THE WALTER READE THEATER

The Newest Tiger:
60 Years of South Korean Cinema

Nov 12 - Dec 7, 2004

left: Peppermint Candy

Organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Korean Film Council with the support of the Korean Film Archive and the Korean Cultural Service New York, under the authority of the Korean Consulate General in New York. Special thanks to Cinema Service, Mr. Pierre Rissient, Mr. Henry Lee, Ms. EJ Tae and the entire staff of KOFIC. Marketing support by Media Bank. Media sponsors The Korea Times and FM Seoul.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

The first film projections in Korea were organized by visiting Americans, yet before anything like a Korean national cinema could emerge, the Japanese seized control of the peninsula in 1905, remaining in control for the next forty years. Over this period most of its film production was produced or at least controlled by the Japanese, who were not eager for the movies to be used to stoke nationalist sentiments against their rule. Moreover, few films from this period survive. Following the liberation from Japan, a true Korean cinema seemed on the point of emerging (see HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS), but that possibility was snuffed by the outbreak of civil war not long after the official partition of the country in 1948; filmmakers, like so many others, were forced to choose sides, and several of the most accomplished directors headed north. Much of the South, especially Seoul and its surroundings, was destroyed in the civil war, yet despite the hardships the first South Korean films were released by late 1954. Works such as Arirang, The Story of Chunhyang and MADAME FREEDOM broke box-office records, helping to create a new national tradition. Many critics and historians in fact look upon the late 50s/early 60s period as a golden age of Korean cinema, and some of the works included in this series (THE HOUSEMAID, THE COACHMAN, AIMLESS BULLET) attest to that.

Eventually, however, the harsh controls instituted under Park Chong-hee, who came to power following a military coup in 1961, had a terrible impact; there was a great deal of self-censorship, and the creation of Korean TV led to a quick dwindling of the audiences that had been created in the early postwar period. Economic troubles led to the bankruptcy of several important film companies in the 70s, and at a certain moment it looked as if South Korean cinema could well vanish. Revitalized, however, by the wave of anti-government protests in 1979 (one of which led to the Kwangju Massacre), a new generation of filmmakers began making itself known in the 80s. Soon, South Korean cinema became a fixture at international film festivals, winning prizes and for the first time international audiences. Veterans such as Im Kwon-Taek and Lee Doo-Yung continued to consistently turn in first-rate work, while new names such as Jang Sun-woo, Hong Sang-soo and Kim Ki-duk broke new thematic and stylistic grounds with their films. With recent major festival awards at Cannes and Venice, the cinema of South Korea has become one of the most respected, and eagerly anticipated, national cinemas anywhere today. Join us for this series and discover for yourself the richness of this "newest tiger" of Asian cinema. - Richard Peña

AIMLESS BULLET / OBALTAN
Yu Hyonmok, 1961; 105m
Long considered a landmark of Korean cinema, AIMLESS BULLET caused such a furor when first released that the film was temporarily banned. The screenplay by Lee Chong-gyi was based on several news items that dealt with the explosive growth of shantytowns in Seoul, many of them filled with refugees from the North. Song Chol-oh has a decent job as an accountant, but it seems he spends most of his time keeping his family together. His wife is about to give birth, but frail as she is there's a strong fear that she won't survive the delivery. Other family members have drifted into crime or lethargy; meanwhile, Song has to decide if his raging toothache can wait until he gets his paycheck at the end of the month. Largely shot on location, AIMLESS BULLET is a kind of critical social realism pushed to such an extreme that it takes on vestiges of the surreal.
Fri Nov 12: 1; Wed Nov 17: 6:40

TO THE STARRY ISLAND / KEU SOME KAKOSIPTA
Park Kwang-su, 1993; 102m
As he lies on his deathbed, Moon Duk-bae makes one final request to his son Chae-ku: to be buried on Kwisong, the island on which he was born. Accompanied by his best friend, Chae-ku escorts his father's remains to the island. But as they approach, a delegation of islanders draws up to them and demands they turn around; Moon Duk-bae, they insist, will never be buried on their island. Thus the stage is set for an emotional confrontation between two visions of Korea's past and present. Park Kwang-su doesn't attempt to resolve this dispute nor choose among these accounts. "I identify with the protagonist…he's a man who explores the naked truth of his childhood in order to find a way to move ahead." Shown in the 1994 New York Film Festival.
Fri Nov 12: 3; Thurs Nov 18: 6:40

THE ROAD TAKEN / SEONTAEK
Hong Ki-seon, 2003; 100m
Director Hong Ki-seon will be attending the screenings
"THE ROAD TAKEN depicts the true story of Kim Sun-myung, a man who was arrested in 1951 for siding with the North during the Korean War. Sentenced to life imprisonment, he spent the following decades being transferred from one prison to the next, together with other Communist sympathizers. The film follows Kim's life from the 1970s, when an unexpected thaw in relations between North and South led to hopes of reunification, up until the 1990s, when Kim was recognized by Amnesty International as the longest-serving political prisoner on earth. For much of his time in jail, Kim faced a choice. Prisoners who agreed to sign a disavowal of their Communist beliefs would be set free immediately. Those who refused would be beaten or locked in isolation, forced to continue serving their sentences. Apart from depicting the moving story of a man who suffered for his beliefs, THE ROAD TAKEN considers the meaning of this choice, and the process by which our convictions come to shape who we are." - Darcy Paquet, www.koreanfilm.org
Fri Nov 12: 5; Sat Nov 13: 7

