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[HanCinema's Digest] Cinema Snippets

KOBIZ zooms in on director Hong Sang-soo and his latest film, Pierce lists his top 25 Korean films of all time, Kim Ki-duk set to make the war film "Who is God" in China, and "Reach For The SKY" explores the complex phenomenon of Korea's intense education system.

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"Right Now, Wrong Then"

KOBIZ presents a short feature on director Hong Sang-soo in the wake of the release of his 17th feature earlier this year, "Right Now, Wrong Then". Hong's quirky works are not mainstream, however, and his examination of the human condition is, in general, purposefully uncomfortable to watch, real, and demands a certain type of cinematic sensibility to really be able to pick up what he's putting down. Keep doing what you're doing, Hong!

…READ ON KOBIZ

"Top 25 Korean Films of All Time"

South Korean film journalist, critic and producer Pierce Conran shares his list of favourite Korea films on his popular blog, Modern Korean Cinema. How many have you seen? What films would you add, or subtract?

…READ ON MODERN KOREAN CINEMA

"Kim Ki-duk Gets $24 Million for Chinese War Film WHO IS GOD"

Kim Ki-duk, one of Korea's most prolific, and controversial, moviemakers is set to work in China on a war film entitled "Who is God". Kim's last two films have not been well-received, and so it will be very interesting to see how Kim approaches this new feature overseas. Stayed tuned; Kim's work, even at the worst of times, is more often than not worth the time and money.

…READ ON TWITCH FILM

"Film portrays costs of South Korean craze for top schools"

South Korean students are well know to be some of the most, if not the most, hardworking and pressured in the world in terms of ensuring their education. Their science and maths scores, for examples, are continually among some the highest in the world, but what's also common knowledge is that South Korea has a high rate of depression, anxiety, and the suicide rates among young minds is higher than any country would like to admit. "Reach For The SKY" is a documentary that follows three students and a teacher as they go about their business of preparing for Korea's pressurised college entrance exam: "The most important discovery I have made is that a lot of students are often victims of their own ambition and aspirations", Dhoedt said. "Before I thought, rather naively, that they were all victims of a very demanding school system of which there was no escape. But it's not necessarily that black and white".

…READ ON THE HERALD ONLINE

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