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Xavier Dolan’s eagerly anticipated third film, Laurence Anyways, has not even been released yet (it hits theaters on May 18th), but the brilliant young Canadian director has already announced his decision to adapt a play by Michel Marc Bouchard, Tom à la ferme. This marks the first time the director will adapt a script not... Continue Reading →
The amazingly gifted Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways has been invited to Cannes, to be screened in the Un Certain Regard selection. The director expressed disappointment his film won't be in competition, but how many 23-year-olds can boast of walking the Croisette three times in a row? The movie takes place in 1989. At... Continue Reading →
I've decided to publish the seven or so letters I wrote documenting my experiences in Busan, where I lived for three years before coming to Daejeon. The very first letter appears to be lost. 20 November, 2007 It's already been one month that I've been living and working in Korea. The weather is becoming chilly... Continue Reading →
I created a program to take student volunteers with me twice a week to assist at an orphanage here in Daejeon, about a 30-minute walk from the SolGeo international dormitories. We meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays to play games, watch movies, do arts and crafts and learn a little English. In today's class, the children... Continue Reading →
A few months and over a thousand shots later, I can say that the Panasonic TM900 is not only one of the most satisfactory electronics purchases I've ever made, it also appears to be virtually incapable of taking a single unusable shot. As I said in a previous post, in the main menu under picture... Continue Reading →
The Busan International Film Festival just announced their poster for the 17th edition of Asia's biggest movie fest. Have you ever set eyes on anything this ugly?
I read that Apple has invested millions designing a pair of unibody earbuds. What difference it will make remains to be seen, as the current set offered with their iPods are notoriously bad. A friend of mine showed me the new cans he'd picked up over the weekend - a pair of Bose AE2 headphones.... Continue Reading →
I love actor Shin Ha-gyun and just about every film he's ever acted in, including the TV drama Brain. By the way, the entire drama has been subtitled and posted on YouTube, so I have some catching up to do! Anyhow, Korean film critic Jeong Seong-Il's debut film Café Noir (2009), which only got a domestic... Continue Reading →
I finally went ahead and picked up the Panasonic TM900. I think it’s pretty obvious from the clips that if you shoot a lot of video, a camcorder is the way to go. When I first saw the camera, I was somewhat disappointed in its appearance - glossy black and silver plastic with tacky-looking decals... Continue Reading →
Most of the photos here were taken in Can Tho, Saigon, and Hoi An, using my Canon Powershot S95. The quality of the photographs is much better than the video, but then again, that's what it was designed to do.
When I went to Vietnam in February 2011, I brought along my trusty iPod. For the first time in years, I was inspired to take photos again. The streets of Saigon were so vibrant and full of color, it was almost impossible not to take photographs. Belatedly, I discovered that my iPod also took video... Continue Reading →
Sachiko (Nakagawa Mao), a young woman frustrated with her life of dull routine, and seeking stimulation outside the deadening monotony of housework and catering to her needy husband, befriends Kobayashi (Yûji Tajiri), a neighbor whose wife has been carrying on an affair right under his very nose. Learning of her unfaithfulness, Sachiko’s husband (Takeshi Ito,... Continue Reading →
There hasn’t been much discussion concerning ‘roman porno’ and ‘pink’ films emanating from Japan as of late. I’m curious to know myself exactly what readers think of these types of films - whether they’ve watched any, and what their thoughts are, especially in relation to mainstream and arthouse films. So this post is basically a... Continue Reading →
Synopsis Chosun dynasty, ca. 1504. Two itinerant street performers, Jang-sang and Gong-gil, having fled to Seoul, face an even more onerous fate when a bawdy farce lands them in prison to await certain death. An opportunity to redeem themselves arises, and a rather lackluster show succeeds nonetheless in pleasing the King and purchasing the troupe’s... Continue Reading →
On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the Jeonju International Film Festival has released a handsomely packaged compilation of 27 shorts by filmmakers from Asia, Africa and Europe. For the past decade, JIFF has been commissioning films from three directors a year, awarding them each 50 million won (USD 38,000) to produce a digital film... Continue Reading →
The year is 1942 and the Germans commandeer a tugboat carrying coal in the dead of night. Taking cover on a barge, Anatoly and his captain are soon discovered and orders are given to execute them both on the spot. Pleading for his life, the frightened young sailor will be spared if he takes that... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: An adaptation of a short story by Japanese mystery writer Kyotaro Nishimura, The Customer is Always Right is a comic thriller about a timid barber confronted by a stranger demanding blackmail money. At each visit by the blackmailer, the barber is required to double the ante. The attentions bestowed by the stranger on the... Continue Reading →
With the countless stories yet to be committed to film, what is it that draws Korean filmmakers time and time again to the same worn-out formulas and conventions? This and sundry other cosmological reflections are what passed through my mind as I patiently endured the two-hour running time of Na Hong-jin’s The Chaser, the thriller... Continue Reading →
A contemplative, enigmatic arthouse drama with a bit of road movie tossed in, Kim Seong-ho’s ambitious sophomore feature film – about a young director confronting loss and abandonment – benefits from a great choice of locales, fine lensing, and the natural performance of a fresh newcomer, but lapses into excessive melodrama in the final reel.... Continue Reading →
Sha Po Lang is hands-down the best HK action film I’ve ever seen. The movie easlily blows away Election, Breaking News, and One Nite in Mongkok. Yet reviewers are so caught up in debating the types of fighting, the number of opponents, the duration of the encounters, and arguing whether Donnie should or shouldn’t have... Continue Reading →
The Daejeon Chronicles 