Kim Hyun-seok Movies
A woman in the autumn of her years is prompted by art and circumstance to reexamine her life in this drama from director Lee Chang-dong. Yang Mija (Yun Jung-hee) is a charming and well-preserved woman in her mid-sixties who stays busy looking after her teenage grandson, Wook (Lee David), and helping keep house for an older gentleman friend. Yang Mija has been having trouble with her memory and has developed a new curiosity about creative self-expression, so she signs up for a class in writing poetry at a neighborhood community center, even though she's never written verse before. Mija's simple, contented existence is thrown into disarray by a pair of events -- she learns from her doctor that her memory troubles are the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and Wook is believed to be part of a gang of thugs who severely beat and raped a girl who responded by committing suicide. As Mija faces a grim future, she's uncertain about the notion of turning her grandson in to the police or raising money for a settlement that would keep him out of prison, and suddenly the beauty of the world seems a far more elusive concept. Shi (aka Poetry) was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yun Junghee, Lee David, (more)
- 2009
Inspired by writer/director Ounie Lecomte's own childhood experiences, A Brand New Life tells the story of a nine year old girl named Jinhee (Kim Sae-ron) who's sent to live in a Seoul orphanage run by Catholic nuns so her father can start a new family. Realizing that her life has been permanently and profoundly changed, Jinhee struggles with feelings of separation while attempting to make sense of her new surroundings. There, in the orphanage, friendships are broken as quickly as they were forged - the whimsy of fate and adoptive parents making lasting relationships difficult. At first Jinhee longs for the day she, too, will be selected to live with a new family, but over time she begins to resent the idea of once again being separated from the people she cares most about. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kim Sae-ron, Park Do-yeon, (more)
- 2002
An oddball group of unlikely athletes become Korea's winning force in baseball in director Kim Hyun-seok's YMCA Yagudan (aka YMCA Baseball Team). When Ho-Chang (Song Kang-ho) loses a ball and sneaks into the yard of an American missionary in an attempt to retrieve it, he catches his first glimpse of the sport that will soon change his life and lift the spirit of his downtrodden nation. Soon learning that the lovely Jung-rim (Kim Hye-su) is currently in the process of organizing Korea's first baseball team, Ho-Chang eagerly signs-up along with best friend Kwang-tae (Hwang Jeong-min) and Dae-hyeon (Kim Ju-hyuk), who also strives for Jung-rim's affections. Despite his father's wishes that he follow a more scholarly path, Ho-Chang and his team are soon at the top of their game. As Korea begins to feel the bleak realities of the Ulsa Treaty and the team's playing grounds are usurped by Japanese soldiers, one game may prove a nation's final hope to achieve triumph in the face of adversity. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Song Kang-ho, Kim Hye-su, (more)
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