Kim Sang-kyung Movies
- 2005
South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo generally tells the same story twice, and his work often involves people working in the film industry. His sixth feature, Tale of Cinema, follows this pattern, but Hong adds a new wrinkle. In the first half, we're introduced to Sang-won (Lee Gi-woo of The Classic), who seems to be a ne'er-do-well, and happens to run into Yong-sil (Eom Ji-weon), whom he had a crush on back when they were in school. While she finishes out her workday, he goes to see a play. The two spend the evening together, getting very drunk. After an abortive effort at lovemaking ("Why insist when it doesn't work?" says Yong-sil), Sang-won tells Yong-sil that he'd like to "end with a flourish." She agrees, and the two forge a suicide pact. Their plan goes awry, and Sang-won is hospitalized. He returns home and has a big argument with his angry mother. We next see a new character, Tong-su (Kim Sang-gyeong of Memories of Murder and Hong's Turning Gate) as he exits a movie theater. It soon becomes clear that the first half of the Tale of Cinema is the short film that Tong-su has just watched, as part of a retrospective of the work of a peer from film school. The filmmaker has fallen ill and his classmates are having a get-together to raise money for his family. Tong-su doesn't seem interested in going until he runs into Yong-sil, the actress from the short film, who has had some success in the intervening years. He stalks her for a while, and eventually introduces himself and explains to Yong-sil that the filmmaker stole the story of the film from Tong-su's stories of his own life. Tale of Cinema was shown at the 2005 New York Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eom Ji-weon, Lee Gi-woo, (more)
Memories of Murder is a policier based on the actual case of the first recorded serial killer in Korea's history. The rape murders began in 1986 in Hwaseong, a small village south of Seoul, and continued for several years during a time of political upheaval in South Korea. Detective Park Doo-man (Song Kang-ho of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), an overconfident local cop, is assigned to the case, taking along his partner, Detective Cho Yong-koo (Kim Rwe-ha), whose interrogation methods involve covering his boot with a cloth so it won't leave scratches on detainees' necks. After the first few murders, they quickly narrow their sights on a suspect (Park Noh-shik). Seo Tae-yoon (Kim Sang-kyung of Turning Gate), a young detective from Seoul, volunteers to work on the case. Park resents his presence, but Seo quickly realizes that the locals have the wrong man. Before he can share his ideas, the department is humiliated, and the police chief is replaced. Seo quietly begins to piece together a pattern to the murders. For one thing, they all took place in the rain, and the victims all wore red. But the murderer seems to be one step ahead of the cops. Working independently (they disdain each other's methods), Park and Seo stumble upon another suspect, and the two local cops work on beating a confession out of him. But it's soon clear that they've arrested the wrong man yet again. They become more desperate, and the case begins to take a devastating toll on the policemen's lives. Memories of Murder, directed by Bong Joon-ho from a script by Bong, Kim Kwang-rim, and Shim Sung-bo, was a huge box-office hit in South Korea. The film won several awards at the 2003 San Sebastián Film Festival and was also shown at the 2004 New York Korean Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, (more)
A young actor, Gyung-soo (Kim Sang-kyung) is dealing with the failure of the film that marked his first starring role. The director, angry at Gyung-soo for demanding his pay despite the film's failure, tells him, "Even though it's difficult to be a human being, let's not turn into monsters, okay?" Depressed and lonely, Gyung-soo travels to Chuncheon to meet an old friend, Seong-wu (Kim Hak-sun). The two spend a lot of time drinking and carousing, which eases the tension that has grown between them. Then Seong-wu introduces Gyung-soo to his dancer friend, Myung-sook (Yeh Ji-won), who seems to have been infatuated with Gyung-soo even before they met. One drunken night, they share a motel room. Myung-sook professes her love, but Gyung-soo doesn't share her feelings. To make matters worse, he learns that Seong-wu has secretly loved Myung-sook for a long time. Gyung-soo is still depressed as he boards a train back to Seoul. On the train, he spots a beautiful woman, Sun-young (Chu Sang-mi), and they talk. She's seen him perform on-stage, and compliments his acting. He feels drawn to her. He gets off the train when she does, and follows her to her house. The next day, he knocks on the door. He discovers that she's married, but continues to pursue her. They go out to eat, and she tells him they've met before. The dialogue in Hong Sang-soo's naturalistic romantic comedy Turning Gate was mostly improvised by the actors. The film was shown at the 2002 New York Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Sang-kyung, Chu Sang-mi, (more)
