Continuing our coverage of this years Korean film Festival In Australia (KOFFIA) here’s the final part of our overview of the films screening - check out our introduction to this years KOFFIA festival here, Part 1 of the films here and Part 2 here…

Oki’s Movie (Hong Sang-soo / 2010)

Consisting of four shorts (‘A Day for Incantation’, ‘King of Kisses’, ‘After the Snow Storm’, ‘Oki’s Movie’) which just might be related other than the fact that they all revolve around a young girl called Oki, Hong Sang-soo’s follow up to HAHAHA (2010) is just as highly acclaimed – and equally difficult to describe to give the film justice. With autobiographical elements, humour, irony and plenty of soju, Oki’s Movie revisits many of the subjects of Hong Sang-soo’s earlier films, but once again manages to find a new perspective of them.

Marc Raymond at TheOneOneFour.com had placed HAHAHA (Hong’s previous film) on his list of the best films of 2010, however when he finally caught up with Oki’s Movie he had this to say:

‘Although HAHAHA was my second favorite film of the year, I think I prefer OKI’S MOVIE simply because of its greater originality. With Hong, one always knows what they are going to get, but we can be surprised by how we get it. And the form in which the content is received, ultimately, makes the content not the same at all. In the end, perhaps no other director is less repetitive than Hong.’

A trailer for Oki’s Movie can be found and the full review from TheOneOneFour.com can be found here.

Shim’s Family (Jeong Yoon-cheol / 2007)

The follow-up to his near-classic weepie debut Marathon (2005) – and made prior to his brilliant A Man Who Was Superman (2007) – Jeong Yoon-cheol’s Shim’s Family is a strange little oddity, a black comedy about a dysfunctional family who all live under the same roof but who seem to have little else in common. Applying a satirical edge to its cultural observation comedy, Shim’s Family – also known as Skeleton’s In The Closet - has drawn comparisons to American Beauty (Sam Mendes / 1999) and The Quiet Family (Kim Jee-woon / 1998). Shim’s Family will close the Melbourne leg of KOFFIA 2011.

A review of the film at LunarPark 6 underlines the dark humour:

‘In retrospect what Skeletons In The Closet (Shim’s Family) does best is to enumerate the problems of “normal” Korean family life by exaggerating those situations, often with a good dose of black comedy. The Shims Family is an interesting satire on Korean life, tactfully tightrope walking the line between shocking and amusing moments.‘

A trailer for Shim’s Family can be found and the full review from LunarPark6 can be found here.

A Barefoot Dream (Kim Tae-gyoon / 2010)

South Korea’s entry for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ at this years Academy Awards, A Barefoot Dream is based on the true story of Kim Won-kang, played by Park Hie-soon (Hansel & Gretel), a soccer player who has failed to succeed professionally who heads to East Timour to find new business opportunities. Noticing the kids playing football on the streets are barefooted he decides to open a sports store but realises that they are too poor to buy his goods. One day he forgoes his business plans and decides to teach the kids how to play soccer properly…

A feel-good sports drama shot in East Timour, A Barefoot Dream is the closing film for the Sydney leg of KOFFIA 2011 and pretty much guaranteed to ensure everyone leaves with a smile on their face.

James Mudge at Beyond Hollywood praised the film, particularly the young cast:

‘The young children are especially impressive, and are thankfully never manipulated into being the kind of cute pity magnets that might have been used to tug at the viewer’s heartstrings for cheap sentimentality.

This is very much to Kim’s credit, and it lifts “A Barefoot Dream” up several notches from the usual sports underdog or true life inspirational story.’

A trailer for A Barefoot Dream can be found and the full review from Beyond Hollywood can be found here.