Most Popular
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Court refuses injunction on medical school expansion
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Why Korean crime stories typically feature nameless, faceless perpetrators
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Debate on 'no-seniors zones' heats up
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Rare mid-May heavy snow warning issued over mountainous areas of Gangwon
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S. Korea, Cambodia forge strategic partnership
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Is NewJeans headed for a long 'break'?
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[KH Explains] Hyundai-backed Motional’s struggles deepen as Tesla eyes August robotaxi debut
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Police raid popera singer Kim Ho-joong's house over hit-and-run suspicions
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Trump may like to 'solve' N. Korean nuclear problem if reelected: ex-official
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New Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office chief vows full-fledged probe into first lady
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Celine and Jesse come again ‘Before Midnight’
Meet Celine and Jesse again, this time in Greece.After its very successful world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in January, the follow-up to the famous “Before Sunrise” (1995) and “Before Sunset” (2004) is finally arriving in theaters in Korea next month. Its well-loved protagonists ― Celine and Jesse, again played by Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke ― are now on a vacation in Greece, talking about all kinds of things including aging, kids and careers.Like its predecessors, the film, titled “Befo
April 28, 2013
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'Iron Man 3' tops box office on weekend
The newly released U.S. blockbuster “Iron Man 3” easily outpaced its rivals to lead the local box office this weekend.“Iron Man 3,” featuring Marvel Comics characters, drew more than 890,000 moviegoers on 1,368 screens nationwide on Saturday alone, according to the Korean Film Council. The film, released on Thursday, is expected to surpass the 2 million mark of total ticket sales on Sunday -- even faster than last year’s box office hit “The Avengers,” which also featured Iron Man series’ hero To
April 28, 2013
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Box Office: Helter Skelter, Welcome to the Punch, A Song for You
Helter SkelterOpening May 2Drama. Thriller. Directed by Ninagawa Mika.The story is based on Kyoko Okazaki’s comic book “Helter Skelter,” published in 2003. Top star Ririko (Erika Sawajiri) has had so many plastic surgeries that every part of her body has been touched up except her eyeballs and nails. As she grows more popular, she becomes more obsessed with her beauty. Ririko becomes the icon of beauty but her reign does not last forever. As the new super rookie gets popular, she becomes preoccu
April 26, 2013
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‘Mud’ is as authentically Southern as today’s cinema gets
The cinema’s leading purveyor of Southern Gothic, Jeff Nichols, hands Matthew McConaughey his latest tour de force turn in “Mud,” a down and dirty if entirely-too-long mythic melodrama in the “Tobacco Road” tradition.Nichols (“Shotgun Stories,” “Take Shelter”) has cooked up an exotic stew that includes obsessive love, a woman unworthy of it, a criminal on the run and a Huck Finn coming of age tale set against a dying way of life in backwaters Arkansas.Ellis (Tye Sheridan, terrific) is a poor kid
April 26, 2013
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‘The Rocket,’ ‘Kill Team’ take up Tribeca honors
NEW YORK (AP) ― The Laos adventure “The Rocket” and the Afghanistan War documentary “The Kill Team” have taken top honors at the Tribeca Film Festival.In an awards ceremony Thursday evening in New York, festival jurors selected Kim Mordaunt’s “The Rocket” for best narrative film. Its 10-year-old star won best actor. The young Sitthiphon Disamoe stars as Aholo, who enters a rocket festival to help save his poverty-stricken family that’s been uprooted for the construction of a dam.Taking best docu
April 26, 2013
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No reluctance to release ‘Fundamentalist’ film
NEW YORK (AP) ― Instead of being concerned about the release of “The Reluctant Fundamentalist’’ so soon after last week’s Boston Marathon bombings, the cast says the film presents an opportunity for understanding.Kiefer Sutherland, known for his terrorist-hunting role on “24,’’ says the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 had a profound effect on him, but he focused on the great loss in this country. He says the new film shows how the attacks had a “ripple effect’’ that resulted in “the things I hate the
April 25, 2013
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N.K. actress to join international film festival
North Korean actress Han Jong-sim will take part in a film festival held in Italy to promote the movie “Comrade Kim Goes Flying,” U.S.-based news outlet Asia Free Radio reported on Wednesday. Han reportedly held a signing event in Beijing on Monday before flying to join the Udine Far East Film Festival, one of the biggest film events in Europe to showcase Asian movies. Han’s participation surprised many, since the visit can be interpreted as the reclusive country’s move to participate in an inte
April 25, 2013
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‘Rust and Bone’ moving and beautiful
French writer-director Jacques Audiard’s acclaimed drama about two utterly unhappy individuals forming an unlikely but genuine relationship arrives in local theaters next month.Based on short stories by Canadian writer Craig Davidson, the movie, “Rust and Bone,” stars Marion Cotillard (“Midnight in Paris,” “The Dark Knight Rises”) as Stephanie, a beautiful, self-assured killer whale trainer who works at a marine park in Antibes, a resort town in southern France. One night she runs into Ali (Matt
April 24, 2013
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Film inspired by true story lacks sensitivity for real-life victim
As director Alfred Hitchcock once said, the act of watching others for voyeuristic pleasure is a “basic human trait.” In the end, the cinematic experience, sitting in the dark hidden and distanced from the events on the screen, is a form of voyeurism. Movie spectatorship is, in late French film theorist Christian Metz’s words, “inherently antisocial”: It offers us the pleasure of looking ― from romance to murder to horror ― knowing the scenes we see cannot look back at us.Director Choi Seung-ho’
April 23, 2013
