Lee Seong-jae Movies
Detective Kang Chul-Choong (Sol Kyung-gu) is a tough, hotheaded cop. He is also as corrupt as they come. He never makes an arrest because he'd sooner take a bribe. But when an internal affairs investigation threatens, Kang's older and more circumspect partner, Song Haeng-gi (Kim Ju-bong), commits suicide, leaving Kang slightly unhinged. Cho Gyu-hwan (Seung-jae Lee of Attack the Gas Station!) is a wealthy fund manager and family man who also has a problem controlling his temper. Cho gets angry when his elderly father calls in a loan in order to help a struggling orphanage. Cho has the money invested in a can't-miss stock, and will lose millions if he pays his father back, so one rainy night, while Kang is nearby on a stakeout, Cho brutally murders his parents. While making his escape, wearing a hooded raincoat, Cho has his first encounter with Kang. He literally bumps into him on the street, and when Kang upbraids him for it, Cho, not realizing Kang is a cop, slashes Kang's face. When Kang hears about the vicious double murder, he realizes that he was attacked by the killer, and joins the investigation. Suddenly, police work isn't about the money any more for Kang. Kang didn't get a good look at Cho that night. But after questioning the vain, supercilious young man, Kang immediately suspects him. Cho uses his powerful connections in the police department to thwart Kang's efforts, but Kang is determined to deliver his own unique brand of justice, no matter what the cost. Gongongeui Jeok (Public Enemy) was directed by Kang Woo-Suk and was shown at the 2002 New York Korean Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Seol Gyeong-gu, Lee Seong-jae, (more)
- 2001
The nerdy Park Young-Joon is performing at a talent show during a high school field trip to Gyeongju, where he is booed off stage and replaced by the class brawler Choi Gi-Dong. A massive fight ensues with a local gang, and Gi-Dong is admired because he leads his class in the rumble while the timid Young-Joon is ostracized because he was the only student who didn't participate. Several years later, Gi-Dong and Ju-Sup meet each other. Young-Joon has become a top gangster while Gi-Dong, who is now a teacher, tries to prevent Ju-Sup and other students from joining the mob. The two former schoolmates bond over drinks and both go to the police station when Ju-Sup and his friends are arrested for fighting. At the station, they meet Ju-Sup's beautiful big sister, Ju-Sup. Their friendship is strained as they compete for her affections; they also differ over Ju-Sup, since Gi-Dong wants to keep him away from Young-Joon, while the gangster wants to encourage the student to study. While the competition between the two rivals becomes increasingly fierce, the police are investigating Young-Joon and other mobsters who are plotting against him. Gi-Dong and Young-Joon join forces when someone kidnaps Ju-San, and eventually Gi-Dong's friends, the mob, the police, and the student body get involved. ~ Todd Kristel, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Seong-jae, Cha Seung-weon, (more)
- 2000
Eun-seok (Lee Jeong-jae), a struggling young filmmaker, is interviewing actors for an upcoming project when he is introduced to Yeong-heui (Shim Eun-ha), a hairdresser who tagged along with a close friend auditioning for a role. Eun-seok is struck by Yeong-heui's beauty, and he interviews her for a role, though she's quite shy and doesn't seem comfortable in front of a camera. Before Eun-seok can get his project off the ground, Yeong-heui disappears, and he discovers that the woman used an assumed name for her impromptu audition. Twelve months later, Eun-seok is working in France as part of the camera crew of another director's film, and he discovers Yeong-heui is living there, working as a dance instructor. He soon learns the truth about her recent past, while she is told of his failed romance in Paris. Intyebyu was shown in its native South Korea in a version running 107 minutes, while the print prepared for international distribution was expanded to 124 minutes. The original South Korean edition also bore the imprint of Dogma 95, a movement championing aesthetic asceticism in filmmaking that was founded in part by director Lars von Trier, though the longer cut did not carry the Dogma logo. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Jeong-jae, Shim Eun-Ha, (more)
- 1999
Bae Chang-ho directs this sumptuously-photographed, subtly-told drama about the ill-fated life of one woman during the 20th century. The film opens in the 1920s when a teenaged Sun-yi (star and co-screenwriter Kim Yu-mi) is married off to the ten-year-old son of a provincial doctor. Though harassed by her traditionally minded in-laws, Sun-yi patiently goes about her duties until her husband returns from college with an attractive, fashionably dressed "classmate." When she learns that her husband's new friend is pregnant, Sun-yi quietly packs her belongings and leaves. Later, she is running a small distillery all by herself. When Duk-sun (Kim Myeong-kon), an itinerant potter, stops by, a wary relationship develops between the two. Unfortunately, just as the deeply suspicious Sun-yi is about to open her heart to him, Duk-sun is killed in an accident. The film's final act finds a middle-aged Sun-yi barely eking out a living. In spite of this, she takes in a young woman and her son. When the young woman is carted off by a thuggish man claiming to be her husband, Sun-yi adopts the child. This film received rave reviews and a Special Jury prize at the 1999 Benodet Film Festival in France. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Myung-Kon
