Korean Films on DVD and Blu-ray

[Caligula]

Thanks once again!

[Michael Kerpan]

Byeoleun nae gaseume / My Beating Heart (Korean TV Movies)

A round-robin anthology of six inter-related stories (in 12 50-minute episodes) centering around a single extended family. Basically six almost self-contained movies -- each written and directed/produced by a different team.

The first ("Love") focuses on BAE Doo-na as a young divorcee who has finally allowed herself to fall in love again. Her dream seems shattered by coincidences and bad luck -- and she meets an attractive divorcee (at the urging of her family). Nice use of music -- especially Piaf's "Je ne regrette rien".

The second, "Joy" focuses on the return of the younger brother of Bae's brother-in-law (HA Ri-su) after a long absence -- as a "sister-in-law". Her usually placid brother-in-law (Kim Chang-wan) is enraged -- and forbids his sibling to contact his mother (for fear of giving her a stroke). Bae Doo-na and her sister BAE Jong-ok feel bad for Ha -- and provide her with what support they can manage. Ha also has problems with finding and keeping work -- due to discrimination. Will Ha meet her mother -- and what will happen if she does.

The third ("Sorrow") concerns Doo-na's niece (GO Ah-sung). This is a funny and sweet and sad story of love amongst the sixth grade world -- that (probably coincidentally) bears quite a few similarities to Naruse's lone "childrens' movie" -- "Approach of Autumn". The mother of Ah-sung's young boyfriend unfortunately happens to be the son of an old flame of her father -- and her mother is infuriated by the relationship between the two children.

The fourth ("Hope") gives us a bit of back story on Kim Chang-wan -- he was an aspiring musician in his youth (who even won a song competition). He is now locked into a dismal office job (where he is junior to younger men) -- and experiences a brief burst of returned youth when he becomes acquainted with a young worker in the company's cafetria who is an aspiring musician. The relationship seems platonic -- but increasingly pre-occupies Kim -- to the distress of Bae Jong-ok.

The fifth ("Outing") turns finally to BAE Jong-ok. She meets a young man who re-kindles memories of her fist love -- who she planned to run away abroad with 15 (or so) years previously (obviously he was avoiding the Korean draft). We learn here that Jong-ok couldn't run away -- because she was the person actually raising (alone) her little sister Doo-na. In the flash-backs Doo-na plays Jong-ok (Jong-ok looks a bit like Doo-na -- but hardened and seemingly impassive) and Ah-sung plays Doo-na (she looks and acts uncannily like a little Doo-na). This reminds me at times of a favorite Rivette film -- but saying which one might be seen as a spoiler... I sniffled a lot during this lovely segment.

The last story ("Happiness") is not devoid of occasional humor, but is (on the whole) harrowing. We learn even more about the past of the two sisters when their mother appears at the door of Doo-na's apartment one day (much to the shock of Doo-na -- who had been told her mother was dead -- linking this to Ozu's grim "Tokyo Twilight"). Jong-ok is enraged -- and wants nothing to do with her mother. Meanwhile, her (very sweet but tough) mother-in-law has moved in with them -- and Ah-sung is being bullied by a gang of older school girls and Chang-wan is having serious job troubles. And the returned mother needs lots of money for a reason she won't explain -- further infuriating Jong-ok. This installment seems over-stuffed with incident -- but curiously never seems overly-busy or rushed. I could quibble at a few minor details, but this is a remarkably powerful show.

If American TV had shows like this -- I might watch more television. But I suspect that this wasn't especially typical for Korean TV either. ;~}

[Caligula]

The Lee Chang Dong Box set (Green Fish, Peppermint Candy & Oasis), long out of print, has been reissued recently and is available here.

[whaleallright]

n/a

[lady wakasa]

To add on to this - the Korea Society of New York is in its second (at least second) year of screening Korean film classics, on the third Thursday of the month, usually at 6 pm. A number of the films listed were shown in the 2007 series.

In fact, this Thursday is the third Thursday so they'll be showing To The Starry Isle. There are refreshments and a discussion session afterwards.

[Cabiria21]

I have seen some of the films in the Shin Sang Ok dvd set and they are quite good, film and transfer-wise.

[Michael Kerpan]

Aimless Bullet is a very interesting film -- but be forewarned, its only surviving copy is not in very good shape (and probably not really restore-able, not easily at least). So, if the DVD version looks rather poor -- don't blame the DVD company. It's just lucky this exists at all.

[TIVOLI]

Much thanks to Jonah.77 for this authoritative list. If ever there was a director who deserved the Criterion treatment on DVD, it is Kim Ki-Young. A few years ago, a large and respected panel of critics in Korea named his The Housemaids as the second-greatest Korean film of all time. A cinephile friend of mine from Seoul told me about seeing it at a festival there and being thoroughly overwhelmed by it. From her description, the film sounds like something out of a collaboration among Sirk, Suzuki, and Satan. It somehow seems inexcusable that evidently none of his work is available anywhere, either on DVD or even VHS.

