We talked a little about the upcoming cable action drama 맞짱 (Road Fighter) (a.k.a. Fight Master before I saw the International title on the script) over the last few weeks, and with their first episode broadcasting next Friday, tvN aired a documentary yesterday night about the show. Usually, drama specials aired before the first episode are an annoying mix of spoilers, obnoxious MCs stinking up the program with their “funny” comments, and a few largely useless interviews with the cast, repeating the same “polite interviewee 101” canon over and over. Perhaps a sign of good things to come starting next Friday, this was completely different. The show, narrated by Eom Tae-Woong and refreshingly “real,” was essentially about Yoo Gun and Baek Do-Bin (who happens to be Baek Yoon-Shik’s son, and shows tremendous screen presence already) training for the drama, which highlighted one important point.

There’s a big difference between what you’d learn at the Seoul Action School with Jung Doo-Hong and his alumni. That is, the training might be just as hard, but all you’re doing is learning techniques which look good on the screen, be it Jung’s more realistic style, or flashier action. But here what they’re learning is straightforward martial arts, including ground technique and striking. The drama looks to be of the gritty kind ("Road" Fighter should tell you something already), a sort of Fight Club meets 짝패 (The City of Violence), so the fact director Park Jung-Woo is stressing so much the importance of realism in this kind of setting can only raise expectations. Well, all we have to do is wait for next week. We’ll keep talking about this in the coming weeks, and hopefully the show will make its way to DVD, since it’s produced by CJ Media after all.

The clip below the break shows Eom Tae-Woong and Denis Kang shooting what looks to be a flashback fight, along with a few shots from the show, which looks quite good on the visuals as well.

Continue Reading "Eom Tae-Woong Gets Bloody for 맞짱 (Road Fighter)"...

It’s no secret that history, that dialogue between past and present, can often teach us about the future, particularly when it comes to culture. But whereas memories can last a lifetime, film preservation is not always helping, particularly in Asia. This, too, comes down to culture after all. Efforts to restore and remaster the Shaw Brothers and Cathay archives gave new vigor to Hong Kong and Chinese film history, as it was like finding the diary of one’s grandmother, dirtied by dust and burned here and there, but still as energetic and vibrant as the day it was written. Watching 1950s HK musicals looking as good as films released before the digital era is such a joy, one can’t help but envy this kind of gift Hong Kong bestowed upon itself. Envy because, if you look at Korean cinema history, or better the history of film preservation, you’re not going to leave with a smile on your face. Going through the colonial period, the division, and finally the war in a few decades’ time pretty much sealed the fate of anything done before 1955, but you can’t only blame those vicissitudes for this state.

A recent study by the government indicates that, out of the 5,901 Korean films produced between 1919 and the 2000’s a stunning 2,039 prints are lost and/or missing. That’s roughly 35%, although one needs to explore details to see how bad the situation really is. Not a single film out of the 68 shot between the late 1910’s and late 1920’s remains, including Korea’s first ever film 의리적 구토 (Fight for Justice), and Na Un-Gyu’s landmark 아리랑 (Arirang). Only 7% (five films) survive from the 30’s, 15% (14) from the 40’s, and 16% (50) from the 50’s, putting the average of pre-war Chungmuro films properly preserved to a dismal 12%. Thankfully the efforts of the KOFA to unravel more titles from overseas collections and other venues brought back 13 films in 2006, 16 in 2007, and this year they found Korea’s first ever animation, the Shin brother’s 홍길동 (Hong Gil Dong). Still, we’re not only dealing with bad news. KOFA has been releasing half a dozen films on DVD per year since 2006, with some truly timeless gems, and the very rare option of English subtitles on the often interesting (sometimes more than the film itself) extra features, along with translated booklets. Their upcoming boxset might be the most interesting yet.

