[Box office] Movies in theaters this week

“Sleep” (South Korea) Opened Sept. 6 Mystery/Thriller Directed by Jason Yu A pregnant Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi) discovers that her husband, Hyun-soo (Lee Sun-kyun), has started exhibiting strange behaviors while asleep. Overcome with anxiety that he may be a danger to the family, Soo-jin goes to great lengths to protect them and their baby. “A Haunting in Venice” (US) Opened Sept. 13 Mystery/Crime Directed by Kenneth Branagh Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot returns to his peace

Sept. 15, 2023

Film festivals oppose budget cut, raise concerns over inclusiveness

Fifty local film festivals, including the big three of the Busan International Film Festival, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and Jeonju International Film Festival, have joined forces to protest a cut in the budget for programs that support the local film industry. In a statement Wednesday, a group tentatively called the Film Festival Network strongly criticized the government's decision to remove funding earmarked for local film production and distribution, along with a sign

Sept. 14, 2023

[Herald Interview] Directors say ‘Free Chol Soo Lee’ asks us all to self-reflect

In 1974, Chol Soo Lee, a 21-year-old immigrant from Korea to the US, was sentenced to life in prison, wrongfully convicted for a gang murder in San Francisco’s Chinatown. “Free Chol Soo Lee,” journalist Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s first documentary film, explores the complicated, “messy” life of Chol Soo who spends 10 years fighting for his life inside California’s prisons. Through unprecedented social justice advocacy by the Asian American community, Cho

Sept. 13, 2023

Kim Jee-woon, Song Kang-ho’s ‘Cobweb’ to open in 187 countries

“Cobweb,” directed by Kim Jee-woon and starring actor Song Kang-ho, will open in 187 countries, according to the film’s distributor Barunson EA. Together, the two have made numerous box office hits like “The Foul King” (2000), “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” (2008) and “The Age of Shadows” (2016). An ensemble comedy portraying a delusional filmmaker and picky, unsupportive actors in the 1970s, "Cobweb" is director Kim’s first f

Sept. 12, 2023

Jeonju Film Fest presents cinema packages with guided tour of Hanok Village

The Jeonju International Film Festival is offering a cinema package program it's calling “Jeonju Tour With a Movie,” featuring a guided tour of the much loved Jeonju Hanok Village in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. The package is part of the “Jeonju Cinetour With Falling in Jeonju,” an event that rescreens a selection of films from the Jeonju IFF that took place in the spring. "Jeonju Tour With a Movie" will screen three films from the festival for 15,000 wo

Sept. 12, 2023

[Box office] Movies in theaters this week

“Sleep” (South Korea) Opened Sept. 6 Mystery/Thriller Directed by Jason Yu A pregnant Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi) finds out her husband Hyun-soo (Lee Sun-kyun) starts exhibiting strange behaviors while asleep. Overcome with anxiety that he may cause danger to the family, Soo-jin goes to great lengths to protect them and their baby. “Oppenheimer” (US) Opened Aug. 15 Drama/Thriller Directed by Christopher Nolan Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer is appointed to lead the top-secret

Sept. 8, 2023

London East Asia Film Festival to retrospect auteur Chung Ji-young’s works

The 2023 London East Asia Film Festival will cover the 40-year career of auteur Chung Ji-young, introducing his eight representative films to European audiences next month. The eighth edition of the festival will celebrate the director's career spanning across decades and retrospect his filmography, making it the first such event covering Chung’s works. LEAFF said the special exhibition will be part of the major section during the 12-day event. Chung will attend to introduce his works

Sept. 7, 2023

Kang Ha-neul, Jung So-min reunite as couple with amnesia in ‘30 Days’

Actors Kang Ha-neul and Jung So-min have reunited in upcoming romantic comedy “30 Days” as a couple with amnesia going through a comical divorce. "30 Days" revolves around Jung-yeol (Kang), an intelligent lawyer, and his wife Nara (Jung), who works in the film industry as a passionate producer. Despite their initial cute, idyllic newlywed life, the quirks that made them fall in love with each other eventually drive nerdy Jung-yeol and quick-tempered Nara apart. They agree t

Sept. 6, 2023

Actor Song Kang-ho to host this year’s Busan International Film Festival

This year’s Busan International Film Festival, Asia’s largest film festival, will be hosted by actor Song Kang-ho amid the absence created by the resignations of the festival executive director and chairperson in May. On Tuesday, the BIFF announced that Song will fill in as the host, adding that renowned actors and filmmakers such as Luc Besson, Shunji Iwai, Hirokazu Koreeda, Fan Bingbing and Youn Yuh-jung and Chow Yun-fat will attend the festival. Chow Yun-fat was announced as the r

Sept. 5, 2023

Low-budget horror flicks to hit cinemas in September

Horror films are traditionally released at the hottest time of the year in Korea -- July or August -- but there is a new trend to release them at the tail end of the summer, when there is usually less competition from massive blockbusters. A series low budget horror films open this month. Jason Yu’s “Sleep” is a 94-minute-long mystery thriller revolving around a sleep-walking husband and his wife, who believes he may be possessed by a demon. The film has been invited to the 76t

