Mental Illness, Cancer and Melodrama

Michael Shannon is marvellous as a man on the edge in Take Shelter - a film that mixes horror, thriller and drama - highly recommended. It may even make it into my top ten of 2011. You can read my review over on Cinetalk.

50/50 is another excellent film out this week. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is wonderful in the lead role of this comedy about cancer. It could have gone horribly wrong, but due to a strong script from Will Reiser it manages to strike the balance between comedy and drama. 

You can read my review on Cinetalk

The Deep Blue Sea should have made me cry but it just didn't. Wonderful to watch and captures the era perfectly. I would recommend catching it at the cinema as it looks so beautiful. 

You can read my review on Cinetalk

Interview with Ryoo Seung-wan

Korean Director Ryoo Seung-wan's films ooze cool.

Die Bad was his debut feature back in 2000 and it is a violent commentary on gang violence. I would recommend catching it if you can. I also loved the insane music pumped out at intervals throughout the film. The London Korean Film Festival showed a retrospective of his work last week and I had a chat with him (through a translator). It was a strange experience as I had never interviewed someone who didn't speak the same language as me before.

I managed to catch some of his other films including Dachimawa Lee (which made me laugh out loud on a few occasions as it was so silly) City of Violence (sooo cool) and The Unjust ( a change of pace in my opinion, but what do I know?) We talked about it for quite a while... you can read the interview here: Ryoo Seung-wan interview

Here is the trailer for The Unjust where random phrases are inserted between footage from the film.

"Justice is a Deal"

Rum, Serial Killers and Showing Off

The Rum Diary was released last week and although it was a bit boring I still very much enjoyed looking at it! You can read my review here on Cinetalk

Snowtown is released on 18th November 2011 and it is a must see. An Australian film directed by Justin Kurzel (this is his feature debut) about the "bodies in barrels" murders that took place in the 1990s. It will leave an indelible impression. 

You can read my review here on Cinetalk

I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing the engaging, intelligent and fiercely passionate Fancy Chance recently. She is the reigning Alternative Miss World, a pageant show that has been going since 1972 and is the subject of the documentary The British Guide to Showing Off that is out in the UK now!

You can read the interview here on the fabulous Filmoria

And check out Fancy Chance's website too.

London Korean Film Festival 2011

Last year I picked a bunch of random films to watch at LKFF and it was a mixed bag! An enjoyable one though.

This year there is a Ryoo Seung-wan retrospective finishing with his most recent film Unjust at the closing gala at the Apollo cinema in Piccadilly. For more information:http://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/london-korean-film-festival-schedule

Check out this awesome trailer for Die Bad