On October 24, KOFA will release a DVD collection of three films from the 30’s, which were discovered last year. We’re dealing with Yang Ju-Nam’s 1936 film 미몽 (Sweet Dream), Seo Gwang-Je’s 군용열차 (Military Train) from 1938, and finally Ahn Cheol-Young’s 어화 (Fisherman’s Fire) from 1939. These were all shot during the colonial period, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of nuances emerge. And the best news? A digital restoration of Kim Ki-Young’s classic 하녀 (The Housemaid) coming to DVD shelves is not too far off.

[JoyNews]

Who knows, maybe 싸이보그지만 괜찮아 (I’m a Cyborg, but That’s OK) could be the quiet before the storm. Another storm like the revenge trilogy?

Mind you, I did enjoy the film, but just like 놈놈놈 (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) it felt somewhat… minor? Particularly minor when you consider what Park Chan-Wook and Bong Joon-Ho are waiting to unleash upon us for 2010, but also what Park just completed shooting, his “priest-turns-vampire” requiem 박쥐 (Thirst). Production has been quite secretive as always with Park’s films, but they at least had the courtesy to tell us the shoot is finally over, and the film will now go through several months of post-production before next year’s release. After completing the location shoot in Australia last month, Park and his stars Song Kang-Ho, Kim Ok-Bin, Shin Ha-Gyun and Kim Hae-Sook wrapped up the Korean shoot last October 9, after five intense months of… well, whatever they didn’t tell us zilch about.

So, more or less, we’re dealing with Sang-Hyeon (Song Kang-Ho), a very respected priest who furtively heads to Africa (apparently, the spot is in the middle of the desert. Yum. Visuals galore) for an interesting experiment he supports. The idea is creating a miraculous vaccine if they succeed, but after he is victim of a very dubious transfusion, things start to change a little. Like, he doesn’t enjoy liver with Chianti anymore, for instance. And his friend’s wife is starting to to make him rethink his vows, with quite the catastrophic repercussions. Meow. Song commented this “was an incredible challenge for [him] as an actor, and just getting the opportunity to do this made him happy.” Park went for his usual lovely boldness, and said “at least of the films I’ve shot, I have the feeling it might be the best.” That’s a pretty important list of contenders to deal with.

Film will be co-produced by Hollywood majors UIP and Focus Features as we previously reported, and release is set for the first half of 2009. Park recently commented he receives scripts from Hollywood at a rate of about one per week, and although he hasn’t seen anything that truly interests him so far, he might be tempted to cross over if the project is right.

[Star News] [Naver]

Ohh… boy. This sounds way too crazy for words, so we’re just treating it as an informed (?) rumor until there’s further confirmation. There were similar musings a few days ago regarding 진시황 프로젝트 (The Qin Shi Huang Project), using a Chinese tabloid as the source for the apparent casting of Tang Wei and Jang Dong-Gun in the leading roles, but since they were still treating Luc Besson as someone working on this (and you know how high on the BS meter that was) I ended up ignoring it all. Sure enough, a day later Jang Dong-Gun denied any involvement with the film, saying he just received the script.

Now, shall we carefully try it again? Lee Man-Hee’s 만추 (Full Autumn), starring Shin Sung-Il and Moon Jung-Sook, is not only one of the very best Korean films of the 60s, but also one which enjoyed quite a few remakes. First it was Saito Koichi in 1970, then master Kim Ki-Young in 1975, and finally Kim Su-Yong in 1982, so we’re dealing with the fourth remake of the masterpiece. Since we have Korea and Japan on the list, how about the Chinese side? The fifth “installment” of Full Autumn is in fact supposed to be helmed by 墨攻 (A Battle of Wits)‘s Jacob Cheung, in a Korea-China coproduction. Sources reveal the producers, who have been preparing this remake since the Fall of 2006, are very close to signing Tang Wei of 色, 戒 (Lust, Caution) and Lee Joon-Gi of 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown) as the leads, with the final ink on paper expected to come within the end of the week. Young Lee is one of the rising stars in Asia, after striking it big with Lee Joon-Ik’s clowns, and then starring in the badass TV action noir 개와 늑대의 시간 (Time Between Dog & Wolf) and the fusion sageuk 일지매 (Iljimae), and Tang should be pretty familiar to most film fans by now.

