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Posted on 03.09.07 by Charlie @ 4:44 pm
The excellent Korean monster movie The Host (aka Gwoemul) comes out in theaters in the United States today, Friday March 9th, and we here at Cinema Strikes Back highly recommend that you see it. We were delighted to catch up with the director, Bong Joon-Ho, for a short interview at the Sitges Film Festival this past October near Barcelona, Spain. Because no translator was available at the time, Mr. Bong kindly offered to conduct the interview in English. What follows is a loose translation of the recorded discussion, which you’ll see begins in the middle of a conversation about the state of Korean cinema. Enjoy! Cinema Strikes Back: We were very concerned over the past few years that in Korean cinema “gangster comedies” like “My Wife is a Gangster” had completely taken over the box office, and so we’re very excited to see that you’re moving things in a new direction… Bong Joon-Ho: (Laughs) Those kinds of movies always existed in our industry. But also, at the same time, serious and creative films certainly also existed. CSB: What filmmakers in Korea and elsewhere do you admire or look up to in your career as a filmmaker? BONG: I love the, maybe you don’t know the old Korean director Kim Ki Young. He passed away 8 years ago, he was a master in 1960s and 1970s in Korea. In early December 2006, there will be a retrospective of Kim Ki Young. So, he’s my favorite director in Korea. I also love Imamura Shohei, the Japanese director, who passed away recently. I also love many, — all the mid-1970s American movies, even the box office hit movies of that time. They were very inventive and helpful, so I really love the 1970’s American movies. Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: South Korea and Movie News: USA and DVD News and DVD News: South Korea and Contributors: Blake and Contributors: Charlie and Film Festivals: News and Movie News: Interviews and People: Bong Joon-ho and Film Festivals: Sitges 2006 and Movies: The Host (2006) Comments: None |
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Posted on 11.03.06 by Charlie @ 8:28 pm
Official Title: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Review By: Charlie Prince  Borat is one of the funniest movies to come out in a long time. It played at the recent Sitges Film Festival near Barcelona, Spain as the “surprise screening” and the audience clearly loved every second of it. Masquerading as a minister from Kazakhstan traveling the United States, Sacha Baron Cohen is of course mercilessly unfair in his portrayal of his pretended native country, and I can think of no defense if I was confronted by a real citizen of Kazakhstan. But what gives this film its power, and why reviewers who hated Old School and Dodge Ball are giving this film a thumbs up, is not because of what it says about Kazakhstan – after all, that footage is faked – rather, it is the interactions in the United States, and his devious methods of confronting prejudices and stereotypes in this country that really gets our attention. This is nothing new to those familiar with Cohen’s past work such as “The Ali G Show,” but for those who don’t already know, it is essential to fully enjoying Borat to understand that the people being filmed don’t know it’s a hoax. They really believed he was a TV host from Kazakhstan, and they had no idea this would get airtime in the United States (or so we’re told, and it seems to be confirmed with post-Borat press interviews, as linked to at the bottom of this article). Of course, since we’re in on the joke and can therefore essentially side with Cohen in his pranks, it’s hysterically funny. Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: USA and Contributors: Charlie and Rating: Great ★★★★ and Studios: Twentieth Century Fox and Film Festivals: Sitges 2006 and People: Borat and People: Sacha Baron Cohen and Movie Reviews: Kazakhstan Comments: 1 Comment |
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