“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

Film Nov. 15, 2013

Several years ago, a cookbook editor friend called asking my advice on whether she should publish Jacques Pepin’s autobiography. Pepin is one of my heroes in food, I told her, but I’d pass on the book ― all chef biographies tend to follow the same story arc, there’s not a lot new to be said.Wisely she ignored me, and though “The Apprentice” turned out just as I predicted plot-wise, it was one of the bestselling cookbooks of the year. I learned two lessons from that incident: I’m a lot better off

Books Nov. 14, 2013

In her poignant 2010 essay “What I Will Miss,” which appears on the last page of a new omnibus, “The Most of Nora Ephron” (Alfred A. Knopf.), the author listed 31 items ― bacon, Paris and “the concept of waffles,” among them. There’s one thing she left out, I would venture to guess: writing.Though it was kept secret from all but her immediate circle, Ephron knew she was terminally ill with leukemia for six years before her death in 2012. If anything, this increased her productivity. According to

Books Nov. 14, 2013

Vanished: The Sixty-Year Search for the Missing Men of World War IIBy Wil S. Hylton (Riverhead)The official story was that the war in the Pacific claimed Jimmie Doyle on Sept. 1, 1944, when Japanese antiaircraft fire brought down his B-24 Liberator during a bombing mission over the tiny Palau archipelago. Neither the plane nor a single member of the 11-man crew was ever found. But there was always a second, darker story, and it haunted Jimmie’s son, Tommy, for most of his life.Tommy’s uncles bel

Books Nov. 14, 2013

BEIJING ― Just a year after the National Ballet of China had the Korean premiere of its staple repertoire “Raise the Red Lantern,” its Korean counterpart ― the Korea National Ballet ― premiered its rendition of French choreographer Roland Petit’s (1924-2011) “Carmen” and “The Woman of Arles” in China on Tuesday. The performance took place as part of China’s on-going, inaugural International Ballet Season, hosted by the National Ballet of China in Beijing. The ballet bash features dances by 12 co

Performance Nov. 13, 2013

Theater“Danton’s Death”: Seoul Arts Center is presenting “Danton’s Death,” the first play written by German dramatist Georg Buchner (1813-1837), set during the French Revolution. The play presents with the last few days of the French revolutionary leader, Danton. Korean artist Lee Ja-ram, who is known for her pansori works, is making her theater acting debut as a street performer in this play. The show is directed by Romanian theater director and teacher Gabor Tompa. “Danton’s Death” runs from N

Performance Nov. 8, 2013

There’s a fleet and funny comic-book movie buried inside “Thor: The Dark World.” You catch glimpses of it here and there, like a shot in which the Asgardian muscle-bound hero (Chris Hemsworth) enters a London flat and hangs his hammer on a coat rack as if it were an umbrella, or a clever sequence in which Thor’s villainous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who wreaked all kinds of evil in “The Avengers,” relishes the fact his older sibling is now asking for his help (how convenient). That scene get

Performance Nov. 8, 2013

Poet Jin Eun-young, author Kim Soom, playwright Koh Yeon-ok and translator Choi Yang-hee were chosen as the winners of the 21st Daesan Literary Awards. Kim Soom, 39, won the prize for her sixth novel “Women and their Evolving Enemies,” which deals with a woman and her conflicting relationship with her mother-in-law. Jin, 43, received the prize for her poem titled “A Stealing Song,” while playwright Koh Yeon-ok, 42, won the honor for her play “Father in a Scabbard,” a tale about a son who plots r

Books Nov. 7, 2013

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

Film Nov. 7, 2013

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

Film Nov. 7, 2013

Over the last two decades, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has become known as one of popular culture’s great visionaries. He’s channeled his wild, restless imagination to create dark worlds of fantasy and horror, crafting beautifully rendered stories that function as modern fairy tales. Del Toro is interested in innocence and evil, and his tales are populated with winged, multi-limbed creatures and human monsters.His new book, “Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsession

Books Nov. 7, 2013

When we think of John F. Kennedy, we can’t help but bring to mind images of his assassination, but if there’s anything surprising about the 50th anniversary of his killing, it is the books that look back at his life.That may be because there’s no new ground to be broken on the assassination, although Life magazine’s magnificent “The Day Kennedy Died” (Life Books: 192 pp.) does offer a lavish retrospective that takes us through the tragedy, ending with the president’s funeral. There is perspectiv

Books Nov. 7, 2013

The AbominableBy Dan Simmons(Little, Brown and Company)Since Dan Simmons’ new novel of mountaineering, lengthy technical explanations, Nazis and the occasional yeti is titled “The Abominable,” you should know at the outset that it is not a horror story. Indeed, defining the book at all seems to have eluded the publisher, who billed it as a “thrilling tale of high-altitude death and survival set on the snowy summits of Everest” ― but be advised that the characters aren’t even kitted out and in th

Books Nov. 7, 2013

The annual Seoul Book Festival kicks off its sixth edition on Thursday, offering special book-themed programs including talking sessions with cartoonist Rhie Won-bok and author Kim Jin-myeong.Hosted annually by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the three-day event will be attended by Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and authors Seong Seok-je and Han Soo-san, among others.Among the featured authors, cartoonist Rhie Won-bok will talk about his latest book, the last installment of his popular series, “Fa

Books Nov. 6, 2013

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

Film Nov. 5, 2013