If they can get the feel of the original right, this could be really a killer melodrama, and with that kind of cast, a huge hit at least in Asia. Now we can only hope it won’t join the ranks of tabloid bullshit art.

[DongA]

And.... we’re back. While you will find most important trailers for Korean films posted on the main page and through the Twitch Video Player, what you can find here is a list of all the Korean films playing in theaters, along with those still in production. We can’t obviously be as comprehensive as Film Databases in Korea because of size limit. But basic casting info, trailers, posters, International Sales info will be found for just about everything that moves at 24 frames per second in the Land of the Morning Calm. You can check for small changes every day, but we’ll be back on the main page once per week with the biggest updates.

Major Updates - October 17
순정만화 (Hello Schoolgirl) - Poster
1 New Film Added

Continue Reading "[K-Film Databank] Updated 10/17"...

It must have been quite exciting, Korean Tv in the 1970s. Although you had landmark exceptions like 수사반장 (Inspector Chief), most TV dramas were shot on a sound stage, and broadcast live, as if we were dealing with a play. That might be one of the reasons why so many veteran TV actors are so good when it comes to reaction acting, after all those years of training on the spot. But the TV landscape of the 1970s is peculiarly resembling today’s TV circus in Korea, the “생방 (live broadcast)” shoot syndrome one of its most sinister symptoms.

Although the situation varies from country to country, you usually see a TV production secure funding and go through casting (or viceversa), complete its shoot or at least the vast majority of it, and then broadcast. But in Korea, where a drama can go belly up just because it fails to enter a broadcaster’s lineup, timing is everything. Projects might take even a couple of months to get the green light, but always wait in standby, until the timeslot has been secured, after which shooting starts. This means most miniseries only shoot between 4 and 8 episodes before broadcast starts, and that’s where problems begin. Shooting fast and editing even quicker is not really the problem (Koreans doing rather well by now): the issue is the script. With so much attention paid to ratings, the idea of starting with a completed script (or something to that extent) is only something the greats can do, think a Jung Ha-Yeon or Noh Hee-Kyung. The rest, even the talented ones, end up facing the nightmare of 쪽대본 (paper scripts) sooner or later. That is, scripts written on the fly, sent to the shooting location via fax or e-mail, trying to stick to the original synopsis yes, but often adapted to various production issues, such as the need to bloat every episode up to a ridiculous 70 to 80 minutes (the current trend, but some are even touching the 90 minutes), just to take full advantage of ad revenue. Which, in turns, hurts both the acting and the drama itself.

Continue Reading "Moon Geun-Young Injured, 바람의 화원 (Painter of the Wind) Shoot Halted"...

Can’t actually believe what I’m saying, but… mama, can’t wait for this. A “pure action” drama. On cable?!

We talked a little about Korean cable TV in the last few weeks, usually on the tone of “a horny teenager’s paradise,” but sometimes they actually get it right. Although season 2 of 별순검 (Chosun Police) had an extremely disappointing start, tvN’s 맞짱 (Road Fighter) actually looks better and better. I just wish they’d give us something more than 30 second teasers. Anyhow, official website is open, and we have a few details, along with the bone-crunching teaser you’ll find below the break. First, other than Denis Kang, another legit fighter (Choi Mu-Bae who once fought for PRIDE) is joining the show, although only as a cameo. And the cast really isn’t too bad, with veterans like Kang Sung-Jin, Jo Deok-Hyeon and Jang Hang-Seon completing the roster. The story seems to indeed focus on fighting and not just trendy drama tropes with a few punches thrown in. But I save the best news for last: I thought it wouldn’t be him, although I did leave the possibility open, but the Park Jung-Woo who wrote and directed this is indeed Chungmuro’s Park Jung-Woo, writer of many of Kim Sang-Jin’s films—주유소 습격사건 (Attack the Gas Station), 신라의 달밤 (Kick the Moon)—some really glorious flicks like 라이터를 켜라 (Breakout), and even his own films, like 바람의 전설 (Dance with the Wind) and 쏜다 (Big Bang). Definitely another reason to watch.

