South Korean Movie Reviews »
Sopyonje (1993) Movie Review
What makes “Sopyonje” stand out is its unflinching look and interpretation of a Korea under assault — not assault from foreign attacks or invaders, but from something just as deadly: cultural imperialism. It is...
Read More »Shiri (1999) Movie Review
“Shiri” has the distinction of being my first South Korean movie ever. The movie gained notoriety as the most expensive movie ever made in South Korean history (this was in 1999) and topped the...
Read More »Chilsu and Mansu (1988) Movie Review
“Chilsu and Mansu” is a familiar movie. Taken in context as a South Korean movie, made at a time when the country itself was going through a tremendous upheaval, the movie might be better...
Read More »Peppermint Candy (2000) Movie Review
First off, let me assure you that I am not spoiling anything by telling you that Yongho, the main character, commits suicide. This takes place in the movie’s first sequence, about 5 minutes into...
Read More »Our Twisted Hero (1992) Movie Review
“Our Twisted Hero” is a terrific movie with perhaps the worst subtitles of all modern cinema. It’s perplexing why the producers/distributors did such a shoddy job with the translation, as such a ridiculously poor...
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Yesterday (2002) Movie Review
“Yesterday” is a flashy and competently put-together South Korean take on futuristic sci-fi. It’s essentially about a group of lab experiments, led by the biggest and baddest lab experiment of them all, coming out...
Read More »R.U. Ready? (2002) Movie Review
“RU. Ready” amounts to an expensive amusement ride, and it’s only exciting while you’re watching it, but will be quickly forgotten soon afterwards. But while you are participating in the ride, the film is...
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Blue (2003) Movie Review
The South Korean movie “Blue” is basically “Top Gun” with scuba gear instead of Tomcats. Depending on how you feel about deep sea diving, this may or may not be a good thing. Like...
Read More »Saulabi (2001) Movie Review
“Saulabi” has all the makings of a TV movie with some added R-rated footage showing gratuitous violence and bloodletting in order to justify a theatrical release. The South Korean film, about Korean expatriates who...
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Libera Me (2000) Movie Review
Despite my original aversion to Firefighter movies, I was sufficiently entertained enough by the Hong Kong Firefighter movie “Lifeline” to seek out other films in the genre. I stumbled across “Libera Me” from South...
Read More »Gingko Bed (1996) Movie Review
It’s uncanny how much Korean director Je-gyu Kang’s career has paralleled that of American director Michael Bay, for better or worst. Kang’s first movie, “Gingko Bed”, is Michael Bay’s “Bad Boys”. It’s dumb, lacks...
Read More »Il Mare (2000) Movie Review
If you thought the idea of actual time travel is fraught with disaster, then you should try your hand at writing a Time Travel movie! The smart filmmakers make the conscious decision to address...
Read More »Ardor (aka Deep Loves, 2002) Movie Review
I wish I could tell you I didn’t know how “Ardor”, a South Korean movie about a wronged wife who herself enters into an affair, would end, but unfortunately I can’t. I had hoped...
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Three (2002) Movie Review
The new Asian anthology movie “Three”, in which 3 directors from 3 different countries craft individual tales unrelated to the other 2, should have been called “One”, and the only writer/director who should have...
Read More »Phone (2002) Movie Review
Byeong-ki Ahn’s “Phone” is another in a long line of “Dark Hair Ghost Story” movies, in which a vengeful female spirit, sporting unnaturally long dark hair and unsightly dark, black eyes appear in the...
Read More »Summer Time (2001) Movie Review
Like many South Korean movies made by baby boomers that lived through the democracy movement of the ’70s and ’80s, “Summer Time” owes its core premise to the Kwangju Incident. History informs us that...
Read More »Marrying the Mafia (2003) Movie Review
Showing their newfound love affair with all things organized crime, South Korea has produced a flurry of mafia-related films in recent years. The movies mostly fall into two categories: straight Gang Melodrama and Action...
Read More »Dream of a Warrior (2001) Movie Review
Let me just say that “Dream of a Warrior”, a South Korea/Hong Kong film, is as unfathomably bad as they come. If there is one saving grace to the Sci-Fi Romance it’s the presence...
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Resurrection of the Little Match Girl (2002) Movie Review
Sun-Woo Jang’s “Resurrection of the Little Match Girl” is one of the most intriguing failures I’ve come across in a long time. It’s about a food deliveryman who, in what can only be described...
Read More »Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) Movie Review
“Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” represents an all-too familiar problem with many South Korean films that I’ve encountered of late: It lacks passion. There is a large contingent of South Korean filmmakers who believes the...
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