Korean Movie Reviews for 2. After a record- breaking box office run in 2. Korean cinema continued to flex its muscles in the early part of 2. Theatrical admissions for local films in the first quarter of 2. Korean film history, thanks to hits like Ryoo Seung- wan's The Berlin File, gangster epic New World and especially the sentimental comic drama Miracle in Cell No. The latter film, featuring an ensemble cast led by RYU Seung- ryong, became the third best- selling Korean film in history with close to 1.

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Shot in Jeju dialect, the exquisitely crafted film won the top prize in the World Dramatic Cinema competition at Sundance before opening in Korea in March. Positive word- of- mouth then helped the film to achieve a level of publicity and box office success almost unheard of for independent films. Although not technically Korean films, these works are of great interest to many fans of Korean cinema, so we will be providing a separate page (coming soon) for reviews of these and other . Although shot mostly in English with an international cast, it was produced in Korea, and is the source of much anticipation. Other upcoming films include The Face Reader by Han Jae- rim who previously directed The Show Must Go On; Hwayi by Save the Green Planet director Jang Jun- hwan; and a big- budget 3- D baseball movie Mr. Go featuring a CG animated gorilla, from the director of 2.

Pound Beauty and Take Off. They are monitored by South Korean N. A) operatives headed by Jeong Jin- soo (Han Suk- kyu, Villian and Widow).

Something goes wrong, and a gunfight breaks out. Pyo barely escapes with his life, but manages to elude Jeong, obsessed with bagging him.

It appears that someone in the North Korean embassy has been selling secrets and is now preparing to defect to the South. Gianna Jang, The Thieves). Although apparently beset by a series of production difficulties, it is an impressively mounted thriller: efficient, dry- eyed and intelligent. Many domestic viewers compared the film to the Jason Bourne series, but despite a few superficial concession to the latter's fragmentary style, The Berlin File is a throwback to the . What I actually saw, however, was nothing like that.

On the contrary, Ryoo's film departs from most current South Korean hits featuring North Korean agents, such as Secret Reunion (2. Secretly, Greatly (2. South Korea as a site of consumer- capitalist everyday activity into which pretty boy Northern agents have to assimilate themselves.

Neither do, despite the crowd- pleasing presence of Han Suk- kyu, Southern agents play a significant role in The Berlin File. Here, his casting of Ha Jung- woo and Jeon Ji- hyun is excellent. Ha may not be as brilliant as, say, Song Kang- ho, in conveying tormented psychological inner workings of the outwardly taciturn warrior, but he still commands the screen with bristling charisma (one of his best- known, pre- stardom stage roles, by the way, was, appropriately, Othello). Jeon matches him blow by blow as a radiant beauty whose disappointment in her husband (and her life) is eating her from inside out. And as usual, Ryoo Seung- beom is fantastic as a sadistic, leering North Korean assassin, who perfectly captures the mock- suave panache of a European- boarding- school- educated, jet set kid easing into a life of immediate (material) gratification and criminal activities.

Indeed, Ryoo's Dong Myung- soo seems to be the perfect embodiment of the quasi- anarchic, utterly ruthless pursuit of power that seems to be the true credo of the North Korean rulers, beneath their Communist or nationalist flag- waving. You want Reunification? Be my guest: give Comrade Dong a hug, why don't you? Another problem is the strangely unconvincing characterization of Han Suk- kyu's Agent Jeong, compared to his Northern counterparts. DP Choi Young- hwan (The Thieves), reunited with Ryoo after a decade following their collaboration in No Blood No Tears (2. Lighting Director Kim Seong- gwan portray Berlin, through impressively extensive location shooting, as a city pregnant with old secrets, bustling with busy population yet pocketed with dark corners and wood- paneled back rooms. The hand- to- hand combat choreography, designed by Ryoo's longtime collaborator Jeong Doo- hong and Seoul Action School, actually works better when it is essentially two people smashing each other with various kitchen implements and office tools in a narrow apartment corridor.

Rather than paying lip services to the . As Dong sneers at one point, . Casually disregarded by her work colleagues, she knows that her career is going nowhere, but there's nothing she can do about it. One night she hits bottom.

Stranded on a beach in the middle of nowhere, she comes across an eccentric middle- aged man selling inspirational videos. He urges her to buy his masterwork, . She doesn't believe him for a second. But she buys the video. How to Use Guys with Secret Tips is in some ways a fairly standard Korean romantic comedy, except that it's funnier and more engaging, and ultimately much better than you would expect.

