The Wonderful Days of Korean Animation

Review: Sky Blue (Kim Moon-saeng / 2003)

Sky Blue is a Korean animated science fiction film that was simply not as big a hit as it should have been. Released in 2003 and with a $30 Million budget, it disappointingly mostly just did the festival circuit, before finding somewhat of a home on DVD. There is no doubt it deserves to find an audience, for being a revolutionary piece of cinema for its visuals, with a fairly solid story backing up its presentation. Labelled as “Akira for the 21st Century”, fans of Cyberpunk, Anime and Sci-Fi will find it a short and sweet ride into the future.

Tully's Tips: A Film Festival Story

As part of my Screen Culture course at AFTRS in 2010 I was required to conduct a creative project that in some way commented on an issue or contributed to a sector of the film and television industry. For this I chose to set out on a mission to establish a Korean Film Festival, partly due to my passion and knowledge of cinema from the Peninsula, but also because I couldn't believe a Korean Film Festival didn't currently exist. While the Japanese Film Festival had just completed its 13th Year, Korea was null and void and so I set out to change this fact.

After merging with a project team at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea, which consisted of Kim Young-gu (a staff member of KOFIC, the Korean Film Council) and Jungyeob Ji (an experienced assistant director and crew member of the Korean Film Industry), what resulted was the 1st KOFFIA Korean Film Festival in Australia. The event had its ups and downs, successes and failures, but most important of all, it will return in 2011. Other forms of Korean Film Festivals had occurred in Australia before, but none returned for successive years. A primary difference for KOFFIA was that this festival was not just for the Korean community in Australia, but for everybody, and this was at the heart of its success.

Jung, Kieran and Young-gu at KOFFIA

Ideas about Editing: El Chop

(Note: An edited version of this post was previously submitted for my AFTRS Screen Culture course, Ideas about Editing, October 2010)

When I think editing, I think Robert Rodriguez. Not just because he does his own editing, but for the rhythm and flow he creates through his editing methods. There is no doubt that his films would be completely different with a different editor. I decided to analyse the origin of his technique by looking closely at his debut feature "El Mariachi", to see how it came about and what impact it has on story and style.

Rodrigues Film School: Part 1

Korean Film Downunder 1: Genre and Distribution

This post was originally published over on the KOFFIA Blog, Hungry for Drama?, as part of the Korean Blogathon. I've replicated it here as I feel its quite an interesting time to take a look at the state of Korean cinema in Australia, given it's presence here has not always been as good as it looks today. In this 1st edition I look at Korean DVDs, Genre and Co-productions. At this point in time almost 50 Korean films have been released on DVD, which may not be anywhere near the amount of Japanese films, but is gradually improving. 

 

Observing Kim Ki-duk Part 1: Auteur Origin

When I was instructed to choose a figure to analyse for a voice and vision task as part of my Screen Culture course at AFTRS, a few names immediately came to mind. The one that stuck was the enigmatic unique figure of Kim Ki-duk. An anomaly not only in Korean cinema but in world cinema, I applied the same approach of analysis and pattern recognition on his career as I have on many other directors. Tarantino once stated that the thing he enjoyed doing most was analysing the change in style and quality of a film director over their career, and I am no different. One day I may get around to posting those other analyses here, but for now my look at Kim Ki-duk will have to do. 

2010 Year in Review: My Top 10

The final piece in my 2010 Year in Review, which includes my Film Log of every film I saw, and my At the Cinema analysis for films watched .. at the cinema, is my Top 10 Films of 2010.

Even though the analysis post looked at all the films I saw in the theatre, I have decided not to include classic films such as "Small Soldiers", "Once Upon a Time in the West" and "The Blues Brothers", all of which would have been in this list otherwise. Enjoy!

10. "Shutter Island", USA, Event George St - 19/03/10

I am by no means a Scorsese fan, in fact I despised "The Departed", but apart from a slightly poor ending, I thoroughly enjoyed the mood he established here.