It’s Okay!, the directorial debut of Kim Hye-young, is a coming-of-age film centered around the trials and tribulations of In-young (Lee Re), who in a cruel twist of fate loses her mother and sole caretaker during a triumphant performance of a traditional fan dance by the Seoul International Arts Company. As the beat of the…
Tag: movies
9th London East Asia Film Festival: “Exhuma” Review
What do a Feng Shui master, a mortician, and a shaman all have in common? No, this isn’t the setup for a terrible joke; instead, it’s the main plot of the Korean supernatural horror film Exhuma. Although the film starts off slowly, it effectively introduces the main characters and their backgrounds. Additionally, it provides an…
9th London East Asia Film Festival: Jang Jae-hyun and Producer Kim Young-min on Their Latest Project “Exhuma”
Jang Jae-hyun, a South Korean film director and screenwriter, earned acclaim for his work on blockbuster films such as The Priests (2015), Svaha: The Sixth Finger (2019), and Exhuma (2024). His career took off when he worked as an assistant director on the period drama Masquerade (2012). Jang Jae-hyun was also praised for his short…
9th London East Asia Film Festival: “Locust” Review
Every generation has its angry young men, rebelling against the cultural conformity of the era. From James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and Marlon Brando in The Wild One pushing back against the stifling conservatism of the Eisenhower age, to the various turn-of-the-century studies of disaffected adults stilted by middle-class life, these are snapshots…
BFI Announces Full Programme for ECHOES IN TIME: KOREAN FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE AND NEW CINEMA
The BFI has announced the full program for Echoes in Time: Korean Films of the Golden Age and New Cinema, a major new season running from 28 October to 31 December at BFI Southbank. Curated by Young Jin Eric Choi and Goran Topalovic, the season spotlights two transformative eras in Korean cinema: the Golden Age…
One Fluid Night LGBTQIA+ Film Festival: A Weekend of Love, Life, and Identity
Launched in September 2023 at Genesis Cinema in East London, One Fluid Night (OFN) is a groundbreaking film event that presents a competition of short films alongside performances by singers, dancers, and cabaret artists, all celebrating the multifaceted themes of life, love, and identity through the lens of international LGBTQIA+ cinema. After a successful year…
Um Tae Goo: Finding Depth in Every Role – Exclusive Interview
To be an actor is to walk a fine line between reality and illusion, between self and character, and nowhere is this delicate dance more visible than in roles that challenge and stretch the frame of identity. The beauty of acting lies in the ability to entertain and in the subtle journey of transformation –…
Celebrating the Finest in East Asian Cinema, the 9th London East Asia Film Festival Returns from October 23 to November 3, 2024
London East Asia Film Festival (LEAFF), a premier celebration of East Asian cinema and culture, is returning for its ninth iteration. Kicking off on October 23, 2024, at the ODEON Luxe Leicester Square, the festival will debut with the UK premiere of Escape, an intense drama by the acclaimed director Lee Jong-Pil. The event will…
RM Unveils His Solo Journey: “Right People, Wrong Place” Premieres at Busan International Film Festival
NEWS: RM of 21st-century pop icons BTS unveiled his solo documentary film RM: Right People, Wrong Place at its world premiere as a part of the ‘Open Cinema’ section of the 29th BUSAN International Film Festival (BIFF). RM: Right People, Wrong Place chronicles the eight-month process leading up to his second solo album, Right Place,…
“Sleep” Review: A Sleepless Thriller That Thrives on Paranoia and Friction
There’s one thing that everybody who snores has in common: the belief that their snoring is nowhere near as bad as what other people make it out to be, if they can admit to themselves they snore at all. It causes friction on a nightly basis in millions of relationships, and as a result, makes…
Herman Yau on His Latest Work, “Customs Frontline”, and Filmmaking
Herman Yau’s latest film, Customs Frontline, premiered globally at the FEFF 26 in Udine this past May and is set for its Asian premiere in Hong Kong this July. A maverick director known for his prolific output, Yau was born in China in 1961 and studied Film at Hong Kong Baptist University. Over a remarkable…
“Bushido”: Exploring Humanity Through the Lens of a Fallen Samurai – An Insight with Director Kazuya Shiraishi
“Any movie that I make, I always think: ‘What is a human being?’” director Kazuya Shiraishi shares as he reflects on his latest project Bushido. The samurai period drama, or jidaigeki, tells the story of ronin Yanagida Kakunoshin (Tsuyoshi Kuanagi) who has fallen into poverty but has found peace in a humble living with his…
Discussing “Alienoid: Return to the Future” with Director Choi Dong-hoon and Producer Ahn Soo-hyun – Exclusive Interview
I first interviewed Choi Dong-hoon, one of South Korea’s leading directors and screenwriters, in 2015 at the BFI London Film Festival, where he was promoting his espionage action film Assassination. Choi, renowned for his consistent box-office success, spent several years developing the script for Alienoid, a sci-fi fantasy action film. After premiering Alienoid at the…
77th Cannes Film Festival: “When the Light Breaks” Review
Under the moody lilac skies of the Northern hemisphere, comes an 80-minute life sampler of the hopeful and free-spirited youths of Iceland, directed by Rúnar Rúnarsson. There’s only really two plot points of the whole film, which would explain its length; the rest is filled in with the characters’ – particularly Una’s – emotional conflicts…
