The Korean Cultural Service’s free screening series returns for year 2! Once again, they’ll be screening free movies on 35mm every other Tuesday at the Tribeca Cinemas. The films start at 7pm and seating is first come, first served. Doors open at 6:30pm. And the first series of films they’re screening? Sports movies!

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Everyone loves a sports movie – underdogs facing impossible odds, no talent, no hope and yet somehow they pull victory from defeat at the last possible second. Korea understands the underdog in an almost spiritual way and as a result the past three years have seen a string of sports movies become major box office hits in Korea. Full of edge-of-your-seat drama, the sports movie has practically replaced the romantic comedy as Korea’s genre of choice these days, and over the next eight weeks they’ll be showing you some of the best.

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Tuesday, January 11 @ 7 pm
A BAREFOOT DREAM (2010, 119 minutes, US Premiere)
Korea’s entry for the Oscars (where it hopes to win “Best Foreign Language Film”) this movie tells the true story of Kim Won-Kang, a former player for Korea’s national soccer team who hit the skids after he got too old for the game. Traveling Southeast Asia, he lurches from one get-rich-quick scheme to another finally landing in war-torn East Timor. He scrapes by renting cleats to kids playing soccer in a local park but slowly he gets sucked into their lives and winds up becoming their coach. Director Kim Tae-Kyun (VOLCANO HIGH) knows action, and he shoots his soccer games fast and hard, while keeping the melodrama quotient low so that the film never becomes sentimental. A scrappy burst of soccer adrenaline, A BAREFOOT DREAM is one of 2010’s most sure-fire crowdpleasers.

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Tuesday, January 25 @ 7pm
TAKE OFF (2009, 145 minutes, New York Premiere)
1997. Muju, Korea. In an effort to bring the 2010 Winter Olympics to Korea, the country has to demonstrate that Koreans enjoy the sports of the Winter Olympics. One problem: no one knows squat about ski jumping. No problem, they assemble a team, train them on waterslides and sends them into competition. It’s a true story, and a lot like COOL RUNNING (the tale of the Jamaican bobsled team) but it’s given a distinctly Korean flavor in this popular, mainstream blockbuster that’s the flat-out funniest in this series and that stars four major Korean stars: Choi Jae-Hwan, Ha Jeong-Woo (the killer from THE CHASER), rapper Kim Ji-Seok-I and Cha Heon-Tae from MY SASSY GIRL.

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Tuesday, February 8 @ 7pm
LIFTING KING KONG
(aka THE BRONZE MEDALIST) (2009, 120 minutes, New York Premiere)
If second place is first place for losers, then let’s not even get into what third place means. Popular actor Lee Bum-Soo plays real-life Olympic weightlifter, Ji-Bong, who quits the sport after a gruesome powerlifting injury. The only job he can find is coaching weightlifting at a small town school. Even worse, it’s a girl’s school and if there’s one group of people on this earth who do not want to bulk up and gain muscle mass, I would guess it’s Korean high school girls. Complications ensue. Downbeat and gritty to the point of being almost nasty, LIFTING KING KONG displays people in all their awful greediness, but this commitment to not flinching from the bad side of life makes the inevitable comeback and triumph of the human spirit feel that much more touching, and that much more earned.

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Tuesday, February 22 @ 7pm
FOREVER THE MOMENT (2008, 124 minutes)
Probably the world’s only movie about women’s handball, if there’s one film in this series that is going to break your heart, it’s FOREVER THE MOMENT. Based on the true story of Korea’s women’s handball team competing at the 2004 Summer Olympics, it’s about a retired player from the national team recruiting some of her now-middle-aged former teammates when she’s asked to step in to coach the new national team at the last minute.  Directed by Lim Soon-Rye, one of the few female directors in Korea, it became a major word-of-mouth hit in 2008, and it remains one of the greatest sports movies ever made, from any country. Seriously, if you’re going to make one movie in this series, this is the one.

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Comments (0) Jan 08 2011

January is the time when a lot of studios dump their product that they’re worried about, and what this means is that it’s the one month of the year when smaller distributors are willing to take a chance because there’s less competition from big blockbusters, and January 2011 is no different. Here’s a list of what’s coming up this month:

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JIGOKU (Jan. 21 @ 7:30pm) – the Japan Society continues its ZEN & ITS OPPOSITE series with this trippy, technicolored horror flick from 1960. Ever wanted to spend time in Buddhist Hell? Now’s your chance!  (more info)
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IP MAN 2 (opens Jan. 28) – the rip-roaring, modern day martial arts classic, IP MAN 2, starring Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung opens in NYC and LA! (watch the trailer and read more about it)

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ONG BAK 3 (opens Jan. 14) – the third “Tony Jaa breaks skulls with his knees” movie hits the big screen at NYC’s Village East cinema today. (more info)

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EVANGELION: 2.0 YOU CAN (NOT) ADVANCE (opens Jan 21) – the second, animated Evangelion feature film hits screens. If it’s any comfort, this one is getting vastly better reviews than the first revamped Evangelion feature film from a year or so ago. (read a review)

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THE HOUSEMAID (opens Jan. 21) – this remake of Kim Ki-Young’s seminal Korean 1960’s freak-out, THE HOUSEMAID is bizarre. Lush, seductive, sexy and dangerous it turns into a full-on train wreck in the final five minutes. But before you get there you get a movie that wins my vote for “Best Sex Movie of 2011.” (watch the trailer)

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And don’t forget Jay Chou, Chinese heartthrob, co-starring in THE GREEN HORNET that opens on Jan. 14

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Comments (1) Jan 08 2011