LOW LIFE / HA-RYU-IN-SAENG
Im Kwon-taek, 2004; 99m
We're honored to be able to open this retrospective of Korean cinema with the premiere of LOW LIFE, the most recent (and 99th) film by one of greatest filmmakers working today, Im Kwon-taek. A key figure in Korean cinema for over forty years, Mr. Im, whose earlier films Chunhyang and Chiwaseon were presented at the New York Film Festival, has also been key to creating an international audience for Korean cinema. LOW LIFE focuses on the turbulent 60s in Korea; as a burgeoning movement for democracy runs into an increasingly oppressive political regime. Our guide to these changes is Choi tae-wong: Endowed with natural fighting skills, Choi starts off as a hired thug for a powerful criminal boss, gradually working his way up the mob hierarchy. When the going gets tough for the mobs, he goes legitimate and tries his hand at producing films, with little luck. Yet whatever he's involved with, his attitude remains the same: It's a dog-eat-dog world, and brute force is often the only real answer to problems. A powerful portrait of a nation in perpetual crisis, given a perceptive, engagingly human dimension by Korea's master director, Im Kwon-taek.
Fri Nov 12: 7:10; Sat Nov 13: 9

THE LOVERS IN WOOMUK-BAEMI / WOOMUK-BAEMI UI SARANG
Jang Sun-woo, 1990; 100m
"Jang's first unqualified success is a tragic comedy about an illicit sexual affair and its socially embarrassing repercussions. A sewing workshop supervisor lives with a bar girl but one night finds himself in bed with one of the women in the workshop, the wife of an impotent and abusive husband. But how can the affair proceed? Discretion is impossible in a small community full of gossip, and neither existing partner will give up without a fight. The story's underlying dynamics are sexual, emotional and economic, but Jang anchors it in a warm and humorous engagement with the characters and their raw, human needs." - Tony Rayns
Fri Nov 12: 9:20; Sat Nov 13: 5

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS / MAUM-UI KOHYANG
Yun Yong-gyu, 1949; 78m
Abandoned as a child in a Buddhist temple, Yong is taken in and raised by monks to become one of them. Yet despite their best efforts, he simply doesn't have the calling, and constantly finds himself at odds with the head monk. One day, a young and attractive widow comes to the temple to make offerings; Yong is instantly smitten with her, and eagerly awaits her next visit. Yet when the woman fails to return, he decides to leave the temple and look for her-as well as for the family that abandoned him years earlier. HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS features many fascinating parallels with Kim Ki-duk's recent hit Spring, Summer…; long thought lost, a 16mm copy of HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS was found in Paris in the 1980s, restoring to the Korean cinema one of its earliest treasures. Soon after the outbreak of the Korean War, director Yun Yong-gyu moved to the North.
Sat Nov 13: 1; Sun Nov 14: 5:15

THE HOUSEMAID / HANYO
Kim Ki-young, 1960; 107m
"From the point of view of a Westerner, the discovery of a film like THE HOUSEMAID, more than 40 years after it was made, is a marvelous feeling - marvelous not just because one finds in writer-director Kim Ki-young a truly extraordinary image-maker, but in his film such an utterly unpredictable work. So Luis Buñuel had a Korean brother!…What makes THE HOUSEMAID so shocking is the intensity of the passion that the music composer and his maid experience; the fully self-conscious mechanics of the love triangle existing between the husband, the wife and his mistress; and the way this triangle can, at any moment, be disturbed, even exploded, by the unusual length of one of the director's shots, by his pop-art use of everyday objects, or by the invading presence of the human (feminine) body…." - Jean-Michel Frodon, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Sat Nov 13: 2:45; Wed Nov 17: 2

THE HIDDEN HERO / KIPPAL OMNUN KISU
Im Kwon-taek, 1979; 98m
One of Im Kwon-taek's finest films, THE HIDDEN HERO chronicles the rise and fall of Ho Yun, a journalist who leaves his home in the North to live in the South after the liberation from Japan. His politics are based on a humanist belief in the dignity of every individual, a dignity that for him transcends ideologies. Never shy about expressing his opinions on a range of topics, he creates a considerable reputation in political circles. Then one day, he's accused of having denounced a friend; suddenly he's the object of rumors and suspicion, and he no longer knows who he can trust. Im's careful chronicling of Ho Yun's demise becomes an indictment of a society that fears independence above anything else.
Sun Nov 14: 1; Sat Nov 21: 7

