easternkicks.com » South Korea

Out on DVD today: Breathless

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:00:46 +0000

Yang Ik-june’s Breathless comes to DVD in the UK courtesy of Terracotta Distribution as a two-disc collector’s edition laden with bonus features, many of which are exclusive to this version.

The exhausting list of features includes: an interview with director Yang Ik-june; an interview with actress Kim Kkobbi; behind the scenes at the Rotterdam Film Festival; special Korean Film Industry Preview Screening footage; London Korean Film Festival Q&A at the Barbican Centre; London Press Junket footage; trailers (including Korean, UK and French); and a stills gallery.

This is a superb edition from Terracotta limited to just 2,000 copies. It even includes a collector’s booklet featuring sleeve notes personally written by Yang Ik-june and co-star Kim Kkobbi. Hopefully this will help the film continue to find a wider audience, as it really deserves it.

We interviewed both star and director Yang Ik-June, and his co-star Kim Kkobbi.

Read our full review here »

Exclusive interview: Kim Kkobbi

Andrew Heskins — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:00:35 +0000

We chat to Kim Kkobbi, co-star of Yang Ik-June’s Breathless – out Monday 22 March as a two-disc collector’s edition DVD…

Was this your first trip to London? How are you finding it? Any chance for sightseeing or shopping?
Yes, it was my first time. However, I’m only staying for one day so I couldn’t sightsee. After doing a few interviews, I went shopping and after dinner, partied all night. It was a busy day!

What brings you to the UK this time?
I came to Europe as I was invited to the Dublin International Film Festival so decided to visit London.

When I spoke to Yang Ik-June late last year, he told me that he’d seen you in a short film and you’d blown him away. Originally you’d been up for a different role in the film. Can you tell me how he approached you initially for the role, and how you came to be the lead?
Oh, the Director saw me in a short film which I appear as a secondary school student. He thought I was too young to play Yeon-hue so had intended me to play Sang-hoon’s younger sister’s role. However, when he met me I was older than he thought and felt that I was capable of playing Yeon-hue’s character.

How was it working with Yank Ik-June on his first film as a director? And how does it compare to the other films you’ve worked on?
First of all, Director Yang was originally an actor he knew exactly how to work with actors. How to get the best from actors, how to make actors comfortable. That was what I liked the most. Compared to working with other directors, it was more comfortable and enjoyable. And I learnt a lot – I mean immensely a lot. Through this experience, I feel I have developed a stage further.

The film deals quite frankly with domestic abuse, but according to Yang he was not aware of any message in the film until it was completed and watching it on screen. How did you feel about the subject matter and how he dealt with it.
Hmm… To be honest, I have not experienced domestic abuse so I could not empathise largely with that area. However, the father’s role within a family and his status etc was discussed frequently. Fathers remain dogmatic, dictatorial and unfriendly. They are loners. We talked a lot about fathers who have difficulty expressing in a normal and healthy manner. And such a father’s relationship with his children, love and hate relationship etc.

Both You and Yang have won awards for Breathless at festivals around the world, from the Blue Dragon awards to the Las Palmas Festival. Have you been surprised by the international critical acclaim and success of the film? Why do you think it’s struck such a chord with audiences?
Yes I was very surprised. It is both an honour and a burden. The audiences say that the film’s beginning is very violent and aggressive so it was difficult to watch. However, the more they watched, it is also humorous and as they get to know the circumstances within the story, they feel sad. Audiences who have similar experiences within their own families said that they could empathise particularly more. I think everyone has big and small family conflicts so the film struck a chord with many of the audiences.

Am I right in thinking you’ve actually appeared in several films before? (In fact some of our reader might be surprised by how many.) These include City Of Violence and The Ghost Theater, for which you were nominated for best new actress (some four years too late by the looks of it!). Which performances are you proudest of, and which are the ones you’d like to forget?
Well, I was not nominated for City of Violence but for The Ghost Theater. Hmm… I filmed in several feature length films as a minor role, a few short films, my first main character role in The Ghost Theater and Breathless was my second leading role. I don’t have any work that I am proud of yet… I am expectant and looking forward to my future.

What have you been working on since this film?
Yes, I’ve done a lot of work since Breathless. Be with me is being released this May and also Be my guest… Both were shown at the Pusan International Film Festival. I also have finished filming 창피해 (English title TBC – either So Shame or So Embarassing).

What actors and actresses do you admire?
Hmm…I have a lot of actors that I like. I tend to see actors and think one is great at this and another at something else; and in the process learn from them.

Thanks to Kim Kkobbi for her time, and Joey from Terracotta and Paul from The Associates for setting the interview up.

