I don't think I can justifiably call myself a cinema connoisseur as I certainly haven't enough knowledge of the history of cinema or in any way attempted to find out what all these terminologies like "use of character development" really entail. What I do know is that I watch quite a lot of movies whenever I have time for them. I also happen to have an appetite for "unusual" movies ( no, it's not what you think. :P ) so I tend to dig up foreign films and other independent efforts put out by people whom I get to hear about through words of mouth or simply by looking for movies made by directors who directed other movies I liked, etc... Many of the movies I dig up end up being Japanese simply because they have some really interesting movies that get put out in that country. I guess more often than not the fact that possibly one of the best horror film directors (or at least my favorite) that I know of puts out movies in that country on a regular basis helps quite a bit.

Now, as you may or may not know some Korean people have a very skewed viewpoint when it comes to anything related to Japan. So it isn't uncommon when I bring up some of the wonderful gems of Japanese cinema that I'll be criticized by the more cynical ones about how I should watch more Korean movies. Well, I'm sorry, but most of the Korean movies I come across are slapstic comedies or popular romance stories, and as much as I have enjoyed watching movies like "Number 3", "My Sassy Girl", etc... they're all popular movies, and don't really offer me anything new but warm and fuzzy feelings or a good hour and a half of laughter. Sure there are also those "epic" or big scale action movies like "Shiri" that people go on and on about, but again it's just an action movie with the typical love story that you can watch once, like it, and move on. Don't get me wrong, that's certainly entertainment, and a very good one at that. It's just that for me to actually bring a movie up in a conversation and want to talk about it in depth, that movie really needs to touch my senses in more complicated ways than that. I'm really not trying to sound like some elitist trying to show off how I'm more attunded to art or anything like that. Trust me, I have my own share of movies I simply don't know how to appreciate regardless of the amount of praise they get from people who actually know what they're talking about.

So, you may be thinking to yourself, "Ok, you told us that you like Japanese movies more than Korean movies, is that the point of this entry?". Well, I'm glad to say that my answer is an emphatic "No.". The point of this entry is actually quite to the contrary. My attitude towards Korean cinema recently took a 180 degress turn after I got introduced to a director by the name of Ki-Duk Kim. I first saw "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring" a few weeks ago. It was certainly different compared to other Korean movies I have seen. It was immersed in symbolism and provided enough for me to chew on, but I was neither blown away nor mesmerized. So I started to dig up other moviews made by the director and soon watched "Samaria" and "The Isle". *PAUSE*. Wow... I don't want to go into gratuitous praising of this new found favorite Korean director of mine or go into lengthy details of how impressed I was with these movies as I'm certain that there are fan sites everywhere for him that serve that purpose. Lemme just tell you that I'm extremely grateful for having found a director whom I have utmost respect for for dealing with the themes that he deals with and the talent that he has in being able to express his thoughts through the medium of cinema in the way he's able to. And this feeling is extra special because I'm filled with so much pride about the fact that this person is Korean. No, not simply because I feel the cultural or national connection with this person, but because it bodes very well for the future of Korean cinema and the flourishing of the arts in my home country. That, my friend, is a truly wonderful thing, to say the least.