Review: My Girlfriend is an Agent / 7급 공무원 (2009)

Made four years later, ‘My Girlfriend is an Agent’ is the Korean version of the 2005 Hollywood movie ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’, about a couple who are actually both secret agents, but neither of them are aware of the others real identity. While that movie may have garnered only average reviews, clearly the formula was an attractive one for it to be remade, and in one of the movie worlds ironies, it’s now the Korean version of the concept which is being remade as a Bollywood movie, ’22 Tango’, also four years after its original release.

Reuniting the on-screen pair of Kang Ji-hwan (‘Rough Cut / 영화는 영화다’) & Kim Ha-neul (‘You Pet / 너는 펫’), who previously worked together on the 2006 drama ’90 Days, Time to Love / 90일, 사랑할 시간’, ‘My Girlfriend is an Agent’ makes for a lively and fun ride under the direction of Sin Tae-ra, who couldn’t be making a more different movie than his previous effort, the 2007 horror ‘Black House / 검은 집’.

Interview: "Burp" with Park Geun-tae

In recent times we have featured special interviews here on the KOFFIA blog with up and coming filmmakers from Korea. In case you missed them, we will list them here for you, so that you can learn more about the people behind the films, but also to inspire all of those buddying filmmakers out there.

From KOFFIA we have "Remember O Goddess", an interview with Lee Yoon-Jung, "An Education", an interview with Cho Yong-Won, "See You Tomorrow", an interview with Lee Woo-jung, "Ghost", an interview with Dahci Ma, "Fly By Night", an interview with Son Tae-gyum, "Examination", an interview with Judy Suh and finally, "A Brand New Journey", an interview with Kim Hee-jin

From Cinema on the Park we had "A Glaring Night", an interview with Lee Mi-ji, "Making Noise in Silence", an interview with Mina Son and "Kowi", an interview with Mary-Jo Tohill. Today we begin a new program of interviews with short film directors whose shorts are featured in this years Cinema on the Park lineup. 

We will be providing them in Korean and English and hope you feel a greater connection to the films. Special thanks to all the distributors that assisted with the interviews. Today's interview is with the director of BURP, Park Geun-tae. It's a fun, lively and vidid short animation about a battle with alien invaders through biological warfare. A must see!

There're a truck driver on a foggy hillside road and a big pig. 

Suddenly some UFO's that turned up from somewhere attacked them. 

What would be their fate?

Your KOFFIA Experience

Happy 2013 from everyone here at the KOFFIA Team!

Last year we had a great festival which once again managed to connect with audiences. After the festival period, we asked the attendees of KOFFIA 2012 to tell us about their experience. We had a wide variety of entries, and here we are highlighting a couple. Overall we are delighted that everyone had a great time at the festival, and cant wait for #KOFFIA2013!

Review: A Frozen Flower / 쌍화점 (2008)

A packed audience for A FROZEN FLOWER

The Korean Culture Office kicked off its 2013 Cinema on the Park lineup with a figurative bang this week with the showing of the 2008 movie ‘A Frozen Flower / 쌍화점’. I remember the movie opening in Korea five years ago under a hailstorm of hype, as movie internet sites buzzed about “graphic gay sex scenes”, “forced castration”, & “full frontal nudity”. ‘A Frozen Flower’ was controversial before it had even hit the cinema screen, and the KCO was clearly looking to match that controversy by showing it at 6:30pm on a pleasant Thursday evening in January.

Review: Happy Ero Christmas / 해피 에로 크리스마스 (2003)

Cinema on the Park’s 2012 lineup closed out with the wonderfully titled ‘Happy Ero Christmas’, a movie which pretty much demands a viewing just based on its name alone. The only movie by director Lee Geong-dong, the movie stars Cha Tae-hyeon (Speedy Scandal / 과속스캔들) as a down on his luck patrolman and Kim Seon-ah (She’s On Duty / 잠복근무) as a shy bowling alley attendant, whom as with any Korean romantic comedy, somehow have to end up together.

During this period of his career, made just a couple of years after the seminal ‘My Sassy Girl / 엽기적인 그녀’, Tae-hyeon was still being typecast as the underachiever with a heart of gold, and in this particular movie he seems to be playing a carbon copy of his character from ‘My Sassy Girl’ more than ever. Still, considering it was the kind of goofy charm that he pulls of so well that lead to his popularity, that’s not necessarily such a bad thing.