Asian Film News

Flash News

Hong Kong star Jackie Chan and South Korean pop singer and producer Park Jin-young meet at a Seoul studio on May 29 to discuss their joint project to help quake-stricken people in China's Sichuan Province. They´ll record the song "I Love Asia".

Korean actor Yoo Ji-tae (Old Boy, The Mirror) has a new promissing carrer as movie director. Recently, he won an award at Japan's 2008 Short Shorts Film Festival Asia. His third short film Out of My Intention won him the Special Mention Award at the fifth edition of the movie event, in Tokyo. His directorial debut was Bike Boy, which won the audience award at the 2003 Busan Asian Short Film Festival. In 2005, Yoo´s second short film How Does the Blind Dream won the Fuji Film award for excellent work. Out of My Intention tells the story of a middle-aged man who reminisces about his first love while driving around, and it stars veteran actor Lee Dae-yeon and young actress Jo An.

An American in Korea - Lionsgate will produce a romantic comedy from screenwriter Jason Filardi (Bringing Down The House), which will explore the comedic potential of a Korean wedding. The as-yet untitled film will be based on the experiences of Filardi’s cousin, Iain McConnell, with whom Filardi is writing the screenplay. McConnell married into a Korean family after falling in love with a Korean girl while teaching English as a second language. The film plays on these experiences, with the groom and his family having to travel to Korea to meet the bride’s family, before taking part in a traditional Korean wedding to follow. The movie will be shot on location in Korea.

(source: The Hollywood Reporter, Empire Online)

Wall-E´s recicled Short Circuit

Hollywood knows all about "recycling"

Did you see the new Pixar-Disney movie animation "WALL-E"?
And do you know the 80´s film "Short Circuit"?

Johnny 5 is Wall-e´s poor cousin or granpa?



Anyway, I love Robots! And I miss Futurama!

Short Circuit(US, 1986)
Director: John Badham
Screenplay: Brent Maddock, S.S. Wilson
Production: David Foster Productions
more: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091949/

Boat (South Korea, Japan)

Ha Jung-woo and Tsumabuki Satoshi

BOAT, a Korea-Japan co-production

Last year best supporting actor at Daejong Film Awards, and star of the movie hit The Chaser, Tears for You) in a new movie co-production Boat.

Boat “tells a story of two men who are involved with a smuggling business in Japan.

Ha Jung-woo takes the role of a warm-hearted man who struggles to make a living, while Tsumabuki plays a Japanese man who helps him. They are confronted with an unexpected accident while kidnapping a Korean woman to Japan.

Director: Kim Young-nam (Don't Look Back)

Cast: Ha Jung-woo, Tsumabuki Satoshi

Screenplay: Watanabe Aya (Maison de Himiko)

Production: Lee Jun-ho (Korea's Kraze Pictures) and Osamu Kubota (Japan's IMJ Pictures, Michigan Venture Capital, Korean Film Council.

(source: Variety Asia Online)

My Mighty Princess (South Korea)

My Mighty Princess

The director Kwak Jae-yong, responsible for the hit My Sassy Girl, is back with another romantic comedy, My Mighty Princess, after a delay of more than two years.

The film will be released in S. Korea on June 26.

 

At a press conference held in Apgujeong-dong, Director Kwak commented:

 

"All the cast members signed on to the project because they counted on me, but they have been deceived. When I showed my screenplay to them, I told them all the wire action scenes would be done by doubles or stunts, but in fact the actors had to do all the wire actions themselves...The film is concerned about bright aspects - action, conflict, rather than emotions. The entertainment aspect plays a central part, so please just enjoy the show," Kwak said.

Cast: Shin Min-a (Volcano High) plays So-hui, a martial arts prodigy; On Ju-wan is her love interest Il-young.

(source: heraldm.com)

The 45th Daejong Film Awards

Seoul, June 27, 2008.


