Can one scene from a film change a young boy’s life? That seems to be the case for Lee Jin-mu, a South Korean actor, filmmaker and a model, who got struck by the acting bug when he saw an emotional scene from Eyes of Dawn, one of the most popular TV dramas of the 1990’s:…
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View of the Arts is run by female arts journalists and works with a diverse team of writers and film critics.
Snow Patrol Returns with Wildness via Polydor Records: In Conversation with Drummer Jonny Quinn
After seven years out in the pop wilderness, Snow Patrol made a triumphant return with their brand-new album, Wildness. Drummer Jonny Quinn talks chaos, the joy of live performance, and reveals just why it’s taken them so darn long. In life, there are several milestones that swirl up an array of complex and conflicting emotions….
In Conversation with Fanni Metelius, Director of ‘The Heart’
This year, the 15th Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz gave us an up-and-close look into the exciting world of the new Swedish female feminist film power. They screened three exceptional debut films, largely made by female crews: a spirited documentary about a rising LGBT hip-hop star, Silvana (Sweden, 2017), an inspiring fiction film Beyond Dreams…
The Heart Review
The story of The Heart (Hjärtat, 2018), which was screened during the 15th Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz, starts, like many others, with a broken heart and a poem – and yet, it is not like other stories. The base for the script was a 52-pages-long collection of poems which young and fiery Swedish director, Fanni…
Dear Ex Review
When Song Zhengyuan dies, he leaves everything he has to the most important person in his life: his gay lover Jay (Roy Chiu). To his wife Liu Sanlian (Ying-Shiuan Hsieh) this comes as a shock, as it leaves nothing for her and their teenage son Chengxi (Joseph Huang). She’s livid, and jumps at the chance to…
71st Cannes Film Festival: Fugue Review
Agnieszka Smoczynska has already made her mark with her feature debut The Lure, which was awarded with the Golden Lion for the best debut in her native country, Poland. On top of that, the film was recognized overseas and received the Special Jury Prize for “a unique artistic vision and design” at the 2016 Sundance Film…
71st Cannes Film Festival: Alone at My Wedding Review
The Bucharest native Marta Bergman directed 4 documentaries about the life of Roma people in Romania, and their stories inspired her to create a fictionalized story that reflects the culture of Roma people and the struggles that the young Roma girls face as they grow up — some trying their best to break away from…
20th Udine Far East Film Festival: One Cut of the Dead Review
Is there anything that has yet to be seen in the zombie film genre? You might think there isn’t, but One Cut of the Dead, which earned itself not only a standing ovation from the audience in Udine, but also missed winning the festival audience-favourite title by a handful of votes, landing on second place,…
20th Udine Far East Film Festival: 1987 – When the Day Comes Review
When in 1987, Park Jong-chul, a 21-year-old activist and a student of Linguistics at Seoul National University, died while being questioned by the Anti-Communist Investigations Bureau about whereabouts of the campus leader and the fellow ‘revolutionist’, no one expected that the South Korean political landscape was about to change forever. The authorities insisted that the young…
20th Udine Far East Film Festival: The Battleship Island Director’s Cut Review
Hashima Island is a small Japanese island, located a mere 15 kilometers off the coast of Nagasaki; it is full of concrete buildings and has a seawall that protects it from the waves. Its shape is the reason for the other name the island is known for: Gunkanjima (Gun-ham-do, 군함도 in Korean) – “Battleship Island”. The…
20th Udine Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Hwang Jung-min and Ryoo Seung-wan
In South Korea, Hwang Jung-min is a member of the so-called ‘100 Million Viewer Club’. He starred in 2 od the 5 highest domestic grossing films in South Korea (Ode to my Father and Veteran) of all time and it is safe to label him as one of the Big Three; alongside Song Kang-ho and Ryu Seung-ryong, he…
20th Far East Film Festival: “The Blood of Wolves” Review
Yakuza films, as a genre, have evolved exponentially since they first emerged in the silent movie era of the Japanese film industry. Initially depicted as sympathetic Robin Hood-like characters who were forced to live their lives as outlaws, it wasn’t until the 1970s that the violent, brutish image of Yakuza as we know it came…
20th Udine Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Lee Jang-hoon, Director of ‘Be With You’
The volunteers at the 20th Udine Far East Film festival looked in wonder as the doors of the main Teatro Udine theatre opened on Friday night – and half of the visitors came out either red-eyed, wiping their eyes or still quietly sobbing. That was the effect of Be With You, the Korean adaptation of the…
20th Udine Far East Film Festival: Be With You Review
The novels of Takuji Ichikawa are well known to numerous book lovers. His bestselling works have been adapted for the Japanese silver screen a couple of times; Be With You in 2004 by Nobuhiro Doi, and Heavenly Forest in 2006 by Takehiko Shinjo. The film adaptation of Be With You became a huge commercial success with its imaginative, beautiful and emotional love story…
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