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One of the most important Korean filmmakers in the 1960s and 70s, Lee Man-hee established his reputation as a master of genre cinema, at a time the industry had yet to embrace horrors and thrillers, which have since become staples of the local film scene. Born in 1931 as the youngest of eight children, Lee took part in the Korean War as a codebreaker before entering the film industry in 1956, working as an assistant director for filmmakers such as Ahn Jong-hwa, Park Gu and Kim Myeong-je. He debuted as a filmmaker in his own right with “Kaleidoscope” in 1961, which featured the famous actor Kim Seung-ho. His third film, “Call 112” (1962) brought Le commercial success and his next task was to revolutionise Korea’s genre scene, notably with the horror “The Devil’s Stairway” and the film noir ” Black Hair”, both in 1964. Not one to stick to one formula, Lee also made a mark as an artistic filmmaker,...

After her directorial debut “Love Letter” in 1953, Kinuyo Tanaka had received some international recognition, with the feature being a contestant at Cannes Film Festival in 1954. It also marked the end of her working relationship with director Kenji Mizoguchi, with whom she had collaborated on “Oharu” and “Sansho the Bailiff”, which cemented her reputation as one of the leading ladies of Japanese cinema. However, while the famous filmmaker was against this next step in her career, the experience of her first directorial effort encouraged her to continue working behind the camera as well. Her next project would be “The Moon Has Risen”, a family drama/ light comedy, which was co-written by Yasujiro Ozu, who originally had planned to direct it himself. While Ozu’s signature themes are still quite obvious, Tanaka proved her growth as a visual storyteller, making her sophomore feature a remarkable development in her career.

“The Moon Has...

A co-production between South Korea, Hong Kong, China and the United States, it is the fourth remake of the now-lost 1966 Lee Man-hee homonymous melodrama classic.

Anna Chen is imprisoned in Washington after man-slaughtering her husband, 7 years ago. The actual story begins when she is informed of her mother’s death and is granted a three-day leave to attend the funeral in Seattle. On the bus to Seattle, she comes across a Korean immigrant named Hoon, who initially asks her for money to pay his fare. Eventually, the two are acquainted, with Hoon revealing that he is a gigolo. The two of them spent many of Anna’s days together, with him on the run from a client’s husband and her revealing facts about her situation in the grey and foggy surroundings of Seattle.

Kim Tae-young directs a film that, despite having a dramatic base, is actually a subtle romance.

About This Film

Lee Man-hee-i is one of the most significant Korean directors that worked in the 60 and the 70s’, with films like the present one, “The Marines Who Never Returned”, “Late Autumn” (a now lost film which has been remade a number of times in Korean cinema), “Break up the Chain” and many more. “A Water Mill”, one of his greatest works is a film that mages to communicate its significant messages through a very entertaining story, and, in the process, to highlight the great job done by Lee Man-hee-i, the cast and the crew.

Synopsis

The story unfolds during the Joseon period, and revolves around a drifter (Shin Young-kyun) who meets a mysterious woman called Boon-i (Ko Eun-ah-i) during a festival around a water mill. The man, who soon is given the name Bang-won soon finds work for the local landlord, while his fascination with Boon-i reaches the borders of obsession.

Korean hostage crisis drama has been sold to 14 territories including Japan and Taiwan.

South Korea’s Megabox Plus M has sold The Point Men, director Yim Soon-rye’s anticipated Korean hostage crisis drama, to 14 territories including Japan (Gaga) and Taiwan (MovieCloud).

The latest feature from Yim, who directed 2014 local hit Whistle Blower, stars Hwang Jung-min (The Spy Gone North) and Hyun Bin (Late Autumn) in the true story of a Korean diplomat who is dispatched to Afghanistan when a group of South Korean tourists is taken hostage by the Taliban. When all other measures fail and one hostage is killed,...

Celebrated Korean director Park Chan-wook will start production later this month on Korean-language drama film “Decision to Leave.” The cast is headed by China’s Tang Wei and Korean actor Park Hye-il.

The picture is produced by Moho Film and counts Cj Entertainment as its principal financial backer. Cj is also set as the distributor in its Korean home market. A decision on international sales representative has not yet been settled.

