park chan-wook Tagged Articles at Cinematical

After a long flight on my part and a far longer drive for both of us, Scott Weinberg and I have finally arrived in Montréal for the FanTasia International Film Festival (their thirteenth, our first). The genre-heavy festival lasts for nearly three weeks; alas, we've but one to spare, so without much further ado, here's a look at what I've seen already and what I hope to see before Scott tips his own hand with a title or two to recommend.

Of the features playing, I can highly recommend Michael Paul Stephenson's Troll 2 doc, Best Worst Movie; the Aussie revenge thriller, The Horseman (not to be confused with the barely-seen Dennis Quaid vehicle, Horsemen); and Paul Solet's beautifully bloody baby horror, Grace. Those looking for something a bit stranger might end up being a bit more fond of Black and The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle than I was, though I also seemed more easily pleased by the Nazi zombies of Dead Snow than most, so I guess it all balances out. My enthusiasm for the ultra-kitschy likes of Alien Trespass and Lesbian Vampire Killers, not to mention the admittedly boundary-pushing Deadgirl, is all a bit less than what's already been mentioned, so let's just leave those at that.

Read the rest at HorrorSquad!

Erotic Vampires. Park Chan-wook's Thirst will have its international premiere at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, but it's already opened in its native South Korea. In his review for Screen International, Darcy Paquet says that the "visually arresting vampire movie Thirst looks certain to create a stir: adopting a more lyrical mode than before, this complex and supremely inventive work sees the filmmaker back on top form."

I've read the knowledgeable Paquet at his site Koreanfilm.org for years, so his opinion is very encouraging, especially when you consider Park's best work includes Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Joint Security Area. [Via In Contention.] Even better: those of us in the US don't have to wait long to see it. Focus Features will release Thirst in July.

Gentle Fish. If you haven't marked August 14 on your calendars yet, please do so now. That will mark the US theatrical debut of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo, the master filmmaker's latest work of art. The plot revolves around a princess who just happens to be a goldfish, and her desire to grow legs and walk on land. She develops a friendship with a 5-year-old boy who tries to help her realize her dream. The poster and a still can be viewed at Ain't It Cool News.

Under John Lasseter's committed oversight, Walt Disney Pictures has done right by Studio Ghibli so far, making the original Japanese-language version available at some venues and ensuring that the English dubbing is as faithful as possible. While we wait for the inevitable English-language trailer, here's a teaser, evidently for its release in France, that is silky, poetic, and non-verbal.

I'm not quite sure how I missed this, but there is an interesting bit of news coming by way of Boston.com this week. In an interview with Charlize Theron, they discussed her current plans, and the upcoming Sleepwalking, but that's not all. On the third page of the article, it says she will both produce and star in a remake of Park Chan-wook's Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

I guess they're either not into the movie, or were stopped from getting any further details, because that's all they say about it. Filthy teases. The original came out back in 2006, and with Charlize involved in the remake, I imagine it will keep what Martha Fischer described as "totally unexpected" "subtlety and tenderness." For those who aren't familiar with Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy, this final film focuses on a teen girl who is forced to confess to a crime she didn't commit. She spends the next 13 years in prison, and is a model inmate known for her kindness. Once she gets out, however, her tune changes and she begins to put together the revenge she has been secretly plotting over the years. She's so determined, in fact, that it's all she cares about -- shrugging off everything around her as a distraction.

While not big on remakes, especially of really funky foreign films worthy of a viewing, I have to admit -- Charlize could probably knock this out of the ballpark. Could this be her Oscar win without "getting ugly?"

[via Ace Showbiz]

The strike isn't the only thing that has been cooking up lately. Check out all the international indie deals that Variety threw up recently:

