Despite efforts to renew itself, ceremony remains lackluster, chaotic

Even If This Love Disappears Tonight (Japan) Opened Nov. 30 Romance Directed by Takahiro Miki The movie, based on the novel by the same title by the Japanese author Misaki Ichijo, tells a story of high school students Toru Kamiya (Shunsuke Michieda) and Maori Hino (Riko Fukumoto) who go on a date despite Maori suffering from a condition in which she loses all memory of the previous day upon ...

The Korean Film Council will hold the Freedom of Expression Film Festival from Friday until Dec. 18, with local independent film theaters screening 20 films that were blacklisted during previous conservative administrations. The existence of the blacklist came to light in 2016. The 20 films include director Park Chan-wook’s “Joint Security Area” (2000), “The Handmaiden” (2016), director Chung Ji...

Following the dire, years-long pandemic-related difficulties, local theaters are hoping the box office records will get a year-end boost with a slew of new releases -- from the much-anticipated James Cameron blockbuster “Avatar: The Way of Water” to South Korea’s first ever musical-to-screen movie “Hero.” Will those films bring back to theaters people who have been streaming Netflix in the comfo...

Oscar-winning film director Bong Joon-ho’s next movie, “Mickey 17,” will hit theaters on March 29, 2024, Warner Bros. Pictures confirmed Tuesday. The movie is based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 sci-fi novel “Mickey7,” which tells the story of Mickey7, an expendable employee who is sent on a dangerous mission to colonize an ice world called Niflheim. “Twilight” series’ Robert Pattinson plays the lead...

Veteran actor's departure follows singer-actor Lee Seung-gi's bolt from agency mired in controversy

The fourth annual Jongno Culture Diversity Film Festival will kick off Thursday to share the meaning and value of diversity through film, according to the Jongno Foundation for Arts & Culture on Monday. Established in 2019, the annual event will take place Dec. 8-20 at Emu Arts Space in Jongno under the slogan “Stories of Yours, Mine and Ours.” Eight films designated as "films of the year" by t...

Netflix confirmed Friday the production of a new documentary film, with the working title, “Yellow Door: Looking for Director Bong’s Unreleased Short Film.” The upcoming film will take the audience on a journey to uncover Bong Joon-ho's first film as told through the stories of others around him during his younger directing days. Prior to the 18-minute short film “White Man” (1994), a film wide...

Men of Plastic (Korea) Opened Nov. 30 Comedy Directed by Lim Jin-sun Born and raised in the posh, affluent Apgujeong-dong in southern Seoul, Dae-guk (Don Lee) is familiar with plastic surgery and skin care shops, as so many are located in Apgujeong-dong. To realize his business idea to start his own plastic surgery clinic, he meets the area’s most renowned plastic surgeon Ji-woo (Jung Kyung-...

Ju Ji-hoon is returning to the screen for the first time in four years with the comedy film, “Gentleman,” alongside his close friend and fellow actor Park Sung-woong who gets to become a different type of villain. “At first, I refused because I have played so many similar bad guy roles before, but it was Ju Ji-hoon who persuaded me to team up for this film, rather than appearing in each other’s ...

The film is directed by Kim Sung-soo, the director behind season 1 of the thriller series “Save Me” (2017) and the action thriller film “Running Wild” (2006). “When I first read the story, I thought about people who are marginalized and unprotected in our society, like Il-woo and Wol-woo. Il-woo has a face of overflowing uncontrollable anger, and (Wol-woo) has that smile of someone who doesn’t w...

Presenting Walt Disney Co.’s first princess again, "Snow White" will get the live-action treatment, starring American actor Rachel Zegler. Israeli model and actor Gal Gadot plays opposite her as the evil queen. Previously untold tales of Simba's father Mufasa are set to be delivered by English actor Aaron Pierre as well. “Snow White” and “Mufasa: The Lion King” will premiere in 2024. Meanwhile...

The lineups for Faces of Relationship and Life by Art, Art by Life present four and three films, respectively. The selection for Faces of Relationship includes the coming-of-age drama “Close,” directed by Lukas Dhont; Ursula Meier’s mother-daughter drama “The Line”; Russian-Belarusian war drama “Persian Lessons,” directed by Vadim Perelman; and American period drama “Call Jane” starring Elizabet...

Actor Lee Jung-jae wins best new director for his directorial debut 'Hunt'

The Night Owl (Korea) Opened Nov. 23 Drama Directed by An Tae-jin Set in the Joseon era (1392-1910), Kyeong-soo (Ryu Jun-yeol) is a day-blind acupuncturist working in the palace. He is unable to see anything during daytime, but, strangely, he can see fine at night. One evening, Kyeong-soo happens to witness the death of Crown Prince Sohyeon. This death leads the prince's father, King Injo (Y...