The story involves a diligent and serious detective (Park Hye-il) who is investigating a possible murder case in the mountainous countryside. He begins to suspect the man’s widow (Tang), whom he also develops romantic feelings for.

The script was co-written by Park and frequent collaborators Jeong Seo-kyeong. The pair have previously co-scripted Park’s 2006 effort “I’m a Cyborg, but That’s Ok,” 2009 horror adaptation “Thirst” and erotic thriller “The Handmaiden,” which appeared in competition in Cannes in 2016.

Park’s...

When we think of an Ozu film, there is a couple of themes and motifs that immediately spring to our mind. Family conflicts and tensions between parents and their children are inherently woven into most of the narratives from the Japanese director. They are usually accompanied by a trademark set of feelings, especially those of resentment, melancholy, neglect, but also of nervous hope. “Late Autumn” was yet another film fitting precisely within these aforementioned categories.

The film opens with a sequence in a temple – characters gathered there to commemorate the passing of their friend, Miwa. Fast forward a couple of hours, and Miwa’s daughter Ayako (Yôko Tsukasa) proclaims during a celebratory dinner that she is looking for a husband. Three men sitting opposite to her are friends of the deceased. Mamiya (Shin Taburi), Taguchi (Nobuo Nagamura) and Hirayama (Ryuji Kita) quickly volunteer to help her with finding the right match.

“Come Rain, Some Shine” is a Korean indie drama which charts the final day of a soon to split married couple, played by actor Hyun Bin (“Late Autumn”) and actress Lim Soo Jung (“Jeon Woo Chi”). However, where the film, from director Lee Yoon Ki (“My Dear Enemy”) differs, is in that it replaces the usual scenes of emotional outpourings and histrionics with contemplation and poetically subdued visuals. The effects of this approach are unexpectedly powerful, and the film won praise from critics at home and on the international festival circuit, including Berlin, where it was the only Asian entry to screen in competition. The film’s plot is sparse and, in narrative terms at least, uncomplicated, beginning with a shocking car conversation in which Lim announces that she is leaving Hyun and that she has met another man. The rest of the film follows them during their last day together,...

"Cars 2, directed (like several great Pixar films of the last two decades) by John Lasseter, finds itself in the unlucky position of the not-so-bright kid in a brilliant family," finds Slate's Dana Stevens. "No matter if his performance in school is comfortably average; he'll always be seen as a disappointment compared to his stellar siblings. There's nothing really objectionable about Cars 2, although parents of young children should be warned that a few evil vehicles meet violently inauspicious ends. It's sweet-spirited, visually delightful (if aurally cacophonous), and it will make for a pleasant enough family afternoon at the movies. But we've come to expect so much more than mere pleasantness from Pixar that Cars 2 feels almost like a betrayal."

Nick Schager for the Voice: "Pixar's Cars franchise takes a sharp turn from Nascar mayhem and rural red-state-targeted 50s nostalgia to 007 espionage with this upgraded sequel, though in its...

Uma Thurman is the second American on the feature film jury of the Cannes Film Festival, joining jury chairman Robert De Niro, the festival announced Tuesday. The other members, all announced Tuesday, include British actor Jude Law, Argentinian actress/producer Martina Gusman ("Carancho") and French director Olivier Assayas ("Carlos"). Other jurors: producer Nansun Shi ("Late Autumn") from China, director Mahamat Saleh Haroun ("A Screaming Man") from Chad and director-producer Johnny To ("Election") from Hong Kong. Norwegian critic-writer Linn Ullmann, the daughter of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullman, completes the panel. The jury's selections, including the...

Five Korean films have been selected to the 35th Toronto Film Festival. Invited films Poetry and The Housemaid will continue to make their push for an Best Foreign Oscar nomination, while the previously announced I Saw the Devil is riding in on the controversy around its graphic nature. Newly selected films announced this past Tuesday include, Oki’s Movie, which is preparing for it's debut in Venice, and the major World Premiere announcement comes in the shape of the multi-region co-produced Late Autumn (a.k.a. “Manchu”) -- a film which may have the best chance to leave the festival as Korea’s most heralded film of 2010. “Late Autumn” is a story about two foreigners—one Korean and one Chinese—travelling to Seattle. The woman (China’s Tang Wei from Lust, Caution fame) is on leave from prison to attend her mother’s funeral. On the bus, she meets a...

