Those lining up like starving cinephiles for Shangri-La Plaza’s “Cine Europa Film Festival” last week now have another event to flock to: the Korean Film Festival runs from Sept. 24 to 29 at Shang Cineplex Cinema 3, bringing a wide array of contempo Korean filmmaking. Not just weepy, sappy K-drama, but edgy fare like the festival opener, Old Boy, will highlight six decades of cultural relations between South Korea and the Philippines.
Adapted from a Japanese graphic novel series, Old Boy (showing at festival opening, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 6 p.m.) concerns a man kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years without explanation. Upon release, he is given clothes, money and a cell phone, but soon learns that his kidnapper is not done with him yet. This Cannes winner surely will add meat to the festival opening.
Shangri-La Plaza is once again doing film lovers a service by staging (with the help of the Korean Embassy here, of course) a free festival, open to all international film lovers. Does this help add to Shangri-La’s mall attendance? Of course it does. What better way to lure people to a mall than free movies? Naturally, patrons must line up for their free passes, but a savvy film viewer could catch three or more movies in a row at Cineplex — all for free.
Shangri-La Cineplex has become a beacon for international film fests, holding inspired runs of new and classic movies from France, Japan, silent film (with accompanying live musical performances — one of the only times the festival is not free) and an upcoming Italian film festival.
More typically romantic fare can be found in Beyond the Years in which Dong-ha and Song-hwa, siblings adopted separately by singer Yu-Bong, fall in love; and Sa-Kwa, a 2005 romantic drama that was shown to media last week.
A cut above the usual K-drama outing, Sa-Kwa tells the story of Hyun-jung, a young professional who is callously dumped by her boyfriend of seven years. She vows to find a new suitor quickly to replace him, and ends up falling in love with the most unlikely man in her office building; not surprisingly, her ex-boyfriend soon appears to try to win her back. What lifts Sa-Kwa (which translates in English to both “apple” and “apology”) slightly above the K-drama arena is the focus on characters’ real choices and consequences. There’s no fairy-tale ending here, though there are plenty of bad (and avoidable) choices. It takes its bittersweet time in establishing the relationship between Hyun-jung (Moon So-ri) and Sang-hoon (Kim Tae-Woo), though the details seem vaguely reminiscent of Filipino culture and tradition — the imploring mother character, up at all hours making maki rolls, urging her daughter to get a job and stop wasting her life; the packed baon for road trips; the misty mountain provinces not unlike Baguio. Behind it all is a clear picture of the dilemmas of Korean romance. Sa-Kwa runs a bit long, but after the vinegary taste of love washed down with regret and apology, you can follow it up by watching a ripping, gristly yarn like Old Boy. Meat and vinegar: sounds a lot like Korean cuisine.
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Admission to the Korean Film Fest at Shangri-La Plaza’s Cineplex is free. For film schedules and other inquiries, call 633-7851 loc.113 or log on to www.shangrila-plaza.com.