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Okja (2017)
Movies that showcase the affection between a human and an animal have a universal and timeless appeal. Netflix has bet on such a story for its original production, the Korean language film Okja (2017). The film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and received a four-minute standing ovation. Okja is directed by Bong Joon-ho who made the interesting film – The Host (2006). A young girl Mija is living with her grandfather in a mountain village in South Korea. Her pet is a giant pig that she rears on their open farm. Named Okja, the super pig is one of the many sent around the world to local farmers…
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The Host (2006)
The Host (2006) was the film that was screened today as part of ICAF’s Korean Film Festival. It’s about a school girl being kidnapped by a monster that is living in the Han River and how her family goes about rescuing her. An interesting and enjoyable film that was mostly satirical. The film had set Korean Box Office records and was a winner of Best Film in Asian Film Awards. Though this is a monster-based film, and with a lot of blood gets spilt, it doesn’t try to be scary. Director Bong Joon-ho is focused on mocking the hypocritic society, bureaucratic law enforcement of South Korea and “inept” American influence…
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Poetry (2010)
ICAF is hosting a Korean Film Festival this week. The first movie that was screened was Poetry (2010) by Director: Chang-dong Lee. The story is about a widowed grandmother Yang Mi-Ja (played by Yoon Jeong-hee) raising alone her grandson studying in local town school. Mi-Ja’s daughter is in the city not spending any time with them. Mi-Ja lives on government subsidy and her meagre income as a maid taking care of an old man. She is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and starting to forget names. One day a 16-year school girl commits suicide and that incident changes the life of Mi-Ja and her grandson for the worse. During her struggle with handling the situation…
