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‘I’m a complete coward’

Friday, March 28th, 2008

With the upcoming release of I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Okay on 4 April, director Park Chan-wook talks to the Guardian’s Ryan Gibley about how he can’t stand watching violence…

Read the article on the Guardian Online »

Posted in Directors, Filmmakers, News, South Korea | No Comments »

Chihwaseon

Thursday, March 8th, 2007

A beautiful film by veteran filmmaker Im Kwon-taek with a fine performance by Oldboy’s Choi Min-sik, but suffers from covering far too long a period… (more…)

Posted in Cinema Club – The finest in Asian film, Drama, Films, Korean classics, Reviews, South Korea | No Comments »

Cinema: Hansel & Gretel

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Nominated for Best Film at the 2008 Sitges International Fantasy Film Festival, Yim Phil-Sung’s Hansel And Gretel is a visually stunning and truly affecting fable about the destruction of childhood dreams, the loss of innocence and the power of the imagination to overcome life’s horrors will released by Terracotta Distribution at selected UK cinemas on 16th January 2008.

You can read our review here »

Posted in Calendar, News, Releases, South Korea, UK, _Clips and trailers | No Comments »

Cinema: I’m A Cyborg

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Park Chan-wook’s I’m A Cyborg, But’s It’s Okay is finally on release in the UK.

Read our review of the film here »

Posted in Calendar, News, Releases | No Comments »

Cinema: Thirst

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Korean director Park Chan-wook’s vampire flick Thirst, which won the Jury prize at Cannes Film Festival, will be released in UK cinemas on 16 October by Metrodome in association with Palisades Tartan – the new name for the Tartan label which went out of business July last year .

To coincide with the film’s release, Palisades Tartan has launched a competition offering entrants the chance to win a trip for two to London to attend the UK premiere of Thirst and to have lunch with Park Chan-Wook.

Posted in Calendar, News, Releases, UK | No Comments »

Don’t like what’s happening in the real world? Blame the movies…

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

In the wake of the tragedy at Virgina Tech, all the media can seem to fixate on is the fact that the assailant may have watched Oldboy a few times too many… (more…)

Posted in Editorials, Features | No Comments »

DVD & Blu-ray: Thirst

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Following its hugely successful theatrical release in October, which saw it being hailed as Film of the Week in both Time Out and The Guardian and being awarded Four Star reviews in The Daily Express, Time Out, The Sun, Empire, Total Film and Loaded, Park Chan-wook’s THIRST comes to DVD and Blu-ray on 25th January 2009.

The joint winner of the Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, THIRST sees the director of such acclaimed and varied films as the military thriller “JSA: Joint Security Area”, the comedy romance “I’m A Cyborg” and the standout movie of his “vengeance” trilogy “Oldboy” further emphasising his versatility as a storyteller and a filmmaker by turning his hand to Western horror traditions and taking on the ever-popular vampire genre.

Very loosely based on Emile Zola’s novel “Therese Raquin”, the story concerns a priest who, accidentally cursed with vampirism, is thrown into a whirlpool of moral decline that leads to him into a nightmare world of lust, adultery and murder.

Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho) is a priest who cherishes life; so much so, that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine research project designed to eradicate a deadly virus. When the virus is found to be affecting the priest and threatening his life, a blood transfusion is urgently ordered up for him. However, the blood he receives is unknowingly infected, the result of the transfusion being that Sang-hyun survives the viral attack but now exists as a vampire dependent upon the life blood of others.

Struggling with his newfound carnal desire for this vital fluid, Sang-hyun’s faith is further strained when a childhood friend’s wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), comes to him asking for his help in escaping her tormented life. It’s not long before the former priest is plunged headlong into a world of sensual pleasures, finding himself on intimate terms with the deadliest of the Seven Sins.

Starring Song Kang-ho as Sang-hyun (The Host; The Good, The Bad, The Weird; Lady Vengeance; Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance) and Kim Ok-vin as Tae-ju (Dasepo Naughty Girls; The Accidental Gangster), THIRST is a visceral, thought-provoking and darkly comic exploration of human existence in extreme circumstances from one of the most original and provocative directors working in modern cinema.

THIRST (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£19.99) and Blu-ray (£24.99) by Palisades Tartan on 25th January 2010.

