinale winners among Cinecube fest lineup

Seven Cannes and Berlinale winners have been included in the lineup of the upcoming 2013 Cinecube Premiere Festival, the event’s organizers announced this week. The festival, hosted by Cinecube, one of the best known art house theaters in Seoul, offers moviegoers a chance to enjoy the Korean premiere of critically acclaimed works scheduled to be released in local theaters in December or early next year.A total of 15 films will be screened throughout the festival. Five Cannes winners will be scre

Nov. 22, 2013

Cannes, Berlinale winners among Cinecube fest lineup

Ku Hye-sun to write, direct, star in her next movie

Filmmaker, actress, singer and artist Ku Hye-sun is up for a new challenge.She is to write, direct and star in her next movie project titled “Daughter.” It is her first time taking up the three roles all at the same time.The film is said to be about a difficult relationship between an abusive, demanding mother and her daughter. Veteran actress Shim Hye-jin has been cast to play the mother, while Ku will be playing the tormented daughter.Ku, who broke into the Korean entertainment industry in the

Nov. 20, 2013

Ku Hye-sun to write, direct, star in her next movie

Monty Python to reunite for new show after 30 years

LONDON (AFP) ― British comedy veterans Monty Python are set to reunite for a new show in their first major collaboration in 30 years, member Terry Jones revealed on Tuesday.“We’re getting together and putting on a show ― it’s real,” Jones told the BBC.“I’m quite excited about it. I hope it makes us a lot of money. I hope to be able to pay off my mortgage!”The BBC reported that the new collaboration ― the first major project since the 1983 film “Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life” ― would come in

Nov. 20, 2013

Supporters, haters of Roh lock horns over movie inspired by him

Supporters and haters of Roh Moo-hyun were locked in a furious online battle on Tuesday over a new movie inspired by the late former president.The movie “Byeonhoin (Lawyer)” is a about a Busan-based human rights lawyer Song Wu-seok, played by actor Song Kang-ho. The character was inspired by Roh, who was also a Busan-based human rights lawyer before he entered politics.“I was scared that I wouldn’t be able depict a part of his (Roh’s) life, so I turned down the part at first,” Song said during a

Nov. 19, 2013

Upcoming movie features real-life drug smuggling case

In 2004, Jang Mi-jeong, a Korean housewife, was arrested upon her arrival at Paris Orly Airport. She had been asked by her husband’s friend, whom she had known for more than 10 years, to take a bag of diamonds to France. Turns out, what was in the bag was some 17 kg of cocaine.An upcoming movie, titled “Way Back Home,” features the 2004 case, which led Jang to serve two years in prison in Martinique, an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea and one of the 27 overseas regions of France, for drug sm

Nov. 18, 2013

Upcoming movie features real-life drug smuggling case

Italian-Croatian wins top prize at Rome film festival

ROME (AFP) ― Italian-Croatian director Alberto Fasulo on Saturday won the Rome Film Festival’s top prize with his documentary-style movie “TIR.”The film about a Croatian schoolteacher who, attracted by the idea of tripling his wages, becomes a truckdriver who criss-crosses Europe, edged out 17 other contenders for the Golden Marcus Aurelius prize for best film.The jury headed by U.S. director James Gray awarded the prize for best director to Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa for “Seventh Code,” an indust

Nov. 18, 2013

‘Snowpiercer’ picks up three Korean film critics’ awards

The South Korean film “Snowpiercer” has won three awards, including best film, given by the local film critics association, the organization said Monday.The English language debut by director Bong Joon-ho also won best director and best cinematography at the 33rd Korean Film Critics Association Awards.Based on the French graphic novel “Le Transperceneige,” the sci-fi action thriller “Snowpiercer” depicts inter-class struggles among the world’s last-remaining inhabitants aboard a perpetually movi

Nov. 18, 2013

Best of Korean independent cinema on show at IndieGo

For those who haven’t yet had a chance to see some of the most significant independent Korean films in theaters, the ongoing IndieGO Film Festival will come as a special treat.Hosted by Indie Story, a film house and distributor that specializes in independent cinema, the movie bash offers screenings of some 40 films, including ones that have not yet been released in theaters. The company celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.Included in the lineup is director Kim Dong-hyun’s “The Dinner,” a

Nov. 17, 2013

Best of Korean independent cinema on show at IndieGo

Jolie, Lansbury, Martin, Tosi accept Oscars

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Brad Pitt kissed Angelina Jolie after her grand entrance at the film academy’s Governors Awards Saturday night.Steve Martin pretended to take a seat at the wrong table a few times before finding the right one, while Angela Lansbury beamed as she entered the room. The honorary Oscar winners, along with Italian costume designer Piero Tosi, were honored at a private dinner at the Hollywood & Highland Center. Tosi wasn’t able to attend, but scores of A-listers did, including Tom H

Nov. 17, 2013

Jolie, Lansbury, Martin, Tosi accept Oscars

Box office: The Counselor, Friend 2, Thor: The Dark World

The CounselorOpened Nov. 14Thriller. Crime. Drama. Directed by Ridley Scott. In Juarez, Mexico a young and talented lawyer known by the name The Counselor (Michael Fassbender) buys a luxurious diamond ring to propose to his fiance Laura (Penelope Cruz). He attends a party hosted by the rich and corrupt businessman Reiner (Javier Bardem) and his girlfriend Malkina (Cameron Diaz). Short on money, the Counselor is convinced by Reiner to enter into the illegal drug trade for a fast profit. He meets