We also spoke to Yang Ik-June late last year, read the exclusive interview here…

Breathless is released on a special 2-disc collector’s edition DVD on 22 March by Terracotta Distribution.

DVD: Breathless

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:57:52 +0000

“ONE OF THE YEAR’S BOLDEST AND MOST THRILLING DEBUT FEATURES.” – EYE WEEKLY.COM

Following its critically acclaimed UK theatrical release in January, Yang Ik-june’s award winning Breathless comes to DVD in March 2010 as a two-disc Special Collector’s Edition featuring a host of exclusive extras including interviews with the director and cast members, specially filmed festival footage and Q&As, plus a collector’s booklet featuring sleeve notes personally written by Yang Ik-june and co-star Kim Kkobbi.

The winner of numerous international film awards in 2009, including the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Jury Prize for Best Film and Best Male Performance at Montreal’s Fant-Asia Film Festival and the Best Film award and Critics’ Prize at the Deauville Asian Film Festival, the debut feature from South Korean writer-director and star Yang Ik-june, Breathless is a brutal, uncompromising and profanity-filled look at the cause and effect of domestic violence.

Giving a stunning performance in the film’s lead role, Yang Ik-june stars as Sang-hoon, a deeply troubled man prone to violent outbursts, who freelances as a hired thug at his friend’s debt collecting firm. His private life revolves around his extremely strained relationship with his ex-convict father, who was directly responsible for the tragic breakdown of their family, and a slightly more subdued, but still difficult, connection with his stepsister and her young son.

Seemingly possessed by the pent-up rage caused by the domestic events from his past, Sang-hoon finds an opportunity for salvation when he encounters a similarly emotionally damaged schoolgirl ((Kot-bi Kim), who is as foul-mouthed, headstrong and fearless as he is. The two begin an offbeat and touching friendship, not realising that their lives are already connected in ways that will have a profound effect on both their fates.

As moving as it is shocking in its portrayal of people struggling to live in a world of routine violence and abuse, Breathless was hailed by ReelAsian.com as “one of the most powerful films of the year” and by Screen International as a film that marks director Yang Ik-june as a name to watch.

Breathless (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£14.99) by Terracotta Distribution on 22nd March 2010.

Special Features include: interview with director Yang Ik-june (20 minutes); interview with actress Kim Kkobbi (10 minutes); behind the scenes at the Rotterdam Film Festival (20 minutes); special Korean Film Industry Preview Screening footage (10 minutes); London Korean Film Festival Q&A at the Barbican Centre; London Press Junket footage; trailers (Korean theatrical, Korean teaser, three UK trailers, French trailer); stills gallery.

Murderer

Andrew Heskins — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:00:36 +0000

Two/thirds effective, efficient thriller starring Aaron Kwok, one/third bizarre (and near ridiculous) revelation – you will never guess this twist!…

Pretty boy Aaron Kwok stars as Chief Inspector Ling Guang, found unconscious at the site of the work of a serial killer he was investigating whose trademark is to drill hundreds of holes into his victims. Ling wakes not remembering anything about the investigation, and the fact that the latest victim is his superior Tai whom he called to the location starts to through suspicion on him.

Ling can’t help but try and piece together the missing pieces of those weeks, despite his bosses and colleague Ghost’s (Eddie Cheung Siu-Fai, Exiled, Mad Detective, in a superbly understated performance) recommendations that he should spend time with his wife and adopted child. Every time he thinks he gets a lead, it points more closely back to him. Is he going mad? Is he really responsible, or os someone trying to frame him?

It’s hard not to look at the artwork for Murderer and confuse a very harried, manic looking Aaron Kwok for Choi Min-sik in Oldboy. As it happens the film isn’t a pale imitation of a Korean thriller – it’s well paced, nicely atmospherically filmed, and for the main part well-acted with little of the overbearing melodrama of late. It marks the debut of writer/director Row Chow, whose previous credits include crew roles like being assistant director on Lust, Caution.

And a pretty impressive debut it is too, but that comparison to Korean movies comes to the fore in the seeming need from Chow and his co-writer Christine To Chi-Long (Jiang Hu, Fearless) to find a startling revelation for the audience. (Also making it reminiscent of that king of last minute surprises, M. Night Shyamalan.) Now no one’s going to accuse Chow of being unoriginal, but whether you find that revelation at all believable or even just faintly hilarious is another matter.

