White Night [Baek Ya Haeng - 2009]

Two children who commit murder in self defense, 14 years later are still followed by the detective having the case, trying to catch them. White Night is based on a story by Japanese writer Higaishino Keigo, who has already had a number of stories adapted for the screen in Japan.

Ae-ja [2009]

Park Aeja (Choi Kang-hee) was known as the Tolstoy of Busan when she was in high school. Dreaming of a career as a professional novelist, she moves to Seoul after graduation. Years later, Aeja is a 29-year-old woman with huge debts and a boyfriend who is cheating on her.

But Aeja remains confident and proud of herself. That is, except in front of her mother, Young-hee (Kim Yeong-ae), who disapproves of her daughters wild and free-spirited life. On her brothers wedding day, Aeja plans revenge on her mother by staging a surprise event that nearly ruins the happy ceremony. Aeja is pleased with the results, but later that day she gets a phone call from the hospital saying her mother has collapsed.

Exhausted [2009]

There is a girl nearby the factories. The man discovers her, feeds her, and makes her a prostitute. A woman appears and becomes very close friend with the girl. However, their friendship does not last long. The girl comes back to the man.

Mother [2009]

director: Joon-ho Bong [Memories of Murder, The Host]

A mother desperately searches for the killer that framed her son for their horrific murder.

Members of the funeral [Jang-rae-sig-ui member - 2008]

The history of a dysfunctional Korean family is revealed as they attend a funeral.

My home [Why Did You Come to My House - 2009]

Castaway on the moon [Wandering Mr. Kim"]

Tokyo! [2008]

In TOKYO!, three visionary directors (Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho) come together for an omnibus triptych examining the nature of one unforgettable city as its shaped by the disparate people who live, work (and run amok) inside an enormous, constantly evolving, densely populated Japanese megalopolis — the enchanting and inimitable Tokyo. INTERIOR DESIGN (Michel Gondry).
A young couple tries to set themselves up in Tokyo. The young man's ambition is clear — to become a film director. His girlfriend, far more indecisive, cannot escape the vague feeling that she's losing control of her life. Directionless, both are beginning to go under in this vast city until the young woman, utterly alone, becomes the object of a bizarre transformation... MERDE (Leos Carax)
A mysterious creature spreads panic in the streets of Tokyo by means of his provocative and destructive behavior. This man, dubbed "The Creature of the Sewers" by the media, arouses both passion and repulsion...until the moment he is captured... SHAKING TOKYO (Bong Joon-Ho)
For more than 10 years, he's been a hikikomori. He lives shut up in his apartment, strictly limiting all contact with the outside world to an absolute minimum. When a pizza delivery girl faints in his home during an earthquake, the unthinkable happens — he falls in love. Shortly after, he learns that the girl has in turn become a hikikomori. Will he dare cross the threshold that separates his apartment from the rest of the world?

Rhapsody, psychogeography, urban valentine, freak show, mindwalk and many other things, TOKYO! is a fantasy in three movements that will make you see one of the worlds greatest cities — if not any city — with a new point of view.

In the tradition of such films as NEW YORK STORIES, NIGHT ON EARTH, PARIS JE TAIME and its forthcoming sequel NEW YORK I LOVE YOU, TOKYO! addresses the timeless question of whether we shape cities, or if cities shape us — while in the process, revealing the rich humanity at the heart of modern urban life.

Zitten

짙은 - 곁에 (Early Recording Ver.)

REC70%: S diary [2004]

A cute Korean story about a girl Jini and her memories of first loves. Her mom gave her a diary at coming of age and in the movie she goes through her past boyfriends and reflects on how they've given her memories. The turning point in the movie would be when her conscience (made possible by some pretty funny looking CG creatures) advises her to try and get revenge on her loves until they've learned a lesson. Suddenly the movie takes a turn from cute romance love story to funny petty revenge. Its all in good fun though as most of the tactics she has are harmless and just cute.

REC 75%: No mercy for the rude [2006]

Startling shifts between post-modern comedy and brutal violence mark tyro writer-helmer Park Chulhee’s “No Mercy for the Rude” as an ultra-hip variation on the ever-popular Korean hit man subgenre. Crackerjack pace, absurdist set pieces and an intriguing lead perf by Shin Hakyun as a mute killer-for-hire have helped boost pic to solid local returns since its Aug. 24 opening, and rousing response at the Vancouver festival points to promising offshore returns at fests and upscale markets on both sides of the Pacific. If ever there were a Korean import aimed at Stateside auds and ready for the Tarantino seal-of-approval, this is it.


An early sign of the film’s strategy of unsettling the viewer is how anti-hero Killa (Shin, looking super-cool) narrates his story, even though he has long refused to talk until he gets an operation to fix a severe speech impediment. To pay for the operation, Killa has opted to work as an assassin, but the knife-wielding killer will only do in obnoxious, nasty targets.

