New treat from South Korea: Kim Seong-hun's clever, action-packed thriller, A HARD DAY

The continuing parade of Korean movies worth seeing hits a high-point of delight with the new actionful, alternately noirish and highly amusing thriller, A HARD DAY from writer/director Kim Seong-hun. All about the very difficult night, day and continuing span of time that our quite beleaguered hero, a police detective, is having -- the movie offers one thing after another going wildly wrong for this guy. When at last our hero cries, "Gimme a beak!" the phrase will seldom have sounded so plaintive -- nor funny.

This is because filmmaker Kim (shown at right) has found just about the perfect combination of tone and pace for this whirlwind of action, event, chase, and bizarrely unfurling plot that makes up the movie. Full of the kind of coincidence and convolution that keeps things cooking, the story gets better and bolder as it moves along. Coming in just under two hours (relatively short for a Korean film), Mr. Kim leaves his best stuff for the last, while ensuring that what precedes this is plenty good enough to keep us hooked.

His hero, played, with an increasing proclivity to appear unhinged. by a smart and unusually unassuming actor, Lee Sun-kyun (above), is most ably abetted by his co-star and nemesis, played by Cho Jin-woong (below). You could not ask for a better set of leading men than these two, whose crack performances compliment each other beautifully.

These two make up most of the movie all by themselves, with a good supporting cast of characters that includes wife, daughter and various police co-workers and bosses. But it's that delicious plot that hooks you and keeps you hanging on -- from the funeral scene, in which our hero's dead mom gets a bed-mate in her casket via a GI Joe toy, to foot and car chases filled with a rare combination of tension and delight.

Visually, the filmmaker does what he needs to but occasionally also tosses in a technically wondrous long shot to take our breath away. He also has fun with some Korean stereotypes: "Cops aren't gangsters!" notes our hero, with some anger. Really? Let's find out.

Mister Kim's movie is also full of little surprises and a lot of humor -- from a fortune teller's on-the-mark vision to the location of a missing key. And there's one scene in which you just know that a certain car is about to blow up, and the suspense keep building nicely. Then, hmmm... not quite.

The climax is a fine one -- except, there's more. And the rest is even better -- one of the most tactile, visceral, mano a mano combats yet seen, which is, at the same time, wonderfully clever and funny. If you don't yet know about the South Korean movie renaissance of the past decade or two, here's a good place to begin your education. If you're already a fan of this country's cinema, you'll be lining up for more.

A Hard Day -- from Kino Lorber, in Korean with English subtitles and running 112  minutes -- opens this Friday, July 17, in New York City at the Village East Cinema, with a limited national release to follow soon.

Kim Ji-hoon's THE TOWER: Korea gives us a sleek, smart, modern-day "Towering Inferno"

They've done most everything else at this point, have those Koreans -- hugely successful monster movies, wartime dramas, thrillers, rom-coms, police proceedurals and more: just last week I covered one hell of a good werewolf romance -- so why not revive one of those Irwin Allen-type spectacles we haven't seen for some time? Fortunately, it's not The Swarm but one of the guy's better mainstream movies. The Towering Inferno that we're seeing here. And coming from Korea. of course, it's filled to the brim with drama ("melo" variety) laughs, tears and oodles of the most spectacular special effects. It's called simply THE TOWER, and it's yours to stream on Netflix right now.

Being a Korean movie, you'll find a lot more class consciousness -- in this tale of a pair of hi-rise towers, below and further below, beset by bad planning and even worse maintenance -- than you would have caught in any of the Allen film of decades past. How the wealthy and powerful are catered to (and finally saved well before the hoi polloi) is just part of the reason the movie will push that 1%-vs-the-99% button. As directed and co-adapted (from what, I wonder?) by Kim Ji-hoon, shown at right, the movie takes awhile to get going, as we must first meet a lot of different characters, including the buildings' workers, owner and tenants plus members of the fire brigade who will come to the rescue (or try to, at least).

There's a widowed dad and his cute little daughter, his maybe-might-be love interest (who also works at the site), a young couple (he's a sou chef, she works at reception), a cleaning lady desperately saving for her son's college education, the uber-decent chief of that fire brigade and his new recruit, the sleazy money-grubbing guy who's in charge of the buildings, and lots more.

