Kang Ji-hwan, Lee Jia in telecinema project

by javabeans

Finally, some more news about that large-scale, multiple-installment, Korean-Japanese co-produced “telecinema project.” The release date has been set as November 5 for the segment starring Kang Ji-hwan (Level 7 Civil Servant) and Lee Jia (Style), which has a new title: Love Is Blind [내눈에 콩깍지].

I think the new title is a big improvement, since the tone of the film is much lighter than the initial working title, which was the much more unwieldy — and serious-sounding — The Relationship Between Faces, Hearts, and Love.

 
A refresher for those unfamiliar with this telecinema thing:

The entire project comprises multiple productions, each with its own plot and cast, written and directed by a different team. Because it’s a joint production between Korea and Japan, each segment pairs a Japanese screenwriter with a Korean director. Each individual segment clocks in at roughly two hours, and will be released simultaneously (or nearly simultaneously) in both countries, in theaters AND on television. The movie theater version will screen much as a normal film, while the television portion will air in two hourlong broadcasts. (Here’s a breakdown of each of the segments.) Some details may have changed from the original synopsis; for instance, it originally planned for nine stories, but has settled on seven.

Phew, sound ambitious? It is, and it isn’t. While the entire telecinema project encompasses multiple films, they each have their own team working on it, so its scope is manageable. It’s the format that is ambitious, since it is putting a lot of work and coordination into a new(ish) model of distribution, which may be a wild success or fall very short of expectations.

 
As for this specific plot:

Love Is Blind is a romantic comedy that shares a lot of similarities with the premise behind Shallow Hal: It stars Kang Ji-hwan^MINE! as Kang Tae-pung, a “perfect man” who possesses the trifecta of charm, wealth, and skill. When he suffers a car accident, he starts experiencing flashes of hallucination and falls in love at first sight with Wang So-joong (Lee Jia), a woman without charm, wealth, or skill, with an “especially problematic” face, to boot. She doesn’t know about his hallucinations and thinks she has finally met her match in this “witty and humorous” story.

Love Is Blind pairs director Lee Jang-soo (Shoot the Stars, Stairway to Heaven) with writer Ooishi Shizuka of jdramas Four Lies (Yottsu no Uso) and First Love.

 
Writers of the other segments include: Yokota Rie of Gokusen, Okada Yoshikatsu (Churasan), Inoue Yomiko (White Tower), and Kitagawa Eriko (Long Vacation).

Other directors include: Kim Yoon-chul (My Name Is Kim Sam-soon, Que Sera Sera), Lee Hyung-min (I’m Sorry, I Love You), and Ji Young-soo (Oh! Pil Seung Bong Soon Young).

Actors include: Kim Haneul (Level 7 Civil Servant), Ji Jin-hee (The Man Who Can’t Get Married), Kang Hye-jung (Love Phobia), Bae Soo-bin (Brilliant Legacy), Han Hyo-joo (Brilliant Legacy), TOP and Seung-ri of Big Bang, DBSK’s Hero Jaejoong, Ahn Jae-wook (I Love You), Cha In-pyo (Age of Heroes), Lee Soo-kyung (Lawyers of Korea), Yeh Ji-won (Old Miss Diary), and more.

Via Arts News

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