Tag Archives: Love

My Dear Enemy

Korean Film Nights

Single, jobless and broke, 30-something Hee-soo is miserable. To get back on her feet she comes up with a plan to track down her ex, Byoung-woon, and re-claim the 3 ½ million won he owes her.
Byoung-woon is also penniless but surprisingly happy for he knows the girls who are willing to give him money. Afraid Byoung-woon may run off before clearing his debt, Hee-soo follows him as he visits many girls to borrow money, so the two ex-love birds set out on a one day journey to collect money, and memory.

KCC Multi-purpose Hall

 

Sa-kwa

Korean Film Nights

7pm February 28, 2013

Multi Purpose Hall

Sa-kwa

After seven years, Hyeon-jeong is dumped by Min-Seok. Broken and teetering on the brink of and emotional collapse she dedicates herself to finding a new suitor and to get married as soon as possible. She meets Sang-hoo, an awkward man, who Hyeon-jeong is attracted by his shy demeanour, and makes the conscious decision to marry him-until Min-Seok decides he’s made a mistake and wants to get back together with her.

East-West encounters

Yesterday while I was reading a book I had bought few weeks ago I found few interesting paragraphs..

‘In sex, the comedy of misunderstanding between East and West is what arouses Wester men so much. But most fantasies are about strangers, not the people we live with. As tales, they are cruel, detached, anonymous; they revolve around submission, degradation, and symbolic rape.’……

‘Intentionally or otherwise, however, the East-West encounter is nearly always redeemed by being slightly comical, but it’s not a comedy which has any vicious intent. The Western man is not being mocked, nor is the Eastern woman. It is a difficult waltz to describe, but it could be called a quick, knowing dance of perfectly intentional ignorance. It’s a way of making sex innocent again’.

I’ve been thinking about my encounters with Eastern women…

I’m confused.

This Charming Girl

7pm, August 09, 2012

Multi-Purpose Hall, KCCUK

Jeong-hae (Kim Ji-soo) works at a postoffice. She lives near her workplace in a flat. In her secluded life only her plants and a cat she did pick up off the streets keep her company. She mainly eats instant noodles and oftentimes orders something out from the Home Shopping Channel’s commercials.
Except getting something to eat in her lunch break with her female colleagues, she avoids any contact to other people. Slowly, one gets to know a little bit more of her past, her dead mother and an old friend, who suddenly steps into her life again.
Jeong-hae did get some mental wounds in her past, but she decides to go on with life. When she often meets a writer (Hwang Jung-min) in the postoffice, she takes her chances and invites him for dinner. Can Jeong-hae really love again, despite her tragic past?

(English Subtitle)

Poetry reading: The Undying Day

14 February 2012, 2:00 – 4:00pm

Daiwa Foundation Japan House

Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

Hans Brinckmann, author of The Undying Day: Poems by Hans Brinckmann, will be reading a selection of his poems followed by translations by Hiromi Mizoguchi. After the reading, there will be a discussion on the writing and translation of poetry.

Brinckmann’s book The Undying Day: Poems by Hans Brinckmann, contains a selection of poems written over the past half-century. Only a few of them have a Japanese theme, but with the Japanese market in mind, the book shows the poems side by side with Japanese translations by Hiromi Mizoguchi.

Unconstrained by locale or subject matter, Brinckmann’s lines illuminate the marvel of love and ponder life’s irretrievable losses.  He is no stranger to whimsy either, nor to the search for life’s ultimate meaning.

The book, The Undying Day: Poems by Hans Brinckmann, will be available to purchase on the day, as well as Brinckmann’s latest book of fiction, The Tomb in the Kyoto Hills.

Hans Brinckmann

Hans Brinckmann, born in The Hague, joined an international Dutch bank after graduating from high school in 1950. The following year, he was transferred to Japan, where he lived for the next 24 years. In 1986 he was made him an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau for cultural and business accomplishments in Japan and the USA. He left banking early and turned to writing in Amsterdam, London and Sydney before settling again in Japan in 2003. His publications since then include: The Magatama Doodle, a Japan memoir (2005); Noon Elusive, a collection of short stories (2006); Showa Japan, a history of post-war Japan (2008); and The Tomb in the Kyoto Hills (2011).

