2009. 11.13 NOW PLAYING

Visitors (15)

Drama / 110 / Korean, Japanese, Tagalog

This omnibus film, which was commissioned by the Jeonju Film Festival, consists of three films by three filmmakers from Korea, Japan and the Philippines, respectively. In “Lost in the Mountains,” directed by South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, the visitor is Mi-suk, (Jeong Yu-mi) who goes to see a friend in Jeonju, but runs into her ex-lover and their professor, who is now having an affair with Mi-suk’s friend. In “Koma,” Japanese director Naomi Kawase explores the tumultuous relationship between Korea and Japan through a love story between a third-generation Korean-Japanese man and a Japanese woman in the small village of Koma. And in Lav Diaz’s, “Butterflies Have No Memories,” the inhabitants of a remote island far from the Philippines experience the economic consequences after a Canadian gold mining company withdraws from the island. When a Canadian-born woman raised on the island visits, the situation becomes more and more complex.

Tricks (12)

Drama / 91 / Polish

Producer, director and writer Andrzej Jakimowski gives moviegoers an intimate look at the every day lives of the Polish working class. Six-year-old Stefek is on a search for his father, who abandoned his mother, and he thinks that nothing can stop him from reaching his goal. His older sister Elka helps him by teaching him tricks and he bribes his “fate” through a series of small sacrifices. Eventually, this brings his father to him, but not everything works out as he planned. Stefek must figure out a way to make things right, which makes him take the biggest risk.

Genova (15)

Drama / 93 / English

Colin Firth is Joe, a grief-stricken widow who gets offered a job teaching at an Italian university and moves to Genova with his daughters Mary and Kelly after his wife is killed in a car accident. Though his friends are against the move, the family is in need of a fresh start. Fortunately, they are welcomed by an old friend and fellow alumni, Barbara, who helps them settle into their new home. While Joe adjusts to his new job, he finds it difficult to look after his daughters. The younger daughter, Mary, finds comfort in Barbara and warms up to her, but rebellious and defiant Kelly wants to go off on her own. British director Michael Winterbottom (“A Mighty Heart”) returns with a heartfelt film about a family trying to deal with grief while living in a new country.

A Camel Doesn’t Leave Desert (18)

Drama / 74 / Korean

After Yeong-gwang (Kim Nak-hyeong) is released from prison, he returns to his hometown. His mother has passed away and the rest of his family doesn’t welcome him with open arms. Before his mother passed away, she left him some money, so Yeong-gwang buys some land and dreams of a new and better life with a widow he meets. Unfortunately, due to his stubborn nature, he finds things are not working out as he had planned and he starts to watch his life slowly start to crumble.

2012 (12)

Thriller, Drama, Sci-Fi / 157 / English

When word of mass suicide in the Mayan jungles gets out, a secret organization begins to build survival arks beneath the Himalayan Mountains to save the human race. When arguments about who and how they’ll survive becomes an issue, the government must find a way to get everyone to the ships before the global cataclysm wipes everything and everyone out. The plot centers around the prediction made by the Mayan Long Count Calendar signaling the end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012, and a group of survivors, including Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), who is a science fiction writer and occasional limousine driver. Jackson isn’t convinced about what the government tells them and knows that the apocalypse is near. He and his family must find a way to get onto the arks before it’s too late.

Fortune Salon (15)

Comedy / 119 / Korean

This romantic comedy tells the story of Tae-rang (Park Ye-jin), a famous fortune-teller who runs her own salon in the ritzy Cheongdam area. Tae-rang not only charms her clients with her beautiful looks, she’s also renowned for a fortune-telling ability that brings other people success. Ironically, however, she cannot use her gifts to give herself a good future, especially when it comes to love. According to her mother, she’s destined to be a spinster unless she meets someone who was born at 11 p.m. on May 16, 1978, before she turns 28. Soon after, she gets into a car accident and meets her ex-boyfriend, as well as a new guy, Seung-won (Im Chang-jeong), who is unemployed. When she gets involved with both men, she must decide if she’ll choose fate or love.

These synopses were culled from htt://www.imdb.com and http://movie.naver.com.