Once the problems begin (and mount like an out-of-control wildfire), the movie takes off and afterward barely leaves us time to draw a breath. The special effect are first-rate -- from the holograph of an enchating performer, below, designed to amuse the guests...

...to the crashes, fires and explosions that keep popping up as rescue becomes less and less likely. Filmmaker Kim is particularly good with his pacing, never allowing the special effects to supersede the need for clarity of what is happending and suspense as to what this will mean.

Self-sacrifice plays a large part in the proceedings, as well, and as often happens with these new Korean films, you'll find yourself more moved by the finale than you might have expected.

Sure, this is yet another exercise in blockbuster creation via suspense, special effects and a decent enough story-line to keep us watching. But given the materials at hand, this one is handled about as skillfully as you could wish in a two-hour fingernail-biting entertainment.

Stealing from so many other, older movies -- from that Allen-produced film above to the better-than-expected Sylvester Stallone pic Daylight -- The Tower moves from placidity and Christmas-time joy to shock and awe with surprising ease and skill.

From CJ Entertainment, the movie can now be seen on Netflix streaming and Amazon Instant Video and on DVD.

Park Hoon-Jeong's NEW WORLD, in which power just keep congregating until...

...it doesn't matter whether it's the supposed good guys (the police) or the bad (a corporation made up of the top criminal gangs) who wield it. Because they're pretty much the same thing. So it goes in the new movie NEW WORLD, from Park Hoon-Jeong (who earlier wrote I Saw the Devil and here both writes and directs) -- just as, I am beginning to believe, it goes in today's almost totally power/money corrupted world.  Mr. Park does a good job of both writing and directing, allowing us to follow an incredibly twisting path that doesn't conclude until the very last of the end credits have rolled and the final visual scenes -- rolling right along with those end credits -- have played out. (Don't walk out during those credits, or you'll miss some more fun.)

New World, indeed. The filmmaker (whom I believe is shown at left but I could be wrong) is cer-tainly onto something, and that something isn't confined to Korea. We see power colluding all over the globe, what with globalization, inter-national banks "too big to fail" (but please, let's allow them this honor), and our own Supreme Court siding (just barely but enough to do the job) with corporations and money over citizens and democracy. So this latest bit of provocation from Korea seems on target and only slightly pumped up from reality.

When the head of the corporation that combines the major crime syndicates is suddenly killed in a freak car accident (which may very well have been planned), someone must replace him. While the movie spends the rest of its time in internecine warfare between possible successors, all this is aggravated by the fact that these fellows, to a man, it would seem, are all either in the pocket of the top policeman (above) assigned to oversee the gangland investigation, or an actual police plant (below) who has for ten years been rising to the top of the gang's hierarchy.

There is a little too much exposition of character and history wedged into the dialog, but as the film rolls along, there is enough violence and action to keep us occupied and wincing (feeding one poor fellow accused of betrayal a milkshake made of cement is the opening gambit).

 Midway along, there's a terrific automobile/gang fight (above) resulting in one of the possible successors entering an elevator (below) only to discover... hmmm: I'll just say you're in for one hell of an enclosed-space fight scene.

The movie, while perhaps not the best of its genre, is good enough to add even more luster to Korea's already ripe reputation for grandly entertaining, over-the-top, genre film-making. It joins the recent BAM series, the continuing Tribeca Cinema Korean film series, the theatrically-released The Berlin File, and the numerous Korean films that can now be streamed via Netflix to provide an up-to-date look at what's coming from a country that is now arguably the most exciting and entertaining film capital of the world.

New World, from Well Go USA Entertainment and running a lengthy but never uninteresting 134 minutes, opens today, Friday, March 22, in New York City (at the AMC Empire 25) and fifteen other cities across the U.S. and Canada. Click here to see all currently scheduled cities and theaters.

Korean movies come to BAMcinématek this weekend -- briefly but buoyantly, as usual

Lovers of films from South Korea (and when we say Korean film, South is what we mean) should be lining up this weekend, February 22-24, as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in partnership with CJ Entertainment, presents BAMcinématek's 11th annual New York Korean Film Festival.