The Favorites

Nominated in 11 categories, The Chaser, a film about a serial murderer, with over 5 million viewers, the most successful Korean film of 2008, according to the Korean Film Council.
Director: Na Hong-jin.
Cast: Kim Yoon-seok (The War of Flower), Ha Jeong-woo.

Forever the Moment, with over 4 million viewers in S. Korea.

Seven Days, a thriller about a child who gets kidnapped, is nominated in 10 categories.
Director: Won Shin-yeon (A Bloody Aria); next project: “V” (from Taekwon V).

Shadows in the Palace, a thriller that takes place within the palace of the Joseon Dynasty, is nominated in eight categories.

Secret Sunshine (Milyang), with Song Kang-ho, directed by Lee Chang-dong.

Scout, a black comedy, with Im Chang-jeong, who plays a scout who tries to recruit Korea’s famous pitcher, Sun Dong-yeul.

Viva Love, with actress Kim Hye-sook, also nominated for best supporting actress for her role in the film Open City.

Director Heo Jin-ho´s Happiness.

The Happy Life, directed by Lee Joon-ik.

Cannes International Film Festival 2008

French film wins top prize in Cannes - the first French winner in Cannes since 1987.

The only big surprise on the night was the fact that Israeli animated documentary "Waltz With Bashir" went unrecognized.

CANNES, France

Entre les murs (The Class), a film set in a tough Parisian high school, won the Palme d'Or for best picture at the Cannes festival on Sunday.

Directed by Laurent Cantet, the picture based on an autobiographical novel by Francois Begaudeau.

"I think it would be good for all those people who claim to be able to judge youth ... in two or three aphorisms to learn something new about youth," said Begaudeau, who also plays the central teacher in the film.

The Grand Prix went to Italy's Gomorra (Gomorrah), Matteo Garrone's hard-hitting film about the world of the Camorra Naples crime network.

Jury Award: Il Divo, the Italian film a satire on the life of former prime minister Giulio Andreotti and directed by Paolo Sorrentino.

Special Prize: Catherine Deneuve and Clint Eastwood.

Best Director: Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Three Monkeys.

Best Actor: Benicio del Toro, for his portrayal of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's epic four-and-a-half hour Che.

Best Actress: Sandra Corveloni, in the Brazilian drama Linha de Passe (Line of Passage).

Best Screenplay: Belgium's Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, for Lorna's Silence.

Camera d'Or (given to debut directors): Britain's Steve McQueen, for Hunger.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/

Public Enemy 1-1

Korean Cine News

After Silmido, the great duo Seoul Kyeong-gu and Jeong Jae-young are back in:

http://001-1.co.kr/

John Woo´s new film: 1949

1949 (2009, China)

Production: John Woo and Terence Chang (Lion Rock)

Screenplay: Wang Hui-ling (Lust, Caution)

Distribution: Fortissimo Films

Cast: Chang Chen, Song Hye-kyo.

Chinese epic, based on true events at the end of WWII and the final years of the Chinese Civil War, starring Taiwanese Chang Chen (Silk) and Korean actress Song Hye-kyo (Autumn in My Heart). The film will be Chinese-language, mixed with English.

Song Hye-kyo explained to the press at the 61st Cannes Film Festival, “John Woo contacted me [in January] after watching the film Hwang Jini. I’m incredibly honored to be working with a director I admire so much.”

“I met Chang Chen in an awards ceremony last March in Hong Kong. I had a good feeling about him and wanted to act with him, but I didn't know it would happen this quickly.”

"This movie takes place in 1949. There are three couples, and Chang Chen and I are one of them. After wealthily living in Shanghai, I lose my husband in the war and go to Taiwan. I meet Chang Chen and meet a new fate.”

 

Song Hye-kyo´s next projects:
Fetish - US supernatural thriller.
The World They Live On - director Pyo Min Su’s upcoming drama co-starring Hyun Bin.

John Woo's (Mission Impossible II) epic film Red Cliff will be released this summer, starring Chang Chen, Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro.

Source: Starnews; Korea.net

Korean Cinema Invited to Cannes

South Korean films invited to the 2008 Cannes Film Festival

This year, Cannes opens it´s doors to a “more commercial” kind of movies produced in S. Korea, like The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (invited to the Out of Competition section).

The film The Chaser, by first time director Na Hong-jin, and a great success in Korea, will be screened for Midnight Screenings.

Late director Kim Ki-young´s thriller The Housemaid (1960) will be shown at the Classic section . “It is one of the most important works done by Kim, an eccentric figure in Korean film history, someone with extremely extraordinary imagination,” was digitally restored by the Korean Film Archive with sponsors from World Cinema Foundation lead by Martin Scorsese.

And the always brilliant director Bong Joon-ho (The Host) was invited to the Un Certain Regard section. Tokyo! is an omnibus film co-directed by Michel Gondry and Leos Carax, and in Shaking Tokyo segment, Bong pictures the lonely inner side of human beings through the scenery of a megacity named Tokyo.

There´s a great expectation with director Kim Jee-woon´s new film The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, after such different movies as The Foul King, A Tale of Two Sisters and A Bittersweet Life. In The Good… the director revives the so-called 'Manchurian Western', which was popular with Korean films back in 1960s and 70s. Korea's top actors Lee Byung-hun (JSA), Song Kang-ho (The Host) and Jung Woo-sung (Daisy) will be starring in it.

And short animation STOP, by Park Jae-wook will be screened for the Cinefondation section.

Cannes International Film Festival (May 14-25)
Out of Competition section: The Good, the Bad, the Weird; The ChaserUn Certain Regard: Tokyo!
Cinefondation: Stop (animation)
Cannes Classics: The Housemaid(source: Korean Film Council; koreatimes.co.kr)

PLASTIC CITY (China, Brasil)

PLASTIC CITY

If you want to know what globalization means, check the new film Plastic City, by Chinese director Yu Lik Wai (All Tomorrow´s Parties, 2003). It´s a co-production China-Brasil, with a small budget of U$ 10 million, and it´s been filmed in São Paulo, the city it´s not the Capital of the country, but it´s the biggest city of South America. In the movie the city of São Paulo it´s a fictional one, with a harbour, and other totally fictional landscapes; other funny thing it´s the snow (in a tropical climate?!). Plastic City tells te story of two gangs fighting for the power over drugs traffic.

Photo by Fernando Donasco/Folha Imagem

The big star of Plastic City is Japanese actor Joe Odagiri (Azumi), as gang leader Kirin.

Source: http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq2304200807.htm

PLASTIC CITY (Brasil/China, 2009)
Director: Yu Lik Wai
Screenwriters: Lik Wai and Fernando Bonassi.
Cast: Joe Odagiri (Kirin), Anthony Wong (Yuda), Phelipe Haagensen (Tetsuo), Milhem Cortaz (Not Dead), Tainá Muller (Rita).

An Empress and the Warriors (China)

An Empress and the Warriors

Director Ching Siu-tung´s new film An Empress and the Warriors depicts the tragic love story of an empress and two warriors. Ching Siu-tung directed Chinese martial arts movies such as Naked Weapon (2002) and A Chinese Ghost Story (1987).

This is the first period film for Kelly Chen, who also starred in Infernal Affairs, and Breaking News.

Fans will have the chance to listen to Chen and Lai, also being successful singers, as they sing together in the movie. (source: koreatimes.co.kr)

Kelly Chen plays the role of courageous Yen Feier, the empress of a kingdom 2,000 years ago in ancient China. She is left to reign over the war-torn nation, and also has to protect herself from enemies who wish to see her fall and steal the crown. Torn between her responsibility of being queen and also her love toward a dispatched soldier Duan Lan-quan (Leon Lai) and general of her kingdom Muyong Xuehu (Donnie Yen), Yen Feier challenges herself with decisions that may result in her death and also of those she loves.