Director Lee Won- suk, a graduate of the American Film Institute, maintains great comic timing and even manages to keep the audience's interest in the final reels, which are a weak point of many Korean romantic comedies. Boosted by great performances and a multitude of gags that are genuinely funny, the film produced strong word- of- mouth among viewers, though not soon enough to save it in a month when it was sharing screens with box office behemoths The Berlin File, New World and Miracle in Cell No. Lee Si- young has an unusual star image: she is unique in simultaneously pursuing a career as an actress, while also competing as an amateur boxer.

Lee originally learned boxing as part of her preparation to act in a TV drama, but then she continued training and eventually won several amateur boxing championships in the 4. Although this doesn't bear directly on her role in How to Use Guys with Secret Tips, her slightly . Oh is a theater actor who has appeared in many supporting roles over the years, but his performance in this film has earned him special attention. Despite being the object of ridicule in numerous scenes, his underlying, offbeat charm runs constant throughout the film. Praise is also due to the veteran Park Young- gyu (Attack the Gas Station), who plays the video salesman and appears as the presenter in the video segments themselves. These short instructional clips, which run intermittently throughout the narrative, are deadpan, intentionally amateur in style, and hilarious.

Whereas five or ten years ago, female protagonists tended to fluctuate between na? My Sassy Girl, the women of today's romantic comedies are more levelheaded and practical. The movie couples of the past used to do barely much more than hold hands, but contemporary romantic comedies have become more comfortable with the idea that young couples actually have sex.

A guest post by Quintus Curtius comparing Japanese girls and Korean girls. A fter a record-breaking box office run in 2012, Korean cinema continued to flex its muscles in the early part of 2013. Theatrical admissions for local films in the.

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There remains plenty of coy posturing and cuteness in the genre, but the male leads have become a little more relaxed and self- effacing, while the female leads now retain a bit more of their dignity. In a genre that looks easy, but is actually quite challenging, this is a significant accomplishment. This single incident throws the inner workings of the Goldmoon crime syndicate into chaos, since the powerful boss of the group had been sitting in the car's back seat. Hierarchies and power relations which had formerly been stable are now suddenly in flux. A conflict seems likely between the gang's unpredictable #2 figure Chung (Hwang Jeong- min, Blades of Blood, The Unjust) and the smoother, highly ambitious #3 figure Joong- gu (Park Seong- woong). Chung's most trusted subordinate Ja- sung (Lee Jung- jae, The Thieves) is actually an undercover cop, who has successfully infiltrated himself into the gang and earned their trust. After eight years of nail- biting tension, and with a baby on the way, he is now anxious to extract himself from the gang and retire.

But his handler Chief Kang (Choi Min- sik) wants him to stay on, and is willing to play hardball in order to keep him in line. There are gangster comedies, gangster romances, gangster coming- of- age dramas, gangster horror, and run- of- the- mill gangster films about well- intentioned young men who get pulled into crime and end up in the midst of ugly gang battles.

Despite the diverse settings and variations in tone that you see among this group of films, they are all essentially melodramatic in the sense that we are made to identify with one or two victim- heroes who are up against forces much stronger than they are. Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose, but in the course of fighting their struggle, their inner goodness or sense of honor is revealed to the audience. Park Hoon- jung's New World does not depart entirely from this formula, in the sense that we do empathize deeply with the plight of the embedded police officer played by Lee Jung- jae. But Park's approach is more expansive that of most other Korean gangster films.

Ultimately he is less focused on the psychology of his main characters, and more concerned with exploring the structures and mechanisms of power within the gang. He describes it as a film about . The cat and mouse game played with the local police force only adds another layer of complexity to the narrative. Oldboy lead Choi Min- sik has enjoyed a career revival of late, with his appearances in I Saw the Devil and Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time. In New World he gives a layered portrayal of Chief Kang, whose strong motivation to bring the criminals to justice leads him to treat his subordinates unfairly.

Hwang Jeong- min, for his part, is both repellent and charismatic as the impulsive and extroverted Chung. Finally Lee Jung- jae is very effective at expressing the anguish and panic his character feels but desperately tries to keep hidden from view. 100 Free Dating Site In Malta here. Although an acting veteran of some 2.

It has a scope and depth that is unusual for Korean films of this genre.