Sai Yochi on Korean Films II

Last week I linked to Ryuganji's great translation of a Sai Yochi interview, about his experiences making the movie SOO. Well, Don (of Ryuganji) is back for more, with yet another Sai Yochi interview -- this one even more interesting and critical, but definitely a must-read.

FYI, SOO was made by Triz Club, Co., a movie company that I have never heard of before. So when Sai talks about the two producers he dealt with, I cannot really comment on who they might be. Although I should note that Sai calls them "386 generation" guys and in their mid-thirties -- but if they were 386-gen guys, then they should be in the forties, not their thirties. The two guys listed as the movie's producers, Hwang In-tae and Shin Bum-su (and I have no idea if they were the gentlemen Sai talked about in his interview or if he meant some other people), are not names I recognize at all.

If that is not enough Sai for you, Japan Focus recently translated an interview between Sai and Li Ying, the guy who made the recent YASUKUNI documentary. Really fascinating stuff. Li has been taken to task for his repeated references to a Yasukuni-related event in 1997 that no one can find evidence of having happened. But that seems to me to be a fairly low-level memory mix-up, at worst. Li's definitely made a really interesting film.

Sai Yochi on Korean Films

For people interested in Korean films, there is an absolute must read over at Ryuganji, a translation of an interview with director Sai Yochi. Sai (aka Choi Yang-il) directed last year's film noir SOO (aka ART OF REVENGE). The film flopped in Korea and has only just been released in Japan... but the director gives a really enlightening interview about the comparative state of the two nations' film industries. Some of the comments are pretty good, too.

Swords, Shrines and Cinema

A very interesting article on Li Ying and his documentary YASUKUNI in THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The film is apparently stirring up unrest among Japan's far-right nutters, who have been sending death threats to the director as the film's April 12 release date nears.

You can read more about the film here, a review with the director here, and a proper review of it here.

Korea-Japan: A Love Story

I notice lately some blogs and newspapers, et cetera, have been talking about the "rise of Japanese culture" in Korea. Ampontan's new blog had a post about it. The Korea Herald had this story about Japanese novels in Korea (via the Brunei Times because the Korea Herald thinks people will pay money for its old stories). Not a terrible story, although since the author never mentions how well titles from the US or other parts of the world are selling in Korea, it is impossible to get a proper sense of how significant the sales of Japanese books really is, or how sales have figured over the long run.

Anyhow, in a similar vein, the Japan Times had a story about the movie "Anata wo Wasurenai" ("We Will Not Forget You"), the story of Lee Soo-hyun, the South Korean guy who died while trying to save a drunk Japanese businessman on the Tokyo subway in 2001. The Japanese Emperor and Empress attended the preview screening and spoke to Lee's parents. Truly an Oprah moment.

So, what does it all mean? Are we in a new renaissance of Korea-Japan relations? Has the media gotten it wrong all these years?

Hell if I know. I cannot speak for the 200 million people who reside in the two countries (including North Korea). But from what I have seen, I think there is far less emnity than many would like to believe. Sure there are freaks full of hatred. Both countries have their John Birchers. And Internet warriors (ugh). But from what I have seen in my time in Asia, especially in the arts (and even more so with women), I think there is a lot of affinity between the two cultures.

When I first came to Seoul, many years ago, the selection of movies on TV or at the video store was a lot more limited than today. And Japanese pop culture was totally banned. But we did use to have "video cafes," where the proprietor would play movies on the big screen for whoever wanted to see. At first I used to go to them (especially Joy of Kino in Shinchon) to see movies like BRAZIL or FULL METAL JACKET. But I quickly realized that Western movies were in the minority at most cafes. I would say 60-70% of the films were Japanese. Mostly anime, but a lot of other good stuff, too. Similarly, any trip to the black markets in Yongsan Electronics Mart would turn up a huge amount of Japanese titles.

Because of my various jobs in Seoul, I have spent a lot of time with designers, who I have found to be perhaps the most receptive to things Japanese. But artists and musicians in general have long flown over, whether for vacations or to live for a while. One of Korea's most interesting indie performers, Yoonki, could barely move a CD here, but in Japan he sold over 10,000 copies of his first album, toured a bunch, and did quite well for himself.

In Japan, I have met no shortage of filmmakers who enjoy Korean films, who come here as often as they can, and who have plenty of friends in Korea. Seigo Tono, of the Short Shorts Film Festival, travels here a lot (and is a hell of a good guy). The musician Sato Yukie is a one-man cultural embassy for Japan (he is back in Japan now, but should be returning to Korea before too long).

