nanoomi

Although Themselves was released just last year, chances are that you have not heard of it.  It is a low-budget film that received a very limited release. I was interested in seeing it because of actress Ko Soo-hee.  You may remember her as the woman who cooked and ate her husband in Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and more recently in a supporting role in the film Sunny.  Her performances have always been memorable and her characters are interesting, even when just playing bit parts. I looked forward to seeing her in a leading role.  I was far less familar with her co-stars..The first is Jeon Ji-hwan aka Jay who plays the blind Tae-seong in this film.  “Jay” is a singer in a struggling boy band, The Boys of Super Space (DaeGuk Nama) that has been around for a while and has released two albums, but has not yet made it big. This is his first film. The other main character is played by Kim Jin-yi whose last film was Rush back in 1999– a film I owned on VHS at one point but for the life of me I can remember nothing about it…   I was not familiar with director Yoon Tae-shik either as he had only two short films to his name prior to Themselves.  So the presence of Ms Ko was really the only reason I was interested in this film.  Unfortunately, while her acting is as excellent as always, it was her character that was the only problematic area of an otherwise satisfying film. Read the full story

Brief Notice

The insurgents in Che Chun were driven out by Seoul soldiers and went to A San where they met another body of Government troops and a sharp engagement ensued.  Four of the rebels were killed and six captured.

The Nichi Nichi states that Cannibals in the South Sea refuse to eat Japanese because, they say, the flesh is too sour. <The Nichi Nichi was a Japanese-language newspaper published in Tokyo between 1872-1943.>

Marquis Charles de Rudini, only son of the illustrious Italian Premier is now travelling in China and Japan. Read the full story

Before I begin this review, I want to say that I am using the title, Mist, with the greatest reluctance.  While making the index plates I have been posting, I have found that a fair number of Korean films of the 60s and 70s had English names at the time of their release. Often these names appear on the advertisements and posters but when KOFA built its website, it did not have access to most of these (many posters were donated sometime around 2005 by a collector) so the Film Archives simply provided literal translations of the titles.  In this case, 안개 became Mist.  However, there was no need to do this.  I do not know if they had the poster on hand when they added the this movie to the website, but they certainly had the film.  As we can see on the image above, the movie was to be called Foggy Town in English and this title is also written on the title card during the opening credits of the film.  But as this DVD of this film is sold as Mist in English, that is what I must call it. But Why the change?  I can understand if the title is awkward or grammatically incorrect..and I have even seen some that were spelled wrong in English… but there is nothing wrong with Foggy Town and it is certainly descriptive of the film’s location, Mujin. Read the full story

With the following editorial, I think it is important that I remind readers that the opinions expressed were written by the editor of the Independent in 1896, nearly 120 years ago and are definitely not shared by me. Unfortunately, the attitudes reflected here are accurate examples of how many in western nations viewed the east at that time.– Tom

Editorial

There are many papers in the home land which ridicule the idea that Japan is or will soon be a serious competitor in the markets of the world. <We saw an example of the ridicule in the April 30th issue of the Independent via an excerpt from the New York Maritime Register> We think differently and can show more or less reason for our belief.

In the first place notice that in these days of minute division of labor the manufacturer of even delicate instruments is largely a matter of turning the crank. Machinery does it all and there is less call for that all-round, intelligent skill in the individual that was found a century ago. Now the Japanese are celebrated for their deftness and they can learn to run machinery and they have learned to run it about as well as the Westerner.  They have not as yet gotten machinery of a fine enough quality to begin to compete seriously with English or American goods that are shipped from Europe to supply eastern peoples who are not extremely particular as to the finish of the goods so long as they can get them cheap. Here is where the Japanese competition has already been felt.  For instance, Japanese matches are not quite up to standard of the Austrian matches in the point of finish but they light a fire about as well and are astonishingly cheap.  It did not take the East long to decide between the two. These Eastern peoples are not going to pay a large bonus for a little extra finish.

In the second place, no enlightened people can at present compete with the Asiatic in the cost of living. Why is it that the Japanese can live on so much less than the American? Simply because the Japanese people have for centuries been schooled in the matter of economy, their population being so large compared with the arable area of their country, while the American people have been living like a young man who has just fallen heir to a great fortune and doesn’t know how to spend it fast enough. Among the rural population of France or Germany we should probably find the cost of living much nearer the Japanese figure for there too populations is relatively great. This factor in the problem will right itself gradually for we see a constant tendency in the U.S. to a reduction in the cost of the necessities of life while in Japan the tendency toward manufacturing has resulted in a rise all along the line of wages. Every commodity has appreciated in value so that we find a gradual equalizing tendency at work. The more Japan advances the more numerous will be her needs for civilization is nothing more than a creation of needs to be supplied.