(And no, I’m not even going to intimate what that is. There are certain things I’d love to discuss in this review but that would just ruin it for you…)

So is it worth waiting for? Well, I’d say yes. It’s a pretty entertaining trip into the ensuing psychosis and paranoia of lead Kwok – by now a dab hand at playing stressed out, obsessed and slightly unhinged police detectives, mainly thanks to roles in Divergence and C+ Detective (aka The Detective), and seems to relish the opportunity. (Though whether it’s deliberate or not, his character becomes a lot less sympathetic towards the end. And I think it is.)

There’s action choreography by Chin Kar-lok (Shinjuku Incident, My Lucky Stars, Lust, Caution), who also appears as Ling’s suspicious police colleague Andy Chan.

It’s the conclusion, following that earthshaking denouncement, where the piece starts to fall apart, and all too quickly. Even references to Seven (you’ll quickly guess what I’m referring to) can’t save it then! Like those aforementioned Korean movies, Chow is by no means averse to graphic images, from the bone crunching beginning through drills to a plainly yucky use for nails.

Murderer is an impressive and beautifully filmed start for director Row Chow. Let’s just hope he doesn’t follow M. Night Shyamalan and get hung up on last minute revelations…

Breathless

Andrew Heskins — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:00:52 +0000

A breathtakingly impressive directorial debut, and one of the best Asian films of 2009…

Winner of numerous awards throughout Asia and Europe, including the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Jury Prize for Best Film and Best Male Performance at Montreal’s Fant-Asia Film Festival and the Best Film award and Critics’ Prize at the Deauville Asian Film Festival, Breathless marks the writing and directorial debut of Yang Ik-June, an actor whose track record to date has seen him in little more than supporting and bit roles.

Yang Ik-June gives a remarkable performance in the lead role of Sang-hoon, a debt collector and general thug for hire, prone to violent outbursts directed at pretty much anyone or anything that happens to get in his way. He leads a solitary life of few connections save his boss and old friend Man-Sik (Man-shik Jeong), his estranged half-sister and her son, and his ex-convict father – for whom Sang-hoon as nothing but hatred as the man who killed his mother and broke his family apart.

Things change for after a chance meeting with schoolgirl Yeon-Hue (Kot-bi Kim), and what begins for Sang-hoon as a customary violent encounter – she slaps him and he knocks her out cold – soon turns into a offbeat and touching friendship as they recognise how much they have in common – both have been damaged by domestic violence.

Yang Ik-June’s approach as director is surprisingly assured and understated, combining an unapologetic and even shocking view of his characters and the violence around them with a genuine warmth and humour. It’s an unerringly believable account of an unlikely friendship that doesn’t beg for audience sympathies with big swells of music to pull your emotions – there’s little music at all (not that that was, from Ik-June’s accounts, deliberate).

Certainly, the character of Sang-hoon remains pretty unsympathetic even after you discover his tragic history. And yet with Ik-June natural, if unassuming charm, he truly creates a character you care for as you see realise he has the potential to break free of this violent cycle. It’s touching without artifice, and that makes it very impressive indeed.

Moreover, despite the often-violent content and almost non-stop profanity, Ik-June creates a film that is unexpectedly watchable and entertaining. It’s akin to films like Nil By Mouth – which itself was written and directed by an actor, Gary Oldman (even though he chose not to take a role in it) –in it’s themes of working-class life coloured by domestic abuse.

With extemporary performances from the cast, which features both veterans, novices and – if Ik-June is to be believed – some very talented extras from the filming crew, Breathless is a breathtakingly uncompromising portrayal of life, yet manages to be funny and moving at the same time – a brave and remarkable debut film from a young actor and filmmaker who we will definitely see more of in future.

We spoke to Yang Ik-June late last year, read the exclusive interview here…

We also interviewed leading actress Kim Kkobbi, read the interview here…

Breathless is released on a special limited run 2-disc collector’s edition DVD on 22 March by Terracotta Distribution.

In cinemas today: Ong Bak: The Beginning and Thirst

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:00:36 +0000

Out in cinemas across the UK today, not one but two major releases for Asian film fans. Ong Bak: The Beginning, courtesy of Revolver Entertainment, and Thirst, courtesy of Metrodome/Palisades Tartan.

