The London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) presents three early features at Close-Up Cinema by Korean New Wave director Lee Myung-se. Presented here on 35mm each film will be followed by a discussion between Lee and LKFF programmer Mark Morris. Full details here.
"People might find my films confusing, and perhaps that’s because I insist that film communicates without explanation. I think of my films as transmitting meaning directly, from heart to heart." – Lee Myung-se
“Lee Myung-se’s films are exceptional and distinctive, and not only by Korean standards. Of the "new wave" directors he is perhaps the one least obviously marked [...] by the political struggles of the 1980s, but his films bespeak an even stronger impatience with the mainstream movie-making tradition [...] Lee’s work is committedly cosmopolitan in its refusal to limit itself to Korean terms of reference. It is also committedly innovative” – Tony Rayns
Writer Grady Hendrix has written an excellent introduction to the films of Lee Myung-se in Film Comment which you can find here.
Writer Grady Hendrix has written an excellent introduction to the films of Lee Myung-se in Film Comment which you can find here.
Chicago Reader review:
Lee Myung-sei’s delightful Korean comedy about the trials and tribulations of a young married couple (Park Joong-hoon and Choi Jin-sii, both charming and resourceful actors) offers eloquent testimony to the stylistic importance of Frank Tashlin (The Girl Can’t Help It, Artists and Models, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?) as an international legacy. Tashlin’s background as an animator — his graphic talent, his formal ingenuity, his taste for bright primary colors — and his flair for satire of contemporary lifestyles both seem fully present in this lively and inventive feature. It isn’t that Lee has necessarily seen or studied Tashlin’s work, but Tashlin’s bag of tricks has become an automatic part of everyone’s resources, and this comedy fully exploits it.
Jonathan RosenbaumHere (and above) is an extract.
Lee Myung-sei’s delightful Korean comedy about the trials and tribulations of a young married couple (Park Joong-hoon and Choi Jin-sii, both charming and resourceful actors) offers eloquent testimony to the stylistic importance of Frank Tashlin (The Girl Can’t Help It, Artists and Models, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?) as an international legacy. Tashlin’s background as an animator — his graphic talent, his formal ingenuity, his taste for bright primary colors — and his flair for satire of contemporary lifestyles both seem fully present in this lively and inventive feature. It isn’t that Lee has necessarily seen or studied Tashlin’s work, but Tashlin’s bag of tricks has become an automatic part of everyone’s resources, and this comedy fully exploits it.
Jonathan RosenbaumHere (and above) is an extract.