[htdm]

In addition to Yangsan Province (lit. Yangsan Island) (1955, listed above), Kim Ki-Young's Io Island (1977) is also available from the Korean Film Archive with English subs that was part of an annual series of films distributed only to Libraries. This can be obtained in the U.S. through inter-library loan.

[lady wakasa]

Walter Reade is running a Kim Ki-young retrospective which starts either tonight or tomorrow, and includes both The Housemaid and Yangsan Province.


from The Housemaid

Program Listing at Walter Reade Website

I'll definitely be there this weekend...

[htdm]

Taewon Entertainment will release a 4-disc boxset covering representative work from South Korean director Kim Ki-young on 7/10. The box will include English and Japanese subtitles and includes the following films:

Goryeojang aka Burying the Old Alive (1963)
Chungnyo aka Insect Woman (1972)
Yukcheui yaksok aka Promise of the Flesh (1975)
Iodo aka Io Island (1977)

I'd read Housemaid, long considered his best film, was being prepared for DVD but oddly it's a no show here. Perhaps it might eventually turn up the Korean Film Archive if they continue their series of classic films.

[manicsounds]

Ordered it. I hope the extras have English subs like it says. Or Japanese for that matter. I'm prepared to be surprised by this boxset.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The extras are indeed subbed. A couple of caveats:

-About 20 minutes of Goryeojang exist only in audio form. These scenes are still in the film, but they're just the soundtrack over a black screen (with optional subtitles, of course).
-The Insect Woman has Spanish hardsubs (!).

Neither of these are dealbreakers, of course.

[manicsounds]

All the extras, including documentaries and commentaries for each film are fully subtitled in English, and the booklet is half in Korean and half in English. Taewon clearly made the Kim Ki Young set for an International market. It seems the print quality of the films aren't say on a Criterion level, but they are clearly watchable. I can't wait to dig into the entire set.

[HarryLime]

Can anyone report on these yet? I saw this set on one of Beaver's end of the year lists, but I'll be ding-danged if I can find any reviews.

[manicsounds]

The Kim Ki Young set? twitch has a review

[manicsounds]

The Good The Bad The Weird Kim Ji Woon's latest film, followup to the highly praised Gwoemul, aka The Host, but this time, a Western.

3 discs, with 2 versions of the film. 3/11/2009

edi: Shite, mixed up, meant to say "The Good The Bad The Weird" is currently right after "The Host" as the highest grossing film in Korea.

And I highly highly doubt there will be any extra features subtitled.

[zedz]

The Good The Bad The Weird Kim Ji Woon's latest film, followup to the highly praised Gwoemul, aka The Host, but this time, a Western.

Kim's the Bittersweet Life guy, I think; The Host was Bong.

From past experience, are the English subs on this likely to extend to the extras (even the commentaries?)

[Lemmy Caution]

I've watched 3 of the 4 films in the first Past Unearthed set, so thought I'd give a little guidance. The three I watched are all from 1941 and the Japanese censorship is palpable, as strong propaganda elements appear in each picture. All of the films have quality issues -- streaks, speckling, brief blackouts, iffy sound -- and could have used restoration work. All have decent, but somewhat stiff and ungrammatic subtitles, with burnt in Japanese subtitles, on the right vertically.

Angels on the Street, an interesting melodrama about orphans, suddenly has all of the kids salute the Rising Sun and pledge loyalty to the Emperor near the film's end. Though some of the staging is rather low-budget and some of the acting a little rough, this film has a neo-realist feel to it that is impressive. There's also some unexpected practicality, as the philanthropist who starts an ad-hoc orphanage puts the kids to work making noodles to support the derelict farm they use. This film is worth seeing for the social issues addressed and the pseudo-documentary style, along with the clunky nod to the occupying Japanese authorities.

My major complaint is with the print quality. Lots of streaks and speckles. Sometimes things get very dark so that it's hard to make out what is happening. But the worst part is the sound, which is muffled and filled with static and hiss throughout. This really could have used some restoration work.

Volunteers is a short (57 minute) propaganda film, with a perfunctory love story and some peasant struggles. The characters get excited when they are allowed to join the Imperial Army, and their troubles melt away. The blatant propaganda is historically interesting, but not much of a movie. There are some nice views of the Korean countryside and seacoast. Again the sound quality is disappointing as the audio lags behind the picture by a second or two, which is distracting (but not ruinous when you are reading the subtitles).

Both of those films have a useful comment by someone from DVD Times up at IMDb. Though they don't mention the rough quality.

Spring of Korean Peninsula, 'Bandoui Bom' 1941 is more artistically and politically interesting. In some ways, this movie about making a movie is fairly ambitious and at times employs some modern Hollywood craft of the day, especially in its editing and scene openings. It involves a film company trying to complete a movie of Chunhyang on a shoestring budget. The myth of Chunhyang has to do with a young lover who is almost seduced and corrupted by a wealthy older man, a theme repeated in the way the producer tries to buy the young actress. These romantic intrigues, as the movie execs seem to have predatory romantic links with the actresses, along with financing difficulties hamper the production.

This dual level seems to also be at work later in the film to deliver a sly political commentary. The Japanese had just formed the Association of Korean Filmmakers for the purposes of making propaganda. In this film, the big propaganda scene is when a new film company is formed and the film completed. The new studio head makes a windy speech about the unity of Korea and Japan and the patriotic duty of film to support the Japanese Empire, etc. But most of the assembled guests at the conference table -- the director and actors we've come to know -- look especially glum and unhappy. This is ostensibly because one of their friends is missing since he went into hiding after questionably appropriating funds to finish the film. But it also slyly suggests that the artists making pictures are unhappy about the Japanese imperial control of the Korean film industry and the resulting propaganda.

Though most of the film is in Korean, they do speak some Japanese at times. Even if you can't recognize the difference between the languages, it's clear enough since when they speak Japanese the burnt-in vertical Japanese subtitles disappear. As far as I could tell, this was in formal situations and/or mostly with the moneyed bosses. I think the idea is to show the higher ups aligned with the Japanese (perhaps also showing that the common people remain Korean?). I know that the Japanese largely sought to replace Korean with Japanese, but I'm not sure how that relates to the film's use of both languages. I'm also tempted to interpret the Chunhyang myth in political terms, with the innocent, resisting women representing Korea and the predatory, powerful males as Imperial Japan.

The film also kicks off with one young Korean going to Japan, so he entrusts his sister to a friend in the entertainment industry. I don't think it's made clear why he is going to Japan, but I assume it had to do with the labor shortages in Japan due to heavy conscription ... which leads to the theme of Volunteers where Koreans are newly allowed to enter the Japanese Imperial Army.

Spring of Korean Peninsula isn't in great condition, but was certainly better than the other two, where the quality issues detracted from enjoying the film.

Straits of ChoSun, 'Joseonhaehyeop' 1943 is the remaining film, and I'll try to add comments when I get to it.
There is also a second Past Unearthed set out containing three more earlier films Sweet Dream (a.k.a. Mimong) (1936), Military Train (1938), and Fisherman's Fire (a.k.a. Eohwa) (1939).

[htdm]

DVD Times has also posted reviews of the first set and the second set with captures.

Another review of Fisherman's Fire - from the second set - can be found here.

[manicsounds]

http://www.seoulselection.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is where i bought those 2 boxsets for a very cheap $22 each (and also delivered VERY quickly, but then again, Korea to Japan....) So far I've only gotten through "Angels On The Streets", and very surprised to find a copy of the full script in Japanese pre-censorship inside the boxset. If you can't read Japanese, it is worthless, but for me, a big insight.

Aside a MAJOR restoration, which these films will not get, this is the best we will see them. I don't think Korea would really want to invest in such a thing, as it says in the booklet, the films represent a time many Koreans would rather forget.

[Tutut]

(and also delivered VERY quickly, but then again, Korea to Japan....)

And they're fast when delivering to Europe, 6 days for me in France.

I ordered the Kim Ki Young boxset last year, but didn't have the time to watch it yet, Aimless Bullet and Between the Knees are waiting for me too.

[Lemmy Caution]

Aimless Bullet is a very interesting film -- but be forewarned, its only surviving copy is not in very good shape (and probably not really restore-able, not easily at least). So, if the DVD version looks rather poor -- don't blame the DVD company. It's just lucky this exists at all.

Watched the Cinema Epoch edition of this film, entitled Stray Bullet (apparently the UK title). The quality is decent, though some scenes get dark to the point of obscurity and splotches attack some other portions sporadically. One other trouble is that the burnt-in English subtitles are generally good, but less than complete at times, leaving out some key dialogue. So occasionally I needed to rewind and put on the better optional English subtitles over the permanent English subs. The optional Eng. subs are yellow, but it's easy enough to tamp down the color.

The film is historically interesting, as it focuses on soldiers, post-Korean War, finding it difficult to reintegrate into society. The film is mostly a melodrama of a poor family disintegrating. Some of the acting and scripting is a bit sketchy, and the female characters are mostly after-thoughts.
It's not exactly subtle, but mostly held my interest.

[manicsounds]

"The Good The Bad The Weird" was an amazing piece of work. Highly recommended to everyone. The Korean 3 DVD has very good subtitles for the main features only and none for the vast extras.

The UK 2 disc is set for June, but will have only the International cut with 5 seconds edited for the usual UK animal cruelty reason.

[manicsounds]

The Past Unearthed Volume 3: Dear Soldier

The Past Unearthed Volume 4: Moving Images From Gosfilmofond

Both look like slight downgrades compared to the previous 2 installments, being only 1 disc and very little in terms of extras