Blog

You are browsing the archive for Drama.

Fair Love

July 21, 2010

Hyung-man is in his fifties and has regrettably never dated. After having lost all his money to a close friend, Hyung-man spends his monotonous and frustrating life in his photo studio. One day, Hyung-man decides to pay his fraudulent friend, Ki-hyuk, a visit, after having heard that he is dying of cancer. Ki-hyuk requests that Hyung-man look after his daughter, Nam-eun, once in a while after he dies. After Ki-yuk passes away, Hyung-man decides to visit his friend’s daughter, who is surprisingly a full-grown lady. Noticing that Nam-eun is more distressed over the death of her pet cat than her father’s, Hyung-man decides to look after her once in a while. Nam-eun too finds her father’s silly and unmarried friend quite interesting. Using Hyung-man’s dirty laundry as an excuse, Nam-eun frequently visits Hyung-man, gradually expressing her feelings for him. Although awkward and surprised at first, Hyung-man too is curious about his feelings for his friend’s daughter. Soon, Hyung-man who was once simply Nam-eun’s father’s friend becomes her man and they begin a series of unusual dates.

Eleventh Mom

July 20, 2010

A woman suddenly appears at Jae-su’s house. Nothing in her hands, nowhere to go, the woman’s empty eyes meet with round eyes of the eleven year-old boy. He regards the woman as another person who’ll leave and does not put any effort to get to know her. Every chance he finds, the boy scolds the woman, saying she eats too much, sleeps like a pig and uses up all utilities. The two of them are neck-to-neck with complaints until she learns of the boy’s sad history and he discovers her diabetes. The boy already had 10 stepmothers in the past. Out of the blue the boys father shows up and begins beating the boy. She tries to stop him and they find themselves in a common ground. A warm relationship between the two begins to build up slowly, not aware of the eventual separation that is just around the corner.

Directed by Kim Jin-seong (???)
Starring
Kim Hye-soo (???) Kim Hye-soo (???)
Woman (??)
Kim Young-chan (???) Kim Young-chan (???)
Jae-soo (??)
Ryoo Seung-yong (???) Ryoo Seung-yong (???)
Jae-soo father (?? ?)
Release date(s) Flag of South Korea 2007/11/29
Running time 106 min
Country Flag of South Korea South Korea
Language Korean

Lust, Caution

May 23, 2010

Shanghai, 1942. The World War II Japanese occupation of this Chinese city continues in force. Mrs. Mak, a woman of sophistication and means, walks into a café, places a call, and then sits and waits. She remembers how her story began several years earlier, in 1938 China. She is not in fact Mrs. Mak, but shy Wong Chia Chi. With WWII underway, Wong has been left behind by her father, who has escaped to England. As a freshman at university, she meets fellow student Kuang Yu Min. Kuang has started a drama society to shore up patriotism. As the theater troupe’s new leading lady, Wong realizes that she has found her calling, able to move and inspire audiences and Kuang. He convenes a core group of students to carry out a radical and ambitious plan to assassinate a top Japanese collaborator, Mr. Yee. Each student has a part to play; Wong will be Mrs. Mak, who will gain Yees’ trust by befriending his wife and then draw the man into an affair. Wong transforms herself utterly inside and out, and the scenario proceeds as scripted until an unexpectedly fatal twist spurs her to flee. Shanghai, 1941. With no end in sight for the occupation, Wong having emigrated from Hong Kong goes through the motions of her existence. Much to her surprise, Kuang re-enters her life. Now part of the organized resistance, he enlists her to again become Mrs. Mak in a revival of the plot to kill Yee, who as head of the collaborationist secret service has become even more a key part of the puppet government. As Wong reprises her earlier role, and is drawn ever closer to her dangerous prey, she finds her very identity being pushed to the limit…

Directed by Ang Lee
Produced by Ang Lee
William Kong
James Schamus
Written by Eileen Chang (story)
Hui-Ling Wang
James Schamus (screenplay)
Starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai
Tang Wei
Lee-Hom Wang
Joan Chen
Tou Chung-Hua
Chu Chih-Ying
Chin Kar Lok
Anupam Kher
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography Rodrigo Prieto
Editing by Tim Squyres
Distributed by Focus Features
Release date(s) 24 September 2007 (Taiwan)
25 September 2007 (HK)
28 September 2007 (USA, limited)
1 November 2007 (China)[1]
4 January 2008 (UK)
1 February 2008 (Sweden)
Running time 158 minutes
Country U.S. / China / Taiwan
Language Mandarin
Cantonese
Shanghainese
English
Japanese
 