Story goes something like this: Kang Geon (Yoo Gun) sees by chance a colleague from his office, who looked to be everything but “energetic,” squaring off in the ring of an underground fight club, where he’s actually known as the best. Kang joins the club and starts training to fight, when a particularly sinister fighter injures someone close to him, and it’s… well, guess what? Revenge. Oh oh… sounds like the kind of post-it synopsis that would make for a great 80s action flick. And this is starting in two weeks. Not a bad way to start the fall season.

Continue Reading "Some More Action From 맞짱 (Road Fighter)"...

They called her “dynamite,” and maybe it wasn’t such a bad pun on her career, after all. It was originally borne out of her tendency to, so to speak, see schedules as nothing more than strange symbols on her daily planner, something like the “art” you draw on a post-it when on the phone, and a “call Bubba 8282” becomes some kind of bizarro world version of a Picasso. She grabbed the limelight with the pathos of a raging lioness, sometimes with so much energy shows were halted mid-flight (fellow singer Kim Serena knows it all too well, when in 1971 she spent a few famous minutes on the stage floor with her trying to experiment the limits of hair pulling). Infamously enough, she was the first artist to ever be banned from singing by the Korean Singers Committee for an impressive three months, during which rumors started spreading wildly, in the kind of fashion which would make today’s tabloid vultures look like zombies with no creativity. Except, well, they already are.

A particularly crazy one painted her as a possible North Korean spy, because she kept moving every few months, one of the tricks used by spies to elude controls. She was one of the sexiest women to ever grace the Korean musical stage, enough that folk rock legend Shin Joong-Hyeon went crazy for her voice right from the beginning, and wrote most of her successes. She had it all: voice, stage theatrics and the right look to make it big. One of her major hits was 1970’s 님은 먼 곳에 (My Dear is Far Away), which became the title of a popular TBC drama from the same year. But now Kim Chu-Ja’s great vocal talents have found a new, peculiar dimension, in Lee Joon-Ik’s latest 님은 먼 곳에 (Sunny), titled (in Korean at least) after her biggest hit. Ahh… I love the smell of Korean folk rock in the morning.

Continue Reading "[K-FILM REVIEWS] 님은 먼 곳에 (Sunny)"...

Somewhere, King Jeongjo must be grinning at all this, with one of those “I told you” looks on his face.

Unfairly neglected by historians for decades, merely considered a by-product of Yeongjo’s relationship with his father Prince Sado, and the chimera of “fair and balanced” politics the Tangpyeong policy brought, Jeongjo has become Korean culture’s new darling, particularly when it comes to novels (Kim Tak-Hwan’s historical crime bestsellers being the best example), dramas, and now even films. Jeongjo’s reign gave us last year’s masterpiece 한성별곡-正 (Conspiracy in the Court), the badass political sageuk 8일 (Eight Days), and now even the wonderful 바람의 화원 (Painter of the Wind). This last one is of particular note, because it highlights another one of Korean entertainment’s new obsessions: painting. Or better, Kim Hong-Do and Shin Yoon-Bok, two of Joseon’s great painters. Not only we have Painter of the Wind, but Hwang Jung-Min will star in 샤라쿠 (Sharaku), based on a (honestly? Insane) conjecture by a few Korean historians that Kim Hong-Do, when he went to Japan, might have in fact “disguised” himself as the godfather of Japanese woodblock printing, Sharaku Tōshūsai. Then there’s this one, Jeon Yoon-Soo’s 미인도 (Portrait of a Beauty).

