>Hugz<

Another movie by the director of "No Regret". It's about a victim of hate crime (the one in black) who visited Korea after years for revenge. The other one (in red) hoped for just one night stand with the former but got involved more than he expected.

Two short queer movies from the director of 'No Regret'. The first one is named after one of the oldest gay-themed movie(although the gay character was not shown, nor he is referred as gay). It's about a student and his teacher. The student met his teacher in a gay bar and followed him around and threatened him to go a short boat trip. What could happen afterwards? The second one is about an affair between soldiers. The one finished his time and left army. The other thought that there something left between themselves and contacted  the former in the last vacation before the end of his time in army. What would happen on their way back to the base? The director, Hee-il Lee-song, seems to like to portray very intensive love affairs, like the characters think that their love is the only thing that has left to them.

Like a Virgin(Chun-ha-jang-sa Madonna, which means "Madonna, the champion of Korean Wrestling") will be released soon as Bluray Disc. Chun-ha-jang-sa means the most powerful man under the sky. But in Korea, it also means the champion of Korean wrestling, Ssirem(see the painting above). The main character is a high school boy who wants to be a woman. He secretly loves his Japanese teacher(played by one of the most famous Japanese Idol stars, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), has to deal with his troubled father and earn the money to become a woman. He hears the news that the prize money for the Ssireum championship for high school students is big enough to cover the money for surgery to become a woman. And he enlists himself as the newest member of Ssirem team in his high school. When I watched the movie in the theater, I got so moved the way the directors portrayed the main character. All the episodes seemed so real. Good to hear that they release this good piece of work as ...

Queer shotfilms cumming soon??? Gae-bong-bak-du(開封迫頭) means "coming soon" in Korean(chinese). Gay-bong-bak-du is Korean short queer films which were filmed by non-professional gay directors who used smart phones or DSLR cameras in filming. Last Saturday, I had a chance to watch the films at Korea University. I can't say that the movies are well-crafted but they're inspiring and lovable. After the films, some of the directors gathered to answer to the questions from the crowd. One of the directors was Byun-chun who is also a famous comic writer (see ansgel*crazy). It was a very rare chance to watch these kinds of short films. I hope there will be more and more chances and more films from now on.

A movie about one North Korean defector who faces prejudice and discrimination and one homeless boy who lives at the mercy of his male lover (who seems to be married). The movie consists of 3 parts. The first one is focused on what makes the defector boy flee from his workplace(gas station) with his colleague girl who he likes. The second one is focused on the relationship between homeless boy and his male lover. The third part is focused on what happens when 2 boys met each other. But the thing is that because of some scenes, many viewers guess that the 2 boys are actually the same person, which I cannot disagree. *I had the chance to watch the movie again in 2022 and I came to agree that two boys might be the same person. The movies is a little bit slow but I think this is okay.

Another movie by Korean "out" director, Gwang-su Kim-jo . He is a renowned movie producer but this movie is his first feature film of his own directing. Hyo-jin (the one with long hair) wants to adopt a boy in the orphanage. She asks Min-su who works at the same hospital to get married hoping that the marriage will make it much easier for her to adopt the boy. Hyo-jin is lesbian and Min-su is gay. Both of them are under much pressure for marriage. Min-su agrees to marry Hyo-jin but as you guess it is more complicated than they think to lead a fake marriage. Other main characters are gay friends of Min-su , who are also members of gay choir, G-Voice (which is real name of the Korean gay choir organized by Chingusai ). The lines are very straightforward and the accident which leads to 'the' funeral is so shocking (at least, to Me). Kim-jo directed two movies before( Boy meets boy and Just friends ). But 2W1F( 2 Weddings and 1 funeral ) is the most tho...

Documentary on four gay men in 2000s. One film directer. One activist. One chef. And one salaryman. They're leading extradordinary lives in their own ways; making queer movies, acting as a gay activist; being a member of a gay chorus; partnered with a man with HIV+. There were laughters and tears, even a death to my surprise. I got so relieved that I had the chance to see this movie at LGBT film festival.

Sweet Sixties (2004) deals with elder people's romance. And one of the characters faces an unwanted blind date. In fact he is gay and lives with his elder brother. On the d-day he stands up his date and visits a gay bar. Good to see that he's not typical gay like in many other queer movies.

