‘Walk Up’ Review: Hong Sangsoo Delivers A Delicate Portrait Of Age & Artistic Pursuit [NYFF]

The long-delayed Los Angeles rape trial of disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein will begin Monday after a jury was selected today in a downtown courtroom.

Netflix is staying in the Yeon Sang-ho business, confirming production on his latest creation, The Bequeathed. A suspense drama, it weaves an intricate family history into a subject matter deeply rooted in Korean tradition: family burial grounds. 

Kevin Spacey’s lawyers on Wednesday wrapped up their case in Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp’s $40 million sexual misconduct suit against the embattled former star, with a psychiatrist hired by Spacey’s team as the last witness before jurors hear closing arguments scheduled for Thursday.

BLACKPINK have opened their world tour in Seoul where bandmember Jennie treated fans to a performance of an unreleased solo song – see footage, setlist and more below.The K-pop band kicked off their tour, which is in promotion of their second album ‘Born Pink’, on Saturday (October 15) at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in South Korea. BLACKPINK play another show at the venue today (October 16) before heading to North America for a series of concerts.Bandmembers Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa will then visit Europe to finish off 2022.

With a formalist’s eye for visual symmetry, an architect’s sense of structure, and a poet’s ability to stoke the passions raging inside his precisely balanced frames, Park Chan-wook makes ferociously controlled films about ferocious, uncontrollable impulses. Ever since his international breakthrough with 2003’s “Oldboy,” remembered most for the oft-imitated hallway sequence in which a hammer-wielding Choi Min-sik lays waste to enemy waves in a righteous bid for freedom, the South Korean filmmaker has been widely associated with operatic bursts of sexuality and extreme violence, the kind often considered a signature of the New Korean Cinema.  Park has hardly shied from this notoriety, even binding “Oldboy” together with “Sympathy for Mr.

If and when they choose to speak out about it, survivors of sexual assault each find their own ways of describing their harrowing memories of the incident that victimized them. Going into survival mode, however, is perhaps one experience several would agree on.

BTS’ 2021 English-language hit ‘Butter’ is now the group’s second single to amass over a billion streams on Spotify.Today (October 14), the music streaming service announced that ‘Butter’ had recently surpassed a billion streams on the platform.

Rebecca Souw Achieving a balance between artistic creativity and commercial appeal has been a key component of the success of the Korean film and TV industries, said senior executives at the Asin Contents & Film Market, held this week as part of the Busan International Film Festival. Leading U.S. producer Ted Hope said that “Being audience focused but ambitiously creating authored work,” is significant and that Korean filmmakers are able to tap into a wide range of emotions. Yang Yoomin, a Korean producer who has worked with hit filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho, explained why such a discussion was important. She gave the examples of the Hong Kong and Japanese film industries which have both at times enjoyed international success, but which have recently been eclipsed. Hope said that Hong Kong films and Japanese animation are at opposite ends of the spectrum stretching from commerce and art films, but said that Korean stories demonstrate a balance between authorship and audience-focused approaches.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In what plays like Singapore’s answer to “About Schmidt,” never-too-late-to-live dramedy “Ajoomma” follows a widowed housewife as she steps out of her comfort zone by making a solo trip to South Korea. This upbeat debut from director He Shuming — whose title is the Korean equivalent of all-purpose Asian term of respect “Auntie” — offers longtime TV actor Hong Huifang (“Housewives’ Holiday”) a chance to shine in the title role, which has already netted her a Golden Horse Award nom. Selected to rep Singapore at the Oscars, affable “Ajoomma” is more of a dark horse in that race, albeit one with art-house sleeper potential. Mrs. Lim’s life is light on excitement. What it lacks in drama, she fills by binging on Korean soap operas — a not at all uncommon obsession among Asian women (and a growing number of Americans, thanks to services like Kocowa and Viki). “Auntie,” as most of the other characters call Hong’s character, fusses a bit too much over her only son, who long ago agreed to accompany her on a special tour of Seoul. Now, mere days before they’re to depart, he backs out for a job interview in New York — one that would put some much-needed distance between the closeted young man and his overly suffocating mom.

EXCLUSIVE: Jaylin Webb, the young star of James Gray’s autobiographical period drama, Armageddon Time, has signed with Innovative Artists for representation. 

Albert Serra has up to now been known for his revisionist period films, which include prankishly unconventional treatments of Don Quixote (“Honor of the Nights,” 2006), Casanova (“The Story of My Death,” 2013) and Louis XIV (“The Death of Louis XIV,” 2016).  With “Pacifiction,” he makes his first film with a contemporary setting—and made his debut in the main competition at Cannes, where the film premiered—but it’s in many ways the closest he’s come to classic historical fiction.

