On 14 January 1987, student activist Park Jong-chul dies in police custody after being tortured over his suspected anti-government links. His murder sets off a chain of events involving a conscientious prison guard, a young first-year student, an alcoholic court … Continue reading REVIEW: 1987: When the Day Comes (2017)
Hee-yeon (Yum Jung-ah) retreats to the country, with her husband Min-ho (Park Hyuk-kwon) and daughter Jun-hee, in order to better care for his dementia-afflicted mother (Huh Jin). In the surrounding forests Hee-yeon finds a frightened young girl (Shin Rin-a) and, … Continue reading REVIEW: The Mimic (2017)
In AD 1636, Korea’s Joseon kingdom has been invaded by an army the Manchu Qing dynasty. King Injo (Park Hae-il) and his court escaped to the northern fortress of Namham, but are now under siege from Manchu soldiers. Trapped for … Continue reading REVIEW: The Fortress (2017)
In a small South Korean town alongside the demilitarized zone, an entire local economy of bars, clubs and brothels has built up around the ever-present American soldiers. Sang-kook (Kim Dan-yool) works dutifully in his father’s photography studio, taking ID pictures … Continue reading REVIEW: America Town (2017)
An explosion at a drug manufacturing laboratory takes out an entire level of a drug syndicate’s management. In the wreckage, the police find a low-level syndicate member still alive. Arrested and detained by a special investigation team, he agrees to … Continue reading REVIEW: Believer (2018)
Narrative cinema is a broad medium with seemingly endless potential for disrupting common tropes, experimenting with form, and subverting audience expectations. That said, the further a filmmaker strays from the accepted mainstream the more challenging their work will become for … Continue reading REVIEW: A Korean in Paris (2015)
Ahn Gooc-jin makes one hell of an impression with Alice in Earnestland (2015), a pitch-black South Korean comedy. At times the film feels a more more pitch-black than it does a laugh-out-loud comedy, but it uneven tone aside this is not a … Continue reading REVIEW: Alice in Earnestland (2015)
Joong-man (Bae Seong-woo) labours at his job working at a city sauna, while caring for his ailing mother at home. When he finds a bag packed with money in an abandoned locker he thinks all of his problems have been … Continue reading REVIEW: Beasts Clawing at Straws (2020)
Up-and-coming attorney Tae Soo (Ahn Jae-hong) is given an opportunity for promotion within his firm – and all he has to do it take over the management of an ailing private zoo and bring it back to financial health within … Continue reading REVIEW: Secret Zoo (2020)
Two young girls, Jin and Bin, are unexpectedly sent to live with their aunt while their mother leaves to find their absent father. Before leaving she gives her daughters a piggy bank: when they behave, their aunt will give them … Continue reading REVIEW: Treeless Mountain (2008)