The story is essentially the same as Painter of the Wind: Shin Yoon-Bok (Kim Min-Sun) is a a woman disguising herself as a man to enter the Dohwaseo (Royal Bureau of Painting), where she meets the great painter Kim Hong-Do, and chaos ensues (love, scheming, politics… all the ingredients of a sageuk). Details are likely to be a little different, and of course this will be a lot more “mature” (perhaps in more than one sense) than the drama. And, most importantly, the trailer is a beauty. Kim Min-Sun is a strangely underrated actress, who’s just getting better and better, and this might finally be her chance to enjoy some stardom. Can’t say I enjoyed any of director Jeon’s films - particularly the mess he made with Heo Young-Man’s manhwa in 식객 (Le Grand Chef), not to mention putrid pap like 파랑주의보 (My Girl & I). But this has different vibes already. Release is set for early November, and you can find the trailer below the break.

Continue Reading "Sex, Lies and Brushes in 미인도 (Portrait of a Beauty)"...

Ahh.... don’t you love those marketing types? I still remember the mess they did with 지구를 지켜라! (Save the Green Planet).

Of course in today’s Chungmuro, where despite top notch casts productions have to go through “delays”—last in line 29년 (29 Years)—just because they lack what investors consider a killer ap, marketing can become everything, particularly when you’re spending 2-3 billion won on it. A look at the trailer for Yeo Gyun-Dong’s upcoming comic sageuk 1724 기방난동사건 (Disturbance in Her Barroom), and many people would be positively stoked: forget for a moment we get Hollywoodian baritones to start the dances, but this thing looks and sounds quite okay. Except… you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. This makes the film look like a badass actioner with a few quirky bits, whereas what we’re more likely to get is a silly comic sageuk with a touch of action. Think 快刀 홍길동 (Hong Gil Dong) on crack. Or, well, even more crack.

Whatever the trailer suggests, this is a peculiar project. Director Yeo Gyun-Dong is known for everything but bombastic period productions. He started with a bang in the early to mid 90s, directing the insane (and quite good) 세상 밖으로 (Out to the World), and starring in Jang Sun-Woo’s controversial 너에게 나를 보낸다 (To You From Me). Can’t say I enjoyed anything he’s done since his debut, particularly the pseudo-arthouse sensibilities of 미인 (La Belle), which is a glorified skin flick with a few airy platitudes thrown in. His last work, the “Goodbye Lenin meets Jopok comedy” vibes of 비단구두 (Silk Shoes), went through immense funding and “internal” problems, and ended up releasing to little fanfare. This, though, might be worth a look. Lee Jung-Jae’s comic talent is quite underrated, and Kim Ok-Bin—still shooting Park Chan-Wook’s 박쥐 (Thirst)—is likely to become “the next big thing,” at least after Park’s film hits theaters. Film releases this November, and you can find the teaser below the break.

Continue Reading "First Look at Period Comedy 1724 기방난동사건 (Disturbance in Her Barroom)"...

It always gives you strange vibes to hear “Once Upon a Time” attached to any project, just for the simple reason everyone and their dog used it in the last forty years. Korea already tried it once this year, with Jung Yong-Gi’s rather insipid 원스 어폰 어 타임 (Once Upon a Time), but they’re at it again. Yet, something tells me Bae Hyung-Joon’s 소년은 울지 않는다 (Once Upon a Time in Seoul) might actually work. Bae has a past as assistant director during the 90s, and his debut—the hilarious comedy 그녀를 믿지마세요 (Too Beautiful To Lie)—was a success at the box office. But he turns the page with this film, about two friends in the chaos of the immediate postwar in 1953.