Sept. 1, 2023

‘Road to Boston’ a homage to first Korean marathoners

Director Kang Je-gyu, who is behind hit films “Shiri” (1999), “Brotherhood” (2004) and “Take Off,” (2009) is making a comeback after seven years, this time with the real-life story of three legendary marathoners in "Road to Boston." The film is based on the life story of Son Kee-chung, the 1936 Berlin Olympics marathon gold medalist, and how he trained the Korean team for the first international marathon held after World War II. Ha Jung-woo stars as

Sept. 1, 2023

[Box office] Movies in theaters this week

“Honey Sweet” (South Korea) Opened Aug. 15 Drama/Comedy Directed by Lee Han Chi-ho (Yoo Hae-jin), a nerdy, workaholic researcher at a confectionery company falls in love with Il-young (Kim Hee-sun), a single mother and a remarkably passionate and optimistic telemarketer at a money lending company. “Oppenheimer” (US) Opened Aug. 15 Drama/Thriller Directed by Christopher Nolan Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer is appointed to lead the top-secret Manhattan Project. Oppenheim

Sept. 1, 2023

28th Busan Film Festival unveils selection for Asian auteur, rookie directors

The 28th Busan International Film Festival announced the list of films selected for its New Currents and Jiseok competition sections, which will showcase the works of Asia’s rookie and auteur directors. The New Current competition section focuses on showing up-and-coming Asian filmmakers’ works, reserved for those making their first or second feature films. Ten works are nominated, including two from Japan, two from Korea, two from Bangladesh and one each from China, Thailand, Malays

Aug. 30, 2023

[Herald Review] Sleepwalking husband turns idyllic newlyweds’ lives into horror in ‘Sleep’

In director Jason Yu’s “Sleep,” newlywed Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi) finds out her husband Hyun-soo (Lee Sun-kyun) suffers from a very bad sleeping habit. Soo-jin’s loving husband becomes a completely different person at night. On top of sleepwalking, he scratches his face until it bleeds or opens the refrigerator and munches on raw meat, fish and uncooked eggs. To protect their newborn baby, Soo-jin is willing to do even crazier things to confront her fear. The 94-minute film i

Aug. 29, 2023

‘Cobweb,’ an ensemble comedy about obsessive filmmaker, picky actors in 1970s

“Cobweb,” director Kim Jee-woon’s first feature film in 13 years, brings to the big screen an unprecedented ensemble comedy portraying a delusional filmmaker and picky, unsupportive actors set in the 1970s, the director told reporters Tuesday. Starring veteran actor Song Kang-ho, “Cobweb” revolves around the struggles of film director Kim Yeol (Song) when the industry languished due to government censorship in 1970s. Obsessed by a delusion that his work -- also titl

Aug. 29, 2023

Wonju city sues production company over title of horror film ‘Chiaksan’

The city government of Wonju in Gangwon Province said Monday that it would file a lawsuit to stop the release of “Chiaksan,” a horror film that is slated to open Sept. 16. Wonju city said it would ask the court to ban the film from being released and further sue for any damages that the film might cause the city and its residents. Directed by Kim Seon-woong and starring Yoon Kyun-sang, “Chiaksan” is set in 1980 and follows a ghost story in which pieces of a dismembered bo

Aug. 29, 2023

Actor Jung Yu-mi says director Bong recommended joining the cast of ‘Sleep’

Actor Jung Yu-mi said it was director Bong Joon-ho who recommended she join the cast of “Sleep,” a mystery thriller by rookie director Jason Yu. Yu worked with Bong as an assistant for “Okja" (2017). “Director Bong said a person he knows well wrote a scenario and that he hoped I would take a look at it,” Jung told The Korea Herald in an interview in Seoul on Aug. 22. She appreciated the succinct and straightforward story. "There were no unnecessary things

Aug. 28, 2023

[Box office] Movies in theaters this week

“Oppenheimer” (US) Opened Aug. 15 Drama/Thriller Directed by Christopher Nolan Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer is appointed to lead the top-secret Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer and his fellow scientists are directly involved in developing the atomic bomb from scratch, without knowing their research would forever change the course of history. “Concrete Utopia” (South Korea) Opened Aug. 9 Thriller/Disaster Directed by Um Tae-hwa Residents of Hwanggung Apartment buildin

Aug. 26, 2023

[Herald Interview] Lee Sun-kyun credits director Jason Yu of ‘Sleep’ for allowing him to just focus on acting

Prolific actor Lee Sun-kyun said the experience of working with rookie director Jason Yu on the soon-to-release “Sleep” gave him the opportunity to just focus on acting, with no need to concern himself with unnecessary things. “After a long interval, ‘Sleep’ was a project that allowed me to just focus on acting, liberated from concerns about characters or being sidetracked by other things like changes in the plot (thanks to the director’s preparedness),”

Aug. 24, 2023

[New on the Scene] Bong Joon-ho protege Jason Yu puts focus on storytelling in ‘Sleep’

Jason Yu, who makes his feature film debut with mystery thriller “Sleep” on Sept. 6, already had garnered worldwide attention even before the movie’s opening here, with his film invited to the 76th Cannes Film Festival in May. “Sleep,” starring Lee Sun-kyun and Jung Yu-mi as newlyweds, is set in motion by Hyun-soo's (Lee) strange behavior while sleeping. His pregnant wife Soo-jin (Jung) tries to stop him some way or another, in the film that screened in the non

Aug. 24, 2023