PEPPERMINT CANDY / BAKHA SATANG
Lee Chang-dong, 2000; 112m
Director Lee Chang-dong will be attending the screenings
At a twenty-year reunion of friends, a distraught middle-aged man bursts in on the festivities; soon he's recognized as a former colleague with whom they'd lost touch since the group first formed in the late 70s. But before they can settle him down, he climbs onto a railroad bridge, and as he is about to jump into the path of an approaching train, shouts, "I'm going back." And so the film does, covering everything from the crackdown that led to the Kwangju Massacre to the loss of a first love, from economic turbulence to democratic reforms. Lee Chang-dong, the writer-director and currently the South Korean Minister of Culture, offers an epic portrait of the dissolution of a man and the rebirth of a nation. Aided by a spectacular performance by Sol Kyung-gu, PEPPERMINT CANDY is one of the benchmarks of the "new" Korean cinema.
Sun Nov 14: 3; Thurs Nov 18: 2

MADAME FREEDOM AKA FREE WIFE / CHAYUBUIN
Han Hyong-mo, 1956; 125m
A kind of Korean gloss on Madame Bovary, Chong Pisok's novel caused a scandal when first published as a serial; when adapted to the screen, it became one of the first great box- office hits of the emerging South Korean cinema. O Sonyong is the faithful, devoted wife of a college teacher, Professor Chang. One day, somewhat by chance, she accepts a job at a fashionable department store. Suddenly, a new world begins to open up to her; her job gives her a new confidence in herself and, moreover, she realizes that she can still be attractive to men. Her new experiences inevitably begin to estrange her from her family. For his part, the now hurting Professor Chang begins to find some comfort from an attractive young typist, Miss Park. A wild melodrama whose power lies in how it details the crumbling of what looked like the most rock-solid of relationships, MADAME FREEDOM inspired a brief wave of films that focused on women leaving traditional roles and relationships for the great unknown.
Wed Nov 17: 4:10 & 8:45

OUR TWISTED HERO / URIDUL-UI ILGUROJIN YONGUNG
Park Chong-won, 1992; 119m
The news that his old teacher Mr. Choe has died brings Han Byung-tae back to the memories of his school days, 30 years ago. Recently arrived in a small provincial city after early education in Seoul, Byung-tae soon discovers the rigid juvenile hierarchy that rules the schoolyard. At the top of this system is Um, a slightly bigger and older boy; Byung-tae tries to challenge him, thinking himself superior to the others because of his Seoul upbringing. As Stephen Holden wrote in The New York Times, "A remarkable cast of several dozen child actors creates an elementary school ambiance that is so palpable you can almost catch the bitter aroma of schoolbooks and fresh paint….The key performances are outstanding." Shown in the 1993 New Directors/New Films series.
Thurs Nov 18: 4:15 & 8:45

CINEMA ON THE ROAD: A PERSONAL ESSAY ON CINEMA IN KOREA / GILWE UI YOUNGHWA
Jang Sun-woo, 1995; 52m
Produced as part of the BFI's series of films commemorating the centennial of cinema, CINEMA ON THE ROAD is an extraordinarily unique look at the place of cinema and filmmaking in Korean society. Jang travels the length and breadth of Korea, interviewing both well-known film personalities and random individuals he meets in his travels. He finally ends up on Jindo Island, where a shaman, Kim Dae-rye, performs a traditional exorcism. Beginning with the Japanese occupation, moving through Korean military dictatorships, and now facing furious competition from Hollywood, Korean cinema has indeed, Jang implies, been plagued by a number of powerful demons. It's time, the film says, to put them to rest.
Sun Nov 21: 1:30; Tue Nov 23: 6

PANEL ON KOREAN CINEMA: ROOTS, DEVELOPMENT AND NEW DIRECTIONS
November 20 & 21
Co-sponsored by Columbia University

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20
Location: Columbia University
602 Hamilton Hall, 116th and Amsterdam, NYC
2:30 - 4:30 pm
THE HISTORY OF CINEMA IN SOUTH KOREA
Panelists:
Jinsoo An - New York University, postgraduate student
Adriano Apra - Professor of Film at Tor Vergata University (Rome), organized 1993's Korean Cinema retrospective at the Pompidou Centre in Paris
Pierre Rissient - French filmmaker and film critic, well-known authority on Asian cinema
Richard Peña - Program Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center, moderator

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21
Location: Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Stree
t, between Broadway and Amsterdam, NYC
2:30 - 4:30 pm
KOREAN CINEMA: THE CONTEMPORARY SCENE
Panelists:
Kyung Hyun Kim - Associate Professor, University of California, Irvine; author of The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema (Duke University Press)
Jessica Ko - Columbia University, doctoral candidate
Hyangjin Lee - Lecturer, University of Sheffield (UK); author of Contemporary Korean Cinema: Identity, Culture, Politics
Richard Peña - Program Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center, moderator
FREE ADMISSION
First-come, first-served at Columbia University. Complimentary passes for Sunday's Walter Reade theater panel may be picked up at the Walter Reade Theater Box
Office at 165 West 65th St, NYC, starting Friday, November