Behold this paparazzi shot of Tang Wei and Takeshi Kaneshiro together. [Thanks Tony!] Be still my heart. It appears they may be co-stars in Peter Chan's (The Warlords) next project which is titled, simply, Wuxia.

Tang, Donnie Yen (in sunglasses) and Takeshi.

... isn't that like calling a film Horror or Period Epic or Musical or Action or some such? Though supposedly Wuxia is a remake of The One Armed Swordsman (or maybe a reboot of that 70s franchise in general?)

Anywei... since that sexist ban on the Lust Caution hussy* lifted, she's been busy. (As well she should be given how tremendous that performance was, truly one of the most confident and complex movie acting debuts ever.) Tang Wei has had one new film released in Hong Kong (Crossing Hennessy). Her new film Late Autumn will be at Tiff (pictured left) and now, there's this. No word yet on her connection...

Wow, that's a lot of flicks. Everything from Peter Mullan's Neds to Benedek Fliegauf's Womb (that's right, it's a trailer!) to more Greek weirdness in Athena Tsangari's Attenberg. I wish I was going.

It's late so I'm not writing much of a post here.. Maybe I'll update tomorrow.

Full list after the break via Variety.

Contemporary World Cinema

(World preems)

* "Home for Christmas," Bent Hamer (Norway/Germany/Sweden)

* "Behind Blue Skies," Hannes Holm (Sweden)

* "Even The Rain," Iciar Bollain (Spain/France/Mexico)

* "The First Grader," Justin Chadwick (I.K.)

* "Neds," Peter Mullan (U.K./France/Italy)

* "White Irish Drinkers," John Gray (U.S.)

* "22nd of May," Koen Mortier (Belgium)

* "African United," Deb Gardner-Paterson (U.K.)

* "Blessed Events," Isabelle Stever (Germany)

* "The Edge," Alexey Uchitel (Russia)

* "Jucy," Louise Alston (Australia)

* "Lapland Odyssey," Dome Karukoski (Finland)

* "Late Autumn," Kim Teo-Yong (South Korea)

* "Matariki" Michael Bennet (New Zealand)

* "Tracker" Ian Sharp (U.

Rachel Weisz in The Whistleblower The Toronto International Film Festival has added even more films to their line-up today as the complete line-up was announced, which ended up causing the festival's server to crash, but I was lucky enough to get in and get out before missing out on the information.

First off, the festival's Mavericks line-up is quite interesting, which includes a series of guest presentations and this year will see Edward Norton interview Bruce Springsteen, NBA All-Star and native Canadian Steve Nash will present his hour-long film Into the Wind, Apichatpong Weerasethakul will talk with the audience as his Cannes Palm d'Or-winning film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives was just added to the Masters programme, Ken Loach and Paul Laverty will be interviewed by Michael Moore on politics and cinema and Philip Seymour Hoffman will have his own panel. Also on hand will be Bill Gates,...

The sophomore film from the director of Ex Drummer, Swedish thriller Bad Faith, Pablo Trapero's Carancho (my personal favorite film from Cannes 2010), Tsui Hark's Detective Dee, Tom Tykwer's Three and a host of others populate one of the more exciting lineups for the Tiff Contemporary World Cinema Program in recent years. Here's the complete lineup:

22nd of May Koen Mortier, Belgium World Premiere

The director of Ex-Drummer returns with an artful meditation on political violence. A security guard fails to prevent a horrific explosion in a shopping mall, then lives through the aftermath as a series of overlapping what-ifs.

Africa United Debs Gardner-Paterson, United Kingdom World Premiere

Africa United tells the extraordinary story of three Rwandan children and their bid to achieve their lifelong dream - to take part in the opening ceremony of the 2010 Football World Cup in Johannesburg.

Aftershock Feng Xiaogang, China North American Premiere...