I’m Livin’ It is the directorial debut of Wong Hing Fan. It stars Aaron Kwok as Bowen, an ex–insurance broker, who it seems has been to prison for embezzlement. A frequent customer at a 24-hour fast food restaurant, clearly meant to be McDonald’s, Bowen is the focal point of the narrative, around which a variety…
Category: Asian Cinema
4th London East Asia Film Festival – In Conversation with Ryu Jun-yeol
Sunny days are rare in the UK during the Autumn, but who needs them when Ryu Jun-yeol is in London and his bright personality and smile brightens up the day? At one of London’s hotels, the actor greets us with a warm handshake. As we sit comfortably on the Victorian looking sofa, he enthusiastically invites…
4th London East Asia Film Festival: Opening Night Gala – 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…
76th Venice International Film Festival: Lingua Franca Review
As the Trump reign rages on, the illegal immigrants are solidly placed among the most marginalized and prosecuted groups in the USA, even though the government’s zero-tolerance policy hasn’t quite quenched the numbers of those seeking a brighter future in what used to be seen as the land of the free. In 2017, the estimate…
Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite Review
Seeing Bong Joon-ho’s work makes one believe time and again that the art of film excellence has not yet disappeared. South Korean director, known for The Host, Okja and Snowpiercer, gifted the film goers with yet another sublime production of his this year: Parasite; a perverse, comical, contemporary yet daunting film that won the Palme…
Swing Kids Review
Musicals are a rarity in South Korean cinema, even if there are South Korean productions out there with traces of music themes, thrown into the middle of the film or found close to the end credits – but that does not qualify those movies as musicals. Swing Kids, directed by Kang Hyeong-cheol (Tazza: The Hidden Card),…
In Conversation with Lee Min-jae and Uhm Ji-won of ‘The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale’
Uhm Ji-won is a South Korean actress whose career started in the late 1990’s. Her talent’s were first recognized with her performance of a subdued wife in the erotic thriller The Scarlet Letter (2004). She later played the leading role in Hong Sang-soo’s Tale of Cinema (2005), and worked with Hong again on his 2008…
The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale Review
Train to Busan (2016) established that there is both room and potential for zombie flicks in Korean cinema, and there has been a flood of undead-themed films and TV series in the past few years, with their makers hell-bent on achieving the same success as Yeon Sang-ho‘s action thriller. Some of the K-zombie projects, surprisingly,…
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: Extreme Job Review
A fried chicken restaurant and a highly incompetent narcotic squad – what could possibly go wrong? Extreme Job is Lee Byeong-heon’s newest production that has unexpectedly become the second highest grossing film in the history of Korean cinema, with over $120 million box-office profit against a $5.8 million budget – it is no wonder that a Hollywood…
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: JK Rock Review
In the colorful world of Japanese manga live-action adaptations and musical-themed film productions, we can find a series of films that center around pop- and rock-bands that practically ooze ‘ikemen’ (good looking men) by the seams, while there is an (un)surprising lack of such films centering on female music groups. The reason for that lies…
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Gong Hyo-jin
The entire theatre, full to the brink with fans of Asian cinema, buzzed, then started applauding with gusto as South Korean actress Gong Hyo-jin took her seat for the Udine Far East Film Festival screening of the thriller Door Lock. After the screening, the applause only got louder, reaffirming that Gong Hyo-jin is not only…
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: Door Lock Review
In a society, tightly dominated by men, is there a safe place for a woman? And what if the threat finds its way into the very hearth? Lee Kwon, who previously wrote and directed the horror-laced romantic comedy My Ordinary Love Story (2014), took on the adaptation of Jaume Balagueró’s Spanish film Sleep Tight. His…
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: Project Gutenberg Review
Felix Chong, a Hong Kong filmmaker, scriptwriter, and an actor, has been interested in cinema ever since he was a child. The filmmaker found his passion for storytelling when he co-wrote Afraid of Nothing the Jobless King with Joe Ma. With over 20 films under his belt, Felix Chong has been primarily recognised for scripting the…
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Lee Han, Jung Woo-sung and Lee Gyoo-hyung
In 2019, director Lee Han (Thread of Lies, Punch) made a return with a courtroom drama with elements of comedy and thriller that revolves around a defense lawyer (Jung Woo-sung) who is trying to get his client acquitted by getting the only witness to murder, an autistic girl (Kim Hyang-gi), to testify. Innocent Witness got…
