Seo Ji-hoo, Hong Jong-hyun

Director Kim Jo Gwang-soo garnered some attention with last year’s queer short film Boy Meets Boy, and now he’s coming out with his follow-up. Called 친구사이?, the title translates to “We’re Friends?” or simply “Friends?”

Friends?, like Boy Meets Boy, also deals with queer romance, and this time, the director has cast two unknown actors, 19-year-old Hong Jong-hyun and 25-year-old Seo Ji-hoo. Hong started as a model and was also in Jo In-sung’s Frozen Flower, while Seo earned his role through auditions.

As with Boy Meets Boy, the events of this film are based on the director’s personal experience; the film aims for a “realistic, frank” depiction of young gay love.

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I’ve been talking about the short queer film Boy Meets Boy for a while now, and it’s finally being released.

The nearly wordless short film, starring Kim Hye-sung (Unstoppable High Kick) and Lee Hyun-jin (Kimchi Cheese Smile) as 18-year-old high school students, is billed as a queer romance about first love, and bears the tag “based on a true story.”

The film held its press conference on November 5, and will have a theater release in six theaters — unusual for a short — starting on November 20, which will also feature a segment on the making of the film. (Because it won’t be shown with other shorts, the ticket price is also lower, at about half the price of regular movie tickets.)

More from the press conference and film stills >>

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I’ll just give you a second to let that image sink in. (I mean, really, really sink in that this is indeed two of Korea’s hottest rising pretty boys made famous by two of Korea’s biggest youth drama hits, Joo Ji-hoon of Goong and Kim Jae-wook of Coffee Prince.)

October 28 was press preview day for the new movie Antique (full title: Western Antique and Bakery Shop), starring Joo Ji-hoon, Kim Jae-wook, baby-faced Yoo Ah-in (Strongest Chil Woo), and model Choi Ji-ho (Time of Dog and Wolf).

 
Also: Let the Coffee Prince comparisons begin?

More from the film and press conference >>

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On October 5, the short film Boy Meets Boy held an open discussion at the Pusan International Film Festival with its stars Kim Hye-sung (Jenny, Juno) and Yeh Ji-won (Mixed-up Investigative Agency) and director Kim Jo Kwang Su.

I remember being intrigued when I first heard about Boy Meets Boy [소년, 소년을 만나다], which marks Kim Hye-sung’s departure from his family-friendly image in Unstoppable High Kick. His early career had been marked by an emphasis on his pretty face more than anything (he rose to fame as an internet uljjang with thousands of fans, got a couple movies, and then the hit sitcom High Kick), but he seems to have a grounded perspective of his fame (as he explained in the interview linked above).

Not only is he portraying half of a gay romance in the short film, the narrative is expressed without dialogue — the director opted instead to tell the story mostly in the characters’ gazes.

More photos and discussion points from the event >>

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I admit the first thing that struck me about Kim Hye Sung was his adorable baby face. But although he’s part of the newest generation of good-looking, trendy young stars, he seems to be slowly differentiating himself from his peers and taking some personal care (and risks) into his acting choices. He’s one I’ve got my eye on for the future.
 

“Kim Hye Sung’s transformation from pretty boy to hot-tempered youth to gay lover”

By the time 2003’s hot uljjang trend had blown over, some new stars had appeared on the scene: uljjangs. [What’s an uljjang?] The first-generation ulljangs included Park Han Byul, Gu Hye Sun, Nam Sang Mi. Second-generation ulljangs: Kim Ok Bin, Bae Seul Gi, Lee Yeon Hee. And also Kim Hye Sung and Kang Eun Bi.

They rose to fame not via television or movies, but through the internet, causing a shake-up of the currently existing star-making system. Uljjang stars weren’t discovered through television station tests, new-actor auditions, talent agencies, or streetside castings; they were made into stars by audiences and consumers themselves.

Five years later. …

SONG OF THE DAY

Deb – “Dopamine” [ Download ]

 
More on Kim Hye Sung, Boy Meets Boy >>

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