The Korea Herald

Gang Dong-won apologizes over great-grandfather's controversial past

May 3, 2017

South Korean actor Gang Dong-won apologized Wednesday over revelations his great-grandfather was a member of pro-Japanese forces during Tokyo's colonial occupation of Korea. The 36-year-old offered the apology after a screening of his crime-action film "Master" in Jeonju, 243 kilometers south of Seoul, where the Jeonju International Film Festival is under way, according to festival organizers. Speaking to the audience, he said he did not have the opportunity to personally apologize since the
‘The Merciless’ is a bromance with style

May 3, 2017

Cannes-bound crime flick unsettles with startling twists
‘The Soup’ wins Arizona film fest award

May 3, 2017

Korean film “The Soup,” starring actor Yoon Park, has won an award at the 26th Arizona International Film Festival.Yoon’s agency JYP Entertainment said Wednesday that the movie recently received the best foreign feature award at the annual international film festival that ran from April 19-30 in Tucson, Arizona. In the movie based on a true story, Yoon plays a man with a rough personality named Jaegu, who enters the home of a mentally disabled couple with a 7-year-old daughter, and ends up livin
‘Villainess’ actors to attend Cannes

May 1, 2017

The actors of action thriller “The Villainess,” invited for the Cannes Film Festival’s midnight screening this year, will walk the red carpet of the prestigious event that kicks off May 17.Kim Ok-vin, Sung Joon (credited as Bang Sung-jun) and Kim Seo-hyung, along with the film’s director Jung Byung-gil, have confirmed they attend the Cannes screening and other events there. It is unclear whether Shin Ha-kyun, who is currently recovering from a leg injury obtained while shooting the film, will be
[Herald Interview] ‘Barrage’ delves into motherhood at Jeonju film fest

Apr 30, 2017

Isabelle Huppert, daughter star in director Laura Schroeder’s mother-daughter drama
Jeonju film fest’s int’l competition explores humans in social context

Apr 30, 2017

JEONJU, North Jeolla Province -- Women’s ties to social institutions and the anxiety of modern society are two of the themes that stand out among films in the international competition category at the Jeonju International Film Festival’s 18th edition, which kicked off Thursday.Compared to works in the Korean competition which took a more personal, microscopic approach, according to JIFF’s programmers, the international competition films explored human beings in a broader social context. “In Bet
[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Apr 28, 2017

The Mayor(Korea)Opened April 26Political drama. Directed by Park In-jeIn the turbulent world of politics, where elections are about fishing for a pearl in a pool of dirt, beloved Seoul mayor Byeon Jong-gu (Choi Min-sik) will stop at nothing to win a third term and gear up for the presidency. His right hand man Shim Hyeok-su (Kwak Do-won) harbors ambitions of his own. Byeon’s eager supporter Park Kyung (Shim Eun-kyung) joins his camp as a public relations official and witnesses the lengths Byeon
Cannes-bound Korean film to open in France in June

Apr 28, 2017

The domestic crime-action flick "The Merciless" will open in French theaters on June 28, the film's production company said on Friday.The film starring Seol Kyung-gu and Im Si-wan is to premiere in the Midnight Screening, an out-of-competition slot in the 70th Cannes Film Festival set to open on May 17."The international attention for 'The Merciless' has increased explosively since it received an invitation from Cannes," a CJ E&M official said. (CJ E&M)The French distributor ARP that has previou
Korean Competition at Jeonju film fest goes dark

Apr 27, 2017

Dark sense of humor prevails through films competing for domestic prize
Enyedi explains meaning of dreams, deer in ‘On Body and Soul’

Apr 27, 2017

JEONJU, North Jeolla Province -- Ildiko Enyedi’s ethereal tale of romance “On Body and Soul” begins with a stag and a doe rubbing against each other in a snow-covered forest. The stag advances, and the doe steps away.The scene is later revealed to be the collective dream of Maria and Endre, the romantic leads in the Hungarian film invited to open this year’s Jeonju International Film Festival.“We were looking for birch trees, like pillars of a cathedral, very high above eye level, no bushes,” sa
Park Chan-wook appointed to Cannes jury

Apr 26, 2017

Korean director Park Chan-wook is to sit on the jury of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival that kicks off next month. Director Park Chan-wook (Yonhap)The international festival said Tuesday that Park was included on the festival jury to decide its top prize this year, along with other big names including Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, Italian director Paolo Sorrentino and US actor Will Smith. Park has become the fourth Korean to sit on the festival’s jury. Shin Sang-ok was the first-ever in 1994, foll
Lee Je-hoon’s radical transformation in historical film

Apr 25, 2017

Lee Je-hoon has taken on various roles such as the sweet boyfriend in the recent time-travel tvN drama “Tomorrow With You” alongside Shin Min-ah. But the actor becomes almost unrecognizable in the upcoming historical film “Park Yeol” (unofficial translation).Lee is seen sporting much stubble and a maniacal grin in posters released by the film’s distributor Monday. Written is the film’s tagline, “Joseon Dynasty’s biggest rebel.” Lee Je-hoon is depicted in a poster for the upcoming film “Park Yeol
[Herald Interview] Shim Eun-kyung, between innocence and experience

Apr 25, 2017

In the 2011 film “Sunny,” the nostalgic coming-of-age flick about a group of friends at an all-girls high school in the 1980s, Shim Eun-kyung plays a shy, possessed student. When the spirit inside her manifests itself, Shim’s character becomes comically violent, scaring off the school’s bullies and rescuing her friends. Bursting onto the Korean film scene with this role, Shim has since become a symbol of innocent youth and sprightly whimsy. In her breakout role in the 2014 comedy “Miss Granny,”
'Fast and Furious 8' wins second weekend in S. Korea

Apr 24, 2017

"Fast and Furious 8" has dominated the South Korean box office for the second weekend in a row despite the massive arrival of newcomers. (Yonhap)According to the box office tally from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) on Monday, the Hollywood action flick garnered 682,576 views, which is about 57 percent of all tickets sold, in its second week of release.In the latest installment in Universal's long-running "Fast and Furious" franchise, protagonist Dominic Toretto turns against the crew he's calle
Soo Ae may star in ‘Upper Class’

Apr 23, 2017

Soo Ae is considering returning to the big screen with the upcoming movie “Upper Class” (unofficial title), according to her agency Star J Entertainment. Soo Ae (Herald DB)The agency recently said the actress was offered a lead role in the movie. “She is in the final phase of making the decision. She is considering the role positively,” said an agency official. The movie, directed by director Byun Hyuk, tells a story of a woman who tries to climb the social ladder. The seasoned actress made he