Sunflower

May 20, 2010

Tae-sik, who cleansed up the neighborhood back alley with his bare knuckle after dropping out of high school, is released on parole. The once sacrificial sheep of Tae-sik’s frank Min-seok has become a detective and Tae-sik’s henchmen friends have turned on each other’s back. As if have forgotten the old days he shared with them, Tae-sik only does what he wishes to do, which was written down on his crumpling small scrapbook. Tae-sik finds a warm shelter in the small neighborhood food joint ‘Sunflower’, where Tae-sik handed his scrapbook to its owner before. Tae-sik tries to live a quiet new life with the lady who runs the restaurant and her daughter, Hee-ju. However, nobody believes him but the owner and her daughter of the ‘Sunflower’.

Made by
Kang Seok-beom
Screenplay by
Kang Seok-beom
Song Min-ho
Cast
Kim Rae-won
Kim Hae-sook
Heo I-jae
Kim Byeong-ok
Kim Jeong-tae
Han Jeong-soo

The Sword With No Name

March 27, 2010

Moo-myoung is a Joseon dynasty headhunter who tracks down fugitives and lives off their rewards. On one of his missions, he encounters a beautiful noble lady, Ja-young, and falls in love with her. A few years later, Ja-young enters the royal palace as the next queen of Joseon. Lovesick Moo-myoung becomes the personal guard to the queen in order to be closer to Ja-young. After attaining the title of queen, Ja-young tries to modernize the dynasty by allying with foreign nations but becomes turmoiled into a political power struggle. Moo-myoung must fend off devastating threats from the foreign army in order to protect Ja-young from harm.

AKA : Like Fireworks, Like Butterflies (South Korea)
Year : 2009
Runtime : 123 Min
Director : Kim Yong-Gyun
Cast : Jae-woong Choi, Seung-woo Cho, In-gu Heo, Se-hyeong Ki, Seol-gu Lee, Su-Ae,

Dodesukaden

March 27, 2010

Dodesukaden (どですかでん?) is a film by Akira Kurosawa set in a contemporary Japanese rubbish dump. The film focuses on the lives of a variety of characters who happen to live in the dump. The first one introduced is a mentally challenged boy who pretends to be a tram conductor by following a set route through the dump in an imaginary tram that he mimes. The film title refers to a Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound made by a tram or train while in motion ( “Do-desu-ka-den do-desu-ka-den do-desu-ka-den”). The sound is made by the boy as he makes his daily faux-tram route through the dump. Dodesukaden was filmed on an actual dump in Tokyo.
This was Kurosawa’s first color film, and he took full of advantage of the new color medium. After the success of Red Beard, it took Kurosawa five years before this film appeared. None of the actors from Kurosawa’s stock company of the 1950’s and 60’s were in this film and most of the cast were relatively unknown. Dodesukaden was unlike anything that Kurosawa had made before, and was critically panned in Japan despite earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film for the 44th Academy Awards for films made in 1970. Dodesukaden was Kurosawa’s first financial failure and came during the worst possible time in his life. When Dodesukaden was filmed Kurosawa had been going through a lull in his career and personal life – he was finding it increasingly difficult to obtain financing despite the critical and financial success of his previous films, and rumors about his deteriorating mental health only made matters worse[citation needed]. Dodesukaden was only made by the cooperation and co-producing of three other Japanese directors, Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi, and Kon Ichikawa.
The critical failure of Dodesukaden sent Kurosawa into a deep depression, and in 1971 he attempted suicide. Despite having slashed himself over 30 times with a razor, Kurosawa survived his suicide attempt; however, he would not return to filmmaking for five years, releasing Dersu Uzala in 1975.
[edit]Remake

Dodesukaden was loosely remade as Street Trash in 1987 by screenwriter/producer Roy Frumkes and director James Muro, according to Frumkes.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Akira Kurosawa
Starring Yoshitaka Zushi
Kin Sugai
Toshiyuki Tonomura
Distributed by Toho
Release date(s) October 31, 1970
Running time 140 minutes

Throne of Blood

March 25, 2010

Throne of Blood is a 1957 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa. Its original Japanese title is Kumonosu-jō (蜘蛛巣城), which means “Spider Web Castle”. The film transposes the plot of William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth to feudal Japan. It is regarded as one of Kurosawa’s best films, and by many critics as one of the best film adaptations of Macbeth, even though it does not use the original language.

