September 5 saw the end of the 17th Chunsa Film Festival and its closing-night awards ceremony, which was held in Icheon, Kyunggi-do. The winners list was dominated by the popular, recently released sports film Take Off [국가대표, or National Athlete], although vampire film Thirst did well, as did lush period piece Portrait of a Beauty.
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.
Actors Won Bin (Mother) and Shin Mina (The Naked Kitchen) pair up — and pucker up — for their first kiss in a CF for Maxim T.O.P. brand coffee.
A brand representative explains the target demographic to be 20- and 30-something men and women, and in that spirit, they picked a pretty appropriate couple. I mean, do they make a gorgeous duo or what? (Watch a behind-the-scenes clip of the CF shoot below.)
The ad will begin airing on the major broadcast stations and cable TV on June 1. [Read more →]
Actress Shin Mina (The Naked Kitchen) has come out with her “project music video” and song collaboration with rock band Loveholics (watch/listen below).
The song is called “Miracle Blue” and features Shin Mina’s pretty, airy vocals (again, not the strongest singer, but they suit the feel of the music). The video was also made in conjunction with Calvin Klein jeans, which feature prominently in what I suppose we can call a branded MV — Shin walks around in different settings and occupations wearing various jean styles.
Meanwhile, Loveholics is planning on releasing their full-length album (their first after parting ways with Jisun) in August.
Actress Shin Mina (Naked Kitchen, Devil) will be lending her vocals as guest singer with rock band Loveholic — or, as they’re known now, Loveholics.
Lead singer Jisun left the band to go solo two years ago, and the remaining two groupmates Lee Jae-hak and Kang Hyun-min have chosen to feature a rotating door of guest vocalists (Alex, Horan, Whale) rather than sticking with one fixed replacement. They’ve used the slightly altered moniker “Loveholics” for those collaborations, and released their first digital single “Butterfly” last December. For their second, they’re working with Shin Mina.
She isn’t wholly inexperienced as a singer, and last year recorded a song with Toy that was featured in the branded entertainment project Summer Days (listen below). That also starred Hyun Bin and Ryu Seung-beom and was touted as a “crossover film” — but you can just consider it an elaborate commercial. She also participated on the soundtracks to her films Go Go 70 and The Naked Kitchen.
Shin’s new single with Loveholics is titled “Miracle Blue” [미라클 블루], and she’ll appear in the music video as well. However, it’s not a straight music video — it sounds like more branded entertainment, as it also features Calvin Klein (for which she is brand model). Her management explains that this is a new project that “brings music together with fashion.”
I don’t think she’s particularly strong as a vocalist, but it seems like her voice really isn’t the focus of this venture, is it? (I miss Loveholic + Jisun.)
