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Cerberus
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
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 Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:14 pm Post subject: 'Fantasy of Korea Key to Drawing Global Audience' |
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I like this Korean director. He's smart, perceptive and honest.
e.g.
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| "North Americans know that Korea is part of Asia. Compared with Japan and China, however, Korea has little to appeal to the people there," Choi said in an interview with The Korea Times last Thursday at his office in southern Seoul. |
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/01/116_58795.html |
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Ukon
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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Foreigns films in general get the shaft in the USA....Sheesh, even British films don't get wide releases unless they're directed by Guy Ritchie. The few asian movies to get a wide release almost always involve martial arts.
Korean films and tv actually sell very well in South east asia...you wouldn't believe how many people there would love to live in Korea or think Korea is some sorta fantasy land like TV. |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:16 am Post subject: |
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It's an intelligent interview (although, as usual, KT can't distinguish "Finish" from "Finnish"). Interesting man.
But yes, the surest way to drive away audiences in the states is subtitles or too much 'foreignness.' Not even Canadian films can make it into the big theatre chains. Perhaps a better long-term strategy is to focus on the Bollywood market, which is by some measures larger than Hollywood. |
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crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:23 am Post subject: |
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| Moldy Rutabaga wrote: |
It's an intelligent interview (although, as usual, KT can't distinguish "Finish" from "Finnish"). Interesting man.
But yes, the surest way to drive away audiences in the states is subtitles or too much 'foreignness.' Not even Canadian films can make it into the big theatre chains. Perhaps a better long-term strategy is to focus on the Bollywood market, which is by some measures larger than Hollywood. |
That is because other than one or two exceptions, Canadian films aren't that great. |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:51 am Post subject: |
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| That is because other than one or two exceptions, Canadian films aren't that great. |
Granted. But cede me the point, dammit! 
We have some of the best bands in the world, and the best film we can come up with is Strange Brew? |
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crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:59 am Post subject: |
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| Moldy Rutabaga wrote: |
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| That is because other than one or two exceptions, Canadian films aren't that great. |
Granted. But cede me the point, dammit!
We have some of the best bands in the world, and the best film we can come up with is Strange Brew? |
Men with Brooms was a pretty decent flick, but they basically went all out with that. Nielsen, Gross, it was about as big of a budget as you could get in Canada.
I noticed on a recent episode of 무한도전 the guys were over in Vancouver curling. Someone should send them a copy of Men with Brooms.
Problem with Bollywood is that Koreans aren't really interested in Indians. They're interested in America. I think there are several Korean films that should have been able to do well in America, the problem was distribution, advertising, big names, etc. Some Chinese films do well because they attach Jet Li or Jackie Chan to them, but you just take a random decent chinese film and play it in America and you probably won't get much uptake outside the chinese market. |
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conrad2
Joined: 05 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:59 am Post subject: |
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| Most films that do well in the US have huge advertising budgets. Not to mention the promotion junkets that the actors do. The ad budget of a Hollywood blockbuster is greater than the production costs of most non- American movies. |
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Cerberus
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:22 am Post subject: |
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| Ukon wrote: |
Foreigns films in general get the shaft in the USA....Sheesh, even British films don't get wide releases unless they're directed by Guy Ritchie. The few asian movies to get a wide release almost always involve martial arts.
Korean films and tv actually sell very well in South east asia...you wouldn't believe how many people there would love to live in Korea or think Korea is some sorta fantasy land like TV. |
you're right. It's tough to crack the American market.
Korean films (and music) just aren't going to cut it, don't you think with their effeminacy?
boy/girl bands were passe 10 years ago stateside, having had about 3 years of "fame". (and guilty fame at that)
but what I like about this guy is his perceptiveness.. for e.g. - noting that HK/Chinese films have established a "niche" in the US market.... for their martial arts movies. etc and are highly popular at least with certain audiences.
and many of the males in those movies, btw.. never fit the usual Asian male stereotype that PC types incessantly whine about. Almost every Oriental/Chinese villain is a cool bad-ass type.
so that's what Korea should try to find. I have no idea what niche they could mine though.... and it'll impossible for them to out-Hollywood, Hollywood when it comes to standard movie fare (dramas, etc)
btw. the problem with Bollywood is that Indians culturally adore musicals and Americans tend to hate them (at least I do). Put Aishwarya Rai in a real movie and that'd be interesting watching. There are other cultural differences... e.g. hugely popular telenovelas in Latin America are way too overwrought and melodramatic for American audiences. (i've heard similar things said about Korean ones) |
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doggyji
Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Location: Toronto - Hamilton - Vineland - St. Catherines
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Cerberus wrote: |
Korean films (and music) just aren't going to cut it, don't you think with their effeminacy?
boy/girl bands were passe 10 years ago stateside, having had about 3 years of "fame". (and guilty fame at that) |
Why do you suddenly bring up some Korean pop bands' effeminacy and link it to Korean films? |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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boy/girl bands were passe 10 years ago stateside, having had about 3 years of "fame". (and guilty fame at that) |
I've noticed a link between pop music and a "positive economic vibe". When times are good and people are out shopping and going to restaurants. If the American economy bounces back and people get out again they might go for it.