We’ve had many Korean films about the war itself, many of which pumped on the melodrama like a 40s tearjerker. But how about the time when hostilities were suspended, and Koreans found Seoul ravaged by ruins, and virtual anarchism on the streets? One of the few dramas to deal with this was Jung Ha-Yeon’s glorious 명동백작 (The Count of Myeongdong), but it mostly focused on the renaissance of Korean culture. This film sounds a little more violent and pungent, as its adapted from Kitakata Kenzo’s 傷痕 (Scars), which told the story of two Japanese boys in the immediate WWII postwar. Han Ji-Hoon and Kim Sang-Don of 태극기 휘날리며 (Tageukgi) worked on the adaptation for two years, and although it does seem to be a little melodramatic, there’s a few details we should pay attention to: action is by Shin Jae-Myeong of 비열한 거리 (A Dirty Carnival) and 말죽거리 잔혹사 (Once Upon a Time in High School), even better than Jung Doo-Hong when it comes to just straight up brutal “human dog fights;” another is certainly the cast. I’m not convinced Lee Wan (brother of Kim Tae-Hee) has much in the way of acting talent, but I’ll be very happy if he proves me wrong here. Yet, the rest of the cast is impressive: the other lead is Song Chang-Ui, who’s doing a marvelous job in 신의 저울 (The Scales of Providence), and the promising Park Grina of 마왕 (The Devil) also joins in. Top notch supporting cast includes Lee Gi-Young, Ahn Gil-Gang, Jung Kyung-Ho and more. Film opens on November 6, and you can see the trailer below the break.

Continue Reading "Postwar Korea Returns with 소년은 울지 않는다 (Once Upon a Time in Seoul)"...

For a while—a little too long for my liking—it seemed like Bae Doo-Na was simply content going around shooting photos (her most “acclaimed” hobby, so to speak), and appearing on various magazines here and there. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think she’s made the best career choices after her work in the lovely リンダリンダリンダ (Linda Linda Linda) and Bong Joon-Ho’s 괴물 (The Host). Both her more recent TV drama appearances were a misfire, first in the pretty but hilariously uneven cable drama 썸데이 (Someday), and then in last year’s rom-com 완벽한 이웃을 만나는 법 (The Perfect Neighbors). Bae was certainly fine, in spite of the material. But she was also wasting her immense talent on work that never posed any challenge to her. But, this one? Might be a tad different.

His latest film 歩いても 歩いても (Still Walking) is currently screening at the PIFF in Busan, but Koreeda Hirokazu is certainly not wasting any time, as he already cast Bae as the lead of his next project. The news comes from a festival daily by the Hollywood Reporter and Korean mag Cine21, in which Koreeda announced Bae will star in his upcoming fantasy melodrama, still without a title. The premise is already a jackpot: the film is about a (humanoid?) creature who learns to speak after earning herself a nice little heart, which she uses for the most obvious of endeavors, falling in love. The two have professed their respect and admiration for each other, and look to be quite a fine fit for this kind of film. Principal photography will start in December, after the male lead is cast.

[Cine21]

一勤天下無難事, nothing in the world is difficult if you work hard enough for it.

It’s the motto of the (in)famous Jung Mong-Gu, chairman of the Hyundai Motors empire, also known as the company whose popularity is inversely proportional to the amount of people who can spell its name properly. Strangely, every time I hear that, it ends up reminding me of a tiny little concept which ruled East Asian history for over two millennia. Whether one should call it tianxia, cheonha, tenka or thiên hạ is up to personal taste and cultural upbringing (as long as you know where it originated), but the end result is always the same: all under heaven. These days “rulers” can be considered capable if they can handle their cabinet, but… oh oh, back in the glory days, it was different. They were the sons of heaven, that entity which bestowed a mandate upon them to rule over the masses. Or, well, the civilized world anyway, meaning everyone who nodded in respect and obeisance, lest they’d be labeled with a fearsome “barbarian” moniker. It wasn’t a bad idea after all, what the Duke of Zhou used to convince the remnants of the conquered Shang dynasty that it all happened for a reason, and that the Zhou’s newfound rule was blessed by the gods. It took Mencius’ prose to make it a full fledged phenomenon, but the 天命 (mandate of heaven) is what ruled most Chinese dynasties between 1122 BC and the zenith of the Qing dynasty.

Continue Reading "[SAGEUK WORLD] 바람의 나라 (Kingdom of the Wind) - Ep 1~8"...