We are in sympathy with the demand along the Pacific coast of the U.S. that American labor shall not be called upon to compete with Japanese labor in America. It would mean that the American laborer would have to give up some of his legitimate needs and descend in grade of civilization where he would eat, work and sleep and little else. <This offhand reference refers to a particularly shameful period of American History which attempted to ban Asian immigrants from entering the US after the railroads were completed. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned Chinese, and later all Asians (1924), from owning land in the US, marrying whites and, eventually, from legally entering the US even if they had been living there for years. Japanese and other Asians were included in this act which was strengthened several times over the decades but were not specifically targeted until the Gentleman’s Agreement Act of 1907 which banned the immigration of Japanese men–women were still allowed to enter, often as ‘picture’ (mail-order) brides.  These acts were not repealed until after WWII. With his attitude, it is easy to forget that editor and founder of the Independent, Philip Jaisohn, was a US immigrant himself from Korea albeit not of the laboring class and living on the Atlantic coast where Asian immigrants were relatively rare.>

The Eastern market is so vast and the demand is increasing so rapidly that Japan can never supply it and in the effort to do so the cost of wages will be so enhanced that European goods will still be able to hold their place.

Brief Notices

Rev. H.G. Appenzeller returned on Read the full story

This weekend the Superbowl is being held in the USA and I, being an American, am supposed to care.. especially since, being from New England, I am expected to care for the Patriots. Well, I don’t care. I think I have seen two football games in my life… both were Seahawks games while I was in Seattle. I prefer the real football, aka soccer.  I find it exciting, the players interesting and I love the fact that the clock doesn’t stop everytime somebody falls down. (I hate that about basketball too.. the clock says there are ten minutes left and you wind up unable to change the channel for another 40 minutes…because someone else in the room wants to see the end of the game).  Anyway, I was skyping with family members who were talking about the upcoming game and my mind wandered to Korean movies (as always) and I wondered when the first sports film was made and which sport was highlighted.  When considering films I did not concern myself with movies that simply showed a sport, but ones where an athlete or game was the main focus of the story. I had three suspicions about what the first sport in Korean film might be.  I thought it would come down to Baseball, Soccer or Boxing.  While searching I came across a few suprises.  The earliest sport committed to film in Korea was Tennis in a documentary made in 1924 entitled The National Women’s Tennis Tournament that screened in July of that year.  But I was not planning to include non-fiction or news reels, just fiction with actors playing the roles of athletes. Here is what I found:

Read the full story

Initially, I was not going to do a post about my favorite films of last year. I had returned from travelling after the new year had already begun and felt it was too late.  ‘Best of’ posts are more usually seen immediately before or after January 1, not three weeks into the month. However, a friend suggested that I write my opinion on the films I liked from last year, so here it is. Actually, I liked many more films than are on this list.. These are just what I thought were the best. Read the full story

Brief Notice

The interpreter of the Police Headquarters of the Japanese Consulate named Yun Tai Heung, donned Japanese clothes and entered the house of a Korean policeman, Yi Kyung Sul, knowing that Yi was on duty at the time. He insulted Yi’s wife and made a disturbance generally. The neighbors heard the noise and informed Yi, who hurried home and arrested Yun on the charge of house-breaking. Yun tried to pass himself off at the police station as a Japanese but his identity was soon established. He was put in prison awaiting trial. Last Monday some Japanese policemen went to the Police Headquarters and demanded his release but the authorities refused to comply on the ground that the prisoner was a Korean and amenable to Korean law.

The Steamer Higo arrived from Japan yesterday and will leave for Neuchang and Chefoo this morning. <In an earlier edition, I had assumed that Chefoo was a variation of Cheju (Jeju) Island. However, further research has revealed that Chefoo was the former name of the Chinese city of Yantai> Read the full story

Things you will learn from the issue:  The benefits of being a policeman, to leave your hairpins at home and that not everyone likes rice.  This issue also requires me to put a up a disclaimer;  the opinions expressed belong solely to the editor and staff of the Independent living more than 120 years ago. They do not reflect my own opinions.

Local Items

- The municipality of Chemulpo contemplates the plan of changing the street lamps for electric lights. Hurrah for Chemulpo!

- The Taetar of Nanking is reorganizing his army on European plans and it is to be officered in part by foreigners.

- More police stations have been established in different parts of the city. Read the full story

I am currently in the USA for the next three weeks and will not be able to easily watch Korean films. However, I took copies of The Independent with me so I could update my blog while here. Usual posts on Korean movies will shortly after I return to Korea on January 14.

The Independent, April 21^st, 1896

Local Items

A little girl about four years old was lost on the Big Bell street the day before yesterday and was picked up by the police and cared for at the Police Department awaiting the arrival or discovery of the parents.

The Peking Pass is temporarily blocked by a mass of stone and debris that has fallen in from the steep sides. Fortunately no one was passing at the time. Water percolating through the crevices and freezing probably caused the landslide. <In a later issue, I leared the “Peking Pass” was what the foreign community called the road between Pyeongyang and Seoul> Read the full story