London Korean Film Festival 2013

In November of 2013, I went to the Korean Film Festival to indulge my passion for Korean cinema. I thought I'd make a post about how much I enjoyed the festival (I've been meaning to make this post for a while mind you, oops).

So the first film I saw was called Rough Play or Actor is Actor. It stars Lee Joon who is an idol actor from the band MBLAQ. I must say I'm quite skeptical when it comes to singers turned actor, but it's quite a popular thing in South Korea for a singer to take a part in a drama or a film. Still as skeptical as I am about idol actors Lee Joon proved me wrong, he was nothing short of amazing. The film itself was wonderfully shot, and just as the title suggests full of "Rough Play" lots of violence and some nudity showing the dark world behind acting. I have to say the ending of the film was really beautiful, bringing the film full circle.






I also saw the film  secretly greatly which starred two Korean actors that I really enjoy watching, rather young but so talented (in my opinion at least). The first is the main protagonist of the film Kim Soo-hyun, who I've also seen in Korean dramas (Dream High and You Who Came From The Stars). Lee Hyun-woo is the second actor who I really watched out for in the film, he plays a more secondary character but I feel that he really steals the show during the final scenes.This is not to say that I don't enjoy Park Ki-woong's performance, - I do- I just feel that I was far more immersed in Kim Soo-hyun's and Lee Hyun-woo's performances. Overall a really funny film with some really dramatic and emotional scenes. One of my favorite Korean films to date.


The final film I managed to see during the festival was Boomerang Family, the closing gala film which included a Q&A session with the director and two of the actors. Truth be told I didn't know what to expect when purchasing the ticket for this film, i'd heard it was meant to be a good film and had liked the sound of the synopsis so booked some tickets. I also ended up taking my sister (who has no interest in Korean cinema at all) and we both came out of the screening with the same opinion. The film was absolutely stunning, diverse and intriguing.  

And although it wasn't part of this festival I'd like to suggest a Korean film that I saw as part of the Terracotta 5th Far East Film Festival, "Werewolf Boy" which until I came to this film festival was my favourite Korean film....