Korean News in Brief: August 18 [Mommy Dearest, Big Scene, Let's Live Well, All For Love]

Park Heung-Shik's new film, originally titled '엄마얼굴 예쁘네요' (My Mom's Face is Pretty'), has changed its title to '사랑해, 말순씨' ('I Love You, Mal-Soon'). Some in the Korean media suspect it was a marketing decision taking advantage of one peculiar fact: add 'Soon' to the name of your main character, stamp it on the title... and you've got yourself a success.
The idea comes from the huge popularity of two TV Dramas, MBC's smash hit '내 이름은 김삼순' ('My Name Is Kim Sam-Soon') and the Daily Drama '굳세어라 금순아' ('Be Strong, Geum-Soon'). The former, starring Kim Seon-Ah and Hyun Bin, was seen by over 50% of the country during the last episode, and even became a cultural phenomenon. The Daily Drama is currently enjoying ratings of over 30%, its lead Geum-Soon played by Han Hye-Jin getting rave reviews for being an unique character. Even the new Choi Jin-Shil Drama '장밋빛 인생' ('Rosy Life') is following the trend, with her character named Maeng Soon-Yi. This would be similar to a trend a few years ago that saw one too many films whose English title started with a 'My.'
The film stars Moon So-Ri, Yoon Jin-Seo and famous child actor Lee Jae-Eung (the kid in Memories of Murder, The President's Barber, Spring Time and a million other films), and will be released this October. For some reason, the Cine21 database calls this film '햇빛 쏟아지던 날들' ('The Days When The Sun Shone'), so either the production company changed its mind mid way with the titles... or the marketing theory is correct. Hurrah for 'Soon,' then.

Via Newswire and Yahoo Korea