Korean Job Discussion Forums

[billybrobby]

I just started getting into Korean movies. I saw Old Boy and liked it but thought it was probably an anomaly. After watching Korean soap operas and listening to Korean pop music, I was starting to get the feeling that modern Korean is culturally bankrupt.

But then I watched a few movies. And they're awesome. They're great. What's the deal?


Here's what I watched so far:

Spider Forest �Ź̽�
Hypnotized �󱼾��� �̳�
Tasty Sex and Love (not really sure on the English title)���ִ¼��� �׸��� ���
Good Lawyer's Wife �ٶ��� ����

...and the funny thing is, I was picking the dvds purely based on how hot the girl on the cover was.

[Swiss James]

if you're in Seoul come to DGBD in Hongdae this Saturday night to see some good K-music. It's not all like the fluff you hear on the radio

[chiaa]

Yeah, I dont know what it is but I hate Korean Music and TV. But LOVE Korean movies. Korea has some really talented directors.

This just came to me... The major Korean TV stations, KBS etc are either fully funded by the government or partially funded. Movies, obviously would not be. The popularity of certain muscians is fueled by these TV stations...

Perhaps this is why

[Billy Pilgrim]

[billybrobby]

james-- i very well may be there, if only to see the mighty swiss james in the flesh

Yeah, Billy Pilgrim, I went to the video store with a list one day similar to yours because I had heard those are good movies. And I couldn't find a single one of them on DVD. Where'd you get them? I need subtitles

chiaa-- I thought the movie industry IS subsidized by the government. but i'm really not sure. I also suspect it comes down to money and censorship somehow. there's something about the structure music/tv industry (which in this MTV era are tightly linked) that weeds out the good and sends the bad right to the top.

[Hagwon Muppet]

[Universalis]

The Korean movie industry still has some room for young, ambitious movie-makers with a streak of integrity in them. Meanwhile, the Korean pop industry is pure, 100% money-making for the sake of making money. Local "singers" are nothing more than potential handphone models waiting for enough popularity to sign a deal.

Brian

[the_beaver]

My favorite is still ��Ģ�� (the Foul King) -- it cracks me up everytime.

[mindmetoo]

[harixseldon]

[Merlyn]

[Merlyn]

When I was on a flight to Japan this past year for a visa run, I was reading an in flight magazine and an article about a Korean director. The comment that he was quoted for said something like "Korean movies are more realistic than Hollywood movies because we recognize that there are shades of gray in people, people aren't just black and white, good and bad". Anyways, I just thought this was a stupid comment, because other than cartoons where the villains are usually portrayed as completely evil or some action movies, I can think of a number of great Hollywood movies where characters or more in depth.

[mithridates]

Every country has its share of "musicians" and real musicians, but it's the ratio between the two that determines how good the music scene is. There are definately a lot of good musicians in Korea if you know where to look; there are also good jazz clubs here and there and if you are observant you can spend every single night listening to good Korean music.

That being said, there are a number of things that keep the music scene down here:

-Conscription. Having to go off to the army for two years and a bit doesn't help.
-Small houses. You have to go out and pay money to rent a room when you're a band; no hanging out in the basement all day.
-That test to get into university (����) - it eats up all your time in high school. Until you write that test your life is about going to school, then to the hagwon, and studying for that test.
-Marriage. When you're supposed to get married around 25, you don't have all that much time in between coming back from the army and getting married. You don't necessarily have to, but there is definately some pressure involved there.

Since KJI and Bush don't see eye-to-eye on things, and it's their conflict that makes people have to go to the army, you can blame a lot of the bad music on them.

[Billy Pilgrim]

[syclick]