October 17, 2013
Shield of Straw My first film at Fantasia in 2013 was Takashi Miike’s Shield of Straw, one of the director’s contribution to the festival. Miike is a known workhorse, directing sometimes three films per year, in a myriad of genres and styles. Yet, there seems to be a connecting thread through his films, which feels harder to ascertain for me […]
November 28, 2010
Woochi starts out as a magic-driven wuxia-like set in the Joseon era in Korea, but segues into an unsophisticated popular fare.
March 3, 2011
In Legendary Assassin, following the murder of a triad boss, an assassin is trapped on the small island where the deed occurred due to weather conditions.
December 5, 2010
The Housemaid (Ki-young Kim, 1960) is one of the oldest films known to have survived South Korea’s evolution from Third-World country to G20 powerhouse. The print shown at Fantasia this year was restored by Martin Scorsese’s World film Restoration Foundation in tandem with the South Korean government and follows The Housemaid (Sang-soo Im, 2010) remake’s stellar performance this year at […]
April 20, 2010
Kim Ki-duk has shown he's an art-house auteur to contend with. Here, he adopts an esoteric premise, developing it as a meditation on love and passion.