Unfortunately the movie does not have an English name (anyone help with that?) but the trailer certainly looks impressive. Not to mention it has Jang Dong-gun, and actor that I have very much enjoyed in 2009:Lost Memories (movie gets a lot of flack for being over the top and such but I thoroughly enjoyed it). That and the director is also the director of the film Shiri the very film that got me into Korean cinema. The main site can be located here. The movie is set to debut in Korea on February 6th. And if I have been told correctly the Korean name to this film is also the name of the South Korean flag. Unfortunately it won't hit DVD till fall or so and even then most likely the DVD will be region encoded to Region 3 (American DVD players can usually only play Region 1).
I should mention that I am a bit of an Asian Cinema lover and about a year and a half ago I found out about the wonderful things that are going on in Korean cinema. Enough that in the About Me you will find several movies Korean in origin that are my favorites and all of those films have been released in the past 4 years. That being said you will find that I will mention movies coming out over in the Far East quite a bit as it is what I get excited for and love sharing these films with other people. Too bad it seems the people who share my enthusiasm are few and far between among my current stock of friends. Anyways if you become intrigued by any film you happen to catch on this blog drop me a line and let me know what you think and if you have any questions use my email or the Comment section to ask. I'm in no way an authority on this but I have more than a passing fancy and have excellent sources to check up with. One should also check out KoreanFilm.Org for a treasure trove of information by Darcy Paquet who lives in Korea.
Update: Darcy Paquet and another poster over at the Korean Film Discussion boards have their thoughts on the film.
UPDATE: If you can read Korean here is what I think are some reader reviews regarding the movie. Since so many of the Google searches include .co.kr at the end I figured this wouldn't be a problem for most...
"Unfortunately it won't hit DVD till fall or so and even then most likely the DVD will be region encoded to Region 3 (American DVD players can usually only play Region 1).
"
when the DVD's out, you can download the movie through emule
a lot of people pass around movies in p2p after the DVD's are out
Posted by: lux bearer | December 24, 2003 at 11:58 AM
True, but I like avoiding that method both because it really isn't the best way to get a good feel for a movie seeing it on a computer screen and trying to download the movie itself can take forever (granted so does waiting for the DVD) and a regular pain in the arse.
And thanks for coming on over Lux....I look forward to more friendly "banter" from our conversations. :)
Posted by: Christopher | December 24, 2003 at 12:20 PM
hahaha
as long as there is no
"I'm white, American, therefore superior" bullshit
i'll be a good boy
I'm adaptive, you see
Posted by: lux bearer | December 25, 2003 at 12:10 AM
But....I AM superior! ;)
All I can promise is my own honest assessment of the world around me. I could be wrong, but even more scary for you, I could be right. :)
Posted by: Christopher | December 25, 2003 at 01:11 AM
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Actually, Jang Dong-Gun started his career as an actor from TV drama.
After he starred in the movie 'Friends', the top box-office film in Korea until now, he thoroughly moved to films.
So, we can't see him anymore on TV.
If possible, I recommend that you see that movie also.
Posted by: widerock | December 25, 2003 at 10:53 AM
Yes, I actually caught the movie Friend and was widely impressed. And Jang's final scene....gripping and powerful. A movie well recommended. I should of actually made mention of that film as well in this post.
BTW...love the look of your site and good luck to you. I see we both had the fortune of being mentioned by the Marmot. Not a bad start aye? ;)
Posted by: Christopher | December 25, 2003 at 11:23 AM
"But....I AM superior! ;)
All I can promise is my own honest assessment of the world around me. I could be wrong, but even more scary for you, I could be right. :)"
THAT remains to be seen.
just don't hit the ban button when things start to heat up, public anonymous proxies are damned slow you know
Posted by: lux bearer | December 25, 2003 at 07:09 PM
;)
Posted by: Christopher | December 25, 2003 at 07:53 PM
so, which school are you attending, the one in Berkeley or the one in Palo Alto?
Posted by: lux bearer | December 25, 2003 at 08:35 PM
Actually being the poor boy I am currently located at College of the Canyons in the Santa Clarita valley right above Los Angeles county.
Either UCLA or Cal State Northridge would be next on my agenda. I am looking into majoring in Japanese but that is still up in the air.
Posted by: Christopher | December 25, 2003 at 08:40 PM
Ohoh, Lux B, my favourite troll...
Congrats, Christopher...
Posted by: dda | December 27, 2003 at 11:04 AM
Does this put me "on the map?"
Or do I even want to be there?
