Korean Couple

The Near East Quartet has been a force in Korean music since 2010, juxtaposing elements of contemporary jazz and traditional Korean music with pure sound exploration to create new forms. Saxophonist/clarinettist Sungjae Son and guitarist Suwuk Chung have been members from the outset, and the group has been strengthened with the integration of pansori singer Yulhee Kim and highly creative drummer Soojin Suh. On their ECM debut the NEQ plays five compositions by Sungjae Son and three Korean traditionals. Near East Quartet was recorded in Seoul, and mixed at Studios La Buissonne. Producer: Sun Chung.

It’s an omnibus series about four different couples living together in one apartment complex. Oh Do Si and Ryu Du Ri play the main couple in their 30s, who’ve been living together for two years. Oh Do Si is a voice actor, and Ryu Du Ri is a reviewer who runs a blog. They’re an average 30-something couple and they simply chose to live together instead of getting married. Choi Jin Nye and Jung Young Joon are couple that’s twelve years apart in age. She’s a penny-pincher who basically supports her younger boyfriend, and he’s a musician who carries a guitar but doesn’t know how to play it. They’ve been living together for a year, and though they fight like cats and dogs, they’re always quick to make up. Ha Seoul Eun and Park Hwan Jong are a 20-something couple that just moved in together. She’s the type of woman who doesn’t want her boyfriend to know that she isn’t the perfect embodiment of femininity, and works tirelessly to keep up the illusion. Lee Joon Jae is a loner who prefers to stay at home, but is forced to get a roommate for financial reasons. He doesn’t even want to exchange unnecessary small talk with the guy, and thus seeks out a foreigner who can’t speak Korean very well. Takuya is the new roommate, a young man from Japan who’s on a trip around the world. Takyua thinks it a shame that Lee Jae-joon is wasting his youth as a homebody, and begins to draw him out into the world.

Gangnam Style… Squid Games…K-Pop. South Korea is one of those places that's always somewhere in our consciousness, but most people know little about this extraordinary country. Divided into the distinct countries of North and South since 1953, the course of Korean history has been strongly influenced by the country's location between its two mighty neighbours - China and Japan. But despite this, unique Korean culture has retained a distinctive quality of its own. Alexander heads off to one of the most dynamic nations on earth to find out more. South Korea is a nation of contrasts, smaller than England but can feel like another planet entirely.

“Boat” is a Korean Japanese co-production charting the experiences and cross cultural friendship of a couple of smugglers, and was directed by Kim Young Nam, whose indie feature “Don’t Look Back” won awards back in 2006. The film is certainly a pan-Asian affair, with a script by Japanese writer Watanabe Aya (previously responsible for “La Maison de Himiko” and “Tennen Kokekko”) and a multinational cast including Ha Jung Woo (“The Chaser”) and Tsumabuki Satoshi (“Pandemic”). It was released in Japan under the title “No Boys, No Cry”, which is arguably more meaningful than its Korean moniker, as the boat and the profession of the characters only really play a part during the early stages.

There are explicit and implicit lessons to be learned from Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, so listen up. The first one is if you want people to see your movie it behooves you to come up with a more succinct title. The second one – and more pertinent to the film – is don’t tie rocks to little animals – especially if they are still alive. However, it’s okay to tie rocks to yourself as a way of self-punishment – especially if you’re doing it for spiritual reasons.

Directed by one of Korea’s hot young directors – Kim Ki-duk – Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring is a Buddhism-inspired fable that takes place during five seasons spread over many years and attempts – much like The Passion of The Christ – to merge the secular with the spiritual. But unlike that film, this one also gives us the relationship between man and nature as well as man and himself, and deals specifically with characters who try to attain some kind of harmony right here on earth.

Veteran South Korean director Park Chul-soo (30⅓02) wrote and directed the erotic drama Green Chair. Seoh Jung (The Isle) stars as Kim Moon-hee, an older woman who has just been released from police custody for deflowering an underage young man, Hyun (newcomer Shim Ji-ho). (In South Korea, the age of sexual consent is 20, and Hyun is only 19.) Upon her release, Moon-hee is surprised when Hyun shows up and spirits her away from eager reporters. Dodging a prying reporter and staying out of sight, Moon-hee and Hyun go to a motel, where they continue their torrid affair…..

Ye-Joon and Jae-Moon have been best friends since their military service. Now, Ye-Joon is an upwardly mobile foreign exchange dealer and Jae-Moon is a humble cook. Jae-Moon has a charming wife, Ji-Sook, who manages a small beauty shop. The couple had been saving money to move to the United States in search of a better future. However they find out that the money has fallen into the wrong hands, and their savings are lost. Time passes, and the two friends go on with their lives, not seeing each other as often as before…..