Here’s just a taster of that epic finale scene Ong Bak: The Beginning to keep you going…

Thirst

Andrew Heskins — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:00:14 +0000

One of the worlds finest directors returns with a superb deconstructionist take on the Vampire myth…

It’s been a couple of years since Park Chan-wook’s I’m A Cyborg, But It’s Okay opened to somewhat mixed reactions. His visually delightful, if rather offbeat romantic comedy failed to find an audience even in South Korea, let alone the rest of the world. Seemingly audiences want something more obviously sinister from Park – not that I’m A Cyborg wasn’t riddled with darker themes – and that’s just what he’s given them in Thirst…

The remarkably versatile Kong Sang-ho, who appeared in Park’s breakthrough film JSA and Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, plays well-meaning Catholic priest Sang-hyun, a volunteer at a local hospital who decides to breakout of the endless cycle of human sadness by participating in an experiment to find a vaccine for the deadly Emmanuel Virus. The experiment fails, and Sang-hyun becomes fully infected with the disease, but after receiving a blood transfusion to save his life he finds he begins to recover astonishingly quickly.

News travels fast of Sang-hyun’s recovery, with devout parishioners camping outside church grounds, convinced he has great healing powers. Meanwhile the true nature of his recovery soon becomes clear as he finds himself drawn to human blood, and without it his virus quickly relapses. During this time he meets an old, childhood friend Kang-woo (Kong’s co-star in JSA and Sympathy Shin Ha-kyun) and becomes attracted to his downtrodden wife Tae-joo (Kim Ok-vin, Dasepo Naughty Girls, Voice/Yeogo gwae-dam 4).

That attraction soon grows into an affair between the two, but as Sang-hyun’s desire for Tae-joo grows, his hold over his own personal morality and the bloodthirsty urges he can only barely keep a hold on blurs, and he soon succumbs to the sins of the flesh…

(Readers beware – possible spoilers ahead…!)

Park describes the film as being some 10 years in the making. Initial sketches that Park had inspired a the central notion of a Catholic priest turned into a vampire, but it was an idea to marry these with Émile Zola’s 19th Century novel Thérèse Raquin that enabled him to bring Thirst to the screen. Oddly, if anything it echoes Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, and those recurring themes of the moral innocent, in this case the priest, corrupted by events and manipulation. The major difference being the redemption that was rarely a part of his earlier films.

After the ocular overload of I’m A Cyborg (which I highly recommended to anyone in the film or advertising media – those of you who haven’t already ripped it off – even if you can’t dig the rom-com elements) in comparison Thirst is a remarkably stripped down affair, even though Park once again collaborates with cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon, who’s been involved in every feature the director has made since Old Boy. If anything, the one thing it most obviously has in common is a more developed sense of Park’s black humour.

Around the grimly unpleasant, gory goings on Park drops in plenty of on screen laughs. Somehow the mix of ‘bodyshock’, almost David Cronenberg-esque horror – played up well thanks to a keen ear for unpleasant, gut-wrenching sounds – makes for an occasionally queasy watch. (Let’s face it – it’s not like Park Chan-wook has been known to pull back from what he shows on screen.) And yet it’s also often hilarious!

This time Park’s focus is far more on a simple telling of the story itself, rather than using flashy techniques or surprises. There are no flashbacks, for the first time since Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, and no last-minute reveals. The movie seems desaturated, under designed and almost as if it was filmed on a 70s film stock, but is still typically arresting. Park appears to have stripped the film of self-conscious effects to counter to the fantastic nature of the plot.

(Indeed, easily the least successful scene of the movie is the overly CGI’d scene where Sang-hyun chases a newly ‘turned’ Tae-joo leaping over the rooftops of the town. Again, the preposterous scene plays straight into a heightened awareness of Park’s humour, yet is utterly incongruous with the minimalist approach of the rest of the film. I hate the way human forms are animated in CGI!)

The lightness of touch is greatly helped by a fantastic ensemble cast including sterling performances including Kim Hae-sok as Tae-joo’s mother in law; Song Young-chang as Seung-dae, an aging Police chief and family friend (who appeared as Sang-ho’s marvellously overbearing bully of a boss in The Foul King); Park In-hwan (The Quiet Family) as blind mentor priest Noh; and Oh Dai-su. It allows Park to use fleeting glances to imply the back-story behind the characters without explanation, and just like that lack of flashbacks, he never feels the need to spoon feed the audience with a full explanation of what happen to Sang-hyun in the first place.

Oddly Tae-joo’s ‘godless’ character is ultimately without boundaries, she enjoys the full potential of her new-found powers with no boundaries, but Park’s sympathies seem to lie with Sang-hyun. There’s an implication here that you need faith or a religion to keep you in line? Her character’s manipulation of Sang-hyun echoes that of Kim Novak over James Stewart in Vertigo, or even Richard Todd’s deception over Jane Wyman in Stage Fright.

