The Korea Herald

Berlin fest crowns Italian prison docu-drama

Runner-up prize awarded to film about killings of Roma in HungaryBERLIN (AFP) ― The 62nd Berlin film festival wraps up Sunday after awarding its Golden Bear top prize to Italy’s veteran directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani for their gripping prison docu-drama “Caesar Must Die.”The picture shows real-life murderers and mafiosi from a high-security jail in Rome staging Shakespeare’s tragedy “Julius Caesar,” with their own personal dramas giving resonance to the play’s themes of betrayal and vengea

Feb. 19, 2012

Berlin fest crowns Italian prison docu-drama

Costner tells of Houston race factor over ‘Bodyguard’

U.S. actor Kevin Costner on Saturday said his “Bodyguard” co-star Whitney Houston was almost overlooked for the role because of her color and lack of acting experience.Costner told the singer’s funeral service that while he thought Houston was perfect for the part of pop star Rachel Marron, the movi

Feb. 19, 2012

Box Office

Helpless (Hwa-cha) (Korea)Opening March 8Thriller. Directed by Byeon Young-joo. Just one month ahead of their wedding, engaged couple Moon-ho (Lee Seon-gyun) and Sun-young (Kim Min-hee) head off to the countryside to visit Moon-ho’s parents. When Moon-ho returns to their car after getting coffee at a highway service area, Sun-young is nowhere to be found. Her phone is off. After not hearing from her for more than a week, a distraught Moon-ho asks his detective cousin Jong-geun for help. After Jo

Feb. 17, 2012

Ralph Fiennes does the Bard modern, military

Ralph Fiennes’ “Coriolanus” is not your typical toga-and-sandals Shakespeare. It’s camouflage-and-combat boots Shakespeare, it’s gritty, it’s graffitied. Although the actor and first-time director is faithful to the Bard’s text, setting his tale of usurpation and political upheaval in the city-state of Rome, it looks more like Bosnia, or Beirut.Slabs of grim modernist architecture, the rubble and debris of poverty and conflict, TV monitors reporting news of rioting and war ― Fiennes’ “Coriolanus

Feb. 17, 2012

Ralph Fiennes does the Bard modern, military

Second film preservation center due by 2014

South Korea plans to establish a second site for preserving and restoring homegrown films by 2014, since the existing location in Seoul is already overflowing with materials, the national film archive said Friday.The Korean Film Archive said during a news conference in Seoul that it will construct the second preservation center on land in the publishing town in Paju, some 50 kilometers northwest of Seoul, with a total budget of 33 billion won ($29 million).Construction will begin next year and i

Feb. 17, 2012

Angelina Jolie says directing inspired her

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) ― Angelina Jolie said Wednesday working as a director has rekindled her love for the film industry, even if it was something of a personal artistic rebellion.Jolie told the Associated Press in Sarajevo that she was starting to feel “disheartened’’ and uninspired by her acting roles.She knew she wanted to use film as a medium to deal with weighty matters, such as human rights abuses.“We must remember to use this medium in a responsible way when we can,’’ she said

Feb. 16, 2012

Angelina Jolie says directing inspired her

Chinese epic breaks out as front-runner at Berlin fest

BERLIN (AFP) ― A sweeping Chinese epic set against the bloody upheaval of the early 20th century emerged Wednesday as a front-runner at the Berlin film festival, which is dominated this year by revolutions and their consequences.“White Deer Plain” (Bai lu yuan) by Wang Quan’an had its world premiere at the event and despite its three-hour running time, drew enthusiastic applause at a press preview.Wang captured Berlin’s Golden Bear top prize in 2007 for “Tuya’s Marriage,” an unconventional love

Feb. 16, 2012

Fukushima weighs heavy at Berlin film showcase

BERLIN (AFP) ― The Fukushima nuclear disaster has come under the spotlight at Berlin’s film festival with three films exploring its impact on Japanese society less than a year on.The 11-day festival, which prides itself on its generally edgier and more politically-overt line-up over other film showcases, was perhaps a fitting backdrop for the documentaries.“I’m more than happy to be here because the Berlinale has got a long history of showing all those political, socially conscious films,” Atsus

Feb. 15, 2012

Fukushima weighs heavy at Berlin film showcase

JYJ‘s documentary film to open at cinemas next week

A documentary film featuring the daily lives and dreams of three members of K-pop boy band “JYJ”will open at local theaters next week, the group’s entertainment agency said Tuesday.The 90-minute film titled “The Day” will be shown at Lotte Cinema‘s 17 major chain theaters across the country starting Feb. 23, C-JeS Entertainment Co. said.“The Day” experienced a number of twists and turns before its screening schedule was finalized.It was originally filmed to be a television documentary under a de

Feb. 14, 2012

Is it a man’s world? Berlin film festival asks

BERLIN (AFP) ― Does the world treat men and women differently? Drag king pioneer Diane Torr not only believes so but in an experiment in front of the camera empowers women to test out her theory.The documentary “Man For A Day,” which has premiered at the Berlin film festival, follows a group of very different women who sign up for a workshop on how to assume the persona of a man.“Gender is a culture-given thing, it’s not natural,” German director Katarina Peters told AFP of her just over 90-minu

Feb. 14, 2012

British Bob Marley documentary electrifies Berlin

BERLIN (AFP) - A hotly awaited documentary on Bob Marley has premiered to cheers at the Berlin film festival, tracking his journey from bullied biracial Jamaican boy to reggae superstar.“Marley” by Oscar-winning Scottish film-maker Kevin Macdonald is a two-and-half-hour-long tribute to a child of the Kingston ghettos who made reggae a global phenomenon by the sheer force of his talent and charisma.“For me, Bob is really one of the greatest cultural figures of 20th century. I don‘t think anyone i

Feb. 13, 2012

Streep and ‘The Artist’ triumph at Britain‘s BAFTA awards

LONDON (AFP) - Silent movie “The Artist” and US actress Meryl Streep continued their march towards Oscar glory on Sunday after scooping top awards at the BAFTAs, the biggest night of the British film industry.At a celebrity-packed ceremony at the Royal Opera House in London, “The Artist” won seven gongs including best film, best director and best original screenplay for Michel Hazanavicius and best actor for Frenchman Jean Dujardin.Dujardin -- who is also nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal

Feb. 13, 2012

Actor Cho to teach at university

Actor Cho Jae-hyun will teach at Sungshin Women’s University’s College of Convergence Arts, the school announced last week.The 46-year-old will be teaching two acting courses ― basic acting and “acting and documentaries” ― starting next month at the school’s department of acting for visual media. The Convergence Arts College was founded last year, with Son Seung-hwan, CEO of PMC Production and the producer of homegrown hit musical “Nanta,” taking charge as its president.Cho, who holds a master’s

Feb. 13, 2012

Houston in posthumous movie about drug fallout

Whitney Houston will star in a posthumous movie she finished working on before her death, poignantly about a singing group dealing with the troubles caused by fame and drugs. Whitney Houston (AFP)“Sparkle,” due out in August, is a remake of a 1976 film loosely based on the story of the Supremes, fol

Feb. 13, 2012

Houston in posthumous movie about drug fallout

U.S. to begin full-scale probe into alleged dumping by Samsung, LG

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- U.S. trade authorities on Friday announced a full-fledged investigation into allegations that major South Korean firms Samsung and LG have violated anti-dumping rules here."The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has made affirmative determinations in its preliminary phase anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations concerning certain large residential washers from Korea and Mexico," the agency said in a press release.The move came after Whirlpool Corp.,

Feb. 10, 2012

Under fire, Obama adjusts his birth control policy

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama, under fierce election-year fire, on Friday abruptly abandoned his stand that religious organizations must pay for birth control for workers, scrambling to end a furor raging from the Catholic Church to Congress to his re-election foes. He demanded that insurance companies step in to provide the coverage instead.Obama's compromise means ultimately that women would still get birth control without having to pay for it, no matter where they work. The presid

Feb. 10, 2012

Lim looks back on decade as pianist

Lim Dong-hyek“10th Anniversary Edition”(EMI)Lim Dong-hyek, one of Korea’s promising classical artists, has released the special album “Dong-hyek Lim: 10th Anniversary Edition,” to celebrate his past decade as a professional pianist.The new album consists of three CDs with pieces he had already released with EMI Classics over the past 10 years. Lim released his first CD in 2002 including compositions by Chopin, Schubert and Ravel. In 2004, Lim recorded Sonata in B minor and other small works of C

Feb. 10, 2012

Box Office

Howling (Korea) Opening Feb. 16Crime. Thriller. Directed by Yoo Ha. Detective Sang-gil (Song Kang-ho), who is desperate for promotion, gets annoyed when he is assigned to work with an inexperienced junior Eun-young (Lee Na-young) for what looks like a suicide case. Eun-young finds out that it is in fact a murder case involving a giant wolf-dog. Being the only female detective in her team, socially inept Eun-young endures the low expectations, lewd jokes and even sexual harassment by her macho te

Feb. 10, 2012

Swedish director Daniel Espinosa took an unusual approach with ‘Safe House’

When Universal Pictures hired Daniel Espinosa to direct its rogue CIA agent thriller “Safe House,” the studio knew it was rolling the dice. The Swedish filmmaker had never made an English-language feature, he hadn’t worked with stars near the magnitude of “Safe House” leads Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, and he was graduating from a $4-million Nordic drug drama to an $85-million production.None of that prepared executives for the first batch of footage Espinosa sent back to California from

Feb. 10, 2012

Swedish director Daniel Espinosa took an unusual approach with ‘Safe House’

When Universal Pictures hired Daniel Espinosa to direct its rogue CIA agent thriller “Safe House,” the studio knew it was rolling the dice. The Swedish filmmaker had never made an English-language feature, he hadn‘t worked with stars near the magnitude of “Safe House” leads Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, and he was graduating from a $4-million Nordic drug drama to an $85-million production.None of that prepared executives for the first batch of footage Espinosa sent back to California from

Feb. 10, 2012