Jeon Do-yeon is known as a “chameleon actress”. Throughout her 20-plus-year-long career, she played a great variety of roles that brought her the status of one of the most respected actresses in South Korean industry. In 2007, her performance in Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine earned her Best Actress award at Cannes Film Festival, making her…
Category: Film
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: Unstoppable Review
Ma Dong-seok is unstoppable. In 2018, the actor starred in a record-breaking five films: Champion, Along With The Gods: The Last 49 Days, The Soul-Mate, The Villagers and Unstoppable, and it seems that he is keeping himself just as busy in 2019. His final work of 2018, the action thriller Unstoppable, directed by Kim Min-ho, screened…
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: The Great Battle Review
The history of Korea has been a constant struggle of forces who either conquered or tried to conquer its lands. One such turbulent event was the attack on the Ansi Fortress in 645AD, recently depicted in Kim Kwang-sik’s The Great Battle, an ultra-patriotic tale of survival and sacrifice. Photo © Next Entertainment World Emperor of the…
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: Birthday Review
In the early hours of the morning on April 16th 2014, followed by heart-wrenching days of rescue, the hearts of the South Korean nation broke as one as the ferry MV Sewol sank and claimed the lives of 304 passengers and crew members. The tragedy was made worse as 250 of the victims were juniors…
Madeleine Gottlieb’s Snare Review
Settled amongst soothing music, plastic vegetation, and steamed dumplings in the corner of a dated Chinese restaurant sits 50-year-old Steve (played by Steve Rodgers). He’s just quit his 9 to 5 to pursue his life-long dream of being a punk-rock drummer and is waiting to spill the joyous news with his rockstar son, Jobe (James…
What Walaa Wants Review
‘Be careful what you wish for’ is the ominous phrase told to children all over the world when they are desperately grasping for something they don’t quite understand. In this case, young Walaa Khaled Fawzy Tanji wants nothing more than to gain a firm grasp of power in a world she has absolutely no authority…
Netflix’s Kingdom Review
Where does the fascination with the undead come from? Is it the love of horror, the repellent zombies’ behaviour or the taste of adrenaline-filled adventure? Hard to say, as the zombie-loving audience varies as much as the character of zombies themselves. Zombies have been present in cinema for quite some time, but they only found…
69th Berlin Film Festival: Hellhole Review
Hellhole, Bas Devos’ second feature, is a draining and frank look at the trauma inflicted upon Brussels residents following the March 2016 bombings. It delivers an episodic and fragmented depiction of a hollow, sceptical and disconnected city – filled with individuals struggling in their own way with grief and isolation. Hellhole follows the story of…
69th Berlin Film Festival: In Conversation with Matija Strniša, a Film Music Composer
The competitive Generation 14plus section of this year’s Berlinale featured international gems with a focus on young adult themes, and the Grand Prix Award for Best Film was awarded to Kim Bora‘s House of Hummingbird, which finally got its European premiere after wowing the audience with its world premiere at the 2018 Busan International Film…
69th Berlin Film Festival: Vice Review
Adam McKay, with great stubbornness, taste and exceptional layers of humour, has been known to show the bright and dark sides of the USA through his filmmaking. Although he has many films under his belt, it was his 2015 feature The Big Short about the 2008 US financial crisis that got everyone talking; McKay superbly…
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