Shortly after she received an Oscar nomination at the tender age of 13, “Atonement” star Saoirse Ronan needed a new movie. Despite a drama background, she was intrigued by the title character in “Hanna,” an ethereally beautiful teen who also happens to be a ruthless assassin. But the project was stuck in development at Focus Features; filmmakers like Danny Boyle had come and gone.Ronan had a simpl

April 8, 2011

In Love and the War (Korea)Opening April 28 Drama. Comedy. Directed by Park Geon-yong. Just about two months ahead of the Korean War, a young communist military officer (Kim Joo-hyeok) and his soldiers arrive in a secluded country town in Chungcheong Province. Amid the intense political turmoil, the town, Seokjeong-ri, is peaceful. It is so remote that its people don’t even take the war rumor seri

April 8, 2011

If you have fond memories of the 1981 comedy “Arthur,” that says a couple of things about you. One, you’ve been around for at least 40 years, and two, you’re probably curious about the remake, which arrives in theaters Friday.Much has changed since Dudley Moore first appeared as Arthur Bach, the merrily alcoholic heir to a family fortune who must agree to an arranged marriage or forfeit his millio

April 8, 2011

PARIS (AFP) ― South Korean director Bong Joon-ho will chair the jury that picks the winner of the Camera d’Or prize for best first film at this year’s Cannes film festival, organizers said on Thursday.Bong, 41, whose films include “Barking Dog,” “Memories of Murder” and “The Host,” is no stranger to Cannes, having premiered his most recent feature “Mother” in its Un Certain Regard section in 2009.

April 8, 2011

Korean actress Yoon Jeong-hee, the heroine of “Poetry,” received a French cultural order on Tuesday, according to the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.Yoon was awarded “Officier dans l’ordre des Arts et Lettres,” the second-highest French order, in recognition of her performance for the award-winning film by director Lee Chang-dong. The Korean actress had earlier been linked to receive

April 6, 2011

Rarely are Italian movies shown in Korea, yet Italian cinema offers some of the best entertainment. To highlight one of Europe’s proudest industries, the Italian Cultural Institute, the cultural wing of the embassy, is holding their annual movie festival throughout this month. “We believe that the Korean public is young, curious and mature, and ready to welcome what foreign cultures have to offer.

April 5, 2011

Director Lee Hyuk-sang debuts Korea’s first gay documentarySmart, eloquent and bubbly, director Lee Hyuk-sang loves being himself.“My whole worldview changed as I found out about my sexual orientation,” said Lee, who is gay. “I got to see so many things that I didn’t get to see before. And I am proud of it.”Lee’s debut film, “Miracle on Jongno Street,” is the first-ever gay-themed documentary to b

April 5, 2011

Actress Kim Hye-soo has broken up with her boyfriend Yu Hae-jin, their agencies confirmed Monday. The romantic relationship between the 41-year-old stars was revealed last January when they were spotted on a secret date at night.The agencies said the two actors are no longer in a relationship, but didn’t elaborate on when and why they ended it.  (Kim Hye-soo and Yu Hae-jin)“As news reports on the

April 4, 2011

South Korean actress Yun Jung-hee will be honored with a “Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et Lettres” by the French government on Tuesday, according to the French Ministry of Culture and Communication on Saturday. Established in 1957, the order of France is given to cultural figures who have made significant contributions to the arts or literature or the propagation of these fields. Actress Yun Ju

April 4, 2011

Alfred Hitchcock had a celebrated recipe for suspense: a time bomb planted under a table, people sitting at the table and only the audience being aware that something is ticking.It’s a formula for tension that’s more or less thrown out the train window by “Source Code,” the psychological thriller opening Friday and starring Jake Gyllenhaal: The movie has about eight explosions. Characters and audi

April 1, 2011

Pool (Japan)Opened March 31Drama. Directed by Omori Mika. Kyoko (Satomi Kobayashi), a middle-aged woman who had left her family to work for a guest house in Chiang Mai, Thailand, receives a visit from her daughter, Sayo (Kana). To Sayo’s surprise, Kyoko is more than happy to be in the guest house, living with kindhearted employee Ichio (Ryo Kase), young Thai boy Bie (Sittichai Kongpila), and the o

April 1, 2011

Black undies? Or white?It was a choice that confronted writer-director Zack Snyder while making “Sucker Punch,” a mostly female action-fantasy starring Emily Browning as a gun-toting, sword-swinging killer deceptively named Babydoll. She dispatches zombies and robots with the kind of brutality that made Snyder’s mostly male “300” a hit in 2007, but she also wears a thigh-high skirt that, as viewer

April 1, 2011

LAS VEGAS (AP) ― Johnny Depp’s tour guide on his “Pirates of the Caribbean” voyages is plotting the course for a fifth installment even before the fourth movie sails into theaters.Producer Jerry Bruckheimer says he has a screenplay in the works for a fifth “Pirates” tale after May’s “Pirates of the Caribbean:On Stranger Tides” comes out.Based on the Disney theme-park ride, the original three “Pira

March 31, 2011

Kim Eui-suk, new chairman of the controversy-plagued Korea Film Council (KOFIC), said he will regain public trust in the organization, after officially taking appointment Wednesday.It is the first time ever for a former movie director to take the position. Kim said his background as a film director will help him in the role. “I’ve seen the real problems and conflicts in the field because I’ve work

March 30, 2011

“Norwegian Wood,” “Confessions,” “Closed Note” and “Paradise Lost.”These Japanese films, set to be released in Seoul next month, have one thing in common: they are all cinematic versions of Japan’s bestselling novels.According to Cracker Pictures, one of local distributors of the films, this is no coincidence ― the trend of making book-based films has been popular in Japan for the past couple of y

March 28, 2011

I Am a Dad (Korea)Opening April 14Action. Directed by Lee Se-young and Jeon Man-bae. Jong-sik (Kim Seung-woo) is a detective whose daughter is in need of a heart transplant. Finding it impossible to afford the expensive operation for his daughter, Jong-sik receives a bribe from illegal human organ traders and drops their murder charges for them. A man named Sang-man (Sohn Byeong-ho) is falsely cha

March 25, 2011

“You can only breathe so much in corsets,” says Mia Wasikowska, who was required to wear such an apparatus, along with various bell-shaped skirts, flounced petticoats, and tight little bonnets, as she assayed the title role in the new and beautifully miserable “Jane Eyre.”“It restricts your voice and your breath, and it’s really symbolic of the repression of the day,” she observes. “That’s very mu

March 25, 2011

Back in 2000, University of Southern California film professor Amanda Pope and a former student, Tchavdar Georgiev, were traveling in Russia and some of its satellites, working on a series of short portraits of emerging leaders in the post-Soviet world. The two were in Uzbekistan when Pope heard about an amazing collection of Russian avant-garde art in a remote museum deep in the country’s desert.

March 25, 2011