Im Sang-soo, the director of controversial films such as “A Good Lawyer’s Wife”, “The Housemaid” and of course “The President’s Last Bang” making a life-affirming buddy road movie featuring two unlikely fugitives? Stranger things have happened in the last few years but thankfully, “Heaven: To the Land of Happiness” is among the surprises of the pleasant variety.
“Heaven: To the Land of Happiness” is screening at Asian Pop-up Cinema
Nam-sik works as an orderly at a hospital where he steals expensive medicines for his Fabry’s disease. On the day that he is found out to be stealing, he meets Prisoner 203, an elderly inmate who has been brought to the hospital, where he is told that his brain tumor has worsened and that he has no more than two weeks left. As Nam-sik accompanies 203 to the toilet, he witnesses the inmate attempting an escape and, with his own freedom...
“Heaven: To the Land of Happiness” is screening at Asian Pop-up Cinema
Nam-sik works as an orderly at a hospital where he steals expensive medicines for his Fabry’s disease. On the day that he is found out to be stealing, he meets Prisoner 203, an elderly inmate who has been brought to the hospital, where he is told that his brain tumor has worsened and that he has no more than two weeks left. As Nam-sik accompanies 203 to the toilet, he witnesses the inmate attempting an escape and, with his own freedom...
- 3/13/2022
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
A terminally ill prisoner and a despondent hospital worker steal a hearse stuffed with mob money in “Heaven: To the Land of Happiness.” This combination of odd-couple road movie and crime comedy moves along nicely for about half the running time but loses momentum when sentimentality and drawn-out male bonding take precedence over the film’s more playful components. Well served by the casting of A-list performers Choi Min-sik (“Old Boy”) and Park Hae-il (“The Host”) as the unlikely allies, “Heaven” should be warmly welcomed by local audiences but the latest offering from distinguished South Korean filmmaker Im Sang-soo is unlikely to enjoy the same international exposure as his best-known works, such as “The Housemaid.”
Originally selected for Cannes 2020 but unable to screen owing to the pandemic, Im’s film instead received its world premiere as the opening-night attraction at Busan 2021. A very different proposition from his emotionally spiky and...
Originally selected for Cannes 2020 but unable to screen owing to the pandemic, Im’s film instead received its world premiere as the opening-night attraction at Busan 2021. A very different proposition from his emotionally spiky and...
- 10/8/2021
- by Richard Kuipers
- Variety Film + TV
Youn Yuh-jung, who won the Oscar for best supporting actress in “Minari” earlier this year, will be the subject of a special focus this year at the London Korean Film Festival. The festival will be held as an in-person event Nov. 4-19, 2021.
Youn was this week named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2021.
The festival’s special focus on her will include the European premiere of a digitally restoration of Youn’s first role in 1970’s “Woman of Fire,” by iconic filmmaker Kim Ki-young. Also presented in a new 4K restoration and being shown for the first time outside of Korea, is “Angel, Become an Evil Woman,” also directed by Kim, and originally released in 1990.
The festival includes two of Youn’s more recent collaborations with director Im Sang-soo, screening his “A Good Lawyer’s Wife” and “The Housemaid,” which played in competition in Cannes in...
Youn was this week named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2021.
The festival’s special focus on her will include the European premiere of a digitally restoration of Youn’s first role in 1970’s “Woman of Fire,” by iconic filmmaker Kim Ki-young. Also presented in a new 4K restoration and being shown for the first time outside of Korea, is “Angel, Become an Evil Woman,” also directed by Kim, and originally released in 1990.
The festival includes two of Youn’s more recent collaborations with director Im Sang-soo, screening his “A Good Lawyer’s Wife” and “The Housemaid,” which played in competition in Cannes in...
- 9/17/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
“Heaven: To The Land Of Happiness,” directed by leading South Korean filmmaker Im Sang-soo, has been set at the opening night title of next month’s Busan International Film Festival
The film was previously selected by the Cannes festival for the 2020 edition that was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The screening on native soil will therefore represent its theatrical premiere.
Structured as a road movie, “Heaven: To The Land Of Happiness” is the story of two men, one an escaped prisoner, who accidentally get their hands on a large amount of money and embark on a journey, dreaming of a comfortable ending to their lives.
Festival organizers described the film as “festive and pastoral” and said that “the harmony created from Im Sang-soo’s outstanding directorial power and excellent acting by Choi Min-sik and Park Hae-il ultimately turns the film into an inquiry about happiness that is warm and beautiful like no other.
The film was previously selected by the Cannes festival for the 2020 edition that was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The screening on native soil will therefore represent its theatrical premiere.
Structured as a road movie, “Heaven: To The Land Of Happiness” is the story of two men, one an escaped prisoner, who accidentally get their hands on a large amount of money and embark on a journey, dreaming of a comfortable ending to their lives.
Festival organizers described the film as “festive and pastoral” and said that “the harmony created from Im Sang-soo’s outstanding directorial power and excellent acting by Choi Min-sik and Park Hae-il ultimately turns the film into an inquiry about happiness that is warm and beautiful like no other.
- 9/2/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Yuh-Jung Youn has made Oscars history as the first Korean performer to win an Academy Award in one of the four acting categories. Youn took home the Best Supporting Actress prize for her performance in Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari.” Young was nominated against Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Movie Film”), Olivia Colman (“The Father”), Amanda Seyfried (“Mank”), and Glenn Close (“Hillbilly Elegy”). Prior to the Oscars, Youn emerged as the category’s frontrunner after winning Best Supporting Actress prizes at the BAFTA Film Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Youn’s Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actress came from one of six Oscar nominations “Minari” received at the 93rd Academy Awards. The film also picked up nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Steven Yeun, Best Original Score, and Best Original Screenplay. Youn’s victory gives distributor A24 yet another acting Academy Award after the likes...
Youn’s Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actress came from one of six Oscar nominations “Minari” received at the 93rd Academy Awards. The film also picked up nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Steven Yeun, Best Original Score, and Best Original Screenplay. Youn’s victory gives distributor A24 yet another acting Academy Award after the likes...
- 4/26/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
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