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Korean Film Essentials: A Guide Pt. 1 Posted by Tony Kitchen on Aug 15, 2015
A trio of Koreans, essential to the Korean film industry, were the first to make a splash with financial support from a major Hollywood film studio in 2010. In their first film together since, The Chaser (추격자, 2008), Director Na Hong-jin (나홍진), actors Kim Yoon-seok (김윤섹) and Ha Jeong-woo (하정우) reunited in The Yellow Sea (황해). The film—the first Korean…
A Korean Director to Know: Hong Sang-Soo and Korean Arthouse Film Posted by Tony Kitchen on Aug 8, 2015
The 54-year old Hong Sang-Soo (홍상수), a filmmaker for nearly 20 years, has taken Korean arthouse film–the trendy, day-to-day social life, chain-smoking conversations over soju–to a new level. His films have been highly regarded at international film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival (considered to be the gold standard for independent film awards), where he…
Korean Movies: Beyond ‘Old Boy’ and off the Charted Path Posted by Tony Kitchen on Aug 6, 2015
Korean film is more than the modern classics like Old Boy (올드보이 2003), The Chaser (추격자 2008), and Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (태극기 휘날리며 2004). Those titles are internationally acclaimed Korean movies–quirky, disturbing, powerful. Film Festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, among others, represent a steady stream of nominated Korean films from independent to large studios. (In a future post, I…
‘Patbingsu’ (팥빙수): South Korea’s Dessert and Guilty Pleasure Posted by Tony Kitchen on Jul 31, 2015
With the monsoon season finishing, and as South Korea reaches high temperatures, the way most choose to cool down with a dessert is by sharing a bowl of patbingsu (팥빙수). In it’s primitive form, patbingsu is red beans with shaved ice. Pat (팟) was once a luxurious snack item, and as South Korea moved from…
Korea Embracing Plastic Surgery Norms Through ‘Medical Tourism’ Posted by Tony Kitchen on May 21, 2015
South Korea has been pushing efforts both privately and through government agencies to increase tourism to the ROK in the non-traditional form: medical tourism. In 2014, about 56,000 Chinese alone visited South Korea for plastic surgery, according to China’s Ministry of Health, up from 4,700 in 2009. The social norm in Korea (as well-documented as ever…
Busan Cave Bar’s Makgeolli, Dongdongju Is Korea’s Best City Escape Posted by Tony Kitchen on May 16, 2015
Hidden to even Busan natives, “Dragon Dream” (용꿈) is a makgeolli (막걸리) bar with two twists: a former World War II Japanese bomb shelter carved into the mountain during the colonization of Korea, and a unique version of makgeolli called dongdongju (동동주). The cave (동굴) drips with water seeping through the rock, calcium deposits growing…
Bourdain’s Survival Drinking in Korea: Customs, Expectations, and Beyond Soju Posted by Tony Kitchen on May 9, 2015
Late last month, Anthony Bourdain made headlines by opening the fifth season of “Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown” with a trip to South Korea, a country whose social habits bind tightly with drinking and eating and eating and more drinking. About Korea’s social life, Bourdain said, “Everything you learned, painfully, in college about drinking–don’t mix, try to…