• Oldboy helmer Park Chan-Wook has not only been cooking up some machine love with I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK. He's also got Bakjwi (Evil Live) on the way -- a modern-day bloodsucking vampire story, and Variety reports that CJ Entertainment has pre-sold French and Russian rights to the pic, which hopefully means North America will get some bloody rights soon. Other current CJ deals include Secret Sunshine, Shadows in the Palace, and Love Now.
• On the more Bolly side of things, Variety has posted that India indie distributor Indo-Overseas Films has picked up some movie rights. First up is the romcom Chocolate, directed by Mayavi helmer Shafi, and written by Sachi and Sethu. Ah, the ease of one-word, short names! The other film that Indo-Overseas has nabbed is Power Kids, but that currently seems to be lurking beyond the reach of the Internet.
• There's also a few action flicks coming out of Hong Kong. Variety reports that Rialto has gotten Aussie and Kiwi rights to both award-winner Dante Lam's upcoming flick Sniper, and Assassins -- Soi Cheang's latest action film. I don't know Cantonese, but maybe one of you, out there, can tell me if that's the same as The Grudge detective Ryo Ishibashi's Shamo? The flicks are also reaching Israel, the ex-Yugoslavian region, and Turkey, so maybe, again, we'll hear North American rights soon.

Love is spreading through the cinematic world like wildfire. After Paris, je t'aime brought together the likes of the Coen Brothers, Tom Tykwer, Isabel Coixet, Gurinder Chada and other leading directors to create this varied and sectional account of Paris and love, we're now getting one about New York (with a Chinese version also on the way). Producer Emmanuel Benbihy is currently harnessing a new incarnation of directors to whip up New York, I Love You. This collection includes: Zach Braff, Mira Nair, Park Chan-Wook and Fatih Akin.

I'm kind of surprised Ethan Hawke isn't among them, or maybe Richard Linklater. The former, at the very least, is all about Gotham and the throes of love. Benhiby says: "we really want to surprise audiences with young, hip filmmakers with their own personal style and movie language."

Young and hip is great and all, but to me that sounds like they're just trying to commodify the idea, which gives me scary flashbacks to Reality Bites. Each section will be 5 minutes long to create a 100-minute final cut, and a thirteenth director will also be chosen to create transition sequences to "make the movie much more fluid." Please, please don't let the guy have actors' heads swirling on a big pizza! However, it'll be interesting to see what these directors can do with five minutes. Music video directors have jumped from the short story to the long feature, but I wonder how these guys will fair with such a small bit of time to get their point across. We should know soon enough -- they actually want the film to be out for a first-quarter 2008 release.

So, what are your thoughts? New York love -- yay or nay?

Some sicko grabs a gun and decides to kill a bunch of people to serve his own deeply disturbed means. As soon as people can pick their jaws back up again, the same old debate begins again -- Is this a result of the media? Of course -- it's all that violence in the news, music, movies and video games. Impressionable minds pop a disc in, and before they can blink, they're maniacal murderers. As we all know, there was a terrible tragedy recently at Virginia Tech, where a South Korean shooter killed two people, went back to his dorm to send NBC some mail and then shot and killed 30 more before taking his own life. The network package included -- 27 video clips, 43 stills with captions, an audio clip and a manifesto.

Some of the images have ignited a fury of speculation about whether the media he saw led him to his heinous acts. The most convincing of the bunch is a picture of Cho wielding a hammer, which is very similar to an image from Oldboy, part of Park Chan-Wook's Vengeance Trilogy. Did he watch the movie and decide to wreak revenge on those he felt alienated by, or, did he take pictures in various poses to try and excuse himself from his plan? It certainly seems that this wasn't an immediate act of desperation. Also, the Oldboy image isn't the only one that has people talking. San Francisco Gate's culture blog says that Chris Matthews of MSNBC's Hardball is using the original image, of Cho wielding two guns, to compare it to The Matrix.

I'm growing tired of this debate. How many people mimic media when committing terrible acts compared to how many people watch the media and go on with their lives? I would imagine it's similar to the chances of getting hit by lightning. I have watched some truly hideous and violent films. I've played Thrill Kill. However, when I get upset or ticked off at people, I don't prepare a flipping media kit for the networks and go out and kill a bunch of people.

