South Korea has selected Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine as its submission to the foreign language film category of the Academy Awards.

A special committee appointed by the Korean Film Council chose Secret Sunshine over Kim Ki-duk’s Breath and Kim Ji-hoon’s box office hit May 18.

Secret Sunshine premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it won an actress award for Jeon Do-yeon as a young widow who moves from Seoul to start over in a provincial city. The film also stars Kang-ho Song.

South Korea has never had a film selected for inclusion in the final five nominations.

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Kim Rae Won’s Japanese movie wrapped the filming process
The movie title is Flower Shadow (Hanakake), and directed by Bayside Shakedown’s Gawai Hayato (If you’re into Jap movies, i truly recommend Bayside Shakesdown. It’s the special episode of series “Odoru Daisousassen”, starred Oda Yuuji as a detective, in the world of police beraucracy. Witty and refreshing). Hanakake will open next spring.

Oh, and remember Kim Rae Won’s new upcoming drama, Gourmet? Here’s an interview cut, English subbed.

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Upcoming Movies with trailers:

M, starring Kang Dong Won, Kong Hyo Jin, directed by Lee Mung Se, opens October 26th 2007, premieres at the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival.

Synopsis
A best seller writer Minwoo, suffering from constant deja vu goes into a somewhat imaginary relationship with a mysterious girl.
But the more he mets her, odd things start to occur and Minwoo is thrown into confusion.
Then strangely enough old memories about his first love, Mimi, start to come across his mind.
http://www.thecorestudio.net/

Trailer

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Love/Sarang, cast : Joo Jin Moo, Park Si Yeon, Kim Min Jun, directed by Gwak Gyeong Taek. Opens September 20th 2007 (so it’s supposed to be already out now in cinema)

Trailer :

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Court Lady (Gungnyeo), starring Park Jin Hee, Seo Yeong Hee, Lim Jeong Eun, opens 10-11-2007. It’s all about women, if we see the poster.

Synopsis
A maid-in-waiting hangs herself within the realms of the palace. But while performing an autopsy, palace medic Chunryung suspects murder and starts to investigate the case. With a sense of justice and full of wit, Chunryung bravely unmasks the deceptions, but soon confronts the veiled past, kept hidden by those that had far more power than she had expected.
http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/

Trailer:

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Happiness opens Oct 3rd 2007, cast :Hwang Jung Min, Im Soo Jung

Synopsis
Young-soo has enjoyed his life in Seoul before he finds himself suffering from cirrhosis.
Losing any desire to live, he decides to leave the city and go to a sanatorium in a country.
He meets in there a girl, Eun-hee who is also suffering from a critical disease. They
start to live together in an old house near the sanatorium. One day, his old girlfriend
appears in front of him, asking him to return to the life they once had before. He leaves
Eun-hee and restarts to live with his old girlfriend. But as time passes, he misses
Eun-hee, and goes down to the house they used to live together. But he finds the empty
house and Eun-hee who is waiting for her last moment in the sanatorium.
http://www.showbox.co.kr/

Trailer

___________________________________________________________________________
Full Credit When Posted Elsewhere
Compiled by Louise @ ShenYuePop.com
Source : Broasia, Kung Fu Cult Cinema, Variety Asia Online

Starring : Kang Dong Won, Lee Na Young 

rating : i found it romantic and the idea of the story (which was taken from a novel by Gong Ji Young) worth my every dime. but watch only if you can bear the pain.

(spoiler warning)

i took me about three months to decide whether i’m gonna watch this movie or not. and when i finally did, i didn’t regret it.

Synopsis

Yu-jeong, a suicidal young woman, is introduced to a man on death row named Yun-soo by her aunt, Sister Monica. Raised by an abusive father, Yun-soo has led a hard life. It got even harder when he was left in an orphanage with his younger brother after his father’s suicide and his mother’s abandonment. Growing up in the gutter, he became involved in a violent crime, for which he was convicted of three counts of murder. Yu-jeong, on the other hand, comes from a rich family. However, her childhood was marred by traumatic neglect, which has led to her self-destructive impulses. These two wounded souls slowly open their hearts and find the motivation to live on in each other’s compassion. Yu-jeong realizes how spoiled her life has been compared to Yun-soo’s, and embraces his guilt that would otherwise never be forgiven.

