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London Korean Film Festival · 2022

London Korean Film Festival 2022

Features

Programme

24 films · 7 reviews

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The 2nd Repatriation (The Second Repatriation)

Review preview for The 2nd Repatriation

Kim’s film is patiently, sensitively constructed, allowing plenty of room for his subjects to speak for themselves.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A documentary about long term political prisoners who, though they ‘converted’ through coercion, still hope for repatriation to North Korea.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Kim Dongwon; Stars: Kim Youngshik, late Moon Sangbong, late Koh Sunghwa, An Haksub, late Lee Sunggeun, late Kang Dam, late Mang Ginam, late Yoo Youngshei, late Ma Youngjoo, Jo Soonduk, Yang Huichul, Park Huiseong, Lee Jungtae, Kim Gilja, Mary. K. Evjen Olsen, Kim Ryunhui, Kim Yoonha, Kim Chunha, Yang Wonjin, late Park Jungpyoung, late Park Jungsook, late Kim Sunboon, late Kim Sooryong, Kwon Ohheon)

Full review

The Admiral: Roaring Currents

Review preview for The Admiral: Roaring Currents

No expense has been spared when it comes to the naval battle itself, which takes up the whole second half of the film and contains enough twists and turns to grip throughout.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A dramatisation of the historical Battle of Myeongnyang and its star naval admiral Yi Sun-sin, who led a small fleet to improbable victory over a much larger Japanese fleet.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2014; Director: Kim Han-min; Writer: Jeon Cheol-hong, Kim Han-min; Stars: Choi Min-sik, Ryu Seung-ryong, Jo Jin-woong, Kim Myung-kon, Jin Goo, Lee Jung-hyun, Kwon Yul)

Full review

Alienoid (Oegye+in 1bu)

Review preview for Alienoid

All very big and spectacular and in your face.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
The door of time opens between the swordsman who wants to seize the legendary divine sword at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty and those who chase after an alien prisoner imprisoned in a human body in 2022.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Choi Dong-hoon; Writer: Choi Dong-hoon; Stars: Kim Tae-ri, Woo-bin Kim, So Ji-seob, Ryu Jun-yeol, Yoo Jae-myung, Lee Hanee, Yum Jung-ah)

Full review

Broker

Review preview for Broker

More pedantic than poetic, making for an unfulfilling watch.

Dora Leu · 2 out of 5
Drama following a group of people brought together by "baby post boxes" used to help abandoned babies.

(Country: Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Stars: Song Kang-ho, Gang Dong-won, Bae Doona, Lee Ji-eun, Lee Joo-young)

Full review

Contorted

When Myung-hye moves into a remote, suspiciously cheap rental home with husband Hyun-min and children, her nightmares intensify and she repeatedly hears a strange noise coming from the locked shed. This is also heard by her adopted daughter Hee-woo, who has a special sensitivity to the other side.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Kang Dong-hun; Stars: Seo Yeong Hee, Kim Bomin, Kim Min-jae)

Director's Intention

Busan-based location scout Sun-hwa believes that a location should be invested with feelings to express the director’s intention – which gets personal when she has to work at the last minute with director Do-young, the ex-boyfriend who some time ago left town (and her) to work in Seoul, and is now back for a trip down memory lane, and possibly to rekindle old love.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Kim Min-geun; Stars: Han Sun-hwa, Lee Wan)

The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra

Review preview for The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra

Where it could easily have been gimmicky or relied on comedy, instead it achieves something magical and illuminating.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
After a couple splits up, mould left behind on a mattress slowly grows into a creature that steals the vertebrae of humans who inhabit the bed.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Park Syeyoung; Writer: Park Sye-young)

Full review

Girls' Night Out

Ho-jeong runs a small commercial art firm, Yeon works as a waitress and Soon studies at graduate school. Ho-jeong is the most frank and active about seeking sexual partners, while Yeon and boyfriend Yeong-jak have a bit more serious relationship; Soon seems unable to find anyone but help, it turns out, is near at hand.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 1998; Director: Im Sang-soo; Stars: Kang Soo-yeon, Jin Hee-kyung, Kim Yeo-jin, Cho Jae-hyun, Kim Kwang-soo, Sul Kyung-gu)

Guimoon: The Lightless Door

A shaman’s son Seo Do-jin (in 2002) and a trio of college students (in 1996) enter an abandoned and cursed community centre where many murders and suicides have occurred, and repeatedly crossing each other’s paths despite being there eight years apart.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Sim Deok-geun; Stars: Kim Kang-woo, Kim Sohye, Lee Jung Hyoung, Hong Jin-gi)

Gyeong-ah's Daughter

Care-worker Gyeong-ah lives by herself. Yeon-su is her mother’s rock, but Gyeong-ah barely ever sees her daughter now that she’s moved out. Yeon-su is struggling with her ex-boyfriend, who refuses to let go of their relationship. One day, Yeon-su’s ex forwards a video to Yeon-su’s family and acquaintances, and her world comes crumbling down.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Kim Jung-eun; Stars: Kim Jung-young, Ha Yoon-kyung, Park Hye-jin)