MARRIAGE STORY / KYORHON IYAGI
Kim Eui-sok, 1992; 101m
Tae-gyu and Chi-ye work at the same radio station, he as a well-known broadcaster, she as a supporting actress on radio dramas. They meet, fall in love, and get married; they can barely contain their attraction for each other, often scandalizing their older co-workers with their impromptu displays of affection. Yet gradually their ardor begins to cool; he loses some of his time slots, while she takes on new duties at the station. He accuses her of ignoring him; she wants him to grow up. They're heading for the inevitable meltdown - but do they have to? A great box-office hit, Kim Eui-sok's sharply observed comedy explores the way failure seems to be programmed right into contemporary romance.
Sun Nov 21: 5 & 9

FLOWERS IN HELL / CHIOKHWA
Shin Sang-ok, 1958; 87m
One of the great names of the Korean cinema, Shin Sang-ok is probably best remembered outside of Korea due to the fact that he and his wife, the actress Choe Eun-hi, were kidnapped in 1978 and brought to North Korea, where they were encouraged to continue their careers. In 1986 they sought asylum in the U.S., and eventually returned to the South. Beyond this extraordinary and still mysterious escapade, however, lay Shin's terrific body of work, which only now is receiving the critical attention it truly deserves. Often seen as his first major film, FLOWERS IN HELL begins as a discharged soldier, Tongsik, arrives in the big city to search for his elder brother. Eventually he finds him, heading up a gang that lives off prostitution, black- market trading and robbery. Tongsik tries to convince him to come back to the country, but his brother is too enmeshed in his world to imagine leaving it - and soon Tongsik is feeling similarly trapped, especially once he meets his brother's beautiful girlfriend, Sonya. A scathing look at the immediate aftermath of the war, told with great style and plenty of passion.
Tue Nov 23: 2 & 7:15

THE HOUSEGUEST AND MY MOTHER / SARANGBANG SONNIM-KWA OMONI
Shin Sang-ok, 1961; 103m
A wonderfully touching film, featuring a terrific performance by Choe Eun-hi. Three women live out in the country all under the same roof: a young widow (Choe), her daughter and her mother-in-law. One day, a painter from Seoul comes to stay with them; it's said that he was a good friend of the deceased husband. The young girl quickly forms a strong bond with the painter, who seems remarkably at home - so much so that people on the street assume the man is the girl's new stepfather. And indeed, warm feelings begin to grow between the painter and the widow…but then there's her mother-in-law. Shin finds just the right tone for his story, playing down the social criticism to emphasize instead an elegiac portrait of people for whom happiness is so near and yet finally so far away.
Tue Nov 23: 3:45 & 9

FIRST LOVE / CHEOT SARANG
Lee Myung-se, 1993; 110m
FIRST LOVE begins with a young woman, Yonsin, arriving for her first year at university. College life seems pleasant enough, perhaps a bit dull, until she meets Chang-wook - often drunk, full of himself, and the new director for Yonsin's theater group. She's never met anyone like him, and finds herself falling in love. As Yonsin, Kim Hyesu gives a brave, bold performance, alternating between being swept up by passion and puzzled by her own actions. According to director Lee, "It always takes me a long time to write a script, but no script has ever taken me longer than FIRST LOVE. I agonized over it for months. Falling in love for the first time is, of course, a universal experience, but there's no universal consensus on what that experience actually means. Thinking about it over many years, I came to the conclusion that first love has something to do with unlocking the secret of time."
Wed Nov 24: 1 & 7:20

A PETAL / KYOTIP
Jang Sun-woo, 1996; 100m
In 1980, in the South Korean town of Kwangju, soldiers fired into a crowd of demonstrators, killing hundreds even as the national anthem played on a loudspeaker. Jang Sun-woo powerfully captures this ugly chapter in South Korean history, composing an achingly beautiful lament for a lost child that doubles as a meditation on the lingering effects of the massacre on society. An orphan who lost her family in a mass grave, Jang's ghost of a girl wanders toward Seoul in search of a long-dead elder brother she dreams of as a rescuing knight on a white horse. Taken in by an out-of-work laborer, at first she's little more than a sexual plaything to him, but gradually the dimensions of her private tragedy begin to get through to him. A work of exceptional power and real courage.
Wed Nov 24: 3:10 & 9:30

A HOT ROOF / GYAE-GOT-UN-NALUI-OHU
Lee Min-Yong, 1996; 108m
"It's the worst heat wave in a century and the tenants of a suburban apartment block take to the streets, the women fanning and chatting in one shady spot and the men drinking in another. Soon violence erupts as a husband chases his abused wife into the open. Everyone has seen this before, and the men ignore the battering, but today in the heat the women rise up in anger against the wife-beater. As the police arrive, ten women flee to the roof, and a four-day siege ensues. An intrepid television news commentator gets close to the scene for constant coverage, and thousands of women watching in their homes begin to take stock of their own situations….The comic exuberance of its execution make this feminst fable a delightful romp." - Kay Armatage, Toronto International Film Festival
Wed Nov 24: 5:10; Thurs Nov 25: 9:15

