Korean

Eccentric but faithful mafioso Chi-sung is sent to prison for his part in a gang fight. But when his parents are attacked by a rival mob and his own people take no action, he realizes that a decade of loyalty towards the gang has become futile. Determined to confront his own boss, he finds a way to escape from prison with his fellow inmates. Meanwhile, his friend Joo-joong is given the task to stop Chi-sung, forcing him to choose between the bond of friendship and loyalty towards the gang.Read More »

Yun-jeong is a young girl in 18th Century Korea who has an aptitude for, and a love of, painting, but as women in the Joseon dynasty are not deemed worthy to put brush to paper, she allows her brother to take the credit for her artwork. When her deception leads to her brother’s tragic death, Yun-jeong is sent away to study the art of painting in his place, disguised as a man and taking her brother’s name in the hope of becoming an artist in the Royal Court.Read More »

A mother’s grief after losing her son brings on a spiral of self-destructive behavior until she meets an ex-convict with direct ties to her past.Read More »

On impulse, a young woman drives from Seoul to see her best friend, but also meets up with her older professor, and then a former lover. Drinks ensue, and surprises are revealed for all four characters. Hong packs a lot into a 31 minute film.Read More »

Quote:
One of the year’s towering achievements … plays with levels of fantasy and degrees of ‘realism’ with a sophistication fully the equal of Alain Resnais at his peak. Lee Myung-Se is certainly out there by himself in his incredibly imaginative approach to the mysteries of the pursuit of happiness.Read More »

The first snow has fallen over Seoul. Munho, a young art professor, is catching up with his friend Hunjoon, a broke filmmaker who has just returned from the United States. After a few drinks, they decided to track down Sunhwa, a young girl they were both in love with a few years earlier.Read More »

Indiewire wrote:
The 21-minute short, produced in collaboration with Apple, was shot entirely on an iPhone 13 Pro, and was just released on the tech company’s YouTube page. The whimsical film tells the story of an undertaker (Yoo Hai-jin) whose attempt to steal a coffin ends up awakening a ghost (Park Jeong-min). That ghost ends up bonding with the ghost of the warrior (Kim Ok-vin) the undertaker was trying to bury. The film takes some unexpected turns, and ends up being a supernatural romance, a musical, and a martial arts film in equal measures.Read More »

Synopsis wrote:
When stricken with a terminal disease, Young-su leaves his careless high life in the city, live-in girlfriend and dwindling business. He retreats to a sanatorium in the countryside in order to treat his illness, where he meets a young woman who is a resident patient there. Soon they develop feelings for each other and leave the sanatorium together to live in a small but cozy farm house. Their health improves dramatically but when Young-su’s friends from the city come for a visit, he starts to wonder if he should abandon mundane rural village and return to his former lifestyle.Read More »

Quote:
It is a Sunday in late winter. Church bells ring as Huh-wook sets off to meet his sweetheart Jee-yun. Huh-wook, who cannot afford to start a family, goes off to meet his friends to get money for an abortion for Jee-yun. But he instead ends up stealing from a friend when no one wants to lend him money. The doctor recommends an abortion for Jee-yun because she’s ill. Huh-wook leaves the hospital and has a drink, then visits a bar and a roadside bar with a woman he meets in a salon. Completely intoxicated, Huh-wook makes love to her in a construction site but comes to his senses at the sound of church bells ringing and runs back to the hospital. He arrives to discover that Jee-yun has died during the surgery and goes to tell her father, only to be turned away at the doorstep. Then the friend whose money he had stolen catches him and beats him up. Blood streaming down his face, he runs down the dark streets and reminisces about the happy times he had with Jee-yun.Read More »