Source http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr

for me, in this movie, Lee Na Young washes away her image in Someone Special. She potrays the angry suicidal woman smoothly.

 hancinema.net

 if there something bothers me about her, it’s her smoking scene, as i wrote here under the name Louise http://shenyuepop.com/2007/05/08/to-smoke-or-not-to-smoke/#comments.

Kang Dong Won plays the ironic guy, which instead of feel aggrieved, he thinks himself as an unforgiven.  

hancinema.net

the story itself tells us detailed background about the two. at some point it gets too detail till it’s boring. i actually hoped for more dialogue in the room where they meet every Thursday, coz that’s where the bond progress.

i, somehow, feel that Yu Jeong and Yun Soo accept each other too quick. they are too easy as long wounded persons. but then i understand, the more they make it difficult, more running time, more script, more production cost…so just leave that way, i understand..it’s still sweet to see the way they change anyway..

hancinema.net

hancinema.net

this movie also has one of the best love confession scene i’ve ever seen in a movie. call me sentimentally sick, but there’s nothing more touching than a guy saying i love you to someone he can’t even see, just when he’s about to die from being hanged.

and it’s a quiet movie too. quiet means…well literally, not so many sounds. so you might get bored. but if you manage to hang in there, you might find some sweet moments, not only between Yu Jeong and Yun Soo, but also with people around them.

hancinema.net

hancinema.net

and you might feel a bit depressed for a moment when you’re done. if you cannot handle it, go for the next round. choose comedy. better be a good one.  still, Maundy Thursday’s a good pick. 

oh look at those two naughty boys. Joo Ji Hoon and Uhm Tae Woong share a lighter. isn’t that sweet?

Shen, you make me go all back to this smoking issue, and i’m happy you make me do this LOL 

i set my eyes on this matter long time ago, since i saw the fake smoking thing by Kwon Sang Woo in My Tutor Friend (inhale, dammit!) and felt itchy about it. so i tried to find out does he really smoke in the real life (which of course the answer turned out to be no, as i assumed) 

see, i don’t really care about who smokes and who doesn’t. but i found this  one forum where fans are fussing about smoking korean actors, and most of them are talking like it’s so bad that they smoke with,you know, pretty faces and that they are being public figure and people are watching them, smell like ashtray, and bad for health.

LOL  these guys are old enough to buy their own pack of cigarettes and read the warning on the box. i think it’s just a matter of personal choice. that also goes for us the fans.   

as for me, that’s fine. some of them even look hotter when they smoke. even tho i’m not sure how they build those six packs with cigarettes on their mouth. 

so anyway, just in case you haven’t seen any hunkylicious (ewww isn’t that word lame or what) with cigarettes, here i got some for you to see. oh, and about joo ji hoon, after the news spread that he quitted butting fags few months ago, seems like he’s getting back at it coz the picture was taken a month ago. guess this is one of his ways of loosing weight..

and according to the forum some of Kmale celebs that smoke are Kang Ta, Hyun Bin, Won Bin, Kim Rae Won, Shinwha boys except for Dongwan, Lee Ji Hoon, Lee Dong Gun, Lee Jun Ki, Tempo from BigBang, So Ji Sub, Jo In Sung, Kangin from Suju, Kang Dong Woon, and uh the list seems like endless..pfew *wiping my forehead*

And no, Rain doesn’t. 

 credit: azwaeelany @ asianfanatics forum

it’s Kang Dong Woon. doesn’t look that good eh? how bout this one?

credit : azwaeelany @asianfanatics forum

credit for so ji sub goes to princess @meworks. this one looks like a photo session.

Lee Jun Ki, looks like a pro!
credit : jessie song @asianfanatics forum

and dig this one!

credit :glamoroussky @asianfanatics  forum
now, i wouldn’t mind kissing an ashtray if it appears to be like him.

Big Bang member TOP!~

Jo Insung