2012.12.14 NOW Playing
Drama, Romance / 102 / Korean
Eun-hyeok (Baek Seong-hyeon) and his gang often bully and take money from others. They are also frequently involved in fights with another gang of ethnic Koreans who moved from China for territorial control. A thorn in the side of Eun-hyeok is Gil-nam (Kim Joo-young), the boss of the opposite gang.
Meanwhile, Eun-hyeok meets and falls in love with Ching Ching (Jung Joo-yeon), an ethnic Korean woman who aspires to be a singer in Korea. The pure and innocent personality of Ching Ching leads Eun-hyeok to look back on his past filled with fistfights and verbal abuse, among other transgressions. The protagonist tries to reconcile with the ethnic Koreans, but a case involving Yoon-sik (Park Jae-hoon), a wicked loan shark, strains relationships with the ethnic community in China. The debut feature film by Kim Geon portrays tumultuous teen years and explores how teens deal with such periods.
Drama, Romance / 105 / German
Inspired by true events, “Remembrance” captures the bravely forged bond of two lovers in the dark shadow of Holocaust, lost in war.
The story takes place in a German concentration camp in 1944 Poland, German Jew Hannah Silberstein (Alice Dwyer) knows that trying to stay invisible is the way to get through the war. Polish partisan Tomasz (Mateusz Damiecki) falls deeply in love with Hannah and attempts to rescue her from the camp. They survive a treacherous journey to freedom and struggle to start a new life, but are forcibly separated in the chaos of the war and each assumes the other is dead.
Three decades pass and Hannah (Dagmar Manzel) is living a normal life with a happy family. One day by chance, she sees someone who resembles her former Polish lover on television. Baffled and conflicted, Hannah must now face up to her memories. She embarks on a search for her lost love.
One Day (15)
Drama, Romance / 107 / English
Adapted from David Nicholl’s 2009 novel of the same name, “One Day” depicts two people whose lives intersect for 20 years. On July 15, 1988, two happily drunk college graduates, Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess), encounter each other. After their one night love affair, they decide to remain friends.
Their lives cannot be any more different. Ambitious Emma strives to fulfill her dream of making the world a better place and ultimately become a writer.
On the other hand, affluent and popular Dexter basks in the presence of women, working as a television presenter on a raucous late-night television show.
For the next two decades, the snapshots of their lives on July 15 are revealed. Sometimes, they share the moments together and sometimes apart. Their friendship suffers, but they are brought together through various circumstances. What is bound to happen for the both may be a surprise, if you have yet to read the No. 1 international best seller.
Comedy / 94 / English
After Kevin (Drake Bell), a high school senior, gets dumped by his girlfriend for being too dull, he and his geek friends are determined to have an unforgettable, obnoxious weekend to get his mind off her. The three high school friends take a trip out to a local college as prospective students for the weekend.
Once there, one of the rowdiest fraternities subjects the boys to humiliation and mortifying pranks. For their suffering, however, they are granted access to the college party scene. At the party, the boys somehow manage to attract attention of older sorority girls. As jealousy rises and pranks get worse, the high school boys are forced to take action. “College” stars Drake Bell as the sensitive bore, Kevin Covais as the pale geek and Andrew Caldwell as the overweight joker.
Adventure, Fantasy / 166 / English
The first of a three-part series of “The Hobbit” is finally in theaters, much to the delight of “Lord of the Rings” followers, also known as Ringers. Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel of the same name published in 1937, the epic adventure film is a prequel to the Rings trilogy that was also directed by Peter Jackson. Many critics have voiced complaints that the movie is simply too long, therefore slow at times. However, if that slowness of plot comes with a backdrop of beautiful New Zealand landscapes shot at a high frame rate, one is hard-pressed to find the movie dull. The much-talked-about part of the feature in the techie blogosphere is the high frame rate, uncommon in productions of such a large-scale epic features. While some audience members raved at how real the scenes felt, especially viewed in 3-D, others commented that it made the movie feel like behind-the-scenes takes or even a BBC production of a drama documentary.
The story follows mild-tempered hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, long ago conquered by Smaug, the dragon. Appointed by Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellan) to carry out a fateful task, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of 13 dwarves led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield. In the process of escaping from the deadly goblin tunnels, Bilbo is separated from the cohort and encounters a gurgling, balding Gollum, a schizophrenic hobbit-turned-unidentified creature played by the brilliant Andy Serkis with a help from CGI technology. To say that the acting by Freeman, McKellan and Serkis is superb is an understatement and they will undoubtedly claim accolades in coming awards ceremonies. The movie is released nationwide and can be viewed in 4-D as well as at the high frame rate at select theaters.
The Words (15)
Drama, Romance / 102 / English
Three stories are intertwined to complete “The Words,” starring famous actors like Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana.
Successful novelist, Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid) publicly reads from his latest book, “The Words.” The book unravels a story of a struggling writer Rory Jansen (Badley Cooper) who accidentally discovers a remarkable manuscript in a worn leather satchel his wife Dora (Zoe Saldana) bought for him in Paris. Floored by the work with no clue to whom the work belongs, Rory is put to the moral test. He decides to type up the piece - about a World War II love affair of a girl and a soldier - as his own. Soon, the work is turned into a publishing phenomenon, with Rory thrust into the public spotlight. Rory relishes the adulation but becomes insecure he will never be as talented as the writer he plagiarized.
The anxiety mounts when he is one day confronted by an elderly man (Jeremy Irons) who speaks of Rory’s work and recounts the passionate World War II romance that inspired his creation, revealing himself as the unsung author of the secret manuscript.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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