Cool things about Korea, Number 2

Coming up with number two was really tough, not for lack of subject material but just 'cause there's too many choices. I decided to make the choice easier by having this week's topic relate to last week's (yes, my definition of 'week' is a little flexible). So, cool thing about Korea number two? Korean movies. There's actually a term for them - Hallyuwood. It's not just a Hollywood reference; Hallyu refers to Korean wave, the idea of Korean culture spreading around the world. And ah, yes, 'wood' refers to Hollywood. The cool thing is that Korea is one of the few countries in the world where they watch more domestically produced movies than imported (i.e. American) movies. And I can see why, as a lot of them are very very good. I do have to add an aside here however; I began my Korean movie experience by googling top ten lists of best movies, so I had some idea of what to look up first. The result is that I had this incredibly skewed idea of all Korean movies being unbelievably fantastic. It's kind of like if someone googled Hollywood and then watched The Godfather, Shawshank Redemption, and then maybe Casablanca or something. They'd think that all Hollywood movies were awesome right? Well I had a similar thing with Korean movies until a string of simply awful movies convinced me that unfortunately I'd started at the top and was working down. But there are still some crazy good Korean movies out there. These are my favourite three;

The Good, the bad, the weird. Yep, it's a Korean western, based back when Manchuria was ruling Korea. This movie is so much fun I've watched it twice in one month, and I'm looking forward to seeing it a third time sometime soon. Some of the jokes might not translate well if you haven't lived in Korea (for example the 'bad' guy's perfectly quaffed hair that never goes out of place despite being on horseback, riding on top of a train or whatever) but I think just about anyone will like this movie if they don't take it too seriously - and if they don't fall asleep during the horse chase at the end that seriously lasts at least 30 minutes.

Memories of Murder. This is a very different sort of movie, based on a crime back in the days before Korea got democratic. It's completely compelling, beautiful and often shocking. This would be my absolute favourite Korean movie if it wasn't so tough to watch again - plus I'm a sucker for fun popcorn fare over serious viewing any day.

Tae Guk Gi - or Brotherhood of War. I watched this last week and it totally destroyed me, as you'd probably guess from a movie based on the Korean war. It entirely revolves around two brothers who are made to join the army when Seoul is invaded by North Korea, and you follow the war through their eyes. The ending is superb, but I think I just about used up a box of tissues over it, so be warned!

There's a heap of other movies I could include here but then I'd go on forever and this would be one long never-ending post. I should mention that Koreans have no qualms about sad endings - it's enough to make me run screaming back to Hollywood in search of a cheesy happy ending every now and again. Oh and they're doing a Hollywood remake (of course) of one of the most popular movies here, Oldboy, so I'll be interested to see how that turns out. Dare I say I think it's too twisted for American audiences? When I said this to my Korean-American friend he was a little insulted, but I couldn't work out if I'd insulted his Korean or his American side... Anyway; Korean movies! Awesome!