Kimchi Mamas

In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee

I had the privilege of watching the film In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival last month. Deann Borshay Liem produced and directed the film and it's sort of a follow up to her first film, First Person Plural, which is a documentary film about her experience as an international adoptee.

The auditorium of the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley was packed for this world premiere. The audience was very diverse and a group of Korean American adoptees were there as well, as an organized event by AKASF.

North Korea

Saturday night, I watched the film Crossing, about a North Korean man who crosses the border into China in search of food and medicine for his pregnant wife.  I bought the DVD at an event hosted at Stanford where the guest of honor was Shin Dong Hyuk, the only person to have escaped from Camp Number 14, a political concentration camp (Thanks Glennia for the heads up about the event!).  He was born and raised there and saw his mother and brother executed in front of his eyes for attempting to escape.

Through Google Earth, he showed us where the camp was, and the barbed fencing that encloses the entire camp.  He pointed out the prisoners' housing, the pig farm, the guards' housing, and the execution grounds. He pointed also to the school where children are taught to read and write, and basic math skills that are necessary for labor, nothing more.

The Old Man and the Cow

The LA Times has a touching story about a beleaguered South Korean couple, rural farmers made suddenly famous by a documentary made about them and their old cow. "Old Partner" is playing with English subtitles right now at a theatre in LA's Koreatown and if I can manage to escape baby-watching duties for a few hours, I think I might go this weekend. Maybe I'll see you there?

- Nina

*Hands Over My Eyes*

Late last night as I was channel surfing, I came across the "Sundance Channel" (I just upgraded my tv programming and am discovering the truth about how even though there are 500 channels  there's still nothing good on . . .).  But last night was one of those rare instances where what was on was something I actually wanted to watch.

It was a 2006 Korean "gangster" film titled "A Dirty Carnival".  And lemme tell you it was good. The story was a good blend of drama, action and (what I like to call) 'Korean tragedy'.  I was a little disappointed in the ending, but I watch enough Korean films to know not to expect too happy an ending.  Without giving away too much, the film really lived up to it's spirit.

Why am I bringing this up?

Planet B-Boy

I just have to rave about a documentary I saw last weekend with my family. Planet B-Boy takes you into the world of modern day breakdancing battles. From the film's official web site:

With compelling characters and vibrant dance sequences, PLANET B-BOY is set in the international world of b-boying - the urban dance more commonly known as "breakdancing." Weaving between the vivid backdrops of Osaka, Paris, Seoul and Las Vegas, unforgettable images frame the intimate stories of dancer who struggle for their dreams despite being misunderstood by larger society and even their own families. An American dancer in Vegas looks for his big break; a Korean son seeks his father's approval; a twelve-year old boy in France confronts his family's racism - all the b-boy's lives collide in Germany when their skills are put to the ultimate test: the "Battle of the Year" finals, with crews from 18 countries vying for the title of world champion.

There's one scene where one of the Korean crews runs back to their room after eating at the school cafeteria and they're making rice in their rice cookers and talking about how they hope the kimchee doesn't run out and I just laughed and laughed. I know the feeling!!

Like the documentary RIZE!, I just really appreciated getting to know the people behind the phenomenon of the dance and it was interesting to see how dancers around the world interpret b-boying as both an athletic and artistic expression.

When I was in Korea last summer for the IKAA Gathering, we were treated to a performance by the amazing group Last For One which was one of the featured teams in this documentary.

-- Jae Ran

Premiere of “The Air I Breathe”

My friend, Jieho Lee, director- and screenwriter-extraordinaire, sent an email out this weekend with details of his film’s premiere. So without further ado, an introduction in his words:

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Dear Friends,

I hope this email finds you all well and starting off 2008 on a great note. As most of you know, my first feature film “The Air I Breathe” will be hitting theaters soon and I just wanted to give you all a warm shout and ask you to please come out and support the cause — and of course, to help spread the word!!

The film is a low budget indie — but we were able to wrangle a pretty talented cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Brendan Fraser, Andy Garcia, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emile Hirsch, Kevin Bacon, Julie Delpy, Kelly Hu, John Cho and Clark Gregg.

Eye on South Korea

CNN is running a series called Eye on South Korea, including a story on the Korean Wave. Check it out.

(Via Angry Asian Man.)

--Weigook Saram

Brought To You By Your Friendly Neighborhood Korean

I get very nervous and uncomfortable by attention directed at me. (Yes this is weird considering I blog but I never said I wasn’t nuts.) So my first post here is an attempt at deflection.

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I have two congratulations/advertisements in regards to two (Korean) high school friends:

Jieho Lee, an up-and-coming director and more importantly, one of the nicest guys I know, recently debuted his film—for which he directed and co-wrote the script—The Air I Breathe, at Tribeca Film Festival. I’ve been bugging him about its nationwide release date which is still TBD. I’m sure you’ll hear about it as it’s been well-received thus far and stars several heavyweights such as Forest Whitaker, Brendan Fraser, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kevin Bacon and fellow Asians Kelly Hu and John Cho. (I’m dropping names here because I’m especially lame and he’s especially cool with access to, you know, celebrities.)

Movie Review: The Host

We recently went to see The Host (Gwoemul) by Korean director Bong Joon-ho.  If you haven't heard about it, it's a monster movie from South Korea that has gotten fairly wide distribution in the US.  I was delighted and a bit surprised to see a movie in Korean at our local multiplex.  Although the actors in the trailer are speaking English, the movie is mostly in Korean with subtitles.

When I first heard about it, I thought it would be like those awful Godzilla movies that my husband and son love to torture me with on Saturday nights. Is it just me, or do other people have children who like to sing "mo-su-ra, mo-su-ra" in an attempt to summon a giant moth to save Tokyo? 

Anyway, the premise of The Host is based on a real-life incident in which a US Army official forced an underling to dump toxic chemicals into a drain leading to the Han River.  In the movie version, the chemicals lead to a mutant creature that grows to epic proportions, and surfaces one sunny day to terrorize people hanging out in the park beside the river.  This leads to a campaign of government "misinformation" to try to downplay the monster's existence and threat.

The Namesake

Last night I watched a movie in a theater for the first time since August.  And it was for work.  But it was an incredible film.

The Namesake is based on the book by Jhumpa Lahiri, and the film is directed by Mira Nair, and stars Kal Penn (in a very un-Kumar role).

One of the main themes is about names, how we own these, how we connect to these in terms of our identities.  I know so many people who have struggled with this - people who were renamed by teachers in kindergarten, people with names like Sukhi who go by Sam instead. 

But the part that resonated most with me was the story of the parents - how they struggled to balance their relationship and their lives with the hopes and dreams that they had for their kids.  More than identifying with Kal Penn/Gogol like I did when I read the book, this time, I felt for the plight of his mom Tabu/Ashima.  It's one of those films that makes you want to go and call/visit your parents when it's over.  It made me think about what I expect out of a life partner and the work that goes in to making a truly loving marriage.

I'm not saying that the film was perfect.  It had its flaws and it's oh-too-Hollywood moments.  But overall, I enjoyed it.  I appreciated it for adding one more multi-layered example of life in Asian America.

The film is open in NYC and LA now, and will be opening in wider distribution over the next couple of weeks.  If you get a chance (and a babysitter), go check out it out.