Violence against women is an issue that has long been neglected in Korean society, due in part to a traditional way of life that supposes that women would always be at home or otherwise under the protection of men they could trust. Kim Mi-jo's “Gull” is not a film about rape itself. Instead, its focus [...]
Burning
Jan Smacka2019-05-03T15:39:13+00:00“Male rage blazes a chilling trail on the Korean border. Sex, envy and pyromania make for a riveting mystery in Lee Chang-dong’s masterfully crafted Murakami adaptation. Lee Chang-dong’s Burning is a superbly shot and sensuously scored movie, a mystery thriller about obsessive love taken from a short story by Haruki Murakami. It’s a psychological drama [...]
The Day After
Jan Smacka2018-08-16T16:33:21+00:00“In many ways, The Day After is a quintessential Hong joint. Copious amounts of local spirits are consumed — you just know the eventual box set of his work will be called Fifty Shades of Soju — and people sit around tables and talk, mainly about love, from early morning until well into the night. The [...]