Korean Movie Link-fu

[handslive]

This is mostly for my own future reference.  Lucius Shepard's Films column in F&SF for May discusses Korean genre flicks and I want to make a note of films and/or directors I should maybe keep an eye out for.


Ki-duk Kim: Bad Guy, Address Unknown, The Isle - obsessional...often explore perverse sexual themes in a dark, violent setting.

Joon-ho Bong: Memories of Murder - explores the psyches of a group of police officers investigating a serial murder case

Shiri (1999) - romantic spy picture
Oldboy (2003) - relentlessly grim
Public Enemy (2002) - brutal and comedic
Friend (2001) - Sergio Leone-ish gangster movie
Nowhere to Hide (1999) - descontructionist take on film noir, manga, and the entire Hong Kong action catalogue

Jong-chan Yun's Sorum (2001) - nominally a ghost story about an apartment

Seong-wook Moon's Nabi (The Butterfly) (2001) - a tormented woman travels to the site of an "Oblivion Plague" outbreak to forget her past

2009: Lost Memories (2002) - alternate history with time travel; Japan and the US ally during WWII resulting in tyrannical Japanese rule of Korea

Comments

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

frabjousdave has seen Bad Guy, and liked it a lot.

-J

[frabjousdave.livejournal.com]

I've also enjoyed (if that is the word) The Isle, although many will not, and Oldboy (ditto). Also entertaining were Memories of Murder and Shiri. Sorum I do not remember clearly, but I have the lingering impression that I was glad I saw it but wouldn't rave about it. I probably liked it better than the phenomenally disappointing Tell Me Something, which threw away all its promise in the third act.