South Korean Movie Reviews »
The Duelist (2005) Movie Review
Approximately 8 minutes into Myung-se Lee’s “The Duelist”, it suddenly occurred to me (accompanied by a feeling of dread) that the film’s star, Ji-won Ha was channeling her character from “Slave Love” (aka “100...
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April Snow (2005) Movie Review
If you’re into Asian movies even just a little bit, then you’ve probably heard of the South Korean drama “April Snow” at least once (or a few hundred times, give or take) throughout 2005....
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The Big Scene (aka Murder Take One, 2005) Movie Review
“The Big Scene” is the latest film from Korean director Jang Jin, best known for the abstract gangster comedy “Guns and Talks”, in which he attempted to present a new spin on the usual...
Read More »Chunhyang (2000) Movie Review
Based on an 18th century folk song, the Korean period drama “Chunhyang” tells a familiar story even for non-Koreans: a forbidden love between two people separated by class, family and duty; a secret wedding;...
Read More »The General’s Son (1990) Movie Review
“The General’s Son” is a re-release of the 1990 film by Im Kwon Taek, a director with over a hundred films to his credit and a career which has spanned more than five decades....
Read More »Cello (2005) Movie Review
Mi-ju is not having a very good life. For one, she’s no longer in love with her job teaching cello to a bunch of spoiled brats, one of whom holds a grudge against her...
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Heaven’s Soldiers (2005) Movie Review
It’s inevitable that the South Korean movie machine would eventually get around to contributing to the shaping-history time travel movie genre, this time in the form of rookie writer/director Min Joon-ki’s “Heaven’s Soldiers.” As...
Read More »The Red Shoes (2005) Movie Review
Although ostensibly inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, “The Red Shoes” is clearly yet another entry in the recent wave of South Korean horror films based around cursed objects and long haired female...
Read More »The Wig (2005) Movie Review
Whether the South Korean horror “The Wig” is seen as yet another in an increasingly long series of films about malevolent inanimate objects, or as a bizarre offshoot of the never ending long haired...
Read More »Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005) Movie Review
(Movie Review by Eric Choi) Expectations can ruin a movie. That’s the adage that must have been on Park Chan-wook’s mind as he prepared to release “Sympathy For Lady Vengeance,” the final film in...
Read More »Crying Fist (2005) Movie Review
(Movie Review by Eric Choi) Ryoo Seung-wan has always been a talent to watch. A director with a unique ability for blending the artistic with the commercial, Ryoo is no doubt one of the...
Read More »The Bow (2005) Movie Review
With “The Bow”, acclaimed South Korean director Kim Ki-duk continues to explore human nature and transcendence, moving further away from the bitterness and sadism which characterised his earlier work. Although at first the film...
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Tale of Cinema (2005) Movie Review
“Tale of Cinema”, nominated for the Golden Palm at the 2005 Cannes Festival, marks the sixth effort by Hong Sang-soo, a South Korean auteur whose films (including “The Future of Man is Woman” and...
Read More »The Aggressives (2005) Movie Review
There’s a great scene in “The Aggressives” when Soyo (Jeong-myeong Cheon), a young teen whose parents have just abandoned him to fend for himself with a handful of cash, asks Moggy (Kang-woo Kim), an...
Read More »Blood Rain (2005) Movie Review
For its first hour and 50-something minutes, Dae-seung Kim’s “Blood Rain” actually works well enough as a period crime/mystery to warrant a recommendation. There are some things about the film that deserves to be...
Read More »A Bittersweet Life (2005) Movie Review
In many respects, Kim Ji-woon’s “A Bittersweet Life” is the anti-thesis of a traditional Asian gangster film, and the script seems to take most of its hints from American revenge movies like Tony Scott’s...
Read More »Green Chair (2005) Movie Review
Of all the Asian film industries, the Koreans are probably the best at making erotic dramas, well, erotic. In comparison, Hong Kong erotic films look more like what not to do during sex (watching...
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She’s on Duty (2005) Movie Review
There is about 30-odd minutes in the third act of “She’s on Duty” that would have made a great cop film. Everything is there: raw emotion, conflicted themes of loyalty and duty, and spirited...
Read More »Another Public Enemy aka Public Enemy 2 (2005) Movie Review
It’s open to debate why director Woo-Suk Kang (“Silmido”) has made a sequel to his popular 2002 crime film “Public Enemy” by bringing back the same star, but have him be a completely new...
Read More »Red Eye (2005) Movie Review
It probably comes as no surprise to regular readers of the site that “Red Eye”, the latest horror film out of South Korea, makes almost no effort to stride beyond the confines of its...
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