THE COACHMAN / MABU
Kang Tae-jin, 1961; 108m
Like all classic melodramas, THE COACHMAN deals with a family of a hard working, late middle-aged driver of a horse-drawn wagon, a widower striving to provide a better life for his three children. The eldest spends his time locked up in his room, preparing to once again take an exam he's already failed to pass; the middle child has already given up the struggle, wasting his time with a bad crowd. The youngest, a daughter who's mute, was married, but her husband sent her home. This is the hand dealt to the coachman, but he never despairs; he simply insists on following what he knows is the right path for the family.
Thurs Nov 25: 5, Fri Nov 26: 5:15

THE MARINE THAT DIDN'T COME HOME / TOMAOJI ANNUN HAEBYONG
Lee Man-hui, 1963; 100m
In the early years immediately following the civil war between North and South Korea a number of films, extolling the courage of the troops and civilians who fought to defend the South, were made. By the early 60s filmmakers began to explore the wartime experience from a more critical perspective. Indicative of this new trend was Lee Man-hui. His THE MARINE THAT DIDN'T COME HOME is a powerful example of Lee's style and of this new trend. A South Korean division finds itself trapped behind the Chinese line; cut off from contact with the main body of their forces, soldiers begin to unravel, bringing out long-suppressed fears and prejudices. For Lee here, the issue is much less "South vs. North" than it is the devastating toll that war takes on everyone; there are no heroes, only survivors.
Thurs Nov 25: 7:15, Sat Nov 27: 5:20

GREEN FISH / CHOROK MULGOKI
Lee Chang-dong, 1997; 111m
Director Lee Chang-dong will be attending the screenings
Fresh out of the service, Mak-dong returns to what had been his rural hometown to discover it's become part of Seoul's ever expanding suburbs. Moreover, with urban spread came the displacement of his family, and the collapse of the life he once knew. Searching for work, he falls in with a gangster and soon becomes his right hand, meanwhile attracting the attention of the gangster's girlfriend. Lee creates a portrait of a world without rules, meanwhile focusing on a character that's constantly trying to discover them.
Fri Nov 26: 1 & 7:20

BIRDCAGE INN / PARAN DAEMUN
Kim Ki-duk, 1998; 105m
With the great international success of his Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring Again, Kim Ki-duk has been hailed as one of the freshest talents to have emerged in recent years. In BIRDCAGE INN, his third film one of Seoul's traditional red-light districts is slated for urban renewal, and the inhabitants search for new areas in which they can ply their trades. Prostitute Jin-a decides she's had enough of the big city and heads east to Pohang. There she takes up residence in a boarding house run by a small family. At first Jin-a is very happy there, settling comfortably into her new surroundings while continuing to sell her body, but as the truth of her livelihood is revealed, it forces a confrontation with her landlords' somewhat repressed university-educated daughter. The relationship between the two women will form the crux of Kim's film, as their relationship will evolve in some utterly surprising ways.
Fri Nov 26: 3:10 & 9:30

THE POWER OF KANGWON PROVINCE / KANGWON-DO UI HIM
Hong Sang-soo, 1998, 110m
With just five films Hong Sang-soo has already established an impressive international reputation; his most recent film, Woman is the Future of Man, was selected for the Cannes and New York Film Festivals. With his second feature one can already see the distinctive elements of Hong's art: an inventive, experimental approach to storytelling; long, intense takes; and an interest in characters in the process of self-revelation. Kangwon is a popular vacation spot for city-dwelling South Koreans, a train ride away to lovely beaches and woodlands. Hong focuses on two such vacationers: Jisook, a college student off with two friends, and Cho, a teacher between jobs. Their stories are told separately, as only gradually does Hong reveal how interconnected their lives actually have been. There's no more rigorous technician in Korean cinema today - each shot seems achingly precise - yet beyond the formal elegance of his films there's always a deeply emotional core.
Sat Nov 27: 1 & 7:20

NOWHERE TO HIDE / INJEONG SAJEONG BOL GEOT EOBTDA
Lee Myung-se, 1999; 112m
"'Bravura' describes this stylistic spree too modestly. Drawing inspiration from Clint Eastwood, Sergio Leone and John Woo, this chase film in which cops try to catch a master of disguise also owes something to film pioneer Louis Feuillade. This is a film as much about the joy of filmmaking as it is about a deadly pursuit. Lee Myung-se, the filmmaker, streamlines the genre and recoats it with grand loopy humor and a terrific sense of what pleases the eye and ear. Its inventiveness is astonishing. Inchon, the Korean port city in which the delirious action explodes, becomes with this fil, a great new location, and Lee Myung-se, who also wrote and worked as the film's production designer, a director with a spectacular new signature." - New Directors/New Films 2000
Sat Nov 27: 3:10 & 9:30

