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I've made no secret of my admiration for Korea's wonderful film schools, which are responsible for some of the best professionals working in the industry today. One such institution is the Korean Academy of Film Arts (Kafa), a government-sponsored school affiliated with the Korean Film Council that sports such illustrious alumni as Bong Joon-ho (Memories of Murder, Snowpiercer). A few years ago, Kafa began to make full-blown feature length films as graduation projects (with the support of industry giant Cj Entertainment) and the results have been formidable. 2010 featured the one-two punch of Bleak Night and End of Animal while 2011's crop included Choked and Mirage. The major Kafa-produced films from 2012 were Your Time Is Up, which had its world premiere as part of...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

A Werewolf Boy (2012)

a.k.a. “Neukdae Sonyeon”

Directed by: Jo Sung-hee

Distributed by: Cj Entertainment

Starring: Song Joong-ki, Park Bo-young

Release date(s): September 11, 2012 (Tiff), October 31, 2012 (Korea)

*Please see below for a confirmed list theaters releasing in North America.

A Werewolf Boy has drawn over 2.5 million viewers after only ten days of its release and has received critical acclaim.

Despite the upcoming international release of billion dollar franchise and supernatural counterpart Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, the film still remains at No. 1 in the box office and No. 1 in advance sales, with 28.91% of all advances sales in the box office.

In North America, the film has received glowing early notices at film festivals, including Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and Hawaii International Film Festival.

Anderson Le of Hiff says, “One of the best Korean films of the year!” and Giovanni Fulvi describes the film as “An...

What follows is an exchange between Josh Timmermann (a fellow critic and Vancouver resident, who you may recall from this) and I, wherein we discuss the Vancouver International Film Festival and its individual parts, a chance to color outside the lines a bit and discuss the ins and outs of our festival experiences.

Context!

Above: Granville 7 Theatre, Viff's primary venue.

Adam Cook: I’ve been attending Viff since 2008—and you’ve been attending since 2007—so it seems kind of safe to say we’re well on our way to being veterans of the festival; although, this claim is humbled when encountering someone like Chuck Stephens—a member of this year’s Dragons & Tigers jury—who has been coming (from out of town, no less) for something like twenty years. However, five years of Viff-going has equipped me with a knack for knowing how to approach the festival, how to navigate the programming—and,...

Who is Jo Sung-hee? Judging this young director by his first two feature film may be a lot like pinning down a psychological profile on Dr. Henry Jekyll. Jo's first feature, End of Animal (2010), was a very idiosyncratic quasi-religious doomsday variation with muddy meaning but clear vision. Contrary to those beginnings, his new film, A Werewolf Boy, is a not-so-subtle big budget South Korean divergence on the Twilight franchise that plans on hitting the mainstream right between the eyes. Sold on the fresh faces of Park Bo-young and Song Joong-ki, this coming-of-age melodrama doesn't even seem tempted to step outside the boundaries of familiar film conjecture of boy meets girl. In this case, it is a sweet yet genetically modified feral boy meets strong-willed...

End Of Animal Review [Sfiff]

I'd like to avoid terms like post-apocalyptic when describing Sung-Hee Jo's End of Animal. But it's necessary. Please do not conjure images of 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, or anything by by Roland Emmerich. It's much closer to the almost-great movie The Road by John Hillcoat, in that there is no emphasis on the how or why. But more on the immediate and up close and personal effects it would have on a group of individuals. This is a healthy reminder to anyone that were something like to happen say, here in America, would it really matter who did it, when, and why--the Chinese or the Russians? Not really. It's this nearly clinical standpoint of the film that keep its message and atmosphere timeless, avoiding avenues that might make it more culturally relevant to South Korea (the film's origin), and less so to any other group of viewers.