Coincidently a companion piece of sorts to Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In – Park is keen to point out that he wasn’t aware of the resurgence of Vampires as a popular theme (don’t even think of mentioning Twilight!) – it mirror that films deconstruction of the vampire myth. Both owe much to the more adventurous, independent horror of the 70s. Films like George A. Romeo’s Martin and Kathyrn Bigelow’s Near Dark spring readily to mind, though– as we’ll reveal in our interview later in the week – it was a lesser-known film from the 80s that influenced Thirst.

Once again this is a fine piece of work from Park, and worthy of an audience beyond Asian film fans. My one criticism is that my sympathies don’t connect the characters, particularly the lead Sang-hyun, in the way that I’d ultimately hope they would. It’s surprising, considering that it’s Kong Sang-ho, undeniably one of the finest actors in film today. Not sure why….

But this is still a ‘must-see’!

Thirst is released in UK cinemas on Friday 16 October, with a DVD and Blu-ray release early in the new year from Palisades Tartan.

Bong Joon-ho season at the BFI Southbank London

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:00:33 +0000

The BFI to screen the entire filmography from one of the finest and most inventive filmmakers in the world – Bong Joon-ho – including a preview of his latest offering Mother, followed by a conversation with the man himself…

Exciting times for Asian film fans indeed. From his short films; to his impressive debut Barking Dogs Never Bite (still unavailable on DVD in the UK); to his international breakthrough Memories Of Murder; the celebrated hit family drama/monster movie hybrid The Host; his contribution to Tokyo; and finally Mother – an inventive tale of a mother turned detective to clear her retarded son, accused of murdering a sexually precocious girl. All will be screened through early November at the BFI on London’s Southbank, a welcome celebration of a modern South Korean talent.

» Find out more about individual screenings and times from the BFI website

Bong Joon-ho season at the BFI Southbank London

Andrew Heskins — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:58:34 +0000

The BFI will screen the entire filmography of one of the finest and most inventive filmmakers in the world – Bong Joon-ho – including a preview of his latest offering Mother, followed by a conversation with the man himself…

From his short films; to his impressive debut Barking Dogs Never Bite (still unavailable on DVD in the UK); to his international breakthrough Memories Of Murder; the celebrated hit family drama/monster movie hybrid The Host; his contribution to Tokyo; and finally Mother – an inventive tale of a mother turned detective to clear her retarded son, accused of murdering a sexually precocious girl. All will be screened through early November at the BFI on London’s Southbank from 1 to 14 November, a welcome celebration of a modern South Korean talent.

» Find out more about individual screenings and times from the BFI website

On DVD today: The Promise and more…

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:00:18 +0000

Chen Kaige’s The Promise finally crawls its way on to UK DVD and Blu-Ray, courtesy of Momentum Pictures. Originally released way back in December 2005 and reviewed by us shortly afterwards, it failed to spark any interest from UK distributors despite being given a limited release in the US, France, Germany, Greece, Russia – in fact just about everywhere else! Unsurprisingly Chen’s attempt to follow rival Zhang Yimou into wu xia territory met with mixed reactions. Indeed the core story itself holds a neat fable with beautifully baroque costume design (pre-empting Yimou’s Curse Of The Golden Flower), but relies perhaps a little too heavily on CGI to make it all happen.

Sadly, this is a ‘bonus feature lite’ DVD release, and worse still, it’s the edited US release, running some 20 minutes shorter. Mind you, guess better to have it than not at all (?)

Also out today, Afro Samurai: Resurrection on DVD from Manga Entertainment.

easternkicks.com » South Korea

Out on DVD today: Breathless

Related Posts:

Exclusive interview: Kim Kkobbi

We also spoke to Yang Ik-June late last year, read the exclusive interview here…

Breathless is released on a special 2-disc collector’s edition DVD on 22 March by Terracotta Distribution.

Related Posts:

DVD: Breathless

“ONE OF THE YEAR’S BOLDEST AND MOST THRILLING DEBUT FEATURES.” – EYE WEEKLY.COM

Related Posts:

Murderer

Related Posts:

Breathless

We spoke to Yang Ik-June late last year, read the exclusive interview here…

We also interviewed leading actress Kim Kkobbi, read the interview here…

Breathless is released on a special limited run 2-disc collector’s edition DVD on 22 March by Terracotta Distribution.

Related Posts:

In cinemas today: Ong Bak: The Beginning and Thirst

Related Posts:

Thirst

Thirst is released in UK cinemas on Friday 16 October, with a DVD and Blu-ray release early in the new year from Palisades Tartan.

Related Posts:

Bong Joon-ho season at the BFI Southbank London

Related Posts:

Bong Joon-ho season at the BFI Southbank London

Related Posts:

On DVD today: The Promise and more…

Related Posts: