ACF 1900: Kim Ki-Duk's award-winning PIETA opens in NY and LA today; national release to follow

Drafthouse Films

presents

Pieta

Written and directed by Kim Ki-Duk

South Korea, 2012, 104 minutes

Kim Ki-duk's Pieta will open theatrically in New York, Los Angeles and ten other U.S. cities on May 17th, with an additional eight cities to be added in the following weeks. For a complete list of cities and opening dates, click here. (The film has been available On Demand and at iTunes since April 12th.)

Pieta is set in Cheonggyecheon, once a thriving area for South Korea's industrial development that is now in decline. (It is also the area near which director KIM grew up.) Kang-do (LEE Jung-jin) is a collector for a loan shark, an enforcer who is barely human and who leads a solitary existence. One would not be too far afield in thinking of him as a Korean counterpart to Anton Chigurth, the character played by Javier Bardem in the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men.

LEE Jung-jin as Kang-do

When debtors can't pay back their loans, he is remorseless in either forcing them to maim themselves or in doing it himself, because they have been made to take out insurance policies payable to the loan shark as a hedge against defaulting. Thus, unlike the Chigurth character, Kang-do doesn't kill people, he just forces them to disable themselves. In fact, he resents it when a desperate individual does himself in because it makes it complicates the process of collecting the insurance money. Kang-do justifies his actions by describing the debtors as "irresponsible" because they have borrowed money but can't repay their loans.

One day a mysterious woman named Mi-sun (played by veteran actress CHO Min-soo), enters his life, saying she is his mother and that she regrets having abandoned him when he was an infant. Kang-do intially discredits her claim, but comes to believe that she is indeed his mother. Humanity begins to enter his being, and he increasingly finds that he can no longer do his job.

CHO Min-soo as Mi-sun

The film is shot in muted earth tones and shades of grey, as befits its gritty realism. On the other hand, I personally found that it works best as an allegory about two things: the illusion that having money will lead to happiness and the importance of family. For when all is said and done, Pieta may be about nothing so much as the lengths to which a mother will go out of love for her son.

With Pieta, which won the Golden Lion award at the 2012 Venice Film Festival, KIM Ki-duk has again produced a masterful work, one of incredible emotional power. It relentlessly confronts issues of exploitation, revenge, regret, and atonement. Most definitely a must see.

ACF Rating: 4 out of 4 stars; outstanding, exceptional.

ACF 1865: PIETA available today on demand and at iTunes; theatrical release begins May 17th

Drafthouse Films

presents

Pietà

Directed by KIM Ki-Duk

South Korea, 2012, 104 minutes

KIM Ki-Duk's award winning Pietà becomes available on demand and at iTunes today, April 12th. It will open in New York and Los Angeles area theaters on May 17th with a national release to follow.

KIM (Bad Guy; Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring; 3-Iron) is a multi-award-winning director - the ‘Un Certain Regard’ Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, the ‘Leone D’Argento’ Award for Best Direction at the 2004 Venice Film Festival and the ‘Silver Bear’ Award for Best Direction at the 2004 Berlin International Film Festival. His intense, violent and beautiful imagery has earned praise from both critics and audiences as one of South Korea’s most celebrated and provocative voices. Leslie Felperin for Variety wrote that Pietà’s “gritty, urban setting and thoughtful engagement with themes of revenge, sacrifice and redemption harks back to earlier films that brokered Kim's reputation as one of Korea's most innovative and talented helmers.” For Indiewire, Pietà is a “curiously engaging and wickedly twisted tale of crime and punishment on multiple levels...recalls the like-minded outlook of No Country For Old Men.”

Pietà is an intense and haunting story about a loan shark living an isolated and lonely existence. He uses brutality to threaten and collect paybacks from desperate borrowers for his moneylender boss. He proficiently and mercilessly collects the debts without regard to the pain he causes his countless victims. One day, a mysterious woman appears in front of him claiming to be his long-lost mother. After coldly rejecting her at first, he gradually accepts her in his life and decides to quit his cruel job and seek a decent, redemptive life. However, he soon discovers a dark secret stemming from his past and realizes it may be too late to escape the horrific consequences already set in motion from his previous life.

Pietà won the Golden Lion at the 2012 Venice Film Festival.

Official Website: http://drafthousefilms.com/film/pieta

 Trailer at iTunes

ACF 1594: Free outdoor screening of Kim Ki-duk's SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... and SPRING

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

Directed by Kim Ki-duk

Starring: Oh Yeong-su, Kim Jong-ho, Seo Jae-Kyung

South Korea, 2003, 106 minutes

When: Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 7 PM

Film begins at sunset

Where: The Museum of the Moving Image/Outdoor Cinema 2012

Socrates Sculpture Park, Vernon Boulevard at Broadway, Long Island City

Map and directions

Admission: Free!!!

The Korea Society and the Museum of The Moving Image co-present Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring—a gorgeously shot feature film that has grossed more in box office receipts than any Korean movie released in United States to date. Directed by phenom Kim Ki-duk (The Isle, Samaritan Girl), the film is a pastoral poem about the changing seasons and a meditation on the cycle of life.

In a tranquil and timeless setting of a temple floating on a lake in a forest, surrounded by mountain spires that cut the monastery off from worldly concerns, an old monk teaches his young disciple the wisdom of Buddha over the many seasons of their lives. In Korean with English subtitles.

ACF 876: Special theatrical events at New People, San Francisco, this month

NEW PEOPLE PRESENTS SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENTS
FOR THE GARDEN OF SINNERS,
KIM KI-DUK'S BREATH AND GANTZ IN FEBRUARY

VIZ Cinema at NEW PEOPLE, the nation's only movie theatre dedicated to Japanese and Asian film, presents a trio of special movie events taking place at the venue in February. Trailers, screening times and tickets are available at www.VIZCinema.com. The venue is located inside NEW PEOPLE at 1746 Post Street in San Francisco's Japantown.

The month begins as Aniplex of America, Inc. and NEW PEOPLE present the U.S. premiere of the anime feature film, THE GARDEN OF SINNERS, on February 5th, to be followed by a discussion panel with key members of the movie's production staff. This one-day-only event will celebrate the highly anticipated release of the film's Blu-ray Box Set which will be released in North America on February 8th (a week after the Japanese release).

Also slated to screen on February 19th will be the acclaimed Korean director Kim Ki-duk's romantic prison drama, BREATH, which will be followed by a reception with The Red Lantern: Bay Area Asian Cinephiles, based in San Francisco and the world's largest Meetup group for Asian films - http://www.meetup.com/sf-asian-film.

Finally, by popular demand, VIZ Cinema at NEW PEOPLE will offer a special one-night-only screening on February 19th of the live-action sci-fi thriller GANTZ (in Japanese with English subtitles). GANTZ is based on the smash hit manga and anime series and was world-premiered at 334 theatres nationwide in January.

(c) KINOKO NASU / Kodansha, Aniplex, Notes, ufotable

THE GARDEN OF SINNERS
Saturday, 2/5 at 1:30pm - ONE DAY ONLY!
Tickets: $15.00
Directed by Ei Aoki, Takuya Nonaka, Shinsuke Takizaw
Japan, 49min, 58min, and 119min, Digital, Japanese with English subtitles

After spending two years in a coma caused by a traffic accident, Shiki Ryougi awakens with amnesia. Inexplicably, she finds that she has also obtained the "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception" in which she can see the invisible lines of mortality that hold every living and non-living thing together. Working for a small independent agency, Shiki attempts to unravel the baffling mystery behind a series of abnormal, horrifying incidents, but are they a foreshadowing that leads to something even more tragic and ominous? Things are not what they appear to be on the surface, but what dark revelations lie underneath? This is a modern occult-action thriller where Shiki must tackle supernatural incidents with her special abilities while searching for a reason to live.

This screening will be immediately followed by a special discussion session with key members of the movie's production staff.

Image Provided Courtesy of Palisades Tartan

BREATH
Saturday, 2/19 at 5:00pm - ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Tickets: $12.00
Directed by Kim Ki-duk
Korea, 83min, 2007, Digital, Korean with English subtitles

On a cold winter day, after learning her husband has found a new woman, Yeon absent-mindedly heads for a prison where an inmate name Jin is confined. Although she doesn't know him personally, repeated news of his suicide attempts on TV have subconsciously grown in her mind which now is leading her to seek him. Jin has no visitors and normally would not agree to meet a complete stranger, but hearing that it's a woman, he accepts her request out of curiosity. Their first encounter is awkward. Yeon treats Jin like an old friend whereas Jin doesn't open up so easily. To Jin's surprise, Yeon comes back for a second visit... One day her husband follows her to the prison and witnesses an intimate exchange between Yeon and Jin. The jealous husband drags her home and tries to separate the new couple. While forced to be apart, time winds down for Jin's execution. But the two are already attached to one another more than her husband assumed -- more than life and death. And desperate Yeon finds a way to elude her husband and help Jin out of his misery.

