10|adam|Hello MJ and Gavin.|2|3|9|2004|7|38|18|AM|0|0|1|no|yes|open|||no
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Gavin, I don't think we've met, but it's nice to meet you in a bloggy sort of way.|*||*|Of course, I know MJ, and although she won't associate w/ me in public, I hope blogs are ok?  Just Kidding.  MJ, I wish you would have been there at the showing of IM Sang-soo's A GOOD LAWYER'S WIFE (the film you mention, Gavin, in your first post on the blog) since I wanted to check on the translation of what he said.  
Being that festivals like this are often the first exposure many people have to South Korean film, someone in the audience asked if there were many other Korean films that showed strong, independent Korean women like MOON So-ri's character in the film.  IM Sang-soo was translated to have said that "I'm the only one."  Which, if a true translation, is such BS self-promotion on Im's part.  Apparently he hasn't seen TWO COPS 3, 301/302, TAKE CARE OF MY CAT, MEMENTO MORI, CONDUCT ZERO, SINGLES, JSA, NO BLOOD NO TEARS, BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE, TURNING GATE, WANEE AND JUNAH, . . . oh, as you know, MJ, I could go on.  Part of what's been so exciting about Korean Cinema in the past 8 years has been the progressive portrayal of strong, independent women.  And "strong and independent" doesn't mean discarding male companionship, because the portrayals of partner-ed women are strong ones as well.  Sure Im's films are a part of this movement, but he's anything but the "only one."|*||*|And if there's any more indication of how Korean women have taken Korean Cinema by storm, we need only look at the other two South Korean Films at the festival which show the Korean women behind the camera as well as in front, Gina Kim's INVISIBLE LIGHT and Choi Hyun-jung's documentary BEING NORMAL.  Let me say INVISIBLE LIGHT is the best freakin' film I've seen yet this year!!!  (There, I said it, thanks for letting me get that out.)  It's one of those Wong Kar-wai/Tsai Ming-Liang films where nothing happens for a while, but when something does, it's immensely powerful.  And the use of sound is top-notch.  Too bad there's no more options to see it at the festival.  Let's just hope Miramax doesn't buy the distribution rights because then it might actually get a release, unlike HERO.  |*||*|And BEING NORMAL is probably the best representation of where Korean Cinema is headed because along w/ the strong portrayals of women, which this director herself demonstrates when she turns the camera on herself, Korean Cinema has been presenting very progressive portrayals of sexual minorities (WANEE AND JUNAH, ROAD MOVIE), the Disabled (OASIS and W&J again), and non-Korean residents (ASAKO IN RUBY SHOES, FAILAN).  Dealing in the former, the doc follows the friendship between the director and her classmate who is a "hermaphrodite."  The present term now being used is "Intersex", which encompasses someone whose biology doesn't neatly fit into the male/female binary.  The films pretty hard to watch at times because, as all close friendships, the director and J have their battles as well as their playful moments.  But it's a powerful film I still get a lot out of even after my third viewing.  There's still a chance to see this one at the PFA in Berkeley on Wednesday. |*||*|So the Korean represenation at this festival is a quality swatch of the full quilt that is Korean Cinema for the past 8 years or so. 
MJ|63.241.218.137|minjung@minjungkim.com|http://www.minjungkim.com|5|3|12|2004|2|12|1|PM|Let's not forget on a Hot Roof too.|*||*|Yay Atom!