Until very recently South Korea was a very homogeneous society with little ethnic diversity which prided itself on a single ethnic identity. Recently this has begun to change very rapidly and the number of immigrants living in Korea has more than doubled in the past ten years to 1.5…
It seems that the theme of revenge, no matter what other sub-genre it’s paired with, is the key to both domestic and international success of South Korean cinema.
Oldboy, I Saw the Devil, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Tale of Two Sisters, Lady Vengeance, A Bittersweet Life, To Sir…
Some movies have a way of sticking in the minds of their viewers; from The Exorcist in the early 70’s to Ghost in the 90’s, movies can stay with viewers for a lifetime. But it is always a true masterpiece of filmography that has a way of entwining…
‘National Security’ (also known as ‘Namyeong-dong 1985’) is a hard-hitting film set in 1985 and based on the horrifying ordeal Kim Geun-tae (renamed as Kim Jong-tae in the film), a pro-democracy activist went through in his time at the notorious Namyeong-dong detention centre. The…
‘The Berlin File’ is the highly anticipated, fast paced action film of international secrecy and plotting from acclaimed director and screenwriter Ryoo Seung-wan and has lived up to the hype that preceded its release.
The action starts immediately when a negotiation between Pyo (Ha Jung-woo), a North Korean…
Usually when I watch a film with an intense atmosphere (horror, thriller suspense genres), every tense effect that the film had over me dissipates when I step out into the natural light outside of the theatre. However, despite walking out of the UK premiere press screening of ‘Pluto’ at the…
The prestigious Edinburgh International Film Festival is to show a series of South Korean films as part of this year’s programme. The Focus on Korea strand of the festival will run from 22nd to the 30th of June and will be showcasing five different films, both independent and mainstream…
