The year is 2092. All of the forests on Earth have vanished and the planet is overrun with sprawling deserts and an acidic soil which causes plants to perish. An organisation titled UTS Corporation have stepped in to offer individuals refuge aboard their luxurious spaceship – that is, if you can afford it. UTS is…
Category: Korean Cinema
London Korean Film Festival Announces Its Full Programme
The London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) is proud to be returning in 2020 for its milestone 15th edition. Taking place from 29 October – 12 November the festival will be going digital for the first time, with 30+ films available online to audiences across the UK, prerecorded interviews, live Q&As and other virtual events, along…
#Alive Review
Zombie movies are one of the most exploited genres in the history of cinema. In today’s pop culture, the undead are a decaying corpse whose delicacy is a human’s body. The genre not only appears in films but also in literature, computer games, and TV series. However, the concept of zombies wasn’t invented by the…
22nd Udine Far East Film Festival: The House of Us Review
Wise upon her years, 12-year-old Lee Hana (Kim Na-yeon) is the backbone of her family; acting as a peacekeeper as she tries to calm raging arguments between her parents who are going through a divorce. Constantly cooking dinners in an attempt to bring her family back together – Hana’s gastronomic displays of affection aren’t appreciated…
22nd Udine Far East Film Festival: Ashfall Review
Recently, filmmakers have been attracted to making disaster films more than ever. Whether they show that we would be swallowed by a tsunami, a whirlwind or fires, blown away by a comet, burnt by an erupting volcano or perished by inhaling poisonous gases, the productions have become bold, filled with endless CGI, harrowing action, but…
22nd Udine Far East Film Festival: Exit Review
Up amongst Seoul’s rollercoaster of a skyline, Yong-nam (Jo Jung-suk) and Eui-Ju (Lim Yoona) are hurdling from building to building desperately trying to outrun and outsmart the toxic fog slowly following them across the city. Opening up this year’s London East Asia Film Festival, Lee Sang-geun’s feature debut Exit is a joyful, lively but somewhat…
22nd Udine Far East Film Festival: Vertigo Review
Life can often throw you curveballs, but a person can only endure so much while also trying to reach deeper into oneself to find what gives them a reason to live. Vertigo, written and directed by Jeon Gye-soo, depicts one of these emotional and complex life stories. Seo-young (Chun Woo-hee: The Wailing, Han Gong-ju) struggles with her existence;…
Time to Hunt Review
South Korean cinema is well-known for its perturbing thrillers such as Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, I Saw the Devil, Memories of Murder as well as the latest hit, Parasite. Although those films broke into the mainstream film market, South Korean productions are still not ‘in fashion’ like French, Scandinavian or American cinema. However, with the new…
In Conversation with Lee Sang-geun, Director of ‘Exit’
Lee Sang-geun began his career as a filmmaker in 1999 by making short films. In 2006, Lee was awarded Best Film at the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival and, a year later, he received the Grand Prix at the Daegu Short Film Festival for Mr. Self-Portrait. In addition to directing, Lee worked as a production assistant on 2008…
14th London Korean Film Festival: In Conversation with Lee Byeong-heon, Director of ‘Extreme Job’
Before moving behind a camera, Lee Byeong-heon worked as a writer, script editor and actor. He gained huge popularity in 2015 when he released Twenty, a coming-of-age film starring Kim Woo-bin, Lee Jun-ho, and Kang Ha-neul, the biggest stars of their generation. After Twenty, he went on to direct web drama Be Positive (2016) and…