Why are these recent Korean movies (and by that, I mean over roughly the past decade) so damn good? That's a question TrustMovies asks himself periodically, usually after seeing a bunch of 'em in a row -- whether at a festival such as this, or via Netfix streaming (which offers a wonderfully diverse number of recent Korean movies), or when a film opens theatrically (as with last week's The Berlin File, shown above).

The answer is tri-part: Most Korean movies are simply made so well that, from a commercial standpoint, they're aces (they've got all the trimmings down pat: cinematography, lighting, design -- not to mention acting, writing and direction -- and they are put together with style to spare); they manage to include -- even the most mainstream of these movies -- subjects that take in politics, economics, sociology, history, and the way we're all living now; and finally, their filmmakers seem to excel in every genre -- from rom-coms (Cyrano Agency) to ultra-dark thrillers (No Mercy, shown above), war movies (The Front Line or My Way) to historical epics (Masquerade, shown in this fest), monster movies (The Host, Chawz) to gorgeously appointed, soap-opera sleaze (that tasty remake of The Housemaid, shown below) and beyond.

What about art films? Well, I've left out that category in the paragraph above, mostly because every film I see come out of Korea appears to be in some way an "art film." Lord knows, they are made artfully enough, with that special combination of the unique and the juicy to engage most moviegoers. And they have such energy! (For one of the supreme examples of a movie that is original, while mashing up several genres to make you laugh, gasp and finally cry, I would recommend you rent, from Netflix or Greencine, a film called Save the Green Planet. A decade old now, there has still never been anything quite like this one.)

So what's on tap in this year's New York Korean fest? Eight films, including one US premiere and three NY premieres, the latter including the Kim Ki-duk’s controversial Venice prizewinner Pieta (above, which opens the fest) to Deranged, the uber-scary thriller (that closes it, below). You can see the entire schedule by clicking here -- then click on each individual movie to learn more and/or buy tickets.

The two films I've been able to screen early could not be more dissimilar -- except in their quality and entertainment value. I recommend both of them highly. (If I have time I'll watch and cover the other two screeners I received and report on them here.)

Deranged, a terrific title (and one that, given how descrip-tive it is, has not been much used in movie-land) is one of those epidemic movies (think last year's Contagion, but about ten times better), in which what is going on, when revealed, is yucky as hell but a lot more fun. The film moves like a house afire, never leting up, and the family we grow closest to during the proceedings proves surprising in several ways.

Once again, as with so many Korean films, we're in the land of sleaze, though exactly where that sleaze is coming from we don't learn for quite some time. Here are politicians, police, media, the medical establishment, drug companies, and a bunch of everyday people (below) who are suddenly doing some very weird stuff.

Water figures into things, from the drought going on across the country to the need for liquid once the plague's effects come into play. The movie works as a satisfying thriller, a science-gone-bonkers warning, and yet another testament to the unbelievable power of greed. Deranged screens once only at BAMcinématek, this Sunday, February 24, at 7pm. Click here for tickets.

At the other end of the Korean spectrum lies the gorgeous historical spectacle and box-office bonanza (in its home country) Masquerade, which tells a sort-of-based-on-fact tale, with a lot of help from Mark Twain's Prince & the Pauper. In it, a low-level actor/magician
/entertainer who bears a striking resemblance to the current emperor (and make use of this in his "show") is recruited to replace the more prestigious guy, when an assassination attempt looks likely. Complication ensue, but they are tweaked just enough to avoid out-and-out cliche, which proves awfully entertaining (this is a skill that so many Korean movie-makers seem to have up their sleeves).

The film, directed by Choo Chang-min (this is the first of his I've seen), offers all the pomp and splendor of royalty, the necessary political and social underpinnings, and... romance! Really, what more do you want in a historical pot-boiler?  Starring Lee Byung-hun -- the utterly gorgeous leading man from Three Extremes; The Good, The Bad, The Weird; I Saw the Devil and those dumb-fun G.I. Joe movies -- and a cast of ace actors who know just what to do, the film ignites repeatedly, and offers, humor, history, love and tears in about equal measure (the penultimate scene involving the "pauper" and the real King's bodyguard is simply wonderful). Once you've seen it, you'll understand why it's one of the box-office record-breakers in Korean film history.

