‘Walk Up’ Review: Hong Sangsoo’s Sly, Silvery Latest is One of His Recent Greatest

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong multi-hyphenate Peter Chan Ho-sun is far too intellectual to call himself an “arms dealer,” as Sony Pictures has in casting itself as an unattached supplier to streaming platforms. But politeness and Bob Dylan references aside, Chan’s new company, Changin’ Pictures, aims to become a major independent purveyor of premium Asian TV content for the streamers. The company is using this week’s Busan International Film Festival as its launchpad and will unveil the first five series of its 20-title pan-Asian slate.  Chan’s thesis is that global audiences are hungry for Asian content but have not been able to access it easily under legacy film and TV distribution systems. With streaming making everything accessible everywhere, and audiences no longer balking at subtitles, quality Asian drama can and will travel.

Rebecca Souw Leading independent sales agency Finecut has picked up rights representation duties for “Greenhouse,” which will play this week in the Busan International Film Festival’s Vision section. The director, Lee Sol-hui previously saw her Korean Academy of Film Arts graduation short film “Anthill” play in the festival’s Wide Angle: Korean Short Form Competition. With Kim Seo-hyung (“The Villainess”) in the lead role, the film tracks the pain and suffering of a woman who suffers a psychological disorder. Also new on the company’s line up at the Asian Contents & Film Market is revenge-themed thriller “Christmas Carol,” adapted from a Korean best-selling novel of the same name. Directed by Kim Sung Soo, who also made “Save Me,” a 2010 cult series on Korean cable channel, OCN. The film has the ingredients for a fan following among K-Pop fans as it stars boyband, GOT7’s Park Jinyoung.

EXCLUSIVE: Sadie Sink, known for her fan-favorite starring role as Max Mayfield on Netflix’s Stranger Things, and soon-to-be seen in Darren Aronofsky’s praised Venice Film Festival drama The Whale, has signed with WME for representation.

Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Ho-sun Chan has launched a production company to focus on streaming content, Changin’ Pictures, with a debut slate of five projects and talent including action star Donnie Yen and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

Soft Crash, the Berlin-based electronic duo of Phase Fatale and Pablo Bozzi, will share their first collaborative LP next month. Your Last Everything is due out October 28 via BITE, the label co-founded by Fatale (the Berghain resident born Hayden Payne stateside).

“He’s not only who he is at home,” the friend of a Korean filmmaker tells the director’s daughter in Hong Sang-soo’s latest film. But “who he is at home” is at the heart of what “Walk Up” is all about.

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.

After two years of holding in-person but stripped down editions of the festival, South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, October 5-14) is back in full force this year with a packed line-up of screenings, red carpets, parties, awards and industry events.

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.”

Bundobust has launched a brand new menu to celebrate the booziest month in the German beer calendar - Oktoberfest. And this Indo-Germanic mash up might just have stumbled upon one of the very best beer snacks in the whole city.

An exceptional and, one might venture, unprecedented group of politicians, diplomats, policy wonks, elected officials and veteran Washington insiders expound on the effectiveness of international military intervention—and the lack thereof—in The Corridors of Power. Israeli director Dror Moreh made one of the great political documentaries of recent times in The Gatekeepers (2012), as well as the excellent The Human Factor (2019), and this time he has assembled an all-star cast of more than 30 political heavyweights including Henry Kissinger, Hilary Clinton, George Shultz, Madeleine Albright and Condoleeza Rice, who in deep, original interviews, help to build a picture of how and why the best intentions can come unglued. The film deserves to be seen in any and all venues by audiences interested in the state of the world and clarity about how we got here.

Major Hollywood actors including Leonardo DiCaprio will “probably” become part of Squid Game if there is a third season, according to the show’s Emmy-winning director Hwang Dong-hyuk, who said Netflix has upped budget for season two and he has now settled on the games.

Rebecca Souw Leonardo DiCaprio could be invited to join the cast of Netflix’s Emmy winning global smash hit “Squid Game” in a future season, series writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk has said. At a Netflix-hosted congratulatory press conference in Seoul on Friday, when asked if any known Hollywood actor would star in “Squid Game” Season 2, Hwang said: “There will be no known Hollywood actor in Season 2. That’s not in the plan and if the stage changes, maybe in Season 3 – but for Season 2, it is still set in Korea. Leonardo DiCaprio did say he’s a big fan of ‘Squid Game,’ so maybe if time or chances allow, we can ask him to join the games.”

Please Send a Fan Letter (literal title).On September 15, MBC announced that Girls’ Generation member Sooyoung and Forecasting Love and Weather’s Yoon Park are set to star as the leads for Please Send a Fan Letter, a romantic comedy that follows a father who wants to preserve his daughter’s innocence by sending fake replies to her fan mail.According to a report by Osen, Sooyoung will be playing Han Kang-hee, an actress who is facing a crisis over a fan letter.

Disney+ has announced the all-star actors’ line-up to star in its upcoming Korean original series Shadow Detective. The K-drama was announced on September 13 by the streaming giant. Shadow Detective follows detective Taek-rok, who is retiring after an illustrious career in the police force.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic Back as a full-scale production for the first time since 2019, the Emmys moved, in moments, with a refreshing fleetness. But much of the production seemed strangely stuck in a hazy past. Why, for instance, did host Kenan Thompson only uncork his best material after the first commercial break, after an opening during which he staggered through choreographed routines to TV theme songs? And why were those songs generally for series not honored at this year’s Emmys? We began with “Friends,” moved into “The Brady Bunch” — with a brief shoutout to the cast of that classic sitcom sitting in the audience, not to be mentioned again — and ended on “Game of Thrones,” the big winner at the last pre-COVID Emmys.