KOREAN MOVIE NIGHT

from May 11, 2010 – June 29, 2010

courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service

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Every other Tuesday @ 7pm

Tribeca Cinemas

(54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E and 1 train Canal Street stops)

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Price? Free.

All seating is first-come, first served.

Doors open at 6:30pm.

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UPCOMING MOVIES

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Series Three: Epic Action

Just in time for summer, the Korean Cultural Service presents its third series of films: big, fat, epic action movies – perfect blockbusters that’ll air condition your brain.

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TUESDAY, MAY 11 @ 7pm

FROZEN FLOWER (2008, 131 minutes, New York Premiere)

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Based on a true story, FROZEN FLOWER is sexy, bloody fun, anchored by three ferociously committed performances and powered by subversive sexual politics. Set in the Goryeo Dynasty, it opens with the King (Ju Jin-Mo, who won “Best Actor” for his performance here) peacefully in love with his bodyguard, Hong Lim (Jo In-Sung, currently serving in the Army). The two men are happy together, and the court turns a blind eye to their romance, but someone’s got to father an heir and so Hong-Lim is assigned the task of impregnating the Queen (Song Ji-Hyo). Complications ensue. So do revolutions, assassinations attempts, castrations, decapitations and intense sexiness.

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Goryeo Dynasty man date.

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Read a review that calls it “…a big juicy steak of a movie.” And watch the trailer.

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TUESDAY, MAY 25 @ 7pm

THE ACCIDENTAL GANGSTER (2008, 103 minutes, New York Premiere)

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The poster is boring,

the movie is not.

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Its other title tells you all you need to know: GIBANG RIOT OF 1724. A head-banging action comedy it’s a frenetic blend of modern filmmaking style and period storytelling polish. A ghetto street brawler falls for a high priced courtesan (Kim Ok-Bin, THIRST) and winds up fighting for her affections with the local gang boss. Scored to a mix of hip hop and rock, edited by monkeys jacked up on crack, and featuring wall-to-wall nutso action, it’s the kind of movie that has no pretensions: it’s out to do nothing more than make your head explode.

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Read a review that claims this movie is proof “…there is still life left in the genre, at least for directors brave enough to shake things up.” And watch the bizarre trailer.

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TUESDAY, JUNE 15 @ 7pm

THE SWORD WITH NO NAME (2009, 124 minutes, New York Premiere)

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Holy blockbusters! A big hit at the box office last year, SWORD is the epitome of posh, luscious, decadent period filmmaking. Based on the real life Empress Myeongseong, it tells her story through the eyes of a bounty hunter who becomes her bodyguard (Cho Seung-Woo, now doing his mandatory military service). She tries to stand up to Russian and Japanese intervention in 19th Century Korea and the results are a series of luxurious, CGI-enhanced action scenes alternating with carefully calibrated and eye-meltingly colorful court life pageants, making this movie feel like an unholy mix of Merchant-Ivory and THE MATRIX.

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Read a review that calls the movie, “…heartfelt and passionate…” and watch the lush trailer.

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TUESDAY, JUNE 29 @ 7pm

JSA: JOINT SECURITY AREA (2000, 110 minutes)

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A special screening to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War, Park Chan-Wook’s JSA: JOINT SECURITY AREA is one of the most moving Korean films ever made, and the hit that put Director Park (OLDBOY) on the map. Starring Song Kang-Ho (THE HOST), Lee Young-Ae (LADY VENGEANCE), Lee Byung-Hun (GI JOE; THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD) and Shin Ha-Kyun (SAVE THE GREEN PLANET, THIRST) it is the APOCALYPSE NOW of the Korean War, a shimmering, hyper-real epic that charts the spiritual fallout of international politics.

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JSA uses the partition, the arbitrary line drawn through the middle of Korea and manned by international oversight, as a door into the psychological wreckage of the Korean War. It starts with a present-day incident on the border that leaves a group of North and South Korean soldiers alternately wounded or dead. The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) swoops in to investigate, led by Korean-Swiss Major Sophie Jean (Lee Young-Ae) and the stark, technocratic investigation becomes the frame for a series of extended flashbacks that depict the events leading up to the shooting.

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In every sense of the word, JSA is a tragedy, but at the same time, it’s a testament to human nature. Not the cheap, sentimental Hallmark card version of human nature, but the human nature where, in the teeth of global politics, even in the face of extinction, like reaches out to like, and friendships are formed because we’re humans, not ideologues. One of the most popular Korean movies of all time, both at home and overseas, JSA is a movie that takes Korea’s national tragedy of partition and manages to find within it something as fragile and precious as hope.

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Watch the trailer.

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