General Information you might need:
Tickets: General Admission: $13
BAM Cinema Club Members: $8,
BAM Cinema Club Movie Moguls: Free
Seniors & Students (25 and under with a valid ID, Mon—Thu): $9
Bargain matinees (Mon—Thu before 5pm & Fri—Sun before 3pm no holidays): $9
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at
30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM
Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell
Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the
newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio.
BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory
programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera
House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé
Live on select Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 8pm.
Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater)
D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue
Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center
Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM
Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM
For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.

A second, free Korean Film series -- It's a Fine Romance! -- begins at Tribeca Cinema

According to The Korean Cultural Service of New York -- which has been presenting a kind of introduction-to-Korean-film, beginning this past last February with a quartet of excellent crime and war movies -- fans of filmmakers Jang Hun and Park Shin-Woo turned out in droves to scare up the biggest numbers ever for the Cultural Service's film program. Now, turning to a very different genre, the romantic comedy, TKCS announces 2012's second series, "It's a Fine Romance!" -- which screens free at New York City's Tribeca Cinemas throughout March and into April.

The one film in the new series that TrustMovies has seen so far -- Cyrano Agency -- was more than was enough to send him back for seconds and thirds.

Tuesday, March 13, 7pm
CYRANO AGENCY (2010)

Korea's biggest romantic hit of 2010, this high-budget rom-com won South Korea's “Best Screenplay” award, while its star, Lee Min-Jung (from the last Korean series' White Night) won a truckload of “Best New Actress” awards. The movie is actually a very smart update of Rostand's classic play Cyrano de Bergerac, in which the long-nosed Cyrano, though in love with his cousin Roxanne, offers his help to the tongue-tied and not very bright young man, Christian (whom Roxanne loves) and helps him win her. In this adorable, but never cloying movie, some out-of-work theater students have opened a business called the Cyrano Agency, that -- via very elaborate (and costly!) set-ups -- helps its clients win the girl or boy of their dreams.

In a way, the movie does the exact opposite of the recent French film Heartbreaker, in which the business was dedicated, in the same elaborate, costly way, to breaking up the couple instead of bringing it together. The movie has a fascinating arc. At roughly the 15-20 minute mark, it appears to be over -- with its couple firmly in love and that happy ending upon us. Ah, but then we have a new client, a young, cute, smart hedge fund manager (shown at top, with flowers) who's tongue-tied around the girl he wants to love. Except that this girl, below, happens to be the "ex" of the boss of the Cyrano Agency (above), a no-longer-so-young man who once staged that very play in a theater. Suddenly we have our own Cyrano situation being acted out in earnest and in modern dress.

The delightful, surprising, ironic and funny changes the movie manages to ring on the play itself are almost all for the good, and the young cast is more than up to the task. And while the movie is often laugh-out-loud funny, it also tweaks the tear ducts now and again because its theme of how love rarely works out to suit both parties (one of his helpers at the agency pines badly for her boss, who is still carrying that torch for his ex).

There is also a kindness, a sweetness to Christian in this movie that has been missing from literally every production of Cyrano that I've ever seen. This adds immeasurably to our pleasure, as well as our sadness in knowing that someone here is going to be very disappointed. And yet the movie holds true to its source, while finding a way to make everyone happy. The ending is delicious, with a magic moment that manages to break the fourth wall. Is this the best Cyrano ever? Maybe. Which means, by any standard, that this is a very good film. Come early; it's bound to be crowded.

TM will try to report on both these upcoming films in the weeks ahead. For now I'll just give you the information that the publicist sent me....

Tuesday, March 27, 7pm (New York Premiere, 2009)

MY GIRLFRIEND IS AN AGENT 

Opening at number one, and staying in the box office top ten for nine straight weeks, MY GIRLFRIEND IS AN AGENT is the Korean version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Kim Ha-Neul gets dumped by her boyfriend, Kang Ji-Hwan, because she’s never around. Actually, she’s a spy. Three years later, he runs into her again, only now he’s also joined the intelligence service too, albeit in a different department. Now they both have undercover identities they both have to keep hidden and they’ve got secret missions they both have to fulfill, while working out the trauma of their past relationship. Full of high-speed chases and plenty of glossy gunplay, it’s easy to see why a movie this fast on its feet is already slated for a Bollywood remake.


