‘Mother’ star Kim Hye-ja goes back in time

Remember the nameless old lady lost in a mad, trancelike dance against the sunset in Bong Joon-ho's "Mother"? The taut 2009 thriller was one of Bong's earliest masterpieces, way before "Parasite" made him a name the whole world knew. And holding it all together was a tour de force performance from Kim Hye-ja as a widow hell-bent on clearing her intellectually disabled son's name. At home, Kim has been the nation's favorite TV mom for generations. K-drama fans might recognize her from "The Light

2026-10-16 17:03:30:00

Movies in theaters this week

“Street Fighter” (US) Opened Oct. 14 Action Directed by Kitao Sakurai Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken (Noah Centineo) to take on M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) at his martial arts tournament. Based on Capcom’s video game series. “Chiikawa the Movie” (Japan) Opened Sept. 30 Animation/Adventure Directed by Kei Oikawa Chiikawa and friends travel to a remote island to stop a siren terrorizing the locals. Based on Nagano’s manga. "The Assassin(s)" (South Korea) Open

2026-10-16 09:00:00:00

Majid Majidi's 'Midday Meal' wins top prize at Busan film fest

Iranian director Majid Majidi's "Midday Meal" won the top prize at the 31st Busan International Film Festival on Thursday. The film took the Busan Award for best film at the closing ceremony at the Busan Cinema Center, beating out 12 other Asian titles in competition. As the winner, it becomes eligible for submission to next year’s Oscar for best international feature under new Academy rules. Majidi, best known for "Children of Heaven" (1997), made his first visit to Korea for this year's festiv

2026-10-15 21:00:33:00

Busan film fest draws biggest crowds in 11 years amid political storm

The Busan International Film Festival recorded more than 200,000 admissions this year, its highest tally since 2015, organizers said Thursday, as the 31st edition reached its final day. Screenings accounted for 200,043 admissions, according to the festival's final report. Add in talk sessions, stage greetings and other side events, and total attendance climbed to 277,027 — about 40,000 more than last year. The uptick was thanks to a reshuffled schedule, according to festival organizers. For the

2026-10-15 14:39:39:00

Yoo Hae-jin was Korea's favorite everyman. Then came 'The Assassin(s)'

It is not every day that an actor needs police protection over a movie role. Yoo Hae-jin is finding out what that’s like. On Oct. 6, police said they had given the 56-year-old a smartwatch to call for help in an emergency and stepped up patrols near his home. Two days earlier, dozens of protesters had gathered outside his house in northern Seoul. Yoo's offense, as it were, was starring in "The Assassin(s)," a journalism thriller that reimagines the 1974 shooting death of then-first lady Yuk Youn

2026-10-14 17:49:56:00

Old Cold War script, new personal twists at the DMZ

PAJU, Gyeonggi Province — Just an hour's drive north of Seoul, the strip of land that cuts the Korean Peninsula in two is where the Cold War lives on. The 1953 armistice stopped the shooting but never yielded a peace treaty; what it left behind is a roughly 250-kilometer buffer zone of barbed wire and land mines, where soldiers on both sides keep watch around the clock. It's hard to think of a more curious setting for a show built around the obscurantist theorizing of Bruno Latour. The late Fren

2026-10-13 15:22:53:00

Alfonso Cuaron tried to talk his son out of filmmaking

BUSAN — Alfonso Cuaron shared his love of movies with his son. Having him follow in his footsteps was another story. The two-time Oscar-winning auteur of "Gravity" and "Roma" is visiting Busan on his first trip to Korea, with a talk on his career scheduled for later Thursday at the Busan International Film Festival. Next to him was his son Jonas, a fellow filmmaker and longtime collaborator who co-wrote "Gravity" with him. "I kind of discouraged him from studying film or anything related," Cuaro

2026-10-08 17:22:48:00

Fan Bingbing becomes an old man's sexual fantasy in her latest film. She knows it's not for everyone

BUSAN -- "Diary of a Mad Old Man" opens with its stroke-stricken protagonist trying, and failing, to masturbate under his desk. Half-paralyzed at nearly 70, the old man (Lily Franky) pours what's left of his strength into furiously lusting after his daughter-in-law. He sneaks glances at her in the shower, but his true obsession is her feet — specifically, getting to suck her toes. That daughter-in-law is played by Fan Bingbing. And she says she had a blast with the role. "For me, what matters mo

2026-10-08 11:19:17:00

Conservative lawmakers tried to block this movie from screening at a Singapore festival. It didn't work.

The Singapore International Film Festival will open its 37th edition with "The Assassin(s)" as planned, organizers said Wednesday, rebuffing calls from South Korea's conservative People Power Party to drop the political thriller from its opening-night slot. In a statement to Singaporean media, the festival said it was aware of the controversy but stood by its selection. Its programmers chose the film independently, the statement added, on grounds of its artistic merit and contribution to contemp

2026-10-07 18:40:57:00

Maggie Gyllenhaal imagines Marilyn Monroe at 100

BUSAN — A Korean carmaker commissioning a short film about Marilyn Monroe for her 100th birthday feels somewhat out of left field. That, in a nutshell, is "Flesh Impact," a short film made for Hyundai Motor Group's luxury marque Genesis — a key sponsor of the Busan International Film Festival. Writing and directing the project is Maggie Gyllenhaal, the Oscar-nominated actor who has been building a career behind the camera since her 2021 directorial debut, "The Lost Daughter." Having made her fir

2026-10-07 14:46:26:00