DVD Features
Audio commentary by director Park Chan-wook; Dolby 2.0 and 5.1 and half-rate DTS 5.1 audio options; trailer; UK exclusive interview with Park Chan-wook.

Blu-ray Features
Audio commentary by director Park Chan-wook; Dolby 2.0 and 5.1 and DTS 5.1 audio options; trailer; UK exclusive interview with Park Chan-wook.

Posted in Calendar, News, Releases, UK | No Comments »

DVD: Hansel And Gretel

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Director Yim Phil-Sung’s dark and beautiful adult fairy tale Hansel And Gretel is making it’s way on to DVD. We reviewed it at the end of last year, and if you didn’t make it to the cinematic release we highly recommend you check out this DVD. You can read what we said about it here.

Special features include; ‘Making of’ featurette; interview with production designer, Ryu Seong-hee; teaser trailer.

Hansel And Gretel is released on DVD in the UK by Terracotta Distribution on 6 April.

Posted in Calendar, News, Releases, South Korea, UK | No Comments »

DVD: I’m A Cyborg

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

Park Chan-wook’s I’m A Cyborg is released by Tartan in the UK on 26 May.

Read our review of the film here »

Posted in Calendar, News, Releases, South Korea | No Comments »

I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Okay

Monday, March 31st, 2008

We always knew director Park Chan-wook would do something different after his acclaimed vengeance trilogy (Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, Old Boy, Lady Vengeance) – but were we expecting this? (more…)

Posted in Comedy, Drama, Films, Reviews, South Korea | No Comments »

Lady Vengeance

Friday, June 23rd, 2006

Bound to become a flawed, beautiful classic, Park Chan-wook’s final instalment in his revenge trilogy is a master class in the making… (more…)

Posted in Action / Thrillers, Cinema Club – The finest in Asian film, Films, Korean classics, Reviews, South Korea | No Comments »

LFF: Hansel And Gretel

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

The Brothers Grimm’s infamous fairytale gets a sinister update in Yim Phil-Sung’s second movie… (more…)

Posted in Festivals, Films, Horror, Premieres, Reviews, South Korea | No Comments »

London Korean Film Festival 2009, and DVD/Blu-ray round up

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

This week sees the start of the Barbican’s annual festival focusing on the best of Korean cinema by presenting a brand new batch of box office hits, independent features and animated films from the country. Highlights this year include an exclusive Opening Night Gala Screening of the Director’s Cut of Park Chan-wook’s vampire thriller Thirst (some 10 minutes longer than the theatrical release currently screening), which will be introduced by the director himself, plus a screening of Yang Ik-june’s impressive debut feature, Breathless, followed by a Q&A session with Yang. The London Korean Film Festival 2009 will be held at the Barbican from 5th to 12th November.

» For full details, visit the Barbican website.

For Korean film fans, particularly of Park Chan-wook’s back catalogue, then this week sees the release of several notable films from Palisades Tartan on Blu-ray for the first time, including Sympathy For Mr Vengeance and Lady Vengeance, alongside Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale Of Two Sisters, recently remade as The Uninvited. (Not to be confused with the Korean film of the same name, also recently re-released by Palisades… Oh, don’t get me started!)

There’s also the DVD and Blu-ray release of the live-action version of Blood: The Last Vampire – and don’t forget you can still win a copy of the DVD here! The original animation is also released by Manga on Blu-ray today.

And if you still can’t get enough of Samurai sword slinging gore, then there’s Samurai Princess, from the creators of Tokyo Gore Police. Set in an alternative version of feudal Japan, a pair of human-android hybrids is on the rampage raping, torturing and dismembering young women in the name of “art”. Directed by Kengo Kaji (co-writer of Tokyo Gore Police), featuring special effects produced by director and FX wizard Yoshihiro Mishimura (Tokyo Gore Police, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl) and starring adult video star Aino Kishi.

(…phew! I think that’s it for this week’s releases?)

Posted in Events, Festivals, News, Releases, UK | No Comments »

Oldboy

Wednesday, December 1st, 2004

Director Park Chan-wook’s follow-up to Sympathy for Mr Vengeance is an even better twisted tale of revenge… (more…)

Posted in Action / Thrillers, Cinema Club – The finest in Asian film, Films, Korean classics, Reviews, South Korea | No Comments »

On DVD today: Hansel And Gretel

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Yim Phil-Sung’s captivating take on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Hansel And Gretel, is released today by Terracotta Distribution. Special features include; ‘Making of’ featurette; interview with production designer, Ryu Seong-hee; teaser trailer.

