What's Korean Cinema? (Podcast on Fire Network)

Korean cinema creativity also goes on in the short movie community, whether the big profiles are experimenting with the format or your lesser known directors. So in this episode we’ll be looking at six different ones using a variety of techniques, going back as far as 2003’s Doggy Poo and up to 2018’s Polaroid. With […]

The Action Kid Ryoo Seung-wan plants a plethora of characters in the same arena, with the central piece being money, to see how they connect, interact and just how much they are able to beat the crap out of each other in No Blood No Tears from 2002. With Kenny B and Hangul Celluloid’s Paul Quinn. […]

Criminal shoots himself in front of his twin brother who’s a cop. Cop goes back to his old gang in the village and may or may not be acting as his dead twin brother. Violence and a quirky tone ensues in Kilimanjaro from 2000. With Kenny B and Hangul Celluloid’s Paul Quinn. Running Times:  00m 00s […]

Korean urban legend wrapped in a horror package with some emotional oomph to it, which means we’ll examine if Huh Jung’s The Mimic strikes a balance between approachable local and international horror. With Kenny B and Hangul Celluloid’s Paul Quinn. The Mimic is out now on dvd and digital HD from Arrow Films and we thank […]

The sassy girl Jun Ji-hyun takes a left turn from out of control girl in romantic comedies to playing a woman with narcolepsy who sees her babies die in front of her. Nothing is cheery, melodramatic or quirky anymore in the psychological horror movie The Uninvited from 2003. With Kenny B and Hangul Celluloid’s Paul Quinn. Running […]

You can take a far more gentle approach to North Korean infiltration into South Korea, as opposed to the animalistic, head chopping ways in Shiri, and when you’re a screenwriter making your directorial debut, it makes sense it is less noisy and more story driven. This is what you’ll face in Kim Hyeon-jeong’s Double Agent from […]

The characters try and prevent South Korea from going boom but 1999’s Shiri went boom commercially and perhaps without the spark it set off commercially, Korean cinema would look a lot different today. The new Korean cinema wave starts here. With Kenny B and Hangul Celluloid’s Paul Quinn. Running Times:  00m 00s – Intro/Shiri production background. 33m […]

Choi Min-sik may say he’s a bad guy in Springtime but this is as far removed from any scenes involving hammers or eating live animals on screen. No, Choi Min-sik gets taken down a notch, brought into warmth in Ryu Jang-ha’s 2004 drama. With Kenny B and Paul Quinn of Hangul Celluloid. Running Times:  00m 00s […]

Director Bae Chang-ho does picture esque slice of village life of a hundred years ago or so in a rather unremarkable remarkable film called My Heart from 1999. Featuring the adventures of Bag lady and Pot Boy. Kenny B and Paul Quinn of Hangul Celluloid break it all down for you. Includes the story of Paul meeting […]

The director of The Chaser and The Yellow Sea is back, this time with a long, horror movie that was one of the big hitters of Korean cinema in 2016. With Kenny B and Paul Quinn of Hangul Celluloid. Running Times:  00m 00s – Intro/Na Hong-jin’s career so far 34m 21s – The Wailing review Contact the […]

The black and white mindbender of 1965? Lee Yong-min’s career may be hard to research but his nightmare fuel in the form A Bloodthirsty Killer was thankfully discovered and now Kenny B and Paul Quinn of Hangul Celluloid review it as well talk of the career of the director. Running Times:  00m 00s – Lee Yong-min biography […]

How do you get good critical notices and audience-appeal working the crowded zombie genre? Well, you make a good one. That’s what Yeon Sang-ho did with 2016’s Train To Busan. With Kenny B and Paul Quinn of Hangul Celluloid. Running Times:  00m 00s – Yeon Sang-ho biography & discussion 33m 25s – Train To Busan review Contact the […]

We talk of a director and his last movie before passing away at a young age. But we also talk of a director that was so revered and still is so we’ll have a meaty bio and discussion about what made Lee Man-hee so admired as well as reviewing his last movie The Road To […]

