If you like melodrama, stylized violence or unhappy and/or bittersweet endings that get the tears flowing, you're probably a fan of Korean films--you just might not know it yet. Thanks to
the Korea Society, which is headquartered in NYC, there's
the New York Korean Film Festival, an annual event that hosta about a dozen feature length dramas and comedies, some short films and panel discussions with Korean film types--a veritable foundation in Korean film for any curious "Seouls." (Sorry, that pun needed out.)
I, for one, am already of the initiated, having much love for movies like
Park Chan Wook's vengeance trilogy, most notably
"Old Boy" or Kim Ki Duk's
zenlike Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring Again or
the comical small town cop drama,
Memories of Murder; of course, there are also numerous Korean drama series, which are probably Korean melodrama and storytelling at its best.
Which is why I'd been meaning to go to the festival for years now. This year, I finally made it. So far, I've seen
Open City (Friday at 9:40 pm) and
A Love (yesterday at 6:30) at Cinema Village. (They're also screening films at BAM Cinematek)
In both cases, the theater was surprisingly less than packed. I mean, c'mon people, this is once a year! Couldn't the sundry sponsors and film types and Korea Society people drum up a little more enthusiasm for these screenings? These shows should be sold out! Also, on Friday, there was a delay caused by a projector failure (at least that's what they said) - and the film started late, but not before an out-of-breath, verging on tears Korea Society representative made an apology to the audience. Yesterday, they seemed better organized. Yellow-t-shirt clad festival volunteers were out in force, passing out surveys, programs and raffling away CD's of an LA-based Korean pop band before the screening.
Open City, a film noirish/femme fatale ganster drama, was better than
A Love, a love story (what else), which had the old white guy sitting at the end of our row mumbling "I've had enough"and exiting the theater even before the highly predictable, laughably melodramatic ending (and this from someone with a VERY high tolerance for melodrama). I really liked
Open City, actually, though my friends, both men and less in touch with their sappy sides, I think, were less enthusiastic.
I, for one, think the Korean Film Festival needs better publicity and a web site budget - how 'bout some trailers, guys? Or a way to buy tix directly from the site? There's so much potential here!
Still I'm glad I went, and if I'm not too lazy, will go again later this week. It's not the
Tribeca Film Festival, where every movie you watch is hand-selected to blow your mind, but watching some obscure Korean movie on a weeknight is part of the fun of living in NYC. You accumulate experiences, the more specifically random the better. If you're just doing the same old crap they're doing in suburban middle America, watching the same five movies, shopping at the same mall stores, what's the point of staying in Gotham?
Last night, City Guy and I saw another film at the New York Korean Film Festival, which ends tonight. The movie, Le Grand Chef, a comedy about an Iron Chef style Korean cooking competition between two long-standing culinary rivals, was so worth the trip to Brooklyn--I laughed, I cried, I got a history lesson. I felt thoroughly satisfied walking out of the theater. Great film. Also, this time, the show was sold out! We had to sit in the second row, in the last two seats to the left because we didn't get there early enough. I guess the really good films in the festival have the word-of-mouth to pack a theater. I've learned that Le Grand Chef was one of top grossing films in Korean in 2007.
And walking into the lobby and then up through the main doors into the theater area, you really felt like you were stepping back in time. Check out the stunning arches and the light fixtures:
I felt a little giddy. Like movie going was an event, something you dressed up for and looked forward to. I never feel this way anymore going to the local AMC. It was classy and stuff...I'm glad I went.
