South Korean Movie Reviews »
3-Iron (2004) Movie Review
“3-Iron” is the latest offering from Ki-duk Kim, the acclaimed Korean director who has been responsible for a number of nihilistic masterpieces, including “Samaria” and “Bad Guy”. “3-Iron” has been gathering strong reviews and...
Read More »Scarlet Letter (2004) Movie Review
Just when you think you’ve seen every type of cop movie South Korea is capable of making, Daniel Byun goes and makes sure you haven’t seen anything yet. Which, in the case of Byun’s...
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Sword in the Moon (2003) Movie Review
I’m pretty sure the South Korean martial arts/period movie “Sword in the Moon” is wall-to-wall swordfighting action; I just wish I could see some of it. Granted, since the movie is about assassins, and...
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301/302 (1995) Movie Review
“301 302″ is a rather odd little Korean film, though one which has won a great deal of critical praise, including the 1995 Grand Bell award in its native country, as well as being...
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Bunshinsaba (2004) Movie Review
Another day, another Korean horror film set in an all-girls high school, involving kids with psychic abilities, long-dead former students who returns as ghosts minus the desire to comb their hair, an evil school...
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Spider Forest (2004) Movie Review
“Spider Forest” is the latest offering from South Korean writer/director Ilgon-Song, who last gave audiences the award winning surreal feminist road movie “Flower Island”. Like that other movie, “Spider Forest” is a cinematic oddity,...
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Sisily 2km (2004) Movie Review
There’s a lot you can do with a horror film spoof, especially with all the Asian horror films flooding the market, with their cookie cutter formulas, derivative plotlines, and obsession with ghosts with long...
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R-Point (2004) Movie Review
Here’s the heads up on the new South Korean horror film “R-Point”, a movie set during the tail end of the Vietnam War: it’s not so much as scary as it is psychologically interesting,...
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Three: Extremes (2004) Movie Review
The release of the Asian horror anthology “Three…Extremes” on DVD comes as a bit of a dilemma to international moviegoers who had already seen one of the three stories, Fruit Chan’s “Dumplings”, when it...
Read More »The Untold Scandal (2003) Movie Review
Despite having a somewhat similar title and sharing a Category III rating, “The Untold Scandal” is not in fact another entry in the ongoing Hong Kong “Untold Story” series. It is instead a new...
Read More »Fighter in the Wind (2004) Movie Review
As much as the Koreans have an innate antagonism towards Americans, they dislike the Japanese even more. As such, even when “Fighter in the Wind” is harsh on the Americans (if you watch enough...
Read More »The Quiet Family (1998) Movie Review
“The Quiet Family” is the debut film by Korean director Kim Ji-Woon, who has been attracting a considerable amount of attention recently with his complex and multi-layered “A Tale of Two Sisters”. The two...
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The Isle (2000) Movie Review
The films of South Korean director Ki-duk Kim tend to divide audiences. On one hand, they are nihilistic, violent and misogynistic, and are generally abstract pieces which are equal parts art house and dubious...
Read More »A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) Movie Review
Korean director Kim Ji-woon’s “A Tale of Two Sisters” has been hailed as one of the best Asian horror films of recent years, and has been snapped up by the Hollywood machine for a...
Read More »Silmido (2003) Movie Review
(Movie Review by Jerry White) “Silmido” tries to be two things: a scathing indictment of an embarrassing footnote in Korean history, and a high-octane action blockbuster. This split personality — political treatise/money maker —...
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Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War (2004) Movie Review
“Taegukgi” is the big-budget South Korean war film everyone has been waiting for, rumored to be the most expensive production in Korean movie history. No big surprise, considering writer/director Je-gyu Kang (“Shiri”) only knows...
Read More »Spin Kick (2004) Movie Review
The Korean action-comedy “Spin Kick” is what you would call a safe bet. It’s highly predictable, formulaic, and there are few people who don’t know how it’ll all end, or even how it’ll get...
Read More »Save the Green Planet! (2003) Movie Review
Despite being a box office flop in its native Korea, “Save the Green Planet” has been enjoying a great deal of success at international film festivals. Apparently the reason behind the film’s initial commercial...
Read More »The Doll Master (2004) Movie Review
“Can you believe this? It’s already been 40 minutes and no one’s dead yet. What kind of a horror film is this?” That was the thought that kept going through my head as I...
Read More »Windstruck (2004) Movie Review
Jae-young Kwak is pretty much king of the Korean romantic comedy, having been responsible for “My Sassy Girl”, the box office smash which revitalized the genre and which is soon to be the subject...
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