For the 30th episode of What’s Korean Cinema, we return to reviewing something from the cannon of one of the key figures out of the early millenium new wave Korean cinema: Park Chan-wook. But he has proven to be of value to the scene even today and we’ll be looking at is his 2016 erotic […]

From Shin Sang-ok, our legendary man that would end up in North Korea making movies has made low budget crime films, enticing horror and now from 1961, we get a black and white romance called Mother And A Guest. Running Times:  00m 00s – Intro/Shin Sang-ok biography & discussion 27m 14s – Mother And A Guest […]

Want to be kicked in the balls, experience complex psychology and be filled with positivity? Korea made one such movie for ya and it’s 2008’s A Man Who Was Superman. Starring the sassy girl, we’ll tell you all about it. With Kenny B and Hangul Celluloid‘s Paul Quinn. Running Times:  00m 00s – Intro/Jeong Yoon-cheol biography […]

On this episode, we go back to 1983’s Declaration Of Idiot, directed by Lee Jang-ho. A silly, little art film from a director who didn’t want anyone to like it. It’s now considered a classic. Running Times:  00m 00s – Intro/Production-background 28m 32s – Lee Jang-ho biography & discussion 41m 40s – Declaration Of Idiot review Contact […]

Based on the true story of Korean’s first serial killer, Kenny B and Hangul Celluloid’s Paul Quinn look back on Bong Joon-ho’s critically acclaimed and audience juggernaut Memories Of Murder. Running Times:  00m 00s – Intro/Production-background 12m 30s – Bong Joon-ho biography & discussion 37m 50s – Memories Of Murder review Contact the show via email at po...

Kenny B and Korean cinema expert Paul Quinn of Hangul Celluloid share their views on 1960’s The Aimless Bullet (considered the best Korean movie ever made), its director and legacy. Running Times:  00m 00s – Intro/Production-background 20m 05s – Yu Hyun-mok biography & discussion 36m 04s – The Aimless Bullet review Contact the show via email at podcastonfire at googlema...

Your hosts take you back to the controversy the little film Lies, about S & M, caused in 1999. Running Times:  00m 00s – Intro/Lies-novel and author Jang Jung-il discussion 10m 57s – Jang Sun-woo biography & discussion/Lies-controversy 33m 17s – Lies review Contact the show via email at podcastonfire at googlemail.com, on our Facebook page and Facebook group or Twitter (@...

Sexual awakening after a lifeless marriage… excuse for T & A or an attempt to deconstruct in a mature AND adult way? We’ll see what 1982’s Madam Aema holds as we review and discuss it. Running Times:  00m 00s – Intro/Movie-series and censorship background 24m 48s – Jeong In-yeob biography & discussion 28m 49s – Madam […]

Bringing the unsettling, elegant, focused and dramatic, Kim Ji-woon’s A Tale Of Two Sisters is up for discussion. Does it hold a grip on audiences still or has rampant horror clichés outside of it diminished its power? Find out with Kenny B and Hangul Celluloid’s Paul Quinn. Running Times:  00m 00s – Intro/Movie- and production […]

Way before his kidnapping by Kim Jong-il or possible defection to North Korea, Shin Sang-ok honed his important voice in South Korean cinema and creating diverse work. Ranging from the gritty, documentary style thriller Flower In Hell to this widescreen period horror about a familiar trope and content within Korean film and TV. The fox […]

From a director who makes the most out of his sporadic filmmaking, we find Lee Chang-dong directing a lead performance with enough acting for 3 movies. So is his 140 minute drama Secret Sunshine from 2007, about grief, belief and emotional trauma worth the investment. Or do we need to watch vidoes of puppies to […]

For episode 19, we cover the oldest Korean movie with recorded sound in existence that also is the shortest Korean movie discussed on this show. And hence maybe the shortest episode we’re ever likely to record. Brevity is an art not practised today, in Korea and elsewhere but anyway, the movie is Sweet Dream from […]