Go Du-shim Movies

South Korean writer-director Tae-Yong Kim's Family Ties (Gajokeui Tansaeng) constitutes a bittersweet drama of broken and dysfunctional suburban relationships. Kim divides his narrative into three sections. In the first, horticulturist and restaurateur Mira's (Moon So-ri) gentle and ordered life gets turned inside out with a bevy of houseguests who pop in and plop down indefinitely, from her strident, chain-smoking sister-in-law Mu-shin (Goh Doo-shim), to her ex-con brother Hyungchul (Uhm Tae-woong). In the second, Sunkyung's (Kong Hyo-jin) failure to come to terms with her partially estranged mother's terminal illness brings her to the point of expatriation - a plan thwarted by her half brother. And in the third, these first two stories suddenly intersect with great volatility. Kim Hae-ok and Bong Tae-kyu co-star; Sung Ki-young co-authored the script with the director. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Hyeon Nam-seob's darkly comic Gudseora Geumsuna (Saving My Hubby) stars Bae Du-na as Jeong Geum-sun, a woman who is having a bad day. Her husband (Kim Tae-woo) is starting a new job. After getting him out of the house, she attempts to drop her baby off with her mother. She later gets a call from her in-laws who inform her that they are going to visit the next day. As she scrambles to prepare her house, Jeong gets a call from a nightclub owner who is ransoming Jeong's husband after he fell asleep in the caller's nightclub. Toting her baby around with her, Jeong heads out to find her husband. Saving My Hubby was screened at the Pusan Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide