Following a brief foray into English-language filmmaking with Stoker, South Korean director Park Chan-wook returns with The Handmaiden.
His new thriller is actually an adaptation of the Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, with the action moved from Victorian-era Britain to Japanese-occupied Korea.
The story focuses on an orphan girl (Kim Tae-ri), who is hired by a con man (Assassination‘s Ha Jung-woon) to win the trust of a wealthy heiress (Right Now, Wrong Then‘s Kim Min-hee), only to end up falling for her.
The new promo is light on plot and completely devoid of dialogue (perhaps to avoid scaring off American audiences), but it’s full of sensual imagery and high-stakes intrigue.
Above all, The Handmaiden looks sexy in a kinky way, like the movie Fifty Shades of Grey wishes it could be.
If you adored the sumptuous style and twisted vibe — The Handmaiden should be worth a peek.
The story focuses on an orphan girl (Kim Tae-ri), who is hired by a con man (Assassination‘s Ha Jung-woon) to win the trust of a wealthy heiress (Right Now, Wrong Then‘s Kim Min-hee), only to end up falling for her.
The story focuses on an orphan girl (Kim Tae-ri), who is hired by a con man (Assassination‘s Ha Jung-woon) to win the trust of a wealthy heiress (Right Now, Wrong Then‘s Kim Min-hee), only to end up falling for her.
The film will also be distributed in Japan (Phantom), Taiwan (Catchplay), Hong Kong/Macau (Edko), Australia/New Zealand (Dreamwest), Mongolia (Bloomsbury), Turkey (Kurmaca), Poland (Gutek Film), Czech Republic/Slovakia (Aero Films), Hungary (Mozinet), Greece/Cyprus (AMA), German-speaking territories (Koch Media), French speaking territories (The Jokers) and Latin America (Swen).
Oldboy filmmaker Park Chan-wook has started making a new adaptation Fingersmith in Nagoya, Japan, last week.
Established actress Kim Min-hee (No Tears for the Dead) and newcomer Kim Tae-ri will play lovers Sue and Maud from the Sarah Waters’ Victorian-era crime novel, but director Park Chan-wook’s film will take place in “Korea and Japan in the 1930s, when Korea was under Japanese occupation.”
Fingersmith was made into a two-part BBC mini-series in 2005, starring Elaine Cassidy and Sally Hawkins.
Park’s long-term screenwriter Chung Seo-kyung (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, Thirst), has written new screenplay.
Fingersmith is Park’s first Korean-language directorial piece in six years, since the Cannes-winning vampire film Thirst in 2009. In between he made his English-language debut, the ill-fated Stoker, in 2013.
A court in the South Korean has ruled that police violated the law when they banned a pride march to be held June 28, according to a press release from organisers.
Police had denied permits to hold the march, citing conflicting applications for events that overlapped the parade route. These applications were filed as the result of a showdown between Christian conservative activists and LGBT activists, who had both camped out in front of the police station processing applications for more than a week in May. The conservatives managed to get their public use applications in first.
On Tuesday, the court ruled this violated the LGBT activists’ right to protest.
Unless there is a clear risk of danger to the public, preventing the demonstration is not allowed and should be the absolute last resort.”
Myeong Jin Kang, chairman of the Korean Queer Cultural Festival, embraced the court’s acknowledgement and recognized the moment’s significance in a press release saying,
The court’s decision in relation to police’s unjust notice prohibiting assembly is important. Within a democratic country, built on civil society, the guarantee that society can use their voice has a deep meaning.”
Last year’s march was disrupted when anti-LGBT activists lay down in the street in front of parade floats. Police also attempted to shut down the event by trying to revoke the march permits saying it was inappropriate to hold the event in light of the Seoul ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people two months earlier. But the march was ultimately held peacefully.
Organisers have projected more than 20,000 people will participate in the march, and the march’s opponents are likely to attempt to disrupt the event once more. When the Queer Cultural Festival opened on June 9, participants were outnumbered by protestors holding signs with slogans like “Stop Same-Sex Marriage” and “Gays Out: Homosexuals have no human rights.”
Many protestors held smaller signs that simply said, “Come back — We’ll be waiting.”
South Korean LGBT Activists gain an historic victory, as the mayor of Seoul apologised for failing to proclaim a new civil rights charter that includes LGBT protections, and has agreed to establish a panel to discuss ways to end discrimination.
The LGBT coalition group called Rainbow Action, decided to end a six-day sit-in at Seoul City Hall after meeting with Mayor Park Won-Soon.
The sit-in began when Won-Soon and the Seoul Municipal Government declined to proclaim the charter on World Human Rights Day as originally scheduled, saying the LGBT protections had caused “social conflict.”
The Rainbow Action coalition alleged Won-Soon, a former human rights attorney who recently expressed support for same-sex marriage, had caved to pressure from South Korea’s powerful right-wing religious lobby.
“It is my responsibility and fault. I am sorry for the emotional pain that you have suffered and will make whatever statements that you demand.
This is an occasion for me to offer comfort for the emotional pain that you have suffered and to apologize to you” and, “regardless of any misunderstanding or statement, no citizen will be subjected to discrimination or disadvantage. I will search for practical ways of resolving the difficulties that you suffer from.”
Mayor Park Won-Soon
Throughout the 6-day-long sit-in, the protesters were showered with support from both home and abroad. Indeed, over 300 NGOs including those for human rights, people with disability, women, civil society, laborers, and other minorities provided signatures of support in just one day. In addition, moving messages of support poured in from LGBT rights activist groups, major figures, and grassroots organizations overseas. Furthermore, countless people visited the City Hall and joined the cultural festival held every evening by the protesters.
Through the sit-in, South Korean sexual minorities showed that the government and hate-mongers alike may not thoughtlessly disregard their rightful demand and movement for full social citizenship. The sit-in also served as an occasion for LGBT people in the nation to have more self-confidence and to confirm the future direction of their continued fight for justice and equality. The protesters are deeply grateful to friends and allies around the globe for their solidarity.
A music video from the Chinese girl group SNH48, which features two women from 16-member group ‘caressing’ and ’embracing’, has been banned by South Korea.
SNH48 is the Chinese sister group of the hugely popular Japanese group AKB48. Their recent video for song ‘Uza’ was removed from South Korean digital channels after less than three days online.
Korean media is now speculating that a music video for has been banned in the country because of ‘intimate’ scenes between two of the women.
Something to note is the video was actually shot in South Korea and directed by popular music director Hong won-ki.
It is legal to be gay in South Korea, but the country does not offer same-sex marriage or civil partnerships for same-sex couples. Lesbian couples can not adopt and there is no anti-discrimination legislation to help protect LGBT people.
Efforts to include protection of sexual orientation in the Anti-Discrimination Act are opposed by religious groups and have been thus far unsuccessful.
At KitschMix we wonder if this video made it onto Korean screens…
Or this…
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