Kurosawa follows the events of Macbeth, although Kurosawa’s Washizu Taketoki (played by Toshirō Mifune) is arguably less evil than Macbeth. As with the play, the main character’s comrade (General Miki, played by Minoru Chiaki) is killed when he is perceived as a threat to the throne, only to return as a ghost. There is no Macduff character in this picture; hence Washizu does not meet his end in a duel. Instead, he is shot by his own archers and stumbles forward like a porcupine before being shot in the neck. He slowly descends the stairs and dies, collapsing dramatically on the fog-soaked ground.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Produced by Sojiro Motoki
Akira Kurosawa
Written by Shinobu Hashimoto
Ryuzo Kikushima
Akira Kurosawa
Hideo Oguni
William Shakespeare (play)
Starring Toshirō Mifune
Isuzu Yamada
Takashi Shimura
Music by Masaru Sato
Cinematography Asakazu Nakai
Editing by Akira Kurosawa

Cast

Character Equivalent in Macbeth Actor
Washizu Macbeth Toshiro Mifune
Asaji Lady Macbeth Isuzu Yamada
Miki Banquo Minoru Chiaki
Forest Spirit The Three Witches Chieko Naniwa
Lord Tzuzuki King Duncan Hiroshi Tachikawa
Yoshiteru Fleance Akira Kubo
Kuniharu Malcolm and/or Donalbain Takamaru Sasaki
Noriyasu None Takashi Shimura

Sabu

March 25, 2010

Takashi Miike (Full Metal Yakuza, The Black Society Trilogy), one of the most prolific directors in chambara today delivers a haunting tale set in the Tokugawa Era.

Framed for a crime he did not commit, Eiji is subjected to the harsh realities of the Ishikawa Island workhouse. Sabu, Eiji’s longtime friend, must discover who is responsible for Eiji’s incarceration, before the prison life consumes him completely. Adapted from the classic Japanese rites of passage novel by Shugoru Yamamoto, Miike uses the work to his own purpose with his usual flair.

Runtime: 122
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
CAST
Tatsuya Fujiwara … Eiji
Satoshi Tsumabuki … Sabu
Tomoko Tabata … Onobu
Kazue Fukiishi … Osue
Kenji Sawada … Okayasu
Naomasa Musaka … Matsuda
Tatsuo Yamada … Ryojiro Kojima
Yoshiki Arizono … Yohei

Confucius

March 22, 2010

Confucius (Chinese: 孔子) is a Chinese biographical film first released in Beijing on 14 January 2010. Directed by Hu Mei, the film stars Chow Yun-fat as the titular philosopher.
Production on the film began in March 2009 with shooting on location in China’s Hebei province and in Hengdian World Studios in Zhejiang.[2]
The film was scheduled to screen later in 2009 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, as well as the 2,560th birthday of Confucius himself.[2] However, the release date was later moved to January 2010.

Directed by Hu Mei
Produced by Han Sanping
Hu Mei
Starring Chow Yun-fat
Zhou Xun
Music by Su Cong
Cinematography Peter Pau
Studio Dadi Film
China Film Group
Release date(s) China:
28 January 2010

Penthouse Elephant

March 21, 2010

A man is in a shower washing the blood off his body. Soon after the police knocks at the door and the man hastens to clear away the mess in his apartment. Opening the door for the police, he hears a voice in his head saying, ‘It’s okay, there’s no dead body here’ and tries to solve the puzzle on what had really happened:

A freelance photographer Hyun-woo seems to live an enviable life with a successful career. But his inside is torn apart from the sorrow of being deserted by his ex-girlfriend Mari. He even gets unclear about what’s really happening in reality and what’s delusion. One of Hyun-woo’s friend and a riding-high plastic surgeon, Min-seok is married to Soo-yeon, a sister of Hyun-woo. But he is always having affairs with the girls around him and doubts himself if he’s addicted to sex. Jin-hyuk, their longtime friend, is a financing specialist. And he is having a secret affair with Min-seok’s wife. He is willing to leave everything behind for the love.
Three men, who look like the winners in life, are in fact struggling with their own sufferings that they desperately strive to keep undisclosed. The harder they try to get out of the agony, the more complicated and puzzled it gets.

Also Known As: Searching for the Elephant
Directed: Jung Seung Goo
Runtime: 145 min

Cast:
Jang Hyuk play as a photographer
Lee Sang Woo
Cho Dong Hyuk
Lee Min-jung
Hwang Woo-seul-hye
Jeon Sae-hong
Jang Ja-yeon