Posted by: Christopher | December 27, 2003 at 11:12 AM
i was just searching for the informations about my one of the most anticipating movie, taegukgu, and came up with this site. I was amazed by the fact that there are actually people who are interested in korean movies although they do not live in here ^^(smiling imoticon in korea). In here Taegukgi will be released on Feb. If you are interested, watch this movie, called Silmido, also an good korean movie.
Posted by: a korean | January 06, 2004 at 06:39 AM
I have been hearing good things about Silmido and its subject matter does interest me to say the least. It also has the actor from Musa (who I was impressed with) so that's another plus. I know the DVD comes out just before the middle part of the year so I will be looking out for it at that time. Hopefully it is better than Last Witness (which, ironically, also starred the gentleman from Musa) which just seemed like a mish mash of scenes and a rather forced way of presenting the characters to us. Was a beautiful film to look at though.
Oh and thanks for looking at my blog. Needless to say you'll see plenty of things on Korean movies here.
Posted by: Christopher | January 06, 2004 at 07:20 AM
I'm JH and Korean. I might be able to help you how to speak the title as it is.
The titile is "keeping Taegukgi flag" in English and in Korean, it sounds like " Taegukgi whi-nar-li-myou".
I'm also dying to see this movie when I saw the trailer and I'm sure this movie will make new record in Korea because any box-office movie in Korea was not only for the young but the old.
The background of this movie is tragic Korean war in 1950 and movie is showing us the fate of two brothers who got involved in Korea war.
Posted by: JH | February 02, 2004 at 12:05 AM
I havent seen many Korea action films just SHIRI,J
.S.A, and MY WIFE IS A GANGSTER and I must say that I am impressed the superb production values that I have seen in these films and from the clips of other Korean films. This looks like another great Korean action film and looks to have the same cinematography and acting of Korean films. I am also interested in seeing Silmido because of the subject matter. It's nice to see that the gap filled by Hong Kong films which seem to have fallen out of favor has been filled by Korean films. If anyone has Silmido let me know I will be happy TAEGUKGI comes to DVD, looks like a great film.
Posted by: chowyunpat | February 15, 2004 at 08:05 AM
I have seen that movie in cinema soon after released.
It was more greater than expected.
You should see that movie. You'll not regret.
Posted by: Son | February 16, 2004 at 11:54 PM
Good to here Son, good to here. As soon as it comes out on DVD in a couples months I will surely be looking forward to seeing it...
Thanks for the comments.
Posted by: Christopher | February 17, 2004 at 07:15 AM
Yeah, I heard from my old friends in Korea that they loved the movie. Same for Silmido, but I think people liked Taegukgi better than Silmido. But I guess that depends on personal preferences. But I can guarantee that (although I haven't watched it yet) Taegukgi is a great movie. I'm not sure but one of my friends said Taegukgi is supposed to be release here? I don't think so, but I'm not too sure.
Posted by: Jae | February 17, 2004 at 09:50 AM
Forgot to mention, but Jang Dong-Gun is a great actor! Gals just love him. :-)
Posted by: Jae | February 17, 2004 at 09:51 AM
Yes I'm sure the ladies really take a liking to him...
Not sure about a release here unless it is in a film festival. Hence I'll be waiting for a DVD whenever it comes around.
There is a good chance though for a studio to pick it up. I'm sure a Korean War Saving Private Ryan would attract a few studios...
Posted by: Christopher | February 17, 2004 at 10:09 AM
Yeah, a lot of people were telling me the movie is a Korean version of Saving Private Ryan.
And oh, you're very welcome. Visiting your blog is my pleasure. :-) Thanks for visiting mine too!
Posted by: Jae | February 17, 2004 at 07:41 PM
There was a news that many Film distributor such as Miramax, Sony Classic, Universal Studios, etc are interested in the Movie Taegukgi.
It also says that if the contract were made, Taegukgi would be released in over 1,000 theaters in US.
Posted by: widerock | February 18, 2004 at 01:00 AM
Interesting....
We'll see who picks it up. I actually hope someone like Sony Pictures Classic will because they have been the only studio I've seen treat foreign films of the Asian variety with any bit of respect.
Posted by: Christopher | February 18, 2004 at 06:54 AM
hi christopher.. it seems you like korean movies. you haven't seen the best one yet though - Oasis. of all my 33 years of movie watching (and i've seen tons - movies are my life), i have never been moved so much as from Oasis. i urge you to get your hands on a dvd of Oasis as soon as possible.
also, you should get the "memories of murder" dvd. this movie is- simply put- flawless.
korean cinema is the new hong kong , just bigger and badder
Posted by: joseph r. | February 18, 2004 at 08:01 PM