Kim Tae-woo Movies
- 2009
This offbeat drama from South Korea stars Kim Tae-woo as arthouse film director Ku Kyung-nam, and runs into an old friend named Bu after sitting on the jury at a film festival in a small town. Following a round of drinks, Bu drags Ku to his house and introduces him to his wife; the next day, Ku returns to his hotel following a night of heavy drinking with the couple, and discovers a note from them imploring him to "never come near us again." Unfortunately, Ku has no recollection of the events from the preceding night. Not long after, Ku journeys to Jeju Island for a film lecture and reencounters an old college acquaintance - only to discover that the gentleman married Ku's college sweetheart. He soon receives a secret note from the woman asking him to meet her at her house. Despite initial misgivings and reservations, Ku changes his mind and hearkens off to the rendez-vous. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Tae-woo, Eom Ji-weon, (more)
- 2006
- NR
Widely regarded as acclaimed Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo's finest cinematic accomplishment to date, Woman on the Beach concerns Kim Joong-rae (Kim Seung-woo), a mercurially tempered writer/director drafting a screenplay during his stay at an off-season oceanside resort. Joong-rae becomes acquainted with two female vacationers, each of whom unwittingly exposes undercurrents of hostility and self-destructiveness inside of him; he then uses the encounters as script fodder. The film represents Hong's exploration of the machismo, aggression, and hostility that typically lie at the core of the male id and are often exercised in masculine behavior. Woman on the Beach was screened at the 2006 New York Film Festival, at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Seung-woo, Kim Tae-woo, (more)
Two men pursue a woman form their past in this drama from South Korea. Heon-jun (Kim Tae-woo), a struggling filmmaker who has just returned from the United States, runs into his old friend Mun-ho (Yu Ji-tae), now an art professor, and they decide to get a bite to eat. Over dinner, they find themselves talking about Seon-hwa (Seong Hyeon-ah), a beautiful woman they both dated in college. While both men flirt with their waitress, talking about how Seon-hwa has renewed their fascination with their old love, and they individually decide to track her down. They discover Seon-hwa, once an artist, is now working as a bar manager; they learn, in her personal life, the fates have not been kind to her, and in many respects, she's not the women she once was. Yeojaneun Namjaeui Miraeda (aka Woman is the Future of Man) was screened in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yu Ji-tae, Seong Hyeon-ah, (more)
- 2002
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
- Starring:
- Bae Du-na, Go Du-shim, (more)
Riding the trend of Korean action blockbusters after the phenomenally popular Swiri, Park Chan Wook directs this murder mystery thriller about death on the DMZ. The film opens with a shooting along the heavy militarized border between North and South Korea, which leaves a North Korean soldier (Shin Ha- Kyun) dead and a South Korean soldier injured. Hoping to reduce the potentially explosive political fallout by solving the crime quickly, both countries agree to an investigator of Korean-Swiss descent named Sophie Jean (Lee Yeong-Ae). As she methodically sifts through the evidence, Sophie learns that the testimony of two other soldiers -- North Korean Oh Kyeong Pil (Song Kang-Ho) and South Korean Lee Soo Hyeok (Lee Byung-Hun) -- are completely contradictory. Another witness (Kim Tae-Woo) tries to commit suicide rather than divulge information. Sophie soon concludes that a group of guards from the North and South, after years of eyeing each other, started meeting in the North Korean guard house to chat, fawn over porn, and to play cards. Why this informal détente dissolved into bloodshed is a thornier question. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Song Kang-ho
