On October 8, the 14th Pusan International Film Festival, or PIFF, opened in Busan. (Yes, the city takes a different official spelling than the film festival. Blame inconsistent Romanization.)
As the largest film festival in Korea, it drew a large list of attendees, as you can see from the long list of red-carpet walkers. It was definitely a star-studded opening night, and even included one familiar Hollywood face (Josh Hartnett).
This year’s PIFF features its largest lineup to date, screening 355 films from 70 countries, and closes on the 16th.
Go Jun-hee (who switched to her stage name after first acting under her real name, Kim Eun-joo), is taking on a leading role in the film Hold Me Tight and Cry (that’s a loose translation for 꼭 껴안고 눈물 핑).
She acts alongside Lee Kyun (Hello Franceska), who is back onscreen (yay!) after completing his army service this year; he was discharged on March 11. Go’s character is an aspiring actress who falls in love with a married man while at acting school, although she’s the frank type of character who doesn’t hide her feelings. The plot sounds fairly common, so this film will probably rely more on the “unusual interpretation of love” it purports to explore.
Go Jun-hee has played supporting characters in dramas What’s Up Fox and General Hospital 2 and the movie Girl Scout. Directing and screenwriting is Kim Dong-won of the 2002 comedy film Bet On My Disco.
Did the Blue Dragon Awards sneak up on us this year or what?
As one of the largest year-end awards shows, the Blue Dragon always tends to draw out a good number of A-listers, and we saw plenty of them out on the red carpet on November 20 and posing pretty for photos.
One big winner of the night was the “kimchi Western” The Good, The Bad, The Weird, as was the thriller The Chaser and even the sports movie Forever the Moment, from way back in January.
But, as with any awards show, sometimes the fun is less about the actual awards and more about parsing all the red carpet looks.
SBS’s new show Interview Game opened up its studio on the 21st for a press conference. The show is hosted by a panel of four actors — Go Jun-hee, Kim Ji-suk, Geum Bo-ra, and Yeom Kyung-hwan — and covers a range of topics in its interviews, often with a serious tone, from family, career plans, love, and others.
A case in point is the show recorded that day (and airing on the 22nd), featuring as its guest the older brother of deceased rapper Turtleman, aka Im Sung-hoon, who passed away in April of a heart attack. The brother, Im Joon-hwan, met with various people who’d known Turtleman through his life, such as a high school classmate who reminisced about how Turtleman had dreamt of pursuing music and wrote songs since high school. He also found out for the first time about a disappointed love his brother had experienced, a woman who’d been identified in one of his songs through her initials “KSK.” His groupmate Ji-yi explained that the woman had died while he was in military service; to escape being assaulted by some men, she’d been running away when she was struck in a traffic accident. Ji-yi recalled, “He cried whenever he talked about it.”
Apparently Turtleman had been going through a rough time, stressed and burdened with business matters. His brother, hearing this for the first time over the course of the show, was struck speechless for a while to hear what a hard time his brother had been facing. (Gah, this show sounds depressing. A review by Yonhap News has described Interview Game as setting off to a quiet start, and decried a lack of rapport between the interviewers and interviewees.)
Meanwhile, host Kim Ji-suk explained his anticipation of the shows to come, explaining that unlike most other reality and variety programming, Interview Game is completely unscripted; all of its laughter and touching moments are “100% real.” Asked who he’d personally like to interview most, he answered, “I’d really like to try interviewing the president of my management company. I’d like to hear what he plans for my future.”
Go Jun-hee told reporters that the show has received lots of interest in people who’d like to participate. Personally, she’d like to interview her parents: “I’d like to ask who my father’s best friends are, the places my mother frequents.” (Because I’m sure these questions are only worth asking on television? You have this great new platform, are asked about hypothetical interviews you’d love to do, and you pick your boss? Or your parents? Come on, I know you guys are actors, but how about some answers that aren’t quite so narcissistic?)
Go Jun-hee (the new stage name for the model-actress formerly known by her real name, Kim Eun-joo) poses for July’s issue of In Style.
She’s been popping up in the news more these days, which means she’s probably about to start on a promotional round for her next project, which appears to be a stint as host of SBS’s new variety program Interview Game, which aired its first installment on June 24. Her most recent acting role was alongside Kim Sun-ah in the caper comedy Girl Scouts.