DAUGHTERS OF KIM'S PHARMACY / KIM YAKKUKCHIP TTALTUL
Yu Hyunmok, 1963; 107m
A haunting tale of a family curse passed down through generations, DAUGHTERS OF KIM'S PHARMACY is the story of Kim Songsu, a former pharmacist struggling to earn a living as a fisherman. When he was a boy, his mother killed herself after her husband killed a young man who had shown an interest in her. When he finally marries, members of his family warn him not to return to his childhood home; the air of murder and suicide runs through the place, and only bad things can befall anyone living there. Kim heeds their advice, but many years later - now an old man with four fully-grown daughters - he decides to return. That's when a seemingly unstoppable fate begins to reveal itself. Working with a large cast, director Yu creates sharply detailed portraits of each of the characters, especially the four daughters, while simultaneously keeping the changes sweeping the country a constant backbeat to the story.
Sun Nov 28: 2 & 6:30

SOUTH AND NORTH / NAM-KWA PUK
Kim Ki-duk, 1965; 114m
A much loved film in South Korea, SOUTH AND NORTH daringly used as its central protagonist and emotional core of the film an officer of the North Korean People's Army. He deserts his position in order to sneak into the South and find his wife, from whom he was separated when the fighting began. But when he finds her, he discovers that she's now married to the commander of the very South Korean unit against which the officer has been fighting. An emotional roller coaster ensues, as each member of this fated triangle tries to decide between love and political loyalty. Especially considering the era, it's remarkable how evenhanded the treatment of the two rivals for the woman's affection is; each officer is shown as committed to his cause, without the film passing judgement on either of them.
Sun Nov 28: 4:10 & 8:40

SPRING IN MY HOMETOWN / AREUMDAWOON SHEEJUL
Lee Kwang-mo, 1998; 120m
Clearly influenced by the great Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, SPRING IN MY HOMETOWN returned to a subject - the Korean war - that had proved largely unpopular for films in recent years. First-time director Lee Kwang-mo examines the impact of the war on a small community that develops on the outskirts of an American military base. Two thirteen-year-old boys spend their days playing around the perimeter of the base; Sung-min's family has managed to find work, offering some stability after they were brutally uprooted, while Chang-hee's apparently widowed mother does what she can to scrape by. Told from the boys' perspective, SPRING IN MY HOMETOWN moves from wonder to anger to disgust, offering a sobering and perhaps for American audiences unexpected portrait of the wartime experience from a decidedly different perspective.
Mon Nov 29: 2 & 6:30

TAKE CARE OF MY CAT / GO-YANG-I-RUL BOO-TAK-HAE
Jeong Jae-eun, 2001; 112m
In the port city of Inchon, five young women, fresh out of high school, try to get ahead and forge lasting bonds at the same time. This is not so easy when the future is still a work-in-progress. But these are 21st-century gals - witness the hi-tech way they celebrate a birthday - and their friendships ebb and flow. When the glamorous and selfish brokerage house assistant picks up and moves to Seoul, her closest friend, the introverted artist, becomes close to the dropout who has nothing better to do than keep the group together. Rounding out this girlz-II-women gang is a pair of wacky half-Chinese twins. What really keeps them connected is the ubiquitous cell phone, and the stray cat of whom they share custody. Jeong Jae-eun, in her feature film debut, gives us a refreshing look at young women on the verge. A selection of the 2002 New Directors/New Films series.
Mon Nov 29: 4:20 & 8:45

THE VILLAGE BY THE SEA / GAETMAUL
Kim Suyong, 1965; 91m
In a small village on a lonely island, each day the women go out to collect seaweed and whatever sea creatures they can trap. These women are mostly widows; their husbands, fishermen, never returned from their daily catches, and now they must fend for themselves. One of these women is Haesun; strong-willed and independent, she resists becoming part of this "widows' set," and prefers each day to work by herself. One day, after an especially hard day of work, she lays down on a deserted stretch of beach and falls asleep; she doesn't realize that all the while she's being watch by the coal-seller, Sangsu. The unsettling relationship that develops between Haesun and Sangsu forms the dramatic heart of the film, but director Kim Suyong's intention here is to create a portrait of a community that would prefer to conserve its unhappiness rather than seek change or a way out. Beautifully lyrical passages take us into the sensuality of the seaside locations, a sensuality that takes on a tragic feeling due to the community's denial of its possible pleasures.
Tue Nov 30: 1 & 7:25

