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.

Korean Cultural Service hosts free series of films by up-and-coming filmmaker Jang Hun

NEW YORK CITY -- The Korean Cultural Service's 2012 film series began last week at New York City's Tribeca Cinemas, with the East Coast premiere of Korea's submission to this year's Academy Awards, The Front Line on January 10th and will continue, with a movie shown every other Tuesday night at 7pm, through February 28.  (This Tuesday's movie is Rough Cut -- see below.) All screenings are free and open to the public -- a situation that TrustMovies dearly loves -- and this initial series is dedicated to the work of up-and-coming Korean filmmaker Jang Hun (it's titled, poetically, Jang Hun Plus One). Details are listed below:

Korean Movie Nights at Tribeca Cinemas
from January 10, 2012 - ­ February 28, 2012
Courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service

Screenings take place every other Tuesday @ 7:00PM
Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street, Manhattan
(on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E, and 1 train Canal Street stops)

Admission is free, but all seating is first-come, first served. Doors open at 6:30PM -- so arrive early!

Series One: Jang Hun plus one!

Starting out as an assistant director to Kim Ki-Duk, with his first film, Rough Cut, Jang Hun (shown at right) is said to have established himself as Korea's answer to Steven Soderbergh: a director making big budget movies with an independent sensibility. Three of the films shown in this series -- Rough Cut, Secret Reunion, and The Front Line -- have all become massive South Korean box office hits without making compromises or talking down to their audiences. The series will be rounded out with the North American premiere of a film that's in a similar genre as Jang's but directed by Park Shin-woo: White Night.

Tuesday, January 10 @ 7PM 

THE FRONT LINE (East Coast Premiere, 2011) 

(Yes: this screening has concluded but the film itself just opened and so can still be seen)

One of the biggest Korean hits of 2011, The Front Line is the simple story of a hill: Aerok Hill, a small rise on the Eastern Front of the Korean War that changed hands 30 times over 18 months of fighting. A military investigator is dispatched to see if allegations that the South Korean soldiers tasked with taking the hill are collabora-ting with their North Korean enemies to deliver letters to their families. It turns out that they are, and that's the least of it. A movie about men (and some women) trying to hold onto their humanity in the midst of war, The Front Line is Korea's official submission to this year's Academy Awards. The film opened this past Friday, January 20, in New York City at the AMC Empire 25 and in New Jersey at the AMC Loews Ridgefield Park 12, and in Los Angeles at the CGV Cinemas and in Monterrey Park the AMC Atlantic Times Square 14.

Tuesday, January 24 @ 7PM
ROUGH CUT (2008)

Kim Ki-Duk wrote this wonderfully high-concept (Asian-Mafia-meets-moviemakers) genre-mash-up that's part thriller, part love story, part identity-changer.  It concerns a spoiled actor, famous for playing gangsters, who, for reasons that make excellent sense when you see the film, hires a real-life gangster to appear in his new movie. Filmmaker Jang probes personality, how we see ourselves, and how others see us -- while layering his movie with humor, anger, social comment and fights aplenty. 

"Acting" (indeed the whole moviemaking process) gets a good going-over, and both leading men -- So Ji-Sub as the gangster (above, right) and Kang Ji-Hwan as the actor (above, left) -- are gorgeous, sexy and charismatic. This is probably as good an introduction to Jang's work as any, so if you're interested and live in the Tri-State area, try not to miss it.

Tuesday, February 15 @ 7PM
SECRET REUNION (2010)
TrustMovies hasn't seen this one yet, so the below is what the film's publicist has to say about it:  I'll post my own thoughts here, just as soon as I've had time to watch  the screener....  

Two of Korea's best actors face off in this blockbuster action flick that manages to be sly, subversive and really funny while delivering white knuckle thrills. Song Kang-Ho (The Host) is a South Korean secret agent who fumbles a sting operation on a North Korean spy. Pop star Gang Dong-Won (Haunters) is the North Korean assassin who has been embedded in the South. After the botched operation, both men are cut loose by their respective agencies and Song becomes a private eye, while Gang sinks into deep cover, trying to survive long enough to go home. Years later, they cross paths and what audiences are treated to is a buddy movie to end all buddy movies.

Tuesday, February 28 @ 7PM
WHITE NIGHT (North American Premiere, 2009) 

TrustMovies hasn't seen this one yet, so the below is what the film's publicist has to say about it:  I'll post my own thoughts here, just as soon as I've had time to watch  the screener.... 

White Night is a sprawling, evil epic about an unsolved crime that happened 14 years previously that has spilled its poison out over the subsequent years. Based on a best-selling Japanese novel, and featuring a riveting performance by Ko Soo, star of The Front Line, director Park Shin-Woo turns this movie into a slick, beautifully realized film about true evil, as a detective refuses to let go of this single case, instead insisting on following its threads for years no matter where they lead. And where they lead is dark and truly shocking. This hit film has been called the best Korean film of 2009 by several critics and once you've seen it, it's hard to forget.


Currently, only The Front Line is viewable anywhere except this Korean festival, though both Rough Cut and Secret Reunion can be saved to your Netflix queue (whether "saving" on Netflix means eventually "getting" is debatable these days). White Night is available nowhere on DVD (in a North American NTSC version) that I could find, but maybe, after this premiere screening, some company will get wise and pick it up.