Tuesday, April 10, 7pm
PETTY ROMANCE (New York premiere, 2010)

A word-of-mouth hit in 2010, this romance is set in the world of manhwa (Korean comic books), and the couple at the center of the story have chemistry to burn. TV star Lee Seon-Gyun is a struggling manhwa artist who enters a competition with a massive cash prize. To raise his chances of winning, he hires a sex advice columnist, Choi Gang-Heui (star of the breakout hit, My Scary Girl), to write his erotic comic. Little does he know that she plagiarized her column from the Kama Sutra and the Kinsey Report because her ideas about sex are a bit…vague, to put it kindly. PETTY ROMANCE been winning hearts and minds on the film festival circuit for a year and it’s a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

Korean Movie Night

March 13, 2012 through April 10, 2012
Every other Tuesday @ 7pm at Tribeca Cinemas
(54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, 

one block from the A, C, E and 1 train Canal Street stops)

Price: Free!
All seating is first-come, first served.
Doors open at 6:30pm.

More trauma from Korea, as WHITE NIGHT makes its North American debut at Tribeca

The final film in the quartet of genre-mashing crime dramas from South Korea being presented to film buffs by the Korean Cultural Center of New York (the first three were directed by Jang Hun), WHITE NIGHT (Baekyahaeng: Hayan eodoom sokeul geolda), comes to us via director/co-adapter Park Shin-Woo, shown below (from the Japanese novel by Keigo Higashino), and will make its North American debut next Tuesday evening, February 28, at 7 pm at the Tribeca Cinema. Admission is free.

By far the darkest of the four films shown so far (a new series of South Korean romantic comedies begins in March), this long-but-enthralling, two-and-one-half-hour movie tells a tale that spans 14 years (Korean crime aficionados may realize that this is just about the point at which -- in South Korea, I'm assuming -- the statute of limitations runs out). The three major characters are two young students, a girl and a boy, and a detective investigating one and then another odd murder. The student's parents come into play, as does the son of the detective, but it is these three -- then and now -- who make up the pro- and antagonists and who are, in fact, both at once.

What unites these three also creates the tension and despair that grow as we learn who they are and why they're connected. The filmmaker and his extremely able cast pull us in and keep us guessing, even as we slowly begin to piece the story together. A terrible tale it is, involving parents that neglect to protect (or worse) and children who internalize their damage, turning it into their life's work.

The less said about plot, the better, so that you can sit back and alternately gasp and revel in the severe beauty of the film and of the actors who inhabit it, starting with the amazing Son Ye-jin (above) as the lovely and secretive fashion designer of the present day. Her smile and poise mask so much and yet are so beautiful to gaze upon that we willingly accompany her.

Her odd sort of partner (they keep a distance from each other) is played by the equally fine (and beautiful) actor Go Soo (above), star of The Front Line. His story is as awful as that of the woman he loves from afar, but the way he has chosen to handle it is quite different from hers -- though we will not fully understand this until the movie's final moments.

In its way the meatiest role belongs to the actor who plays the driven detective, Han Suk-kyu. Mr. Han turns this character into a sad obsessive with whom we can all identify, at least in part, and his obsession, which ties into his loss, makes him a figure of near-tragic dimension.

Guilt, shame and anger all combine to see to it that our past is ever with us, and this film gets into the interior life of its victims very well. Notice the small moment in which the daughter asks her soon-to-be stepmom why she smiles all the time. The final fifteen or so minutes are hugely exciting, after two hours in which we're consistently interested but perhaps waiting, waiting for something more. It will come, and the movie's use of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake is a hell of a lot better here than the way it was used in a certain other award-winning movie from two years back.

White Night -- part of the continuing Korean Movie Night series -- plays Tuesday, February 28, at 7pm, at Tribeca Cinema. Admission is free, so come early to make certain you get a seat. Click here for more information.