Most of the part of this film was filmed with a hand-held camera. There are two men who's been a couple several years. But one of them is getting married and the other is letting him go. They recorded their last time together in a motel, out in the beach, etc. Many Korean gays could relate to these subjects, marriage, long-term relationships and so on, I suppose. But even if I could relate to their situations, I couldn't relate to the way they responded to the seperation.

You know it or not, Korea is divided into two different country, South Korea and North Korea. The movie, Stateless Things , shows two minorities in South Korea who are starting a bond between each other. The one is a refugee from North Korea, who finds it hard to ignore the injustice in South Korea (One of the co-worker, who is also a refugee from N. Korea, suffers from sexual harassment at the factory). The other is (maybe) disowned and making living by, sort-of, selling his body(though, he doesn't live on on the street..). I haven't had the chance to watch the movie. But I'm looking forward to watching it.

No Regret is a Korean queer movie. One is an orphan who became sex worker. And the other is rich boy with a secret agenda and fiancee!!!! This movie is very intense in every way. I have watched it before and I bought the 2-disk DVD yesterday. But I am not sure when I watch this movie. Even though I'm a huge fan of queer movies, intense queer movies make me feel uneasy. "Just Friends"' director produced this movie.

Just Friends is the 2nd film by Kwang-su Kim-jo, the director of "Boy meets a boy" and producer of "No Regret". His 1st film "Boy meets a boy" deals with the love between teenagers. The director says that he was frequentely asked if he was doing the sequel to it. "Just Friends" could be one in a way that it deals with love between friends in their 20's. In Korean, the title of this movie is "Chin-gu-sa-i". It's also the name of a famous LGBT organization of Korea. The name also express the status of Korean minorities who cannot fully express their relationship with their same-sex partner. Instead of saying "We're lovers", they tend to answer "Us? We're just friends" if asked. Back to the movie, In Korea, most men in their 20s has to serve in the army for 2 years. It can be hard for anyone, but it can be harder for gays and trans-gendereds. The movie starts with a man who visits his love...

5 famous Korean directors get together to paint their version of love/lust on the screen. The thing that caught my eyes is two women on the second row who seem like secret lovers. According to the papers, they met as a wife and husband's lover and they became lovers. You may know it or not, the women (of the two) on the right is Korean pop diva and gay icon, Jung-wha Um . The title ogamdo can have various meanings because the word is a Chinese-oriented word( By that I don't mean that the word itself comes from China. I mean that the word consists of Chinese letters ). You know that Chinese can have many meanings even if it sounds the same. " Ogamdo " is a famous poem by Korean poeat called I-sang. I don't think I-sang is the poet's real name. In Korean, it can be heard as "something ideal" and "something weird" at the same time. Originally "Ogamdo" was a word created by the poet. In Korean, "a bird's-eye-vie...

Boy Meets Boy is a Korean short film dealing with love affairs between high school mates. The director of this movie produced another Korean queer movie, No Regret. BMB is an autobiographical story of the director who's a renowned movie producer in Korea. According to his interview, finding and accepting his own sexual orientation wasn't that hard for him, unlike in most queer movies. He accepted himself with joy and so did his family and friends, I read from articles. Because it's a short film I don't know if I can get any chance to watch this film. But I hope that I'll have the opportunity.

Sang-wha-jeom or Ssang-wha-jeom is a Korean movie dealing with love triangle among a king, a queen and a king's guardian warrior. Before Chosun Dynasty, there was Corea Dynasty in Korean Peninsula. According to many historical records, Corea Dynasty was even more liberal than Chosun Dynasty where Confucianism played a big part in every area, politics, family rules and so on. So during the Corean period, women could inherit properties and love poems were allowed. The title of this movie is one of the love poem, a little bit sex poem. The main character the King, Gong-min is portrayed as gay even in records. Some says he hired many beautiful male warriors around him. But history is always re-written by the winner. So we can't be sure which is true and which is false. But at least we can say there was something "queer" about him. The movie runs in Korea on the 30th of December, this year. I'm waiting.

Antique Bakery is a Korean movie based on a Japanese Comic Book of same title. (See the article of October) I watched the Premiere of this movie at a theater near home. And I really enjoyed it. Wait and watch it when this movie runs in your own town.