Awards, awards, awards! Friday, November 25, was the night of the 2011 Blue Dragon Film Awards, and — no surprise — the winners list was dominated by one of the biggest films of the year, sageuk-action-thriller Bow: The Ultimate Weapon. The film is a David and Goliath story of one man (Park Hae-il) taking down the enemy with his exceptional prowess with the bow and won awards for most of its leading stars.

A few other films also nabbed multiple awards, with best picture going to the thriller Bad Deal. (which also won for director and screenplay).

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Post tags: awards, Byun Jung-soo, Go Soo, Gong Yoo, Han Chae-young, Jo Sung-ha, Jung Ryeo-won, Kim Haneul, Kim Hye-soo, Kim Soo-hyun, Lee Je-hoon, Lee Jung-jin, Lee Min-ho, Lee Min-jung, Lee Shi-young, Moon Chae-won, Nam Gyuri, Park Bo-young, Park Hae-il, Ryu Hyun-kyung, Ryu Seung-ryong, Su Ae, Yoo Sun, Yoon Kye-sang

October 17 was the night of the 48th Grand Bell Awards (or, per its Korean name, Daejong Awards), and it was a big event for a few films in particular. And while the Joseon-era David-versus-Goliath action sageuk Bow: The Ultimate Weapon didn’t sweep the categories, it did take home a nice chunk of them.

But Best Picture (and a few others) went to the Korean War film The Front Line (which is probably a good thing, since it’s this year’s entry to the Academy Awards — not that I expect it’ll win or even make final cut. Korean films rarely — never? — do).

A couple of other notable winners: bright, touching comedy Sunny, and the moody, pensive Bleak Night. All are on my Must Watch ASAP list.

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Post tags: awards, Bae Jong-ok, Cha Tae-hyun, Choi Kang-hee, Daniel Choi, Go Chang-seok, Jang Seo-hee, Jang Young-nam, Jo Hee-bong, Jo Sung-ha, Jung Soo-young, Kang So-ra, Kim Haneul, Kim Hye-soo, Kim Sumi, Lee Je-hoon, Lee Min-jung, Moon Chae-won, Park Hae-il, Park Hyo-joo, Seo Young-hee, Shin Hyun-bin, Shin Hyun-joon, Song Sae-byuk, Won Bin, Yoon Kye-sang

This summer’s seen a number of strong films, at least box-office-performance-wise. (Sector 7, for instance, has been largely panned for its story but has been racking up the ticket sales. Others that have enjoyed solid numbers include explosion-laden Quick with Lee Min-ki, and the Korean War blockbuster The Front Line.)

Joining those films is sageuk action film Bow, the Ultimate Weapon, which enjoyed the No. 1 spot at the box office this weekend and has been drawing critical praise for its taut story. It beat out Kim Haneul and Yoo Seung-ho’s thriller Blind, which premiered the same day and came in second place. The weekend receipts for Bow, the Ultimate Weapon totaled an impressive 967,326 tickets, with a cumulative total of 1.36 million.

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Post tags: box office, Moon Chae-won, Park Hae-il, Ryu Seung-ryong

Moon Chae-won fans, never fear: She’s been cast in a new movie, which should (hopefully) expand on her repertoire a bit with its action-sageuk focus. The project is Bow: Ultimate Weapon (as in, bow and arrow), a historical piece taking place in the Joseon era boasting a reportedly fresh story and strong script.

In addition to her, Bow co-stars two actors I particularly enjoy, Park Hae-il (Moss, The Host) as Joseon’s greatest archer and Ryu Seung-ryong (Quiz King, Personal Taste) as a Chinese general, who face off in a “breathtaking showdown.”

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Post tags: Moon Chae-won, Park Hae-il, Ryu Seung-ryong

Kim Yun-jin (Lost) and Park Hae-il (The Host) have been cast in the suspense thriller Duel [대결], which could also be translated Confrontation or Showdown.

The plot revolves around “a mother who must save her daughter, and a son who must protect his mother.” Kim’s character is blessed with a happy life, “but in the moment of danger, she gradually discovers the devil inside her.” In contrast, Park’s character has nothing and lives in rage and despair, “but as he lives his hardscrabble life he discovers his last hope.” (It’s an interesting juxtaposition, but I hope it doesn’t get too caught up in its perfect-opposites setup, which can result in oversimplification of character complexities.)

Kim’s last movie was Harmony, set in a women’s prison. Her last thriller was in 2007, Seven Days, in which she also played a mother saving her daughter. She said, “In Seven Days [my character] was a strong woman who could handle whatever came her way, but this time she’s very weak and emotional. It makes my heart break for the extreme situation that she finds herself in.” With Lost now over, I wonder if we’ll be seeing Kim ramping up her film career in Korea.

Park Hae-il, meanwhile, has a film coming out in the next week: the anticipated movie Moss (Ikki), which is a crime thriller that comes from director Kang Woo-seok of Silmido and Public Enemy Returns.

Duel entered filming on July 9 and is aiming for a release later this year.