WHY HAS BODHI DHARMA LEFT FOR THE EAST? / TALMAGA TONGTCHOGURO KAN KKADALGUN?
Bae Yong-kyan, 1989; 135m
In the heart of the Korean mountains live three generations of monks: an old Zen master, a young apprentice, and an orphan adopted by the aging priest. Each perceives reality differently, and each makes his own necessary journey to revelation. The octogenarian knows that his soul will soon leave his body, while his student clings to mundane worries about family and society. When the child accidentally kills a bird, he comes to see life, death, and suffering as facets of one experience. In this meditation upon Zen Buddhist realities and mysteries, the recurring motifs of fire, wind and water emphasize the eternal cycles of birth, death and regeneration with a marvelous sense of visual poetry. Rhim Hye-kyung notes that there is "no room in this film for the superfluous, only a mathemetical precision of dramaturgies -- of story, light, sound, music. The overwhelming scenic beauty is indeed the contemplative; but unlike Ozu, where tranquillity implies a sadness at the transitory nature of human existence, Bae's film is a vivid and affirmative engagement in the recognition of this reality."
Tue Nov 30: 2:50; Sat Dec 4: 4:30

THE ROAD TO SAMPO / SAMPO KANUN KIL
Lee Man-hui, 1975; 94m
After a long stretch in prison, Chong heads home to Sampo in the company of Yongdal, a day laborer looking for work. Trekking across snow-covered mountain paths, they meet a a bar hostess, Baekhwa; the two now become three, and they continue on their way while emotional and sexual tensions simmer in the background. It is a nod perhaps to Fellini's La Strada, with its similarly ill-starred trio of travelers, but Lee's characters are far more battle-weary; they've seen too much to even imagine possible happy endings. Lee Man-hui's final work, made when he was already quite ill, is a fitting epitaph to his career; as so often in his films, his characters can see happiness, practically touch it, but still it seems to elude them.
Tue Nov 30: 5:30 & 9:10

DECLARATION OF FOOLS / PABOSONON
Lee Chang-ho, 1983; 90m
As the Korean economy moved into higher and higher gear, the Korean cinema responded with a number of powerful works that focused on those who were being left out of the "Han River Miracle." DECLARATION OF FOOLS begins with Tong-chol, a petty thief and sometimes beggar, who hatches a scheme to kidnap a young student in the hope that he'll be able to get some money from her. Together with Yuk-tok, a driver, they kidnap a young woman, Hye-yong, thinking her a co-ed; in fact, she's a prostitute, no better off than they are. The hapless trio stays together, but each of their attempts to figure out ways to support themselves end terribly. A jet-black comedy, b>DECLARATION OF FOOLS makes use of the road as a potent symbol for the destinies of its characters, evoking both the senses of new horizons and continual displacement.
Wed Dec 1: 1 & 8

ARDOR / MILAE
Byun Young-joo, 2002; 112m
It's Christmas Eve; Mi-heun is spending a quiet evening at home with her husband, while their daughter sleeps in the next room. The doorbell rings, and in walks one of her husband's former students; within minutes this woman is all over her husband, begging him to continue their affair. Suddenly, violently, Mi-heun's world is turned upside down. Director Byun, acclaimed for her documentaries, makes a powerful feature debut with this unsettling look at one woman's attempt to re-build her life after all she believed to be true evaporates around her. Kim Yoon-jin is extraordinary in the lead role, creating a character that seems as mysterious to her as does to those around her.
Thurs Dec 2: 1 & 8

JEALOUSY IS MY MIDDLE NAME / JILTUNEUN NA UI HIM
Park Chan-ok, 2002; 124m
"A deserved Tiger Award winner in Rotterdam, Park Chan-Ok's debut has an obvious family likeness with the films of her mentor Hong Sang-soo: It focuses on the complexities of present-day relationships while maintaining a healthy skepticism about understanding what's really going on in the characters' heads…. Aware that his last girlfriend left him for the editor of a literary magazine, Ph.D. student Lee Won-sang enters the orbit of his rival by joining the magazine's staff. But despite his intense envy of the older man's sexual confidence and general savoir-faire he willingly becomes his all-hours assistant, almost his surrogate son. And then history threatens to repeat itself…The grasp of this peculiarly masculine masochism is uncannily precise, and would be impressive coming from a veteran director. From a first-timer it's phenomenal." - Tony Rayns
Fri Dec 3: 1:30 & 6:15

TURNING GATE / SAENGHWALUI BALGYEON
Hong Sang-soo, 2002, South Korea; 115m
"Wistful and dryly funny." - Dennis Lim, Village Voice In the Korean legend of the turning gate, there's easily as much heartbreak as happiness in love. Sorely disappointed by his role in a box-office flop, unemployed actor Kyeong-su gratefully leaves town to pay a visit to an old school friend. There he finds himself becoming involved, one after the other, with two beautiful women: Myeong-suk, a sultry dance teacher whom he belatedly realizes is adored by his friend; and Seon-yeong, a married woman who turns out to be someone he crossed paths with long ago. In Hong Sang-soo's film full of pathos, eroticism, and rueful experience, the three beautifully controlled lead performances instill a lyrical sense of the heart's journey as, finally, a tug of war between desire and loss, coincidence and fate.
Fri Dec 3: 4 & 8:45