Now, when you put “Korean cable Tv” and “action” in the same sentence, it usually means it’s the kind of action that involves reclining seats and mile high clubs. Despite having a relatively long history, Korean cable TV still fails to show any redeeming value, or anything which doesn’t involve pushing the boundaries of the amount of sex that can be shown on TV. Most cable TV dramas take any genre (comedy, melodrama, horror), stamp a “fusion” label on it, and conveniently disrobe their young, attractive (and mostly unknown) dames before the commercial break kills the youngsters’ bold impetus. Ahem. Right.

That is not to say the history of cable has been completely devoid of quality. Channel CGV’s 정조암살미스터리 - 8일 (Eight Days), a mystery sageuk by film director Park Jong-Won, is one of the best things the genre has given us in the last five years, incredibly daring with history while at the same time respecting the basics, and just a badass production. MBC Dramanet’s “CSI in Joseon” series 별순검 (Chosun Police), which restarts this weekend with season 2, is a very energetic and interesting series, and there’s the occasional spot of sanity on other channels too. But recent news about tvN’s upcoming action drama 맞짱 (Road Fighter) are worth digging into. Written and directed by Park Jung-Woo (not likely to be the comedy writer/director from Chungmuro, but you never know), this is being promoted as a “100% pure real action drama,” perhaps a sort of 스페어 (Spare) for TV consumption. That means Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Boxing, Judo, Wrestling on cable, starting from October 24 for eight weeks. Yum. Sold.

Stars Yoo Gun and Lee Jong-Soo underwent six month of action training for the show, which also stars Kang Sung-Jin, Baek Do-Bin and Lee Young-Jin. But I leave the tasty bit for last: MMA star Denis Kang and even Eom Tae-Woong will also star in the show, although it’s probably just as glorified cameos (우정출연 sometimes just means “the director introduced my current dentist to me, so I’m starring for 15 minutes without pay to repay the kindness. Ha"). The two teaser trailers below the break are ridiculously teasing, but, hey. This sounds quite fun. We’ll keep you posted.

Continue Reading "It’s Real Action on Cable with 맞짱 (Road Fighter)"...

Sad, sad day for Korean entertainment.

The very talented Choi Jin-Shil (40) was found dead today in her house in Seoul, police treating this as suicide. Choi was recently involved in a pretty touchy situation—mostly handled by the Korean press in bulldozer fashion as they always do—after the death of fellow entertainer Ahn Jae-Hwan, who took his life a few weeks ago in similar fashion. Don’t really feel like getting into details, but let’s just say Choi and Ahn’s wife, TV mainstay Jung Seon-Hee, were close friends, and apparently lending money to a friend makes you a loan shark. Just a look at the various news that are popping up all over the various portals, and we get frankly what are some way too cruel details on the seconds and hours leading to the tragedy. Choi had a hard but successful comeback into the business after her divorce with baseball player Jo Sung-Min, and is survived by her two young daughters.

It’s no secret that, despite her dubious choice of projects, I always liked Choi as an actress. She starred in some of the most enjoyable films and dramas of the 90s, like the ridiculously fun family drama 장미와 콩나물 (Roses & Beansprouts), or what’s still the best portrayal of the IMF crisis starting from the grass roots, 그대 그리고 나 (You and I). Choi, who started with a small role in the 1988 sageuk 한중록 (The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyeong), mixed very breezy work on TV—the first ever Korean trendy drama, 질투 (Jealousy) in 1992, with an eclectic choice of films, such as Lee Myung-Se’s 나의 사랑 나의 신부 (My Love, My Bride) or Jung Ji-Young’s fantastic 남부군 (Partisans of South Korea). She rarely strayed off the mainstream, but was always a really solid performer, even when the material wasn’t much to write home about, like her last drama 내 생애 마지막 스캔들 (The Last Scandal of My Life)—a title which suddenly makes you sad, all considered.

It’s really horrible writing these things, so I’ll just stop. All I can say is, thank you for everything, and you shall be missed. Rest in peace.

[Naver]