I think we've had an Asian DVD thread but nothing specific to Korea. Basically I'm a huge fan of the limited amount of Korean movies I've seen (Vengeance Trilogy, Spring Summer Fall Winter And Spring, I'm a Cyborg But That's OK, Save the Green Planet, The Host) and would like to buy some more such as:
Public Enemy
A Tale Of Two Sisters
Joint Security Area
Shiri
Volcano High
Chunhyang
Addicted
Oasis
Chi-hwa-seon
Green Chair
Failan
3-Iron
What are your thoughts on these or any other Korean movies? Or we can discuss how phenomenal Oldboy is if you prefer....
Volcano high - unless you really really like live action anime, don' t waste your time
JSA - Park didn't have the style down exactly yet, but as far as pure drama goes this might be his best
Shiri - wow, haven't heard anyone mention this in like 6 or 7 years, I think this was actually the one that got genre nerds to notice Korean in the first place. Very good action movie
You got a bunch Kik-duk movies up there, I keep meaning to check this dude out
I'm a big fan of a young director named Seung-wan Ryoo, who's made a couple of things worth mentioning in the drama/crime/action department. As follows:
Crying Fist - really good boxing drama, with emphasis on drama. I got to say the boxing scenes were some of my favorite ever, they really did a good job of staging them to look good on camera without sacrificing much of the impact
No Blood No Tears - kinda like Lock Stock/Snatch with a slightly feminist twist as the main characters are female. Multiple plot lines weaved together with a lot of plot twists and double crosses surrounding some gangsters and a bag of money. Fun, fast paced flick
Arahan - like kung fu hustle but with less comedy and more kung fu. Some exceptional fighting
City Of Violence- an homage to old school revenge movies, less self consious about it than Kill Bill. Not too impressive at first but somehow really gets under your skin.
MGP made a thread a while back about Attack the Gas Station, which i guess has a lot more going for it if you're familiar with a the current political and social climate of the country. I'm not well versed on it, so I thought it was just ok
A nice minor effort you might want to check out is President's Last Bang (rent, not buy). A very nice dark satire based on a true story, but not something you'll yearn to watch repeatedly
First person to extol the virtues of Bittersweet Life gets banned with a copy of The Killer in the mail as a consolation prize
A bittersweet life is still worth checking though not as good as a tale of two sisters which I believe is yet another Asian film about to receive the Hollywood treatment.
Something that has not been mentioned and should is Memories of Murder.
Welcome to Dongmakgol -- Set during the Korean War. Shows the interaction between the North, South and Americans. The style of the movie was unlike anything I'd seen before. Overly dramatic and surreal, but I liked it.
Taeguki -- set during the beginning of the war. Mostly about the relationship between two brothers who are separated and forced to fight on opposite sides.
Marathon -- about an autistic kid who runs marathons.
These are all dramas.
I saw the trailer of a movie about a guy who forces his girlfriend to become a prostitute. It looked promising. Anyone know the movie I'm talking about?
Captain Cold Balls wrote:I saw the trailer of a movie about a guy who forces his girlfriend to become a prostitute. It looked promising. Anyone know the movie I'm talking about?
i watch a lot of korean movies.... even the horrible ones. out of that list, tho, id have to say that JSA is my favorite one. i hated Shiri and a few other ones u listed.
also, Taeguki was pretty decent. if anyone wants an amazing site to watch asian movies, go to http://www.crunchyroll.com
the site has SOOO many movies (mostly english-subbed too). go into the 'Drama' section and check out the 'index' from there. if ur looking for strictly korean movies then just do a search on the site for 'kmovie', or japanese movies 'jmovie'... u get the point.
Dango727 wrote:
Captain Cold Balls wrote:I saw the trailer of a movie about a guy who forces his girlfriend to become a prostitute. It looked promising. Anyone know the movie I'm talking about?
Bad Guy
It's gonna be on the Sundance Channel next week.
.... or u can go to the site i just listed and watch it there.
Kim Ki-Duk is great, although some of his films can be very graphic and disturbing in places. 3 Iron is a beautiful film, as is Spring, Summer etc.
