Director Ryoo Seung-wan is following up the ceremony of his most recent political survival thriller, Escape From Mogadishu with another period affair, and it comes by way of Contents Panda/NEW. For this, we turn to Smuggling, which has Kim Hye-soo (A Special Lady), Yum Jung-ah (Alienoid), Zo In-sung (Escape From Mogadishu), and Park Jeongmin (Decision To Leave).
Ryoo Seung-wan will direct a sequel to his 2015 action comedy thriller, Veteran, according to multiple reports now making the rounds online.
Well Go USA is proudly releasing Ryoo Seung-wan’s latest period espionage thriller, Escape From Mogadishu this week wherever movies are sold. The film, which based on real life events surrounding the Somali Civil War in 1991, marks yet another level in artistic and creative growth for Ryoo who made his feature debut more than twenty years ago starring alongside his brother in gritty crime noir, Die Bad, and diving further into a variety slate of action titles like 2002’s No Blood No Tears, martial arts comedy Arahan, 2008 spy romp Dachimawa Lee and revenge thriller The City Of Violence to name a few.
I can’t speak for North Korea, but it’s always compelling cinema to watch from Southern directors, with stories featuring parties from both sides of the DMZ. Seeing and observing the mannerisms and dispositions of both parties as they’re forced together in situations that imperil them and implore finding a common ground should be a welcome challenge for almost any filmmaker to tackle. More to the point, director Ryoo Seung-wan facing this challenge head-on is a feat I’m keen on witnessing, as big in scope and scale as many of his productions have grown, from the heydays of Die Bad, Crying Fist and Arahan, to international thriller The Berlin File and explosive period epic, The Battleship Island.
MikeFury.net
For those of you wondering just what the hell director Ryoo Seung-wan is up to, fret not! Lotte Entertainment is currently at AFM launching world sales and representing the celebrated filmmaker’s latest project, Mogadishu.
Cinema Service/CJ Entertainment
Celebrated director Ryoo Seung-Wan (Arahan, The City Of Violence) will make way for Morocco later this year to shoot action film, working titled Escape. Actors Kim Yun-Seok (The Priests) and Zo In-Sung (The Great Battle) are in talks to star in the 1990s-set thriller which centers on a daring attempt by North and South Korean embassy workers to flee the Somalian Civil War conflict.
During the Japanese colonial era, roughly 400 Korean people, who were forced onto Battleship Island (‘Hashima Island’) to mine for coal, attempt to escape.
For all intents and purposes, it’s worth reminding not to forget about director Ryoo Seung-Wan’s latest, Battleship Island. Thus, I’m inclined to share the most recent trailer for the film which opens in Korea on June 30 as it boasts a massively entertaining wartime epic from a fine director and cast.
That roster is led by actors Hwang Jung-Min, So Ji-Sub and Song Joong-Ki as survivors among hundreds of others held prisoner and forced into manual slave labor on Hashima Island by the Japanese during World War II. The film is already host to over a hundred territories for its roll out including my backyard here in North America so definitely look for this one from your region’s distributor following its South Korean open in early July.
You could literally accredit Ryoo for any of his films leading up to this apart from the 2015 action comedy, Veteran, but I suspect Battleship Island will only elongate that list on an apples-to-apples basis. And his are some damn good apples.
Catch the newest trailer below!
Director Ryoo Seung-Wan’s Battleship Island is coming this summer following the success of his 2015 action comedy, Veteran. That one is already poised for a sequel while here, we are swept into a much darker period in history as the film delves into the lives of three men and their stories among the hundreds of others forcefully taken on Hashima Island during Japanese occupation at the top of the 1900s.
Hwang Jung-Min plays a bandmaster desperate to protect his family while So Ji-Sub plays a tough fighter with a warm heart, and Song Joong-Ki stars as an insurgent leading a rescue mission for one of his independence fighters. The film is opening this summer and, as per its brand, may hopefully acquire a release via CJ’s USA shingle, so it’s a waiting game, no less. In the meantime, the latest teaser has already gone viral so take a look below!
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