Albert Serra has up to now been known for his revisionist period films, which include prankishly unconventional treatments of Don Quixote (“Honor of the Nights,” 2006), Casanova (“The Story of My Death,” 2013) and Louis XIV (“The Death of Louis XIV,” 2016).  With “Pacifiction,” he makes his first film with a contemporary setting—and made his debut in the main competition at Cannes, where the film premiered—but it’s in many ways the closest he’s come to classic historical fiction.

It’s tough to shock Andy Cohen, but Kelly Ripa managed to do it with the reveal that she and husband Mark Consuelos had sex in the Bravo exec’s house.

Netflix has announced the cast for its forthcoming K-drama, Dak Gang Jeong (literal title).According to a report by South Korean media outlet Asian Economy, the streaming platform’s newest Korean series is set to star Kim Yoo-jung (Lovers of the Red Sky), Ahn Jae-hong (Be Melodramatic) and Ryu Seung-ryong (Jirisan).ASTRO’s Cha Eun-woo was reportedly in talks to join the cast, but no decision has been reached regarding this offer at the time of publication.Based on a webtoon named after a Korean chicken dish, Dak Gang Jeong is a comedy surrounding a machine that turns people into fried chicken. Kim is set to play Min Ah, a girl who is turned into fried chicken after mistaking the machine for one that helps people with fatigue.Ryu will be playing Choi Sun-man, a father who will do anything to reverse the machine’s effects on his daughter; while Ahn will be playing Go Baek-joon, an intern with a crush on Min Ah.Dak Gang Jeong will be helmed by Lee Byung-hun, who has previously worked with several members of the cast—namely Ryu on the 2019 film Extreme Job and Ahn on 2019 K-drama Be Melodramatic.

Naman Ramachandran The BBC has revealed wide-ranging savings proposals across its World Service that will result in the closure of 382 positions and the relocation of journalists from London to Asia and Africa. The move is part of a push towards digital and a wider savings plan. Under the proposals, some half of the BBC’s 41 language services will be digital only. The relocation proposals include the Thai service moving from London to Bangkok, the Korean service to Seoul, the Bangla service to Dhaka and the “Focus On Africa” TV bulletin to broadcast from Nairobi. “Changing audience needs around the world – with more people accessing news digitally – go alongside a challenging financial climate. High inflation, soaring costs, and a cash-flat licence fee settlement have led to tough choices across the BBC, and the BBC’s international services need to make a saving of £28.5 million [$30.7 million], as part of the wider £500 million of annual savings and reinvestment to make the BBC digital-led,” the BBC said in a statement.

Jessica Kiang If ever you’ve glanced into lit-up living rooms while driving down a suburban street at dusk, or glimpsed a neighbor’s apartment over their shoulder when you drop off a package, and found yourself idly wondering not just what the inhabitants’ lives are like, but what maybe your life would be like if you occupied those exotic domestic spaces — well, has mischievous Korean miniaturist Hong Sangsoo made a movie for you. “Walk Up,” the festival darling’s latest benignly sozzled, black-and-white delight, daydreams around that idea, its gentle profundity smuggled in under cover of multilevel playfulness. The movie is a play on time, on imaginative shoestring filmmaking, and on Hong’s own persona. It’s even a play on words, with its three stories sprouting out from each other over three separate stories of the same Seoul walk-up. 

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic African American boxing champ Muhammad Ali famously refused to fight for his country, justifying himself with the oft-quoted quip, “No Viet Cong ever called me n—–.” That’s one-half of American history, and an important one. “Devotion” tells the other, presenting the story of a Black pilot so determined to defend — and die for, if need be — the United States that he was willing to endure institutional bigotry to become the Jackie Robinson of the skies: Jesse Brown, the first aviator of color to complete the Navy’s basic training program. A square but satisfying social justice drama set against the backdrop of the Korean War, “Devotion” impressed on the biggest screen possible at the Toronto Film Festival two months before its Nov. 23 theatrical release. Featuring elements of both “Green Book” and “Red Tails,” the film is more than just a stirring case of Black exceptionalism; it also celebrates the one white officer who had Brown’s back, Tom Hudner, treating the bond these two men formed as something exceptional unto itself. Director JD Dillard dazzles with see-it-in-Imax airborne sequences, but the meat of the film focuses on the friendship between Brown (“Da 5 Bloods” star Jonathan Majors) and his white wingman, played by Glen Powell, the “Hidden Figures” actor who most recently appeared in “Top Gun: Maverick.”

captioned the snap.Ella also attended the Kate Spade show at NYFW, wearing a white dress for the event on Sept. 9.

EXCLUSIVE: South Korean filmmaker Kim Hongsun has signed with WME following the launch of latest project Project Wolf Hunting in Toronto.