Besides marketing a quality product to movie audiences is pointless. People just want explosions and CGI.
I think America's taste in movies has gone wayyy downhill over the last 10 years. Anything that requires any thinking or empathizing with the person has gone out the window in favor of this massively cynical and snarky vibe that permeates American film these days.
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| and many of the males in those movies, btw.. never fit the usual Asian male stereotype that PC types incessantly whine about. Almost every Oriental/Chinese villain is a cool bad-ass type. |
But they are in Kung Fu movies... |
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Nierlisse
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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Don't forget the American film industry's tendency to simply just remake foreign films instead of giving the original film a chance, ie. all Japanese horror films, Orphan, etc. It is extremely annoying.
The last foreign film I can remember (with subtitles, I mean) that did much of anything in the US was Pan's Labyrinth and that was a few years ago. |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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I've noticed a link between pop music and a "positive economic vibe". When times are good and people are out shopping and going to restaurants. If the American economy bounces back and people get out again they might go for it.
Besides marketing a quality product to movie audiences is pointless. People just want explosions and CGI.
I think America's taste in movies has gone wayyy downhill over the last 10 years. Anything that requires any thinking or empathizing with the person has gone out the window in favor of this massively cynical and snarky vibe that permeates American film these days. |
That's an interesting connection. I remember more cheesy, poppy music in the mid and late 80s when the economy was somewhat better -- Rick Astley, Katrina and the Waves -- and more somber music (grunge) in the long downturn of the 90s. Toward the end of the 90s, we had Britney Spears! I remember a similar study saying that Playmate bust sizes statistically got bigger during recessions, when men preferred security, and were smaller in boom times, when men were more adventurous. Just their findings.
I don't think American movies ever pretended much to be Shakespeare, but yes, there has been a certain dumbification in western movies in the last decade or two. The A-Team thread talked about this. There seem to be so few actual comedies lately which aren't teenage gross-out or parasitic parody movies. I just rolled my eyes when I saw previews for the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Sherlock Holmes is now a sort of badass rebel who's a cage fighter; he's a complicated man, and no one understands him but his woman, with additional music by Bon Jovi. It has none of the subtlety or plot shading of the BBC series or the stories. It makes me sound arrogant to talk about these things, but there is so little respect for the original sources. (Beowulf [2008] was absolute and total crap.) |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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I think if there is a genre that Korea could signaturize- it's not in film but in the Serial Drama. Korean soaps/dramas (Especially ones featuring High School or College aged characters) seem to be really have a certainf flair about them, as well as a wholesome innocent quality in some that may be called "naive" by some viewers, but is a welcome break from some of the raunchy, "adult" soaps and dramas we get. It's nice to experience the "innocent love" of some of those works rather than yet another I'm 19 and pregnant and on drugs young people's drama.
Korea also seems to be able to put together a great dramatic (and sad) music video. If they could translate this into Film that would be a good place to start.
Or maybe, like the director said in the first part of the article, Korean film should focus on universal themes and stories. So what if they don't have their own distinct genre. Go ahead and do a big budget action movie, a tehno thriller, a romantic comedy, a Tarantino-esque piece, a Period Film, and a raunch comedy, yet give them a very slight (or even no) Korean twist. |
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Cerberus
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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| doggyji wrote: |
| Cerberus wrote: |
Korean films (and music) just aren't going to cut it, don't you think with their effeminacy?
boy/girl bands were passe 10 years ago stateside, having had about 3 years of "fame". (and guilty fame at that) |
Why do you suddenly bring up some Korean pop bands' effeminacy and link it to Korean films? |
perhaps an unnecessary tangent, but a guy brought up hallyu.. and Korean "music" is a part of that, isn't it? |
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Cerberus
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
I think if there is a genre that Korea could signaturize- it's not in film but in the Serial Drama. Korean soaps/dramas (Especially ones featuring High School or College aged characters) seem to be really have a certainf flair about them, as well as a wholesome innocent quality in some that may be called "naive" by some viewers, but is a welcome break from some of the raunchy, "adult" soaps and dramas we get. It's nice to experience the "innocent love" of some of those works rather than yet another I'm 19 and pregnant and on drugs young people's drama.
Korea also seems to be able to put together a great dramatic (and sad) music video. If they could translate this into Film that would be a good place to start.
Or maybe, like the director said in the first part of the article, Korean film should focus on universal themes and stories. So what if they don't have their own distinct genre. Go ahead and do a big budget action movie, a tehno thriller, a romantic comedy, a Tarantino-esque piece, a Period Film, and a raunch comedy, yet give them a very slight (or even no) Korean twist. |
naive and innocent "love".
great!
market that Korean nonsense to the millions of US "Christians", although based on results of sodomy incidence from those chastity ring wearing "believers" their "love" may already not be as "naive" or "innnocent" as advertised  |
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