You can read our review here »

Posted in News, Releases, South Korea, UK | No Comments »

Ong Bak 2 and Park Chan-wook’s Thirst UK release date revealed

Friday, July 24th, 2009

According to Launching Films Ong Bak 2, to be retitled Ong Bak: The Beginning (though that makes as much sense as calling it Ong Bak in the first place!) is going to be released in the UK on 16 October by Revolver Entertainment. Bizarrely, that’s the same day Park Chan-wook’s vampire flick Thirst is released by Metrodome, which won the Jury prize at Cannes and stars the brilliant Song Kang-ho (who also appeared in Chan-wook’s JSA, Sympathy For Mr Vengeance and Lady Vengeance). Hmmm, someone thought that through, didn’t they?

Studio Ghibli’s latest, however, Ponyo On The Cliff, directed by the Oscar-winning Hayao Miyazaki, however, still doesn’t have a UK release date, even though Walt Disney are releasing it in the US on 14 August…

Posted in News, Releases, Thailand, UK | No Comments »

Out on DVD today: Love Exposure and Thirst

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Surely, no need to highlight that Park Chan-wook critically acclaimed Thirst gets released by Palisades Tartan on Blu-ray and DVD? Highly enjoyable, funny and intelligent, it’s everything you’d want from a post-modern vampire film but were too afraid you’d end up with Twilight, instead.

Also out today – and sharing a common theme in Catholism – is the four-hour epic Love Exposure, from writer-director Sion Sono (Exte: Hair Extensions). Highly inventive and less of an endurance test than you might expect at that length, to my mind the end result is flawed – not helped by the lack of chemistry between leads Takahiro Nishijima and the delightful Hikari Mitsushima.

Posted in Japan, News, Releases, South Korea | No Comments »

Park Chan-wook: an exclusive interview

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

We catch up with Chan-wook at the UK premiere of his latest film Thirst, and meet the man in person… (more…)

Posted in Directors, Features, Filmmakers, Interviews | No Comments »

Release round-up: Thirst and more…

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Just a quick round-up of some future releases to look forward to:

Of course, the chief one will be Park Chan-wook’s Thirst, coming to DVD and Blu-ray on 25 January 2010, an undoubtedly one of the biggest releases for the newly reborn Palisades Tartan label.

January also sees the release of The Twins Effect and Sniper director Dante Lam’s The Beast Stalker as a two-disc collectors edition. Starring Nicholas Tse (Dragon Tiger Gate; New Police Story; The Medallion) and Jingchu Zhang (Rush Hour 3; Seven Swords), this kinetic crime-thriller gets released on 4 January 2010 by Cine Asia.

There’s also the Ong-Bak styled Thai martial arts film, Fireball, from producer Adirek Watleela (Bang Rajan, Bangkok Dangerous) and director Thanakorn Pongsuwan (Opapatika, The Story Of X-Circle). Fireball is released on DVD and Blu-ray by E1 Entertainment.

Just to remind you that the Tetsuya Nakashima scripted sex comedy Lalo Pipo is on limited release around the UK. Those based in the UK and fully digital (shouldn’t we all be) may be interested to know that Film4 is showing Nakashima’s epic Memories Of Matsuko and (the arguably more impressive) Kamikaze Girls, as well as Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata, so set your PVRs.

Posted in News, Releases, UK | No Comments »

Revealing vengeance: a Q & A with Park Chan-wook

Friday, February 10th, 2006

Vengeance has dominated the work of director Park Chan-wook’s last three films, but it seems his obsession with the subject which has kept audiences on the edge of their seats – with their stomachs churning – is at an end… (more…)

Posted in Directors, Events, Features, Filmmakers, South Korea | No Comments »

The President’s Last Bang

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Based on true events in 1979, director Im Sang-soo’s political satire on the last hours of South Korean President Park Chung-hee is a biting black comedy… (more…)

Posted in Action / Thrillers, Comedy, Drama, Films, Reviews, South Korea | No Comments »

Three… Extremes

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

A solid follow-up to horror anthology Three features segments by Park Chan-wook, Takeshi Miike and Fruit Chan… (more…)

Posted in Films, Hong Kong, Horror, Japan, Reviews, South Korea | No Comments »
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