I think Memories of Murder is probably my favourite Korean film, it's got humour, a great story (based on a real events) and is beautifully shot and acted with a nice dark undertone.
"If you're gonna be a maniac, pyro's not a good maniac"
Trademark wrote:in all honesty I've slept all over Korean cinema. I watched Old Boy and thought it was decent....haven't really watched anything else..
The rest of that trilogy is playing on Sundance this weekend.
Lady Vengeance is the only one I haven't seen yet.
Trademark wrote:in all honesty I've slept all over Korean cinema. I watched Old Boy and thought it was decent....haven't really watched anything else..
The rest of that trilogy is playing on Sundance this weekend.
Lady Vengeance is the only one I haven't seen yet.
datura wrote:Kim Ki-Duk is great, although some of his films can be very graphic and disturbing in places. 3 Iron is a beautiful film, as is Spring, Summer etc.
I think Memories of Murder is probably my favourite Korean film, it's got humour, a great story (based on a real events) and is beautifully shot and acted with a nice dark undertone.
yeah it thought Memories of Murder was amazing. i definitely recommend that one.
I know a little bit about most film cultures. But I don't know shit about this new wave of Korean and Japanese movies. I do know Old Boy and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance are really good.
cascarrabias wrote:I know a little bit about most film cultures. But I don't know shit about this new wave of Korean and Japanese movies. I do know Old Boy and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance are really good.
aresem wrote:i watch a lot of korean movies.... even the horrible ones. out of that list, tho, id have to say that JSA is my favorite one. i hated Shiri and a few other ones u listed.
also, Taeguki was pretty decent. if anyone wants an amazing site to watch asian movies, go to http://www.crunchyroll.com
the site has SOOO many movies (mostly english-subbed too). go into the 'Drama' section and check out the 'index' from there. if ur looking for strictly korean movies then just do a search on the site for 'kmovie', or japanese movies 'jmovie'... u get the point.
Dango727 wrote:
Captain Cold Balls wrote:I saw the trailer of a movie about a guy who forces his girlfriend to become a prostitute. It looked promising. Anyone know the movie I'm talking about?
Bad Guy
It's gonna be on the Sundance Channel next week.
.... or u can go to the site i just listed and watch it there.
how do you view that shit in fullscreen without paying?
is anybody else totally over the new korean cinema? for some reason, even though I liked a lot of the movies, I just never really cared much and don't care at all at this point
korean fad cinema is not a fad cinema of the hong kong or japan caliber
StormShadow wrote:is anybody else totally over the new korean cinema? for some reason, even though I liked a lot of the movies, I just never really cared much and don't care at all at this point
korean fad cinema is not a fad cinema of the hong kong or japan caliber
i'm with you. i still need to check out ki-duk and that might change things, but for now the only things from korea i'm really interested in are what Park does next since i liked 'cyborg' better than most of the vengeance trilogy and anything ryoo and bong-hoo put together as a director/choreographer team
japan>>>>>>>korea based on what i've seen, and considering how heavily stacked the deck is for japan i doubt i'll ever change my mind on that
You da man piff, i love this one. Definitely check out City of Violence if you liked fighter
left it off cause the thread seemed concentrated more towards drama than asswhooping
nah, asswooping is welcome in this thread. my list was based on a few quick recommendations - i really wasn't trying to limit the discussion. ill be sure to check out the above...
as far as being totally over korea or calling it fad cinema that is pretty amusing to me and seems completely jaded. none of the korean movies i've seen i've enjoyed because they were korean. in general, the time i spend on movies is buying dvds and watching them - not discussing or researching or caring or not caring about an entire regions movies. i'm simply looking to see some good movies im certian i've overlooked and know i've neglected korea as a whole. actually that characterization in general is a bit bothersome to me. is it fad cinema because of the quality of the films being produced or because the reaction they receive by film students at nyu?
I still love the hong kong stuff that was popular in the early 90's so it's not a fad to me and this won't necessarily be a fad to you. but just wait, before long another country will have taken over the popular concensus for 'hot' 'wild' asian film country
but these things go in cycles
since the 90's
first hong kong
then japan
then korea
then thailand
etc
etc
the reason I'm picking on Korea is because it's comparatively snoozy for me
