The mighty Grady Hendrix wrote the press release for this, which means it is far more entertaining than anything I am likely to come up. So take it away Grady!
The American people are under attack. Held hostage by a totalitarian regime based in Hollywood that insists on torturing them with terrible movies based on lame toys and old TV shows in clear violation of their human rights, America¹s citizens cry out to the international community for assistance.
And Korea responds.
The Korean Cultural Service, the most battle-tested and technologically advanced arm of the Korean government, is staging an invasion of Manhattan to liberate Americans from their current system of entertainment.
Coordinated by the director of the KCS, Soo Keun Song, every other Tuesday night, from January 12, 2010 until December 14, 2010, the Korean Cultural Service will be screening new Korean movies at the Tribeca Cinemas (54 Varick Street) for free.
That¹s right, America. For free.
KOREAN MOVIE NIGHT
Tuesdays at 7pm
Tribeca Cinemas
(54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E and 1 train Canal Street stops)
Price? Free. All you have to do is RSVP to info@koreanculture.org or call 212-759-9550
Stage One of the Korean Invasion will be:
INDEPENDENT MOVIES
The Korean film industry imploded in 2006. With too many films in production (so many movies were being made that cameras had to be borrowed from Japan) and too many bloated star vehicles hitting the market, the Korean film industry production bubble popped like a subprime mortgage crisis. But in late 2008 and 2009, hope was restored when a series of low budget, independent Korean movies became massive word-of-mouth hits. For the next eight weeks, the Korean Cultural Service will introduce these movies to America.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 12 @ 7pm
DAY TIME DRINKING (2008, 116 minutes, New York Premiere) One of the rudest things you can do in Korea is turn down a drink. It¹s like spitting in someone¹s face. DAYTIME DRINKING is a rapidly escalating farce that tweaks the humiliation-meter up and up and up and up as Hyuk-Jin, newly broken up with his girlfriend, finds himself bullied into drinking an infinite amount of soju in a series of progressively more surreal situations. The debut film from Noh Young-Seok, Drinking became a word-of-mouth hit in Korea and has played dozens of film festivals around the world. With a vibe somewhere between Jim Jarmusch¹s Stranger than Paradise and Broken Lizard¹s Beerfest the only thing dry about this flick is its humor.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 26 @ 7pm
MEMBERS OF THE FUNERAL (2008, 99 minutes, North American Premiere) Considered one of the most intellectually ambitious of Korea¹s current crop of indie features, this film¹s lush visuals and caustic performances hide the fact that it was shot for pennies. Member kicks off with a family of three going at each others¹ throats during a funeral for a teenaged boy.
Flashbacks show the wounded innocents who grew up to become these monsters and as they flay the skin from their faces with their barbed words, the movie gradually darkens and deepens into something much more profound than a simple family snit fit.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 @ 7pm
BEAUTIFUL (2008, 88 minutes, New York Premiere) First timer Juhn Jai-Hong took an unfinished screenplay by his mentor, Kim Ki-Duk (The Isle, Bad Guy), and turned it into this insane slice of grand guignol social critique that sends up Korea¹s obsession with plastic surgery with a side helping of maximum carnage. Kim is a pretty young woman often mistaken for an actress. Men are always hitting on her, and she¹s uncomfortable being the object of their sexual fantasies. Her discomfort deepens when she¹s attacked by a stalker who thinks he¹s in love with her, and then the cops accuse her of leading the guy on by looking sexy. Even the doctor at the hospital hits on her. Her only hope: to erase her beauty by any means necessary. A big budget, 35mm production, BEAUTIFUL is a queasy mix of body horror, sexual politics, eating disorders, self-mutilation and homicidal rage.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 @ 7pm
BREATHLESS (2009, 131 minutes)
Winner of several awards at Rotterdam, and winner of ³Best Debut Feature² at the New York Asian Film Festival, Breathless is uncompromising, two-fisted, DIY filmmaking at its heartbreaking best. Written, produced, directed and starring Yang Ik-June (who mortgaged his house to finance the film) this movie about a shiftless, violent thug drifting through life takes on emotional weight when he runs up against a schoolgirl, Yeon-Hee, who gives as good as she gets. Together, these two battered souls form an unlikely alliance against the world. Lauded by the New York Times as one of this year¹s real finds, Breathless will hurt you in all the right ways.
Funny intro.
But Yang Ik-June didn't mortgage his house to finance "Breathless", he SOLD it. He now lives in a much smaller apartment. That is, when he isn't travelling around the world, visiting festivals and winning awards...
That's a bad ass lineup. Daytime Drinking is brilliant stuff (should actually stop being lazy and review that and Breathless before the year's end. Eh), and Members of the Funeral is quite interesting.
I wasn't quite sure what Yang Ik-June's housing situation was, so that's good to know.
And, on that same note, the Korean Cultural Service is bending over backwards to get Yang Ik-June to come introduce the screening (and there may even be an American release of BREATHLESS coming on the heels of this screening) so keep your eyes peeled for upcoming announcements.
And, finally, the second series of KCS film screenings are going to be "Remakes" so they'll be showing the original Korean movies that later became remakes (or were licensed for remakes that never happened). Expect some real modern classics of Korena filmmaking.
Breathless, film of the year. The shiny 2 Disc special korean edition dvd is the best thing i've bought all year.
YANG didn't sell the house. He did finance from his deposit.
In Korea, we have very very big deposit(about 1/3 price-1/2 price of buying a house), called "Jeonsae" instead of paying rental fee.
His big deposit was used to finance his film. So he has to leave the house because he got money from the owner.
In order to help out American to understand, it's easier to say "to finance film from his mortgage. I'm voting for Grady.
If you know more about Korean real estate, please find me. hhhhhh
I interviewed Yang back in February (just type his full name in the search engine to read the result) and he told me he SOLD his house. It may not have actually happened but it's what he told me.
Of course he might have thought that it would take too much time to explain Korean real estate to me, and he is a VERY good actor who may not have been above "embellishing" his movie financing adventures a bit...
;-)