- 1999
In 1901, the Korean island of Cheju is suffering the aftermath of a recent war; a heavy tax has been levied to pay debts from the war, and French Catholic missionaries, on the island to bring Christianity to the people, support the tax collectors. Yi Jae-su (Lee Jung-jae), a messenger, is outraged by this situation, and he leads a revolt of Confucians against the government agents and the missionaries, leading to a bloody siege. Director and co-screenwriter Park Kwang-su adapted this film from a novel by Hyun Ki-young, which was in turn based on actual historical events. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Seong-jae, Shim Eun-Ha, (more)
- 1999
Romance blooms amidst informal story conferences in this witty romantic story. Chul-soo (Lee Seong-jae), a young man who is on leave from the Korean army, goes to the apartment he shares with his girlfriend, Da-hye (Song Seon-mil), only to make a startling discovery -- Da-hye has broken up with him, moved out, and sublet the apartment to a friend, Choon-hee (Shim Eun-ha). Chul-soo is understandably upset, and announces he's not leaving the apartment until Da-hye stops by to discuss this state of affairs with him. As it seems that might take a while, Chul-soo and Choon-hee are forced to get to know each other. It turns out Choon-hee makes her living making wedding videos but really wants to direct feature films; she's working on a screenplay, but can't type especially well. Chul-soo, however, is a fine typist and starts helping her prepare her script. The screenplay, entitled "The Art Museum by the Zoo," is a story of unrequited love between a young woman and an older man, and soon two people who at first had no interest in being friends find themselves talking about love a great deal. First time director Lee Jeong-hyang scored a hit with this film, which was a major box office success in its native South Korea. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shim Eun-Ha, Ahn Song-Gi, (more)
Kim Sang-jin directs this riotous send-up of Korea's rigidly hierarchical society. A quartet of nihilistic losers including an alienated athlete, a longhaired burnout, a spaced-out artist, and a muscle-bound meathead take to knocking over 24-hour gas stations. Their initial success eventually leads to trouble when they decide to hold up the same gas station again "just for fun." Unfortunately, the store manager had his wife take much of the day's earnings home with her just prior to the robbery. Stumped as what to do next, the four take the staff hostage and start to taunt the middle-aged manager (his underlings soon join in). They ridicule potential customers and order Chinese food until the film's delirious final showdown between the four protagonists, the cops, a local clan of gangsters, and irate delivery boys. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Seong-jae
- 1998
Birdcage Inn is a drama about experiences moulding people's lives. After the clearing of the red light districts in Seoul, a young prostitute named Jin-Ah settles in at the Birdcage Inn, a family-run establishment in a small port town. Although the family seem to be quite "normal," with a daughter, Hea-Mi, attending college and a son, Hyun-Woo, in high school, they have no qualms about living off the prostitutes to whom they rent their rooms. Only Hea-Mi seems embarrassed by the situation, and takes her anger out on Jin-Ah every chance she gets. Complications arise when all the male members of the family (including Hea-Mi's boyfriend) line up to sleep with Jin-Ah. Jin-Ah sells sex, but in one sense, she is free from it, whereas Hea-Mi is prudish and hypocritical about sex. A twist of events bring the two girls together when they realize how much they have in common and sex, which had alienated one from the other, turns into a mediating factor for reconciliation. Prostitution has long been a favorite themes of Korean cinema. Director Kim Ki-Duk, who is also an accomplished painter, captures some beautiful moments in the life of the prostitute, particularly when she leaves the inn and goes near the sea. The open landscape in these scenes serves as a metaphor for the girl's inner freedom, which is paradoxically fed by her captivity to her profession, inside the symbolic "Birdcage Inn" of the title. Intense dramatic moments of conflict are tightly controlled by the director to overcome tendencies towards theatrical melodrama. Birdcage Inn was screened as part of the Panorama section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Ji-eun, Lee Hye-Eun, (more)