Hansan: Rising Dragon (Hansan: Yongui chulhyeon)

Review preview for Hansan: Rising Dragon

For the average viewer there are some awkward lags when nothing much is happening, but in the thick of the action, it’s exciting to watch.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
The story of a critical sea battle between Koreans and invading Japanese forces in 1592.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Kim Han-min; Writer: KimHan-min, Yun Hong-gi; Stars: Park Hae-il, Byun Yo-Han, Ahn Sung-Ki)

Full review

Hot Blooded

The story of a low-ranking gangster as he ascends from pawn to king of the fictitious rundown port town of Kuam, despite his hopes of leaving with his long-term fiancée and her son for an even smaller, quieter life on Geoje Island.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Cheon Myeong-kwan; Stars: Jung Woo, Kim Kap-su, Choi Moo-sung, Ji Seung-hyun, Lee Hong-nae)

Hot In Day, Cold At Night

An unemployed young couple spirals into ever-escalating economic precarity.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Park Songyeol; Writer: Park Songyeol, Won Hyangra; Stars: Won Hyangra, Park Songyeol, Chul Seo, Kim Hyo-jin)

I Am More

A promising ballerina, More gave up the dream and has been working as a drag queen artist for 20 years. One day, John Cameron Mitchell, in Seoul for a run of Hedwig And The Angry Inch, catches More’s show. Soon after More is invited to perform in New York for the 50th anniversary of Stonewall Uprising.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Lee Il-ha; Stars: Mo Jimin, Evgeny Shtefan, John Cameron Mitchell)

Kingmaker

A political period piece tracking the rise of Kim Woon-bum from backwater labour activist to Presidential nominee of the opposition New Democratic party, helped all the way by his Machiavellian man in the shadows Seo Chang-dae.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Byun Sung-hyun; Stars: Sul Kyoung-gu, Lee Sun-kyun, Yu Jae-myeong, Jo Woo-jin, Park In-hwan)

Melting Icecream

A record of the 1990s democratisation movement which begins with the discovery of severely flood-damaged film.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Hong Jinhwon; Stars: Park Seunghwa, Seo Younggul, Lee Jeongyong, Lim Hyungjoo)

Rainbow Trout

A relaxing trip to a rural trout farm becomes complicated when a strange boy takes a shine to a young woman amongst the visitors.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 1999; Director: Park Jong-won; Stars: Kang Soo-yeon, Hwang In-seong, Sul Kyoung-gu, Kim Se-dong, Lee Eun-ju)

Return To Seoul

A Frenchwoman adopted as a child returns to Korea to try to track down her birth parents.

(Country: Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Davy Chou)

The Road To The Race Track

A man recently returned from Paris with a PhD becomes obsessed with the idea of getting his former lover, who academically outshines him, back into bed.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 1991; Director: Jang Sun-woo; Stars: Kang Soo-yeon, Moon Sung-keun, Kim Bo-yeon)

Seire

Review preview for Seire

A slow burn of a film which disturbs and unsettles, recalling insomniac night and too-bright mornings, a familiar world where everything seems slightly askew.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A new father strives to protect his baby for the 21 days during which it is vulnerable to spiritual attack.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Park Kang; Writer: Park Kang; Stars: Seo Hyun-woo, Ruy Sun-young, Shim Eun-woo)

Full review

Stellar: A Magical Ride

When an ace in the car loan industry, loses a luxury car loaded with drugs belonging to the local mafia, and must get it back with only his late father’s beat up vehicle to help him.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Kwon Soo-kyung; Writer: Kwon Soo-kyung; Stars: Song Ho-jun)

The Surrogate Woman

Shin Sang-gyu has a problem: he is the last male heir in his branch of the Shin clan, and despite the close relationship with a beautiful and still young wife, they have no children, no son to carry on the family line. Uncle and grandmother confer and decide to seek out a surrogate from a village of women known for hiring out their wombs, but unexpected passion jeopardises everything.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 1986; Director: Im Kwon-taek; Stars: Kang Soo-yeon, Lee Goo-soon, Yun Yang-ha, Kim Hyung-ja, Bang-hee)

The Thieves (Dodookdeul)

A team of highly talented thieves is assembled to try and steal a famous diamond.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2012; Director: Dong-Hoon Choi; Writer: Dong-Hoon Choi, Lee Gi-Cheol; Stars: Gianna Jun, Hae-suk Kim, Hye-su Kim, Soo Hyun Kim, Yun-seok Kim, Angelica Lee, Jung-Jae Lee)

Through My Midwinter

Kyung-hak is studying to become a police officer. Hye-jin is pursuing her dream job of working for the government’s tourism board. In everything, they place their relationship first, but life throws them a hurdle when Kyung-hak’s mother defaults on a $20,000 loan, which he as the co-signer is obliged to pay back.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Oh Seong-ho; Stars: Kwon Da-ham, Kwon So-hyun)