Korean Cinema

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Korean Cinema

Postby Steeltemplar » Thu Mar 10, 2005 5:04 pm

Is anyone else here a fan of Korean cinema?

If you haven't tapped into this fantastic source of innovative movies, I highly recommend it. Hollywood's kinda tired these days. If you're interested, you can rent them online at Niche Flix.

Some of my favorites:

Silmido
Taegukgi
My Sassy Girl
Please Teach Me English
Attack the Gas Station
Once Upon a Time in High School: Spirit of Jeet Kune Do
Oldboy
Nowhere to Hide
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Postby Locke » Thu Mar 10, 2005 6:41 pm

I love Korean Movies! Do you watch the dramas as well?

My Sassy Girl Is my all time favorite though xD
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Postby Arnobius » Thu Mar 10, 2005 6:59 pm

I've only seen "Shiri" which wasn't bad. I have to get around to "2009" and saw a few others that looked interesting.
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Postby Joshua Christopher » Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:37 pm

I've seen Whasango(SP).
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Postby ClosetOtaku » Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:44 pm

I would be the first to agree that Korean cinema generally exceeds Hollywood in terms of quality and story line. That's not to say that it's not without its cliches: if I see another story that ends with the hero (or heroine's) beloved die in a hail of bullets, I think I'll scream.

But Hollywood seems to have an obsession with "wrapping things up" in a tidy little bow, sort of the Happily Ever After complex. Movies that don't end on this note in Hollywood are hailed for their innovation. But those movies usually end pretty brutally (any of the David Lynch films come immediately to mind).

I haven't seen too many Korean flicks that are obsessed with this notion (most of the romance stories notwithstanding, where a happy ending is de rigueur). Rather, the Korean story tells of life with its challenges, and when the movie ends, you are left with the impression: life goes on. No happily ever after per se, but not so depressing that you leave the theater (or turn off the TV) and wished you'd spent the last two hours doing something more constructive, like counting paper clips.

I've seen a couple films recently (including Silmido and The President's Barber) which show a great deal of the reflection that the people of South Korea are doing over their 20th century history. Where that will lead is uncertain, but the cinema is having a definite impact on the people's attitudes here.

Glad you liked Silmido, and would encourage anyone interested in a little dose of how South Korea worked back in those days to watch it.
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Postby CDLviking » Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:57 pm

I haven't seen any yet, but one of the Korean seminarians here has a few he wants me to see. I have one right now that I'll probably get around to over the weekend, but I have no idea what it's called because the whole box is in Korean. Apparently it's the director's cut of a romantic comedy, and he says it's really good, and it may have won some awards.
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Postby blkmage » Fri Mar 11, 2005 1:29 pm

I've yet to see a Korean movie, but people at my church keep on talking about My Sassy Girl.
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Postby Joshua Christopher » Fri Mar 11, 2005 8:17 pm

CDLviking wrote:I haven't seen any yet, but one of the Korean seminarians here has a few he wants me to see. I have one right now that I'll probably get around to over the weekend, but I have no idea what it's called because the whole box is in Korean. Apparently it's the director's cut of a romantic comedy, and he says it's really good, and it may have won some awards.


Let's just hope it's not Miike's "Audition", even though that's a Japanese film.
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Postby Steeltemplar » Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:59 am

Impact Alberto wrote:Let's just hope it's not Miike's "Audition", even though that's a Japanese film.

Actually, "Audition" sounded intriguing to me from what I've heard of it.

Locke - which ones would you define as "dramas"?

In general - anyone who is contemplating seeing My Sassy Girl, it could well be one of the greatest romantic comedies ever. I'm a big fan.

Silmido was awesome as well. Extremely moving.
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Postby Mr. SmartyPants » Sat Apr 22, 2006 3:22 am

I hate to gravedig. But yes I like some ^^;; My parents watch a lot of korean damas. So I watch with them sometimes.

I really need to see Oldboy. it's a classic I hear

You may also want to check out the movie "Marathon". It's about an autistic korean boy who wants to run. And its real good drama.
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Postby Puguni » Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:30 pm

[quote="Mr. SmartyPants"]I hate to gravedig. But yes I like some ^^]

My mom was disturbed by Oldboy, but I don't know why.
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Postby Mr. SmartyPants » Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:18 am

Here are some other favorites of mine!
Welcome to Dongmankgol - EXCELLENT Movie. I loved it.
Marathon
Fighter in the Wind

(Steeltemplar, all of them can be found on nicheflicks.com)
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Postby Mr. SmartyPants » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:48 am

Puguni wrote:My mom was disturbed by Oldboy, but I don't know why.

I saw Oldboy today. If you've seen it, you would be very disturbed. (It was quite disturbing, but plotwise excellent) I highly enjoyed it.
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Postby shojoiscool2 » Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:45 pm

I have seen Il Mare which to be honest I hated. It was too slow and hard to understand. But I'm sure that was a fluke, since I adore Korean Dramas so much.

Right now I'm watching Goodbye My Love

I would watch more movies, but Blockbuster doesn't carry many foreign films.
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Postby Ashley » Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:01 am

On a plane ride from Los Angeles to Taipei, Taiwan, I had LOTS of opportunities to watch foreign movies. One of my very favorites though was The Beast and the Beauty; a hilarious romantic comedy that was quite entertaining. I highly recommend!
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Postby Mr. SmartyPants » Thu Aug 17, 2006 12:27 pm

I've never seen The Beast and the Beauty, but it sounds pretty good.

I recently watched A Bittersweet Life, Joint Security Area (my avatar), Funny Movie (action movie parodying all these other movies, including Shiri, Attack the Gas Station, etc) and Sympathy for Mr. Vengence, ALL of them incredibly amazing.
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