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Film student wins top prize at annual smartphone film fest
A film school student won the top prize at the third Olleh International Smartphone Film Festival on Sunday for his smartphone-made short “After 24 Months.” Kim Chan-nyeon, who is currently on leave of absence from Dongguk University’s film program, won the competition by creating a work that features a dystopian world where everyone communicates through smart devices. His protagonist is the only human being in the world who tries to make human-to-human eye contact. The 24-year-old also won the
April 22, 2013
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Korean film producers seek success in China
CJ Entertainment’s latest Chinese-language film topped the Chinese box office in the first week of its release, becoming the first-ever Korea-China joint production film to gross 100 million yuan ($16.2 billion) in the country.“A Wedding Invitation,” directed by Korean filmmaker Oh Ki-hwan (“Last Present,” 2001, “Art of Seduction,” 2005), features Chinese stars Eddie Peng and Bai Bah-he as the leads. It tells the story of two former lovers who run into each other after being separated for five y
April 21, 2013
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Udine honors former BIFF director with lifetime achievement award
Kim Dong-ho, the founding director of Busan International Film Festival and its current honorary chief, received a lifetime achievement award at the opening ceremony of Udine Far East Film Festival in Italy on Friday.Kim is considered a pioneering figure in the Korean film history. He was BIFF’s founding director for 15 years, and retired from the position in 2010. Though BIFF started small in 1996, Kim’s well-known leadership and networking skills turned it into the largest film festival in Asi
April 21, 2013
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Film festivals greet spring
Spring is here, and that means the return of three annual film festivals in the country. Green Film Festival, International Women’s Film Festival, and Jeonju International Film Festival are all arriving this season, showcasing films dealing with the environment, women’s issues and social changes worldwide.JIFFThe Jeonju International Film Festival, one of the biggest events for alternative cinema in Korea, kicks off on April 25 with Cannes Golden Palm-winning filmmaker Laurent Cantet’s latest wo
April 19, 2013
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Box Office: A Song for You, Oblivion, Fist of Legend
A Song for YouOpened April 18Comedy. Drama. Music. Directed by Paul Andrew WilliamsShy, grumpy pensioner Arthur (Terence Stamp) gets dragged into an unconventional local choir by his cancer patient wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave). Marion is eager to perform at a choir competition but she dies before the contest, asking her husband and friends to perform for her. After Marion’s death, Arthur is lost in grief but the charismatic choir director Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) persuades him that he can le
April 19, 2013
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A beautiful look at a devastated future
The dystopian thriller “Oblivion” is a breathtaking collage of welcome originality and references to a huge common cultural bank of fantasy images and themes. It’s grandiose in scope and scale, attentive to important details like character and tone, and unafraid to tackle mature themes like love and loss, personal identity and redemption. If there’s a better science-fiction blockbuster this year, I’ll count us lucky.The film stars an intensely focused Tom Cruise as Jack Harper, a futuristic repa
April 19, 2013
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Triumph of ‘Jiseul’ continues
After sweeping international film awards and hitting the 100,000-viewer mark last week, director O Muel’s independent film about the 1948 Jeju Massacre continues to attract audiences, earning additional screenings this week.The film will be opening in 14 more theaters nationwide on Thursday to meet demand, according to the movie’s producer Japary Films. “Jiseul” was initially released on March 21 in 56 theaters. The number of theaters screening the movie increased to 66 on April 11, and by last
April 18, 2013
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Korean film included in Cannes’ shorts competition lineup
A Korean short film is heading to the upcoming Cannes International Film Festival. Director Moon Byoung-gon’s short “Safe” has been included in the lineup of the competition of short films, to vie with eight other filmmakers from around the globe for the prize. More than 3,500 entries were submitted by filmmakers in 132 countries for the section. The 29-year-old studied film at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, and has directed two shorts ― “No More Coffee Break” (2008) and “Finis Operis” (2011). T
April 17, 2013
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Actor Kim Soo-hyun returns to screen as a goofy N.K. spy
The first teaser trailer for the Korean movie “Eunmilhage, Widaehagae (Discreetly, Greatly)" starring Kim Soo-hyun was unveiled on Wednesday.The 30-second trailer showed the hallyu star as a fierce North Korean spy disguised as the town fool, wandering around a neighborhood in Seoul on a great mission.Kim plays the part of Won Ryu-hwan, an elite spy who beat out 20,000 competitors to be dispatched to South Korea with two other colleagues as special agents.The movie tells the story of the three e
April 17, 2013
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Korea promises better working conditions for film workers
From as early as June, domestic film crews will be able to join social insurance policies, and receive a “standardized” payroll and technical training. Companies that do not abide by the guidelines will be banned from releasing their films and will be excluded from government investment, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Tuesday at the signing of the agreement between the Korean Film Council and the Federation of Korean Movie Workers’ Union, and Lotte Entertainment, Show Box, Next
April 16, 2013
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Bae Doo-na stars in new film by Wachowski siblings
South Korean actress Bae Doo-na has joined the cast of Lana and Andy Wachowski’s upcoming sci-fi movie, “Jupiter Ascending.”In an interview with a local magazine, Bae said she was once again starring in the Wachowskis’ film after successfully making it into the Hollywood scene with the siblings’ previous flick “Cloud Atlas.” She said she felt more comfortable working with them this time.The new sci-fi adventure film, written and directed by the Wachoski siblings, features Mila Kunis (“Oz the Gr
April 16, 2013