This impressive first feature from director Yoo Heong-jun is a visually and formally inventive exploration of malleable aspects of ourselves
A cinematic puzzle cast in minimalist black and white, Yoo Heong-jun’s slippery feature debut delves into the malleability of identity, performance and life itself. It unfurls over long takes, and the tension between movement and stasis lingers in every frame.
Put on bed rest after a vicious stroke that damages her short-term memory, Hwa-ryeong (Cho Hyunjin) – an actor – struggles to recall the plot of her last film. Chatty visits from colleagues only serve to complicate matters. Mentions of a retired performer, a daughter and an ex-husband recur, but it remains unclear how these storylines cohere. It is as if, like Hwa-ryeong, her peers have been struck by amnesia.
A cinematic puzzle cast in minimalist black and white, Yoo Heong-jun’s slippery feature debut delves into the malleability of identity, performance and life itself. It unfurls over long takes, and the tension between movement and stasis lingers in every frame.
Put on bed rest after a vicious stroke that damages her short-term memory, Hwa-ryeong (Cho Hyunjin) – an actor – struggles to recall the plot of her last film. Chatty visits from colleagues only serve to complicate matters. Mentions of a retired performer, a daughter and an ex-husband recur, but it remains unclear how these storylines cohere. It is as if, like Hwa-ryeong, her peers have been struck by amnesia.
- 5/20/2024
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
Arriving at the tail end of a creatively fertile and financially lucrative decade or so for South Korean entertainment, with cinema being a key aspect of this boom, the domestic films presented at the 2023 Jeonjun International Film Festival took on an extra level of significance. It was hard not to look at these selections, mostly feature debuts, as a bellwether of this influential national film industry’s development over the upcoming years.
The trials and tribulations of the film industry itself were the focus of some of the Korean competition’s best entries, such as Yoo Heong-jun’s Regardless of Us. At once mundane and elliptical, the film is most effective in its opening stretch, which sees middle-aged actress Hwa-ryeong (Cho Hyunjin) being visited at a hospital by colleagues from her most recent production, including the director and producer. She’s recovering from a stroke, and her condition seems to...
The trials and tribulations of the film industry itself were the focus of some of the Korean competition’s best entries, such as Yoo Heong-jun’s Regardless of Us. At once mundane and elliptical, the film is most effective in its opening stretch, which sees middle-aged actress Hwa-ryeong (Cho Hyunjin) being visited at a hospital by colleagues from her most recent production, including the director and producer. She’s recovering from a stroke, and her condition seems to...
- 5/7/2023
- by David Robb
- Slant Magazine
Further winners included Paul B. Preciado’s French documentary ‘Orlando, My Political Biography’.
There Is A Stone by Japanese filmmaker Tatsunari Ota and From You by Korea’s Shin Dongmin were awarded the top prizes at South Korea’s Jeonju International Film Festival on Wednesday (May 3).
There Is A Stone took the grand prize in the international competition, which included an award of KW20m. The meditative drama, which premiered at Tokyo Filmex before screening at the Berlinale in February, follows a woman and man who meet by a river and pass the time together before twilight.
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There Is A Stone by Japanese filmmaker Tatsunari Ota and From You by Korea’s Shin Dongmin were awarded the top prizes at South Korea’s Jeonju International Film Festival on Wednesday (May 3).
There Is A Stone took the grand prize in the international competition, which included an award of KW20m. The meditative drama, which premiered at Tokyo Filmex before screening at the Berlinale in February, follows a woman and man who meet by a river and pass the time together before twilight.
Scroll down for...
- 5/3/2023
- by Silvia Wong
- ScreenDaily
‘No Heaven, But Love’ will premiere at Jeonju film festival.
South Korean sales company M-Line Distribution has boarded two LGBTQ titles set to receive their world premieres at Jeonju International Film Festival – Han Jay’s teen romance No Heaven, But Love and KimJho Gwang-soo’s office romance The New Employee: The Movie.
No Heaven, But Love marks the second feature of director Han after 2020’s Take Me Home and will screen in the Korean Competition section of the festival, which runs April 27 to May 6.
The film stars Lee You-mi from Netflix’s Squid Game and Park Soo-yeon of House Of Hummingbird...
South Korean sales company M-Line Distribution has boarded two LGBTQ titles set to receive their world premieres at Jeonju International Film Festival – Han Jay’s teen romance No Heaven, But Love and KimJho Gwang-soo’s office romance The New Employee: The Movie.
No Heaven, But Love marks the second feature of director Han after 2020’s Take Me Home and will screen in the Korean Competition section of the festival, which runs April 27 to May 6.
The film stars Lee You-mi from Netflix’s Squid Game and Park Soo-yeon of House Of Hummingbird...
- 4/26/2023
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
‘Bad Kids’ Are As Good As ‘Gold’
“The Bad Kids,” a hit series from Chinese streamer iQiyi, is to be remade as a Japanese feature film “Gold Boy.” The 12-episode gritty crime thriller depicts the troubles that arise after three children accidentally film a murder. The series was previously licensed to Japanese pay-tv group Wowow.
The film is to be directed by Kaneko Shusuke, director of two of the hit “Death Note” franchise films, with screenwriter Minato Takehiko, producer Yoshida Takio (Venice Silver Lion winner with “Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman”), and lead actor Okada Masaki (“Drive My Car”) on board.
Variety previously shortlisted the original series as being among the 15 best international TV series of 2020. The series was adapted from the novel of the same name by Chinese suspense writer Chen Zijin and presented by iQIYI and co-produced by Eternity Pictures, with Han Sanping, former head of China Film Group,...
“The Bad Kids,” a hit series from Chinese streamer iQiyi, is to be remade as a Japanese feature film “Gold Boy.” The 12-episode gritty crime thriller depicts the troubles that arise after three children accidentally film a murder. The series was previously licensed to Japanese pay-tv group Wowow.
The film is to be directed by Kaneko Shusuke, director of two of the hit “Death Note” franchise films, with screenwriter Minato Takehiko, producer Yoshida Takio (Venice Silver Lion winner with “Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman”), and lead actor Okada Masaki (“Drive My Car”) on board.
Variety previously shortlisted the original series as being among the 15 best international TV series of 2020. The series was adapted from the novel of the same name by Chinese suspense writer Chen Zijin and presented by iQIYI and co-produced by Eternity Pictures, with Han Sanping, former head of China Film Group,...
- 3/29/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
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