Hiromi Mizoguchi

Hiromi Mizoguchi is a translator, born in Tokyo. Mizoguchi obtained an MA from the Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University. Her translation work includes the Japanese versions of The Magatama Doodle and Showa Japan.

BOOKING FORM

M

January 12, 2012

Lee Myung-Se

Hallucinations and nightmares torment up-and-coming young author Min-woo (Gang Dong-Won). He cannot concentrate on his new work, the much-anticipated follow-up to his first successful novel, nor can he lead a normal life. Old photos and images he does not recognize – though they are somehow familiar – materialize from the darkness as if developed in a darkroom. Haunted by these spectres of memories he can’t remember, he drags himself through days of confusion and alienation. Mimi (Lee Yeon-Hee), a beautiful young woman, follows him around like one completely lost in love. As Mimi intones the notes of “Mist” (popular song from 1960’s) for him, long-ago recollections sparkle in the darkness of his mind as if illuminated by flashbulbs. Flickering memories of his first love claim his concentration, calling for him to remember.

Underwater Love

Dir:

Shinji Imaoka

Writer:

Shinji Imaoka, Fumio Moriya

Cast:

Sawa Masaki, Yoshiro Umezawa, Ai Narita, Mutsuo Yoshioka

From Germany’s Rapid Eye Movies and Japan’s Kokuei Company comes a whimsical pink film musical about a woman and a sea creature.

Directed by pink-film veteran Shinji IMAOKA (Lunch Box, Frog Song), shot by Christopher Doyle – the famed cinematographer behind Hero and countless films by Wong Kar Wai – and with music by Germany’s Stereo Total, Underwater Love – A Pink Musical promises to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

Asuka works in a lakeside fish factory. She is just about to be married to her boss. One day, she encounters a Kappa, a water creature living in the lake and learns that it is the reincarnation of Aoki, her first love. What ensues is a zany spectacle of love, music and sex.

DVD Release Date:

November 21st, 2011

DVD Specifications:

Anamorphic widescreen with removable english subtitles

DVD Bonus Features:

3 Interviews with Christopher Doyle. Interview with Shinji Imaoka. Behind the Scenes footage. Theatrical Trailer. First 2,000 copies include a limited edition soundtrack CD by Stereo Total

Villain

Villain

19 August – 8 September

Dir:

Lee Sang-il

Writer:

Shuichi Yoshida, Lee Sang-il

Cast:
 Satoshi Tsumabuki, Eri Fukatsu, Masaki Okada, Hikari Mitsushima, Kirin Kiki

Yuichi (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is a construction worker who has lived his entire life in a dreary fishing village. With no girlfriend or friends, he spends his days working and looking after his grandparents, with no enjoyment in life other than his car. Meanwhile, Mitsuyo (Eri Fukatsu) also lives a monotonous life pacing between the men’s clothing store where she works and the apartment where she lives with her sister. When the two lonely souls meet using an online dating site, they immediately fall in love with each other. But there’s a secret Yuichi had been keeping from Mitsuyo: Yuichi is the one suspected of killing the woman whose body was found at Mitsue Pass only a few days before…

As Yuichi and his new lover try to elude the police, the events that led up to the murder and its aftermath are revealed. We learn the stories of the victim, the murderer, and their families – stories of loneliness, love hotels, violence and desperation, exposing the inner lives of men and woman who are not everything they appear to be.

Who is the true “villain” here?

For more information and booking click here.

 

Korean Film Night

Sakwa (2008)

Kang Yi-kwan

7:00pm, April 28 2011
Genre: Drama

Cast: Moon So-ri, Kim Tae-woo, Lee Sun-kyun
*Sakwa is homonym of apple and apology in Korean.

Hyun-jung’s first love of seven years, Min-suk, has coldly left her. A man named Sang-hoon appears with a business card and a bouquet of flowers. Hyun-jung breaks down into tears and decides to marry Sang-hoon with the belief that no one in this world con love her as much. After their marriage, two conflicting views of love collide. During this division, Min-suk reappears unable to erase her memories and confesses his love for her. Hyun-jung is left a state of confusion. (KOFIC)

Multi Purpose Hall, KCCUK

BOOKING