Published on January 31, 2006

Three new South Korean films will soon be on screens here, heralding the next wave in Seoul-ful entertainment. If you enjoy kimchi, know that Rain isn’t necessarily a weather thing, and can pronounce “Daejanggeum”, you’re ready for Korean cinema.

Most Thais know the name “Daejanggeum” by heart - it’s the smash TV drama from Seoul, and now there’s a Bangkok restaurant named after it.

So the next logical target in the Korean invasion is the cinema. That’s where you’ll find Jirath Pavaravadhana preparing the beachhead.

Jirath is vice president of Rose Video Ltd, which has done well selling CD versions of South Korean television series and believes the time is right to put Koreans on our big screens too.

“The Korean cultural wave is striking hard through dramas like ‘Winter Love Song’ and ‘Autumn in My Heart’, and K-Pop artists like Rain and Baby Vox, so Korean movies should cash in on the momentum too,” he says.

“In the past the TV series did well, but a lot of Korean films were flops,” he says, yet Rose Video subsidiary WMP Film International feels secure enough now that it’s importing three top-rated movies this year.

“Daisy” is due for release on February 16, followed on March 2 by the period film “Duelist”. Then, on March 23, comes the US$20-million (Bt800-million) blockbuster “Typhoon”, South Korea’s largest-ever film production.

“Daisy” will be promoted ahead of its Thai premiere by SF Cinema, the Korea Tourism Association, iTV Asian Series and the Korean restaurant Hong Ju.

The film is about a detective and a killer who fall in love with the same woman, and the operative word in terms of its chances of success is “love”. Korean romances make money in Thailand, led by 2004’s “Windstruck”, which earned Bt20 million here.

Amour also swept “My Sassy Girl” and “The Classic” to box-office victories, plucking the strings of Thai hearts.

“Two decades ago Hong Kong films were the most popular of all Asian films, but then it seemed they had nothing fresh to offer in terms of plot,” Jirath notes.

Korean films are the current hot commodity, with international film festivals vying for new releases and top directors like Roman Polanski hailing them as the new Asian wave.

Few have done well in Thailand, though, but WPM is counting on solid marketing to turn the sags into smashes.

One way will be to get Thai audiences better acquainted with the stars of Korean cinema beyond Jun Ji-Hyun of “Windstruck”, “My Sassy Girl” and “Il Mare” and Won Bin from the war drama “Taegukgi”.

Get ready to meet the cast of “Daisy”, then. WPM is flying in Jun Ji-Hyun, Jung Woo-Sung and Lee Sung-Jae for the February 16 opening.

Joining the reception line will be the screenwriter Kwak Jae-Yong (“My Sassy Girl”, “The Classic”, “Windstruck”), director Andrew Lau from Hong Kong and Japanese composer Umebayshi Shigeru (“House of Flying Daggers”, “In the Mood for Love”).

“Daisy” was shot for $10 million in Amsterdam, where several Thai films and TV series have been set, so the backdrops should be familiar.

Jirath believes the popularity of Korean horror films here, though modest, should help the new releases as well. “Juon” was well received.

South Korea produces 70 to 80 movies a year, of which 30 per cent are dramas, 20 per cent comedies and 10 per cent horrors. If Thai fans go for the coming romances big-time, they’ll be seeing all the other genres as well.

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation

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Free and flattered in the homeland

South Koreans turfed out their military strongmen in 1992 and embraced cultural liberalisation, freeing the movie industry to explore new territory.

Instead of censoring filmmakers, the government now supports them. A quota system, stipulating that Korean cinemas screen domestic films at least 146 days a year, has encouraged investment.

“Only 30 per cent of total ticket revenues comes from Hollywood movies,” says Catherine Park, head of IHQ Korean Film Making Co.

The Thai industry isn’t nearly so well protected or supported. Hollywood product accounts for 80 per cent of revenues here, Jirath says.

The Pusan Film Festival has since 1996 been a major international cinema event and has promoted a new generation of local filmmakers, leading to healthy activity across all genres.

And Koreans support them too. “Taegukgi” (“Brotherhood”) sold 11 million tickets at the equivalent of Bt300 each – that’s Bt3.3 billion.

The Seoul government doles out to qualified independent filmmakers, mostly students, Bt19.5 million annually to produce 10 movies.

“The industry’s development therefore comes from our learning experiences within the country,” says Park. “There’s less influence from the Hollywood style, and that helps make Korean movies unique.”

South Korean women, she adds, tend to be the ones who decide which movie a couple is going to see, although houswife Inhee Hwang told us she consults her husband. She’s a big fan of Korean movies.

“They’re very popular, moreso than the Hollywood ones. I’ve heard that some of the Hollywood movies are screened in Korea first, on a trial basis, and if they’re successful here the studios are confident they’ll do well in other Asian countries. They know Korean people love to watch Korean movies most.”

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