Nov. 15, 2013

Box office: The Counselor, Friend 2, Thor: The Dark World

‘Holiday’ revives good feelings ‘The Best Man’ gave us years ago

“The Best Man Holiday” is a most welcome sequel to the 1999 sleeper hit, “The Best Man,” about a tight-knit circle of black friends who gathered then for a wedding, now to spend Christmas together.Yes, it’s occasionally maudlin and melodramatic, and it’s entirely too long. But it’s also heartfelt and often downright hilarious, and shows off just how canny Malcolm D. Lee’s casting was all those years ago.Everybody’s paired up, now. Pretty much everybody, anyway. And everybody seems successful, wi

Nov. 15, 2013

‘Holiday’ revives good feelings ‘The Best Man’ gave us years ago

U.S. film school offers China scholarships

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― The American Film Institute (AFI) has launched a scholarship scheme allowing student filmmakers to write movies about China, saying U.S. cinema-goers need more cultural insight than “Kung Fu Panda.”Nine students at the AFI Conservatory will travel to China for “cultural research,” to help them write a feature-length screenplay and develop it on a second year scholarship at the prestigious film school.“China’s rich cultural legacy is filled with stories waiting to be shared wi

Nov. 15, 2013

Death mystery fuels JFK movie, book industry

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― The enduring mystery surrounding John F. Kennedy’s assassination has drawn generations of writers, commentators and filmmakers, though some have been more successful than others.The 50th anniversary of the killing of America’s 35th president has inevitably renewed the spotlight on the events in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, even if the story has been recounted in innumerable films, TV series and books.“JFK’s life and death have been chronicled in myriad ways, and I would expect th

Nov. 11, 2013

Long queues at ‘Star Wars’ auditions in Britain

LONDON (AFP) ― Thousands of people auditioned for the next Star Wars film in Britain on Saturday ― so many in fact that organizers left many disappointed by shutting doors early due to the huge number.They were responding to a casting call launched by Disney last week that it was looking for an actress to play a “street-smart” and strong character aged 17 or 18, and an actor to play a capable and courageous young man for its “Star Wars Episode VII,” which is being made in Britain next year.Buddi

Nov. 10, 2013

Box office: Friend 2, Thor: The Dark World, The Accomplice

Friend 2Opens Nov. 14Directed by Kwak Kyung-taek. Seventeen years have passed since Lee Joon-seok (Yoo Oh-sung) was put in jail for ordering the killing of his friend Dong-su (Jang Dong-gun). He is now a high-ranking gangster and attempts to secure his position in the Busan-based crime syndicate. He is seen as a threat to Eun-gi (Jung Ho-bin), an ambitions member who aspires to be the gang’s leader. Joon-seok decides to work with Seong-hoon (Kim Woo-bin), a 20-something gangster he met while se

Nov. 8, 2013

Box office: Friend 2, Thor: The Dark World, The Accomplice

A modern-day Cassandra in rural Korea

About two years after the release of his successful 2011 feature debut “The King of Pigs,” animation film director Yeon Sang-ho is back with another grim and powerful portrait of human nature. Titled “The Fake,” the animated film manages to be an engrossingly dark tale of truth and deception. It takes place in a rural Korean town on the verge of becoming submerged. Most of its residents ― undereducated and isolated ― have little to their name. Some are terminally ill, while others are desperate

Nov. 7, 2013

Actor Choi Min-sik to star in a Luc Besson movie

Korean veteran actor Choi Min-sik (“Oldboy,” “Nameless Gangster”) is to star in the latest project by French filmmaker Luc Besson (“The Lady,” “The Fifth Element”), along with American actors Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. He left for France to shoot the movie on Nov. 1.The movie, titled “Lucy,” is about a drug mule (Johansson) who is endowed with superhuman abilities. Choi’s participation in the film was revealed during the French director’s upcoming lineup announcement at the Venice Fi

Nov. 7, 2013

Actor Choi Min-sik to star in a Luc Besson movie

Empty chair to represent China’s Ai Weiwei at Sweden film fest

STOCKHOLM (AFP) ― When the Stockholm Film Festival opens Wednesday, the jury will include world-famous Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei ― in spirit only, represented by an empty chair he designed himself.The 56-year-old Ai, who is not allowed to leave China, was deliberately chosen for the film fest, whose theme this year is “freedom,” even though he was never likely to attend.“I feel very good about being part of the jury because for me it’s always important to get involved,” he told AFP by t

Nov. 5, 2013

‘Friend 2’ is a letdown

More than 10 years have passed since the release of filmmaker Kwak Kyung-taek’s record-breaking gangster film “Friend” in 2001. Its highly anticipated sequel was finally unveiled to the press on Monday, ahead of its scheduled release on Nov. 14.Loosely based on Kwak’s personal experience growing up in Busan, the 2001 movie dealt with four teenagers and their friendship and betrayal. The sequel features one of the four high school kids from the original, Jun-seok, who used to be the leader of the

Nov. 5, 2013

Korean cinema featured in Europe

Following Festival du film Coreen a Paris, a film festival exclusively featuring Korean cinema which kicked off Oct. 29, screenings of Korean films are taking place in three other European countries.In Spain, Centro Cultural Coreano en Espana (Korean Cultural Center Spain) is hosting the sixth annual Spain Korean Film Festival in Madrid, from Nov. 11 to 29. The festival is a retrospective of famed director Lee Chang-dong, who also served as Korea’s Culture Minister from 2003 to 2004. Viewers wil

Nov. 4, 2013