Rain Stars Speed Racer

South Korean singer-actor Rain (Jeong Ji-hun) stars in Hollywood live action film Speed Racer, by the Wachowski brothers (Matrix franchise). The film will be released worldwide on May 8. As everybody knows, Speed Racer is based on “Mach Go Go Go,” the 1960s animé series by cartoonist Tatsuo Yoshida. Rain plays rookie racer Taejo Togokhan.
 

“He [Togokhan] has a forceful personality,” Rain said, noting that Togokhan is cast as the villain because he has such an overpowering urge to win. “No actor would have turned down this role, especially when the movie is directed by the Wachowski brothers”.
Rain’s scenes feature many Hangul letters, which indirectly introduce Korea and its culture. “I asked the production crew to portray Hangul characters in the scenes,” Jeong said. “As you will see in the film, Togokhan is written in Hangul. Many Westerners who saw the film said the letters were pretty.”

Rain didn’t actually get behind the wheel, since the racing scenes were shot on a green screen using a three-dimensional video-editing technique. “It would have been nice to have had the chance to barrel along,” he said.

And the great news for this young star are that the Wachowski brothers asked him to star as the main character in their next project, Ninja Assassin. “People say luck brings luck but in this case, I’m sure it was my hard work that won me this new role.”

Currently, Rain is training in Berlin for his Ninja Assassin scenes. “From 6 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, I receive hard-core training”. He works out every day to lose weight and he practices martial arts.
Source: Hong Soo-kyoung Movie Week

As for his music carrer, Rain contributed a song to the original soundtrack for the animated film Kung Fu Panda (2008). DreamWorks invited him to perform on the film as a singer.
“The key to success is not to stop challenging yourself, try new fields, remain focused and consider what you want,” Rain said.

Korean Stars News

* Jeon Do-yeon (Best Actress at Cannes for Secret Sunshine): filming A Fine Day, the movie is about an unemployed, single woman in her thirties who meets an ex-boyfriend and embarks on an adventure for a day. Co-stars Ha Jeong-woo (The Chaser).

* Choi Min-sik (Old Boy) is done filming Himalaya-Where the Wind Stops. The story: when a Nepalese factory worker dies in an accident, Choi Min-sik's character goes to a town in the Himalayas to give his family the remains. Director Jeon Soo-il (The Bird Who Stops in the Air), Producing Company Show East, music by Kim Hyeong-suk (My Sassy Girl).

* Song Kang-ho (The Host) will be appearing in the Western style blockbuster The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, an action movie of men who are in lawless Manchuria in the 1930s during Japanese control. It features other top stars such as Lee Byeong-Heon and Jeong Woo-seong.

* Seol Kyeong-gu and Director Kang Woo-suk are back for Public Enemy 3 (Kang Cheol-jung, Cinema Service). Shooting is set for this coming fall with the story following four years after the events that took place the orginial film. The sequel will also feature Jeong Jae-young (Going By the Book), Kang Shin-il (Black House), and Im Won-hee (Three… Extremes). Director Jang Jin will work as screenwriter.

* Yoo Ji-tae (Hwang Jin Yi) and Lee Youn-hee (M) are the stars of director/writer Ryu Jang-ha (Springtime, 2004) new film, the romantic drama Soonjeongmanwha (“pure comic strip”). It´s the story of a thirty-year-old office employee and a female student who run into each other every morning at an elevator. Both are secretly in love with each other.
Produced by Let’s Film, the film is scheduled for a release in the fall.
Source: KOFIC

12th Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival

The 12th Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival (SICAF), the biggest annual event of its kind in Asia. SICAF, launched in 1995, has received formal recognition as an animation event from the Association International Du Film d'Animation in 2005.