I do think there was a year (2005) when Japanese distributors were getting far too excited about Korean films and TV shows, and getting into needless and silly bidding wars for projects that were not even started yet. Business has cooled since then, but there is still a lot of dealing going on between the two countries. Not so high profile. Smarter. But still significant. Japanese TV shows, while not ratings juggernauts, are still common on Korean cable TV. In short, I think we are seeing a more mature, healthy relationship developing between the entertainment businesses between the two countries.

So when politicians and other politically minded dolts try to get people riled up about this or that alleged problem between the two countries, I would not worry about it much. But in the deeper, more important ways, the two countries are growing closer. The most popular film in Korean history, THE HOST was made with Japanese money (about 1/3 of the film's budget). CJ Entertainment and Kadokawa have a pretty serious relationship. The Pusan Film Festival got started, in part, because of the Yamagata Documentary Film Festival. It's not all smiles and sunshine. It's not all nationalist anger. It's a far more complicated and intertwined relationship.

Random Movie Notes - Vol 2, No. 1

• A strange little news story over at Yonhap that did not generate much heat, but which seemed rather ominous to me -- South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun told his cabinet on Tuesday to investigate the nation's news media to see if they are colluding to bad-mouth his policies.
  
  Yeah, like the media needs to collude to find problems with Roh. It is the media's fault that Roh has alienated his base on the left, annoyed the right, and been so incredibly useless across the board (albeit with some minor improvements in decreasing corruption). Roh clearly has no idea how the press works, despite four years as president and however many as a public figure. Someone should tell him about catching flies with honey verus vinegar.
  
  Anyhow, lord knows the Korean press has its problems, but being bullied by the government is the last thing the press needs. Korean media needs more independence from government, not more control. But judging by Roh's plan to merge TV and telecommunications regulatory agencies, he obviously likes to control everything he can.
  
  
• Funny article in the Korea Times about how Korea's top advertising queens are flopping on the big screen. As usual, the quality (or lack thereof) of the various films did not get much consideration. Considering how all those actresses (save Kim Tae-hee) have starred in successful movies in the past, it seems strange to me to blame their more recent failures and the actresses' poor acting abilities. Try taking a lesson from Go Hyun-jung and act in a few small-budget arthouse movies.
  
  (Which is why I have a bit of a soft spot for Jeon Ji-hyun... who, at the peak of her popularity, starred in THE UNINVITED. Not a good film, but at least she made the attempt).
  
  
• Midnight Eye has its annual Best/Worst-of poll for 2006 movies. Yang Yonghi's DEAR PYONGYANG made several lists. Bae Doo-na's LINDA, LINDA, LINDA made a couple. THE HOST even made Tom Mes's list of best foreign films.
  
  
• Thanks to Jon Pais over at Twitch Film for his kind words when he linked to this week's box office report.
  
  

Japan Notes and Whatnot

Bong Joon-ho's THE HOST may have disappointed at the box office in Japan, but it apparently impressed more than a few critics. Kinema Junpo just released its poll of the top movie of 2006, and THE HOST was ranked No. 3 among foreign films.

Btw, this was not the first time a Korean film did well on the Kinema Junpo poll. THE PRESIDENT'S BARBER made No. 6 last year. (Coincidentally, both films star Song Gang-ho).

Actually, there is a whole bunch of interesting stuff going on the world of Japanese movies these days. Hoga Central has a nice look at the year's box office (which apparently had fewer huge hits and more middling hits last year).

Jason Grey has some information about the new Miike Takeshi remake of DJANGO (or whatever the heck that odd film is). You should check out the next story in his blog, too, about NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE Director Tsukamoto Shinya.

Midnight Eye has an interview up with manga creator and animator Katsuhiro Otomo.

And just for the sake of completeness, check out Ryuganji from time to time for all your Japan film news.

Japan Movie Notes

Some fun news about Japan cinema over at Ryuganji (as usual). Most notably a sequel to ALWAYS, a Miike Takashi doing his version of the spaghetti-western classis DJANGO and an entry about this year's FILMeX (one of my favorite movie events each year in Japan).

I assume that anyone interested in Japanese movies (but who lacks the Japanese language abilities) already knows Hoga News and Jason Gray's blog. And even though the Tokyo International Film Festival is over, Maggie Lee is still blogging away (she teases that she might start a person blog soon, but for the moment we just have the TIFF blog). But if you do not any of those websites, you should check them all out asap.