Via Asia Economy

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Post tags: Kim Yun-jin, Park Hae-il

The movie Billion [10억] seems to have adopted the English-language title A Million, which is odd since the title literally means “a billion.” I can only surmise that this is a rough conversion of money, since 1 billion won is a little less than 1 million dollars, which is the prize money in the plot of this reality-game-based thriller.

The plot is basically what you would get if you smooshed Survivor with The Most Dangerous Game: A group of contestants is dropped off on an island and made to compete against each other for a large cash prize. But in the hands of a psycho producer, the game takes a macabre turn.

When the film was first announced, the plot seemed okay, but what caught my attention was its star-studded cast, mixing up-and-comers with established Hallyu names: Shin Mina, Park Hae-il, Lee Min-ki, Park Hee-soon, Jung Yumi, Lee Chun-hee, and Go Eun-ah.

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Post tags: Lee Min-ki, Park Hae-il, Park Hee-soon, press conferences, Shin Mina

Woo, what a lineup. The new movie Billion has announced its cast, and what a cast it is.

The director is Jo Min-ho (Les Formidables, Jungle Juice), and the story follows eight men and women who participate in a “survival game” for a billion-won prize (which is in the vicinity of a million dollars). They arrive in Australia to find themselves stuck in a life-or-death game, in what sounds like a mix of Survivor and The Most Dangerous Game.

The plot is familiar, but with this cast, I’m hoping it will rise above generic horror-thriller fare to be something quite interesting. The actors are, in order of appearance on the photo above:

• Park Hae-il (Paradise Murdered, The Host), as the “sensitive outsider”;
• Shin Mina (Go Go 70, Devil), an upbeat and positive character;
• Park Hee-soon (Seven Days, Mixed-up Investigative Agency), the lunatic PD in charge of the survival game (and boy, will that be great — Park Hee-soon does menacing crazy incredibly well);
• Lee Min-ki (Romantic Island, Dal Ja’s Spring), a tough guy formerly of the marine corps;
• Jung Yumi (who was fantastic playing the gamine in the drama Que Sera Sera), once again playing naive; and
• “Chunderella” Lee Chun-hee (Humming, Great King Sejong) in the part of a cold-hearted fund manager.

 
I think the cast is playing a bit to type, but I’m okay with that because I can picture them perfectly, and the info has my interest already piqued.

The film begins filming mid-February and is aiming for a summer release.

Via E Daily

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Post tags: Jung Yumi, Lee Chun-hee, Lee Min-ki, Park Hae-il, Shin Mina

It’s kind of unnerving how all the news right now is either Choi Jin-shil‘s sudden death or the 13th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), and sometimes while looking through the news listings, it’s easy to confuse the two based on the thumbnail images. (Given the timing, as far as I can see, there were no overlaps in attendees — or at least, very few — between PIFF and Choi Jin-shil’s funeral viewing.)

October 2 saw the opening night to the nine-day festival; PIFF closes on October 10 and is the largest film festival in Korea, and one of the largest in Asia. Over the course of the week, more than 300 films will be screened from 60-plus countries.

Kim Rae-won and Han Eun-jung, above, came as brand models for PIFF sponsor L’Oreal. Other famous name actors showed up to the red carpet night; the opening film was Kazakhstan’s The Gift to Stalin, as well as the Hyun Bin & Lee Bo-young film I Am Happy.

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Post tags: Baek Sung-hyun, Cha Seung-won, Choi Jung-yoon, Choi Kang-hee, Eom Ji-won, Eugene, film festivals, Go Ara, Gong Hyo-jin, Han Eun-jung, Hyun Bin, Jang Dong-gun, Joo Ji-hoon, Jung Ryeo-won, JYP, Kang Hye-jung, Kim Ji-soo, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Rae-won, Kim So-yeon, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Bo-young, Lee Dong-wook, Lee Jin, Lee Jung-jin, Lee Seon-kyun, Lee Wan, Lee Yeon-hee, Oh Ji-ho, Park Eun-hye, Park Hae-il, Park Jin-hee, Shin Hyun-joon, Shin Mina, Song Chang-eui, Yeh Ji-won, Yoon Jin-seo

Kim Hye-soo and Park Hae-il have a new movie coming out, and it looks gorgeous (speaking purely aesthetically). Modern Boy held its promotional press conference in Seoul on August 27 and, despite its name, takes place in bygone years. 1937, to be exact.

The period film is directed by Jung Ji-woo (Happy End, Wisdom Tooth) and centers around a government official (Park) and the “mysterious woman” he pursues after she disappears (Kim). The titular “modern boy” refers to Park’s character, who harbors more interest in romanticism than his country’s independence.

At the press conference, both lead actors and the director had nothing but praise for one another. Kim Hye-soo talked about the director’s close attention to detail and Park Hae-il’s pure personality, and how she and Park got along comfortably despite this being their first project together. Likewise, Park returned the compliments, saying, “When I heard Kim Hye-soo was cast, I shouted in excitement. I’ve always wanted to work with her, and with us acting together on Modern Boy, we got off to a great start.”

The film opens October 2.

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Post tags: Kim Hye-soo, Kim Nam-gil, Park Hae-il, press conferences