Bringing together fans of animation films and an exhibition of cartoon work, the festival, which is to be held from May 21 to 25, will feature 137 animations from 30 countries, the most in the history of the annual event.

The animation lovers will be able to enjoy high-quality full-length features and shorts from around the world this year.

The films will be screened at Lotte Cinema near Konkuk University.
The finalists this year include award-winning animations such as The Peace Sister from Britain, Ark from Poland and Canada's Madam Tutli-Putli.

Tokyo Marble Chocolate, by Naoyoshi Shiotani
Synopsis
Yudai is serious and generous, but too shy with girls. Chizuru is a cheeful girl, but when it comes to boyfriends, she's always been clumsy. This is the first Christmas the young couple spends together, but everything is going to change because of ... a mini donkey?! A pure love story, colorful ans sweet, yet a bit bitter. Just like a piece of chocolate.

Source:
http://bit.ly/ca143x
For further information: http://www.sicaf.org/2008/eng/index.jsp

The Forbidden Kingdom

The Forbidden Kingdom - at the top of the U.S. box office over the weekend!

The Lionsgate film starring, for the first time together, Chinese actors Jackie Chan and Jet Li, grossed about $21.4 million over the weekend.

Speaking of Chinese legends, to the brazilian fans of good comic books, and to understand better the Forbidden Kingdom story:
Série de HQ: “Jornada Ao Oeste – o nascimento do rei dos macacos”, Ed. Conrad, R$ 34,32 na Livraria Cultura.

para comprar: http://www.livrariacultura.com.br

Bong Joon-ho’s "Mother"

''I want to make the saddest yet most beautiful crime drama ever," Bong said. "At the center of this story is a small and weak mother who stands alone, a woman so determined that she can't even stop herself.''

Movie: Mother (S. Korea, 2009)
Starring: the return of veteran actress KIM Hye-ja to the big screen, actor Won Bin, in his first film since Taegukgi, and My Brother.
Production: Barunson Film Division, Choi Jae-won and Seo Woo-sik.

 

The film is expected to start shooting this Fall on a budget of US$5 million.
Screenwriters: Bong Joon-ho and Park Eun-kyo.The plot: the story centers on a shy, awkward young man (Won Bin) framed as the perpetrator in a brutal slaying. His devoted and determined mother (Kim Hye-ja) pits herself against incompetence and corruption in the police and legal system as she sets out to uncover the truth and prove his son’s innocence.
(source: Korean Film Council)

Bong Joon-ho´s films: Memories of Murder (2003), The Host (2006); Tokyo (a Korea-France-Japan joint production)

Lee Byung-hun´s Hollywood Debut

Korean actor Lee Byung-hun had just finished his filming scenes in his Hollywood debut, G.I. Joe, an adaptation of the popular action-hero comic book series. Lee plays Storm Shadow, a ninja with a dark past who joins the G.I. Joe team, an elite military unit of highly trained recruits, each with his own specialty skill. In the film they take on an evil and powerful criminal syndicate led by Cobra, a notorious arms dealer.

Director: Stephen Sommers (The Mummy)
Production company: Paramount Pictures
Cast: Lee Byung-hun, Channing Tatum, Rachel Nichols, Dennis Quaid.
Release: summer of 2009.

Lee´s next projects:
* Director KIM Ji-woon’s (A Bittersweet Life) The Good, The Bad, The Weird.
* I Come With the Rain, by Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung, a France-US co-production.
* On TV: starring in the high budgeted spy thriller IRIS, produced by Lee Hyung-min, developed by Kang Je-kyu (Taegugki, Shiri), which is expected to air at the end of the year.

Jeonju International Film Festival

Jeonju International Film Festival

Twelve films from all over the world were selected for the international competition section of the the 9th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) slated from May 1st through 9th. The purpose of the Jeonju International Film Festival is to discover new, promising directors.