News bites for the day before Friday:

• IESB has shared a juicy little rumor concerning the next Incredible Hulk installation. According to one of their readers who has an in at CW -- Peter Gallagher, whose OC series is just about to wrap, has been up for a part in the next installment. According to the source, his shooting schedule had to be juggled to include some sort of test for the movie. Could he be one of the villains (The Abomination or Thunderbolt Ross)? Or, is there a chance he'll take over the infamous man-that-turns-green himself? While he's a much different pick for the part of Bruce Banner, I'm a bit intrigued by the thought.
• Oldboy director Park Chan-Wook's latest film, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, is going places. After its first non-Korean screening at the Berlin Film Fest, it won the Alfred Bauer prize for innovative film-making and our Erik Davis gave it high marks in his review. Now, the movie has been chosen to close the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin on March 17. If you're curious for more, I shared the color-intense, quirky trailer in November.
• With each passing day, iTunes seems to do more to make itself irresistible -- not only to music fiends, but avid moviegoers as well. Since January, we've brought you news of their deal with Paramount, then Sundance Shorts and finally, Lionsgate. To further their involvement in film, iTunes has partnered with IFC Entertainment to offer a selection of indie films in their store. The selection will include their 2007 Independent Spirit Award nominees and previous noms such as Me and You and Everyone We Know -- for the low-low-low price of $9.99! Or not. (Is it just me, or is that a bit high for an iPod-quality video, when you could pay similar for a previously viewed DVD?) Thanks to tuaw for the news.
  

After spending the past couple years immersed in his intense "revenge trilogy" (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance), director Park Chan-wook decided to lighten the mood, step away from the violence and tell a love story. With its zany, colorful characters and off-the-wall imagination, I'm A Cyborg, But That's Okay (or Saibogujiman kwenchana) is definitely a change of pace for Chan-wook -- an alternate route, if you will. But, it's a route packed with energy and creativity; the kind that forces you to pull over every few minutes in order to observe its beauty, its grace and its fresh air.

Traumatized when her schizophrenic grandmother (who thinks she's a mouse and eats radishes all day) is sent off to the loony bin, Young Goon (Lim Soo Jung) becomes convinced she's a cyborg (or robot), stops eating (for fear the food will damage her mechanical insides) and is carted off to a sanitarium by her mother when she cuts open her wrists in an attempt to re-charge her inner batteries ... or commit suicide, as mom sees it. With her grandmother's dentures by her side (which she uses to communicate with lights and vending machines) Young Goon makes it her mission to find a way to re-charge so that she can return the dentures to grandma, kill those holding her hostage and, while she's at it, discover the purpose of her existence.

When it comes to US remakes of foreign films, there probably isn't much that hasn't already been said -- I imagine, "It wasn't as good as the original" will always remain at the top of the list. But, the grumblings of world cinema fans has never stopped Hollywood from taking a foreign property and molding it in its own image.

Oldboy was a hit on the festival circuit and won the Grand Prix in Cannes in 2004. Supposedly, it made such an impression on Quentin Tarantino that he lobbied (unsuccessfully) for Oldboy to receive the Palme d'Or over Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Justin Lin, director of Better Luck Tomorrow, had been attached to direct the US remake of the South Korean film -- however, Bloody Disgusting reports that, not only is Lin no longer on board, but the film might not happen at all. According to the site, Lin "has a lot of other projects in the works and that the only way he'd make it is if everything 'gelled' together right. He loves the original film and wouldn't want to disrespect it". The film follows a man wrongfully imprisoned who seeks revenge for the lost time. There is way more to the story than that, but it's a complicated and twisted film ... so if you haven't seen it, it's worth taking a look. And don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to catch up since it looks like it could be a while before Hollywood gets their hands on this one.

Lady Vengeance (which used to be called Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - apparently she's alienated us already), in case you've forgotten, is the third installment of Park Chan-wook's revenge trilogy. Depending on who you ask, the film, which was proceeded by Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, is either disappointing or easily the best of the bunch.

Though it'll be a while yet until until its American release (it opens here on May 5), the UK version of iTunes is promoting the film, which opens in England on Friday, by making available a free, 13 minute clip. If you want to be creeped out on your subway ride this morning, download the sucker, watch it on your video iPod (of course, if you're technologically behind like me, you can also sit at your computer and do so), and find out what the hell everybody is talking about. Additionally, if you've seen the film or its predecessors and have questions for their director, Time Out will be conducting an interview with Park tomorrow, and they want to know what we're curious about. Since there are currently a grand total of two reader submissions, you've probably got a good chance of getting your question asked, assuming it's not something like "Do you like dogs?" or "What's your damn problem, freak?"