(c) Hiroya Oku/Shueisha (c) 2011 "GANTZ" Film Partners

GANTZ (English Subtitled Version)
Saturday, 2/19 at 7:15pm - ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Tickets: $12.00 (attendees will also receive a special GANTZ poster)
Directed by Shinsuke Sato
Japan, 129min, 2011, Digital, Japanese with English subtitles

GANTZ is based on a hit manga series created by Hiroya Oku and stars leading Japanese actors Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima) and Kenichi Matsuyama (Death Note, Detroit Metal City). The film tells the story of two childhood friends that are accidentally killed while trying to save another man's life. Rather than find themselves in the hereafter, however, they awaken in a strange apartment in which they find a mysterious black orb they come to know as 'GANTZ'. Along with similar abductees, they are provided with equipment and weaponry and manipulated into playing a kind of game in which they are sent back out to the greater world to do battle with alien beings, all while never quite knowing whether this game is an illusion or their new reality.

VIZ Cinema at NEW PEOPLE is the nation's only movie theatre devoted exclusively to Japanese film and anime. The 143-seat subterranean theatre is located in the basement of the NEW PEOPLE building and features plush seating, digital as well as 35mm projection, and a THX-certified sound system.

ACF 469: Beautiful - pre-screening review and reminder

Beautiful / A-leum-dab-da
Directed by Juhn Jai-Hong
South Korea, 2008, 88 minutes
New York Premiere

Let's start with a reminder about this coming Tuesday night's screening:

Beautiful, the next film in Korean Cultural Services' series of free screenings, will be shown on Tuesday, Feburary 9th at 7:00 PM. The screening will take place at the Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E and 1 train Canal Street stops.

Although admission is free, you must RSVP to info@koreanculture.org or call 212-759-9550 to be admitted. I suggest you do so right away, as this - not surprisingly - has proved to be a very popular series. If the screening is "sold out," and if you're willing, show up anyway for the stand-by line. My understanding is that 20-30 people made it into the first two screenings this way.

One of her male "fans" obsesses over pictures of Eun-young

Now for my review.

Eun-young (Cha Su-yeon) is a lovely, young woman who has one problem: she's beautiful. Not just beautiful. but way too beautiful. So much so that giggly, teenage girls want to take her picture and get her autograph even after she assures them that she's not an actress.

When it comes to men, her looks are a liability, because men just can't help falling in love with her, wanting to have her. Although she is not a tease and does nothing to encourage them, men fall under the enchanting spell that he ethereal beauty passively casts. When one of them takes his obsession to far, Eun-young decides to make herself less attractive, first by over-eating, then by trying anorexia. As her mental state deteriorates, a police officer who started out as her "guardian angel" begins to succumb to her charms, much like other men.

This psychological thriller is the first feature film from Juhn Jai-Hong. He also wrote the screenplay, which is based on a story written by his mentor Kim Ki-duk (The Isle, Bad Guy). Juhn has done a masterful job depicting Eun-young's plight and deterioration. I especially admire him for keeping the film to a crisp run time; so many first-time directors can't resist the urge to include more-and-more, as if it might be their last chance to put something on the screen. The film deservedly won the grand Prix at the 2008 Fukuoka Asian Film Festival. (I'm scheduled to interview Juhn on Tuesday before the screening. If that goes as planned, I'll transcribe and edit the interview and post it her as soon as I can.)

Cha Su-yeon is perfectly cast as Eun -young. Not only does she have the requisite looks for the role, but she also brings the emotional frailty and vulnerability that it calls for. She also does a mean display of primal outrage.

Elements of the film are certainly reminiscent of Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965), which starred Catherine Deneuve. The ending also brought to mind that of Nagisa Oshima's In The Realm Of The Senses (1976). But make no mistake about it, Juhn Jai-Hong's Beautiful stands on its own and does so marvelously. It's a terrific thriller that'll leave you impressed with what you've seen and looking forward to more from both the director and his female lead.

ACF rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars (highly recommended).

ACF 186: Kim Ki-Duk's "The Bow" @ The Ruben Museum of Art

The Bow / Hwai

Directed by Kim Ki-Duk

South Korea, 2005, 90 min.

Cast: Jeon Sung-Hwan, Han Yeo-Reum, Seo Ji-Seok

Noted South Korean director Kim Ki-Duk's The Bow will be shown at the Rubin Museum of Art tomorrow night, Friday, November 28, 2008 at 9:30 PM as part of its Cabaret Cinema Series. Kim's other films include The Isle, Samaria, and Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring, each well worth seeing if you haven't already.

Storyline:
With a bow and arrow, a sixty-year old man protects the young girl he plans to marry when she turns seventeen. She’s content with their life on a fishing boat until a young man arrives and changes everything.

The Bow illustrates the Bhutanese proverb: “The arrow of divine beings with absolute wisdom: it cannot be seen when shot, but can be seen when it hits.”

Tickets available by calling the Box Office of the Rubin Museum of Art @ 212.620.5000 x344, from 11 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday to Friday. Tickets may also be purchased at the admissions desk or museum shop.

Rubin Museum of Art

150 West 17th Street

New York, NY 10011

Co-presented with The Korea Society