The panel of judges will be comprised of five reputed filmmakers from Korea and abroad, including Korean director Bong Joon-ho (The Host), actress Eom Ji-won (A Tale of Cinema), Iranian director Abolfazi Jalili, author and critic Chris Fujiwara, and Turkish culture writer Defne Gürsoy.

This year's program boasts a record total of 169 films with opening night going to Manda Kunitoshi's The Kiss in its International Premiere. And the curtain-closer will be the Korean omnibus film If You Were Me 4, produced by the National Human Rights Commission.

International Competition:

Captain Ahab (France), by Philippe Ramos

The Stolen Man (France), by Matias Pineiro

Tricks (Poland), by Andrzey Jakimowski (2007 Polish Film Festival, 'Golden Lion')

Continental, a Film Without Guns (Canada), by Stephane Lafleur (2007 Toronto International Film Festival, 'Canadian Best New Film Director')

Ballast (USA), by Lance Hammer (2008 Sundance Film Festival, 'Best Director Award')

Chop Shop (USA), by Ramin Bahrani

Cochochi (Mexico), by Guzman and Cardenas (2007 Toronto Film Festival, 'Discovery Award')

Sky, Earth, and Rain (Chile), by Jose Luis Torres Leiva (2008 Film Festival Rotterdam, 'FIPRESCI')

My Last Secret (China, Documentary), by Li Xiaofeng, Jia Kai

Years When I was Child Outside (Philippines), by John Torres

Strizh (Kazakhstan), by Abay Kulbayev (2007 International Film Festival Eurasia, 'Grand Prix')

Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame (Iran), by Hana Makhmalbaf

JIFF´s homepage: http://eng.jiff.or.kr
(sources: KBS World; korea.net)

Q Girls

Hong Kong actress Maggie Q (Mission Impossible 3) and Taiwanese actress Shu Qi (Blood Brothers) have joined the cast of Hollywood movie New York, I Love You (US, France, 2008), and will be starring two of the 12 short love stories. Amongst the 12 directors, Japanese director Shunji Iwai and Chinese Jiang Wen are included.


post by sam.

The Curse of the Golden Flower (China)

A Maldição da Flor Dourada/ Curse of the Golden Flower
(DVD Sony Pictures, China, 2007)Diretor: Zhang YimouAtores: Gong Li, Chow Yun Fat, Jay Chou.- No original mandarim se traduz algo como “O exército dourado chega à cidade”.

Com A Maldição da Flor Dourada o aclamado diretor Zhang Yimou fecha uma espécie de trilogia épica, juntamente com Herói e O Clã das Adagas Voadoras.

Embora muito mais grandioso e calcado em fatos históricos, o impacto do filme é bem menor, se comparado aos anteriores. Os cenários do palácio imperial são impressionantes, foram construídos primorosamente nos estúdios de cinema de Beijing. Os figurinos são outro destaque dessa produção cara para os padrões asiáticos, com trajes ricamente bordados, e armaduras em metal pesado que tornaram exaustivas as filmagens para os atores. Todo esse cuidado que serviria ao enriquecimento da estória acabou sendo um empecilho, já que se trata, no fundo, de um drama familiar, e não de um épico de batalhas imperiais.

O conflito interno do imperador da dinastia Tang (Yun Fat) com sua esposa (Li) e o reflexo trágico sobre os filhos do casal é seguido com interesse, graças às boas atuações, e ao clima intimista e shakespeareano do enredo. No entanto, os cortes bruscos para as cenas de lutas e batalhas (que o time de TH&C adora!) não combinam com o resto da trama, são como dois filmes paralelos.

Enfim, para quem é fã do cinema chinês e do diretor Zhang Yimou, sempre vale a pena conferir! E para as fãs do ator/cantor pop taiwanês Jay Chou (príncipe Jai) tem o bônus da música dos créditos finais cantada por ele.

Assista também: O Imperador e o Assassino, com Gong Li (DVD,Califórnia Filmes)