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.

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And wouldn’t we all?

Oh, Kwon Sang-woo. I understand that you’re in something of a career slump after being one of the hottiest hotties of the early 2000s, and yeah, both your best buds Song Seung-heon and So Ji-sub came off pretty strong series in the past two months… but is bargaining for more viewers really the way to go about it?

Ratings for his new trendy drama Cinderella Man have been low, and Kwon offered that if they rose above 20% (ha!), he’d personally ask co-star Yoon-ah’s girl pop group Girls Generation (SoShi) to make a cameo.

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On Wednesday, Cinderella Man premiered to a disappointing 9.3% rating, which dropped further to 6.7% on its second day. (It was up against Cain & Abel and I Hate You But Let’s Try Again, which both pulled in numbers in the 15%-19% range.)

I’ll always take the stance that ratings aren’t strictly indicative of a show’s quality, so I don’t think the numbers automatically say the show sucks. However, after seeing the first two episodes, I can see why the show received such a lukewarm response. Articles discussing the show’s first week point out the shaky quality, which range from complaints of Kwon Sang-woo’s muddy diction (”It requires subtitling!”) and exaggerated accent, as well as Yoon-ah’s acting and insufficient range of expression.

Personally, I didn’t think Cinderella Man was actually bad. It was okay. Inoffensive. It just… wasn’t very exciting.

SONG OF THE DAY

Biuret – “Dreams Come True.” Hm, maybe this song is too energetic for this post… Oh well. Just know that the drama ain’t anywhere near as upbeat as this fun song by Biuret, whose second album released a couple months ago. [ Download ]

CINDERELLA MAN Episodes 1-2 >>

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I admit to poking a bit of fun at MBC’s upcoming series Cinderella Man, but I will say from photos of the drama’s production press conference, it does have one good-looking cast. (Of course, merely casting pretty actors never ensures quality, but when you’re approaching a drama with low expectations of the body-switching, weirdly-cast, cliché-ridden story, eye candy becomes important.)

Kwon Sang-woo and Yoon-ah, above, still look a little more like “Daddy’s little girl” than romantic counterparts, but I’m willing to give it a shot.

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Han Eun-jung (Lawyers of Korea, Full House) will be the leading lady opposite Kwon Sang-woo’s pauper-into-prince main character in upcoming MBC drama Cinderella Man.

Or should I say, leading lady opposite both of Kwon’s pauper AND prince characters — his Dongdaemun market shopkeeper character (the “pauper”) switches places with a businessman who owns a large-scale clothing enterprise (the “prince”). Hilarity (I’m sure) ensues.

Han Eun-jung plays a rich daughter of a banker, who falls for Kwon’s shopkeeper character. Neither actor excites me, but the premise seems rife with possibility for ridiculous cheesiness. The drama will air on Wednesdays and Thursdays in early May.

Via DongA

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