kim jee woon

COBWEB: Song Kang-Ho Is An Artist Trapped In Inspiration In The First Trailer

COBWEB: Song Kang-Ho Is An Artist Trapped In Inspiration In The First Trailer

Fully immersed in vibrance for its introspection is Cobweb, a dramatic new thriller with a trailer now online and ripe with energy. It’s the latest from director Kim Jee-woon who has been best known for delivering pulsating actioners and cult favorites like A Bittersweet Life, I Saw The Devil and manga adaptation Ilang: The Wolf Brigade, now reteaming with leading man Song Kang-ho for a fifth time since 1998’s The Quiet Family, and the hit 2000 comedy, The Foul King.

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A BITTERSWEET LIFE: Umbrella Lands 4K Restoration Limited Collector’s Edition Coming In April

2005 was a terrific year for niche Asian film fans fond of actor Lee Byung-hun amid the ceremony for his darling hit thriller, A Bittersweet Life, about a mob enforcer faced with retribution by his boss after falling for his repressed mistress. The film is a point of inspiration for some directors and was even the topic of a potential remake in the U.S., the updates on which remain to be seen.

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REMAKE/RECAST: Kim Jee Woon’s I SAW THE DEVIL (2010)

It was in 2010 that director Kim Jee-Woon spawned a sensational response with fans drawn from his winning suspenseful action horror thriller, I Saw The Devil. Adi Shankar’s own 1984 Private Defense Contractors acquired the English language remake rights three years later prior to possibly attaching Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett of You’re Next and The Guest fame.

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INRANG: Don’t Miss The Official Trailer For Kim Jee-Woon’s New ‘Jin-Roh’ Adaptation

If you’re not at at all familiar with the animated Kerberos feature, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, just know that it comes highly recommended from pretty much anyone who has seen it, or basically anyone who watches anime. For this, you’d have a pretty good window to make use of between now and the July 25 release of Kim Jee-Woon’s adaptation, Inrang, which now comes full throated with an official trailer.

Oshii Mamoru’s original story serves as the basis for this take which replaces the alternative 1950’s Japan setting with that of Korea in the year 2029 wherein both  neighboring countries are seemingly at the tail end of a seven-year effort toward peace. And at the forefront of our story in which an elite unit emerges to suppress the radical attacks on both sides, one of its members falls into a dangerous romance with a mysterious woman.

If you’ve seen the anime, you pretty much see the connection. All else lies in much of the look and interpretation of the source material from costumes and characters. History will be the judge later this month while Kim himself has been known to impress.

Gang Dong-Won, Jung Woo-Sung and Joo Ji-Hoon star. Check out the trailer below!

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INRANG: Kim Jee-Woon Brings Classic Anime To Fiery Life In The Explosive Official Teaser

Kim Jee-Woon’s new film, Inrang, is doing a pretty ample job with the hype this week after rolling out a 22-second teaser the other day. My guess is that was only announcement with Warner Bros. Korea applying the Hollywood formula in kind these days with a full teaser now online ahead of an official trailer to possibly come between now and its July 25 release.

As for the film, Okiura Hiroyuki’s animated 1999 hit, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade – adapted from Oshii Mamoru’s Kerberos Saga at the time – serves as the basis seen in Kim’s iteration; Transplanting from alt-1950s Germany, Inrang settles for dystopian future tale in the year 2029 following seven years of peace talks in lieu of a truce between North and South Korea, and the warring extremist factions from both sides.

Terrorist attacks arise and thus, a new specialized military force is implemented to counter the upheaval. That’s largely what the footage as of late has offered whilst VERY lightly hinting at the crux of the tale: the tragic love story that ensues for an elite member of the anti-terror unit and his peculiar connection with a mysterious woman. 

However this plays out, I’m sure Kim will have a treat for fans this summer and I sure hope to attain some expedient U.S. acquisition news in due time.

Inrang stars actors Gang Dong-Won and Jung Woo-Sung, and actress Han Hyo-Joo star. Watch the teaser now!

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INRANG: Kim Jee-Woon’s ‘Jin Roh’ Remake Howls Online With Two New Teaser Posters

I’m almost instantly fascinated by any piece of film put out from I Saw The Devil helmer Kim Jee-Woon. His recent release, The Age Of Shadows, further showcased his strength in harnessing the full breadth and scope of a period war epic which pretty much holds firm enough in describing Okiura Hiroyuki’s 1999 animated thriller, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade. The relevancy here, though, is that Kim has taken the mantle for a live-action adaptation of Oshii Mamoru’s beloved Kerberbos saga-based sci-fi anime classic.

Inrang is the name and from a script by none other than the venerable Oshii who does away with the alt-1950’s German-conquered Japan setting for a dystopian futuristic Korea where the North and South are seven years in their negotiations become a united country. At the crux of the tale is the beleagured member of a troubled special counterterrorism unit following a deadly incident with a suicide bomber, and a beautiful woman claiming to be her sister, ensuing a dangerous romance as overlapping duplicity threatens the government’s most elite military police forces.

Gang Dong-won leads the cast and rejoins with fellow Golden Slumber remake actress Han Hyo-joo. Also starring are Asura star Jung Woo-Sung, Kim Moo-Yul of Forgotten and Champion actress Han Ye-Ri among the cast. Any teaser and trailer content are otherwise forthcoming but with two months left, I’m guessing the wait won’t be long and so the two new teaser posters now online are more than enough to signal fans that the aforementioned director isn’t going away yet.

Check them out below!

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Song Kang-Ho To Star In SECRET AGENT For Warner Bros.'s Korean Debut

Big things are happening this week over at Warner Bros. with the studio now looking to ramp up its Korean-language debut for I Saw The Devil helmer, director Kim Jee-woon‘s new Korean period film, Secret Agent. The report comes as the studio has come to see Korea as a lucrative market for investing in film due to the country’s successes in recent years, in addition to Fox’s latest slew of Korean titles, including Intimate Enemies starring Ryoo Seung-Bum.

Secret Agent was reportedly pitched to the studio by Harbin production CEO Lee Jin-sook, and is currently being described as a co-production venture between Warner Bros. and Grimm Pictures, with Warner Bros. fully financing the film, according to Variety. Actor Song Kang-Ho is set to reunite with the director following the 2008 flick, The Good, The Bad And The Weird and there is currently is no plot for the film said to be set early 20th century Korea during Japan’s colonial rule, although principal photography is scheduled to commence in October with locations to include Korea and China.

One might suppose the fact that Warner Bros. venturing into its first-ever Korean-language movie would be another great move for actor Song as well; The first movie I had seen him in was in the 1999 assassin thriller, Shiri, so it’s a real treat to see him come this far with an illustrious resume including films like Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance and Bong Joon-ho’s recent sci-fi epic success story, Snowpiercer, for which the director honorably fought tooth and nail to keep in its original iteration for North America.

Song is currently poised to appear in director Lee Joon-Ik’s upcoming period drama, The Throne in September. Stay tuned for more info!

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