SILMIDO
Kang Woo-suk, 2003; 135m
One of the most expensive Korean films ever made - with a budget of over $11 million, all locally financed after Columbia Tri-Star pulled out - SILMIDO was one cinematic gamble that paid off. Seen by over 10 million Koreans, the film smashed box office records, showing that the new Korean cinema had commercial possibilities as well as critical acclaim. Based on an actual historical event, SILMIDO is the story of a super-elite unit of South Korean commandos brought to a remote island in the late Seventies to train for a spectacular mission: the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung. The first part of the film details the grueling training regime forced on the men - many of whom, according to the film, were criminals and convicts; the second part captures the preparation and initial stages of the mission. Crisply directed, the film avoids the larger political issues raised by the prospects of the assassination to focus instead on the mental and physical world of those selected to carry out this killing - men whose very existence eventually becomes an embarrassment to the South Korean government.
Sat Dec 4: 2; Tue Dec 7: 1

CHILSU AND MANSU
Park Kwang-su, 1988; 105m
A young man from a very modest background, Chilsu is a gifted painter who dreams about moving to the United States, hoping to join up with a sister already living there. In the meantime, he works as an assistant to Mansu, whose business is painting huge ads for billboards. Mansu would also like to go abroad, but his father's political past prevents him from getting a visa. Life is good, at first; the two get along, and together scrape out a living. But tensions begin to mount, especially after Chilsu's girlfriend leaves him. One day, he's had enough and just can't take it anymore; together with Mansu, he climbs to the top of a large building on which they've been working and starts shouting out his feelings about life and society. Their yelling attracts the attentions of crowds below, and soon the police arrive, convinced they've got a couple of potential suicides up there. An extraordinarily impressive debut for Park Kwang-su, CHILSU AND MANSU very much caught the spirit of frustration and rebelliousness felt by the young after the beginning of the re-democratization of South Korea. His two leads have an appealing everydayness to them, which makes the escalating confrontation with the police seem so ultimately and tragically unnecessary.
Sun Dec 5: 1 & 7:15

THE MAN WITH THREE COFFINS / NAGUNENUN KIRESODO SHIJI ANNUNDA
Lee Chang-ho, 1987; 101m
"Arguably the most original film shown at the 1988 Berlin Film Festival, Lee's THE MAN WITH THREE COFFINS catches you in the hypnotic grip of its radically oblique style and narrative unpredictability." - Amos Vogel, Film Comment
Shown at the 1988 New York Film Festival, THE MAN WITH THREE COFFINS tells the story of a man heading north to his dead wife's hometown to scatter her ashes three years after her passing. Along the way he will encounter a nurse also traveling in his direction in the company of an elderly patient, and a prostitute with whom he has a short, intense affair. A straightforward enough story on the surface, perhaps, but in Lee Chang-ho's telling of it - inspired by the fractured style of the original novel by Lee Jue-ha - the film becomes an extraordinary blend of past and present, memory and desire. The nurse and the prostitute, as well as the dead wife seen in flashback, are all played by the same actress, Lee Bo Hee, implying perhaps that the man is caught in a cycle in which the same woman continues to re-appear to him in different guises. Lee's film is a lament on the impossibility of return, of how one's roots can never be fully recovered, and as such becomes another powerful expression of the theme of displacement that runs through so much of postwar Korean culture.
Sun Dec 5: 3 & 9:20

ASAKO IN RUBY SHOES / SUN AE BO
EJ Yong, 2000; 117m
U-in is a distracted civil servant who pretty much lives for the evening, when he can spend hours surfing internet porn sites. He develops a major crush on a woman with flaming red hair working in a nearby cooking school, but is much to shy to approach her. One day he gets a bit of spam e-mail announcing a site in which a customer is able to design his or her own ideal mate. U-in signs up right away, and punches in the specifics of his redheaded love interest - creating in the process his dream girl, "Asako in Ruby Shoes." In reality, "Asako" is Aya, a Japanese woman just as lonely as U-in. Curiously, the internet relationship they create will prove important to both, and director Yong - whose Untold Scandal was one of the big hits at the 2004 New Directors/New Films series - devises ingenious ways for their relationship to deepen and grow. A rare example of Korean-Japanese co-production, Asako is an engrossing contemporary romance that goes in new and unexpected directions.
Sun Dec 5: 5; Tue Dec 7: 6

CHUNHYANG
Im Kwon-taek, 2000; 120m
One of the most ravishing films in recent years, Im Kwon-Taek's great triumph is also one of the most soul satisfying-as well as a lot of delirious fun. Set in the 18th century, this romantic epic traces the passionate, outlawed love between Chunhyang, the beautiful daughter of a former courtesan, and Mongryong, the haughty (and equally beautiful) son of the provincial governor. When Mongryong is sent away to finish his studies, he unwittingly leaves his lover vulnerable to the sadistic designs of the district's new governor, a man for whom every woman is prey. Thrillingly narrated by a pansori singer, with great guttural whoops and an emotional register to rival that of Maria Callas, CHUNHYANG finds a master director working at the top of his form in a film that exalts a Korean theatrical tradition even as it vividly recalls the more modest legacy of the Hollywood musical.
Tue Dec 7: 3:40 & 8:15

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