review Archive

  • Cheol-ho has it tough. He lives in a small house with his pregnant wife, a daughter who craves new clothes, two brothers –  one of whom is an injured war veteran while the other sells newspapers when he should be going to school – a sister who has become a...

    Review: Aimless Bullet (Yoo Hyun-mok / 1962)

    Cheol-ho has it tough. He lives in a small house with his pregnant wife, a daughter who craves new clothes, two brothers –  one of whom is an injured war veteran while the other sells newspapers when he should be going to school – a sister who has become a...

    Continue Reading...

  • An elementary school in Seoul, the present. Six-year-old Jin spends her penultimate day at elementary school learning about time and playing with friends. Later that evening, she is chastised by her mother for failing to take Bin, her four–year-old sister, off the neighbours’ hands when she was supposed to. While...

    Review: Treeless Mountain (Kim So-yong / 2008)

    An elementary school in Seoul, the present. Six-year-old Jin spends her penultimate day at elementary school learning about time and playing with friends. Later that evening, she is chastised by her mother for failing to take Bin, her four–year-old sister, off the neighbours’ hands when she was supposed to. While...

    Continue Reading...

  • [New York Asian Film Festival 2011 Review] A mystical and magical concoction, much like the doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) dish that it revolves around, Lee Seo-goon’s second feature The Recipe hinges on a brilliant bit of narrative misdirection. Choi Yu-jin (Ryoo Seung-ryong), the producer/host of a sensationalistic TV expose...

    Review: The Recipe (Lee Seo-goon / 2010)

    [New York Asian Film Festival 2011 Review] A mystical and magical concoction, much like the doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) dish that it revolves around, Lee Seo-goon’s second feature The Recipe hinges on a brilliant bit of narrative misdirection. Choi Yu-jin (Ryoo Seung-ryong), the producer/host of a sensationalistic TV expose...

    Continue Reading...

  • Following his massively successful Vengeance Trilogy, director Park Chan-wook opted for a change in tone with his romantic comedy I’m A Cyborg But That’s OK (2006) – shortened for international release to I’m A Cyborg. Received with a mixed response, the film was a disappointment for many – especially those...

    Blu-ray Review: I’m A Cyborg But That’s OK (Park Chan-wook / 2006)

    Following his massively successful Vengeance Trilogy, director Park Chan-wook opted for a change in tone with his romantic comedy I’m A Cyborg But That’s OK (2006) – shortened for international release to I’m A Cyborg. Received with a mixed response, the film was a disappointment for many – especially those...

    Continue Reading...

  • In the eight years since its original release Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) has established its status as a classic of Korean cinema. It’s been remade by Hollywood as The Uninivited (Charles Guard, Thomas Guard, USA: 2009) and its director has consistently delivered crowd-pleasing projects within various...

    Blu-ray Review: A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim Jee-woon / 2003)

    In the eight years since its original release Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) has established its status as a classic of Korean cinema. It’s been remade by Hollywood as The Uninivited (Charles Guard, Thomas Guard, USA: 2009) and its director has consistently delivered crowd-pleasing projects within various...

    Continue Reading...

  • Ip Man and his family have escaped the Japanese on the mainland and have relocated themselves to Hong Kong. Life is difficult as they have no money and Ip Man has little success in finding students to teach in order to provide an income. One day a potential student arrives...

    Non-Korean Review: Ip Man 2 (Wilson Yip / 2010)

    Ip Man and his family have escaped the Japanese on the mainland and have relocated themselves to Hong Kong. Life is difficult as they have no money and Ip Man has little success in finding students to teach in order to provide an income. One day a potential student arrives...

    Continue Reading...

  • A psychopath kills a woman. An innocent woman. A beautiful woman. Imagine the plight of her soon-to-be-husband, who loves her and dotes on her. That is the premise. I Saw the Devil is the revenge. Review If one were to ask me the greatest script ever written, or the most...

    Review: I Saw The Devil (Kim Jee-woon / 2010)

    A psychopath kills a woman. An innocent woman. A beautiful woman. Imagine the plight of her soon-to-be-husband, who loves her and dotes on her. That is the premise. I Saw the Devil is the revenge. Review If one were to ask me the greatest script ever written, or the most...

    Continue Reading...

  • Vietnam, 1972. Private Kim and Lieutenant Choi, a distinguished officer who was awarded the Choong Moo for service in defence of his country, are on R & R. They take up with some hookers in Nha Trang, but in the night Kim is murdered. Choi finds and executes the assassin,...

    Review: Ghosts of War / aka, R-Point (Kong Su-chang / 2004)

    Vietnam, 1972. Private Kim and Lieutenant Choi, a distinguished officer who was awarded the Choong Moo for service in defence of his country, are on R & R. They take up with some hookers in Nha Trang, but in the night Kim is murdered. Choi finds and executes the assassin,...

    Continue Reading...

  • When female gang boss Eun-jin is involved in a fall from a building she is miraculously unhurt except for one small problem – she has lost her memory and has no recollection of who she is. Taken home and cared for by Yoon Jae-Choi, the owner of a local restaurantt,...

    Review: My Wife Is A Gangster 2 (Jeong Heung-sun / 2003)

    When female gang boss Eun-jin is involved in a fall from a building she is miraculously unhurt except for one small problem – she has lost her memory and has no recollection of who she is. Taken home and cared for by Yoon Jae-Choi, the owner of a local restaurantt,...

    Continue Reading...

  • With a fearsome reputation proceeding her, Eun-jin is the boss of a criminal gang which shows her nothing but complete respect due to her no-nonsense attitude and incredible fighting skills. Eun-jin tracks down her long lost sister but discovers that the two of them won’t have much time together as...

    Review: My Wife is A Gangster (Cho Jin-gyu / 2001)

    With a fearsome reputation proceeding her, Eun-jin is the boss of a criminal gang which shows her nothing but complete respect due to her no-nonsense attitude and incredible fighting skills. Eun-jin tracks down her long lost sister but discovers that the two of them won’t have much time together as...

    Continue Reading...