REC 75%: What happened last night [2008]

Yoo-jin is a single girl with lots of boyfriends. One morning she wakes up and finds herself in a hotel room with a faint memory of having slept with a man in the previous night. She had a wild party and got drunk to the point where she couldn’t tell whom she was with, so she makes a list of several potential suspects. Cheol-jin was among them, who has been one of her best friends since college, but she’s convinced that it couldn’t be him because he’s too shy for anything like that. So then who else could it be? Still up in the air, she’s lost on the incident and then happens to meet her first love, Seok-kyu to be appalled to find out…

Written [2008]

A wakes up in a tub, realizing one of his kidneys is gone. While A is trying to retrieve his missing kidney, he meets a writer and learns that he is just a character of an unfinished film and he will meet an actor who will play A in the film. In the meantime, staff working on this film also realize the fact that this script is unfinished and start searching the writer’s house for the ending. A, too, busies himself to resolve the issue even though he is an incomplete being from a story. This film is a metaphor painted with intense scenes, describing how to complete a story while a director, a writer, and even a character in the story help each other, even amongst serious tension.



Similar movie as overall thematic: Re-cycle [Korea]

Iri [2007]

Director: Zhang Lu [Chongqing, Desert Dream, Grain in ear]

In China a woman lives an impoverished life with her father who is far from helpful. In the crowded and busy streets of industrial city Chongqing, the story goes on showing those neglected people who have no hope or future. In Korea there had been an explosion 30 years ago at the I-ri station that no one seems to remember. Jinseo- who was born mentally disabled because of the accident and her brother lead a hard existence. The two stories are counterpoints to each other about hardship, struggle, and daily bravery.

Crossing [Keurosing - 2008]

South Korea's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign-Language Film category.

The movie is based on a real story about the life of a North Korean defector and his family. Actor Cha In-pyo starred as a North Korean coal miner who crossed illegally into China to get medicine for his wife. His wife passed away soon after he crossed the border, and he was separated from his 11-year-old son (played by Shin Myung-chul) who was trying to trace him from North Korea. The story shares the hardship of North Korean refugees in the late 1990s, with famine striking the country and killed an estimated 1 million people. The North Koreans couldn’t cross into South Korea directly because of landmines and heavy military presence at the border… these defectors had to cross into China and made a detour to South Korea instead. The Chinese government, an ally of the North Korean regime, does not recognize the defectors as refugees and would send them back to North Korea to face stiff action.

REC 90%: The Chaser [Chugyeogja - 2008]

Few years ago Korean society was shocked by a horrible serial killer mayhem. Dozen of call-girls are disappeared and never returned when they visited unknown customer. The serial killer also murdered innocent old men and women on his loose. After caught of serial killer the revealed fact was beyond one's imagination. He killed girls with hammer, chisel and amputated the victims. Some of them were cannibalized. He mashed victim's liver with food processors and drank it. Now the serial killer is sentenced to death and his existence throw serious questions about execution of death sentenced prisoner to the Korean society. For ten years Korean government never executed prisoners and now UN approved Korea as a No Execution country.

This movie is a product of these social circumstance. Of course any modernized country can have notorious serial killers. But this is most brutal and abominable criminal act as reported to the public.

Another phenomena described in this movie are the inactive police act and ugly politician. Koreans are very disappointed at this and this movie is quite accurately visualized the situation.

[source: Jake Kong from Imdb]

REC 68%: Bad guy [Nabbeun namja - 2001]

Director: Kim Ki-duk [Beautiful, Breath, Time, 3-Iron, Samaritan girl]

Kim Ki-Duk, the award-winning director of THE ISLE and SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER… and SPRING, has created a lurid fable of obsessive love, using a potent mix of dark romance, surrealist technique, and violent action. With BAD GUY, Kim paints a picture of a dark, hauntingly unforgettable neon-lit world, where two unlikely lovers meet on their own lonely street. Bad Guy exposes the virile beauty of pained yet true love, no matter what dark street it may be confined to.

[rottentomatoes.com]

REC 77%: Samaritan girl [Samaria - 2004]

Director: Kim Ki-duk [Beautiful, Breath, Time, 3-Iron, Bad guy]

Two teenage girls, Yeo-jin and Jae-yeong, decide to fund their escape to Europe through prostitution, with the former conducting the business and the latter "entertaining" the clientele. But when Jae-yeong suffers the consequences of their actions, Yeo-jin embarks on a quest to redeem herself by tracking down their former clients one by one to replicate the earlier transactions. But when her father discovers what Yeo-jin has been doing, he snaps and decides to avenge his daughter's innocence. Director Ki-Duk was awarded the Best Director prize at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival.

[rottentomatoes.com]

REC 75%: 3-Iron [Bin-jip - 2004]

Director: Kim Ki-duk [Beautiful, Breath, Time, Samaritan girl, Bad guy]

A young drifter enters strangers' houses - and lives - while owners are away. He spends a night or a day squatting in, repaying their unwitting hospitality by doing laundry or small repairs. His life changes when he runs into a beautiful woman in an affluent mansion who is ready to escape her unhappy, abusive marriage.

REC: 50% Beautiful [Arumdabda - 2008]

Director: Kim Ki-duk [Dream, Breath, Time, 3-Iron, Samaritan girl, Bad guy]

Eun-young is a woman cursed with great beauty. Wherever she goes, she gets unwanted admiration from men and jealousy from women. One day, one of her stalking admirer invades her place.