I was just clicking around on IMDb and saw that Jeon Ji-hyeon is filming an American live action version of the anime Blood: The Last Vampire where she’ll be playing the role of Saya. I hadn’t heard about this before. I hope it’s a good movie. You can tell that Ji-hyeon is moving into the American market because now she’s credited as “Gianna Jun” on IMDb. It sounds kind of strange to me though

Well, I’ll have to watch this movie. I’ve seen all her movies (except White Valentine, I have to watch it) and even a drama series she was in. It will be interesting and strange to see her act in English.

A while ago I posted a trailer for Kim Tae-hee’s latest movie The Restless. The movie will be available on DVD with English subtitles by the end of the month.

I just finished watching a movie called Midnight Sun (太陽の歌). It’s a Japanese drama starring pop singer YUI. I bought it along with her new album because she’s in it and I thought the story sounded appealing. Midnight Sun is about a girl called Kaoru (YUI) who is allergic to the sun (she has XP). Every morning before going to sleep she watches a boy who meets up with his friends outside her house to go surfing. At night she goes out to the square to play the guitar and sing, although no one ever comes to listen.

I really liked the movie. It’s moving and very well made. YUI did a great job as an actress. I don’t know if she’s acted in movies before this one, but there’s certainly no shortage of talent in that girl. She’s also kind of mysterious. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something special about her.

In the movie she sings the song Good-bye days, which is featured on her latest album (which I haven’t had time to open yet - I just got it and decided to watch the movie first). If I didn’t already have her CDs I would definitely have bought them after seeing Midnight Sun.

I’d also like to mention that the English subtitles on the DVD are very good. I’ve grown accustomed to poor English subtitles on DVDs, but these are good. There are some mistakes, but they are very few.

A couple of weeks ago they showed the Japanese movie Returner on Swedish TV. I hadn’t heard about it but I had to watch it. It’s a movie about a girl named Milly who in the future goes back in time to the present day to save the world by killing the first alien who crashes on Earth and thereby stopping the war that has all but eliminated mankind in the future. She gets help in doing this from a hit man she happens to meet. I know, it sounds pretty lame. But I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It’s one of those movies that are “easy-watching”. You don’t have to invest that much in the movie but still get a pleasant feeling after watching it. (more…)

I saw this special about the movie Babel starring Brad Pitt on E! yesterday and it seems like an interesting movie. It’s directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu who directed 21 grams and Amores Perros, none of which I’ve seen actually. I was going to watch Amores Perros back when I lived in Spain, but I never got around to it. I’m going to watch Babel tomorrow.

I just came upon this trailer on YouTube and I thought I’d post it here to try to embed YouTube stuff.

It’s the trailer for Kim Tae-hee’s latest movie The Restless. It seems like a pretty cheesy action adventure kind of movie, but I’m looking forward to it all the same. The movie will go up in theaters in Korea December 21. (more…)

As I’ve written previously, the DVD box of the movie Daisy that I bought contains both the Director’s cut (international version) and theatrical (Korean) version of the movie. I started out watching the Director’s cut which I loved. A few days ago I watched the theatrical version and I must say that I’ve never seen such big difference between the regular and director’s cut versions of a movie before. Usually the director’s cut just contains a few scenes that were cut out of the theatrical version, but not this time.

Both versions of Daisy contain scenes that don’t exist in the other version. The director’s cut version is longer, but the most important difference is the order in which things take place in the movie, or rather, the order in which they are revealed to the viewer. The theatrical version has a more linear storytelling and reveals things sooner than the director’s cut. In the director’s cut (this must be a record in the number of times “director’s cut” appear in a single post ~ I’m a little tired) the characters are introduced more or less one at the time and lets the viewer wait a while before revealing the whole story.

I liked the director’s cut version most. It’s more surprising since it doesn’t reveal things so quickly, so you don’t know what to expect to the same extent as in the theatrical version. I recommend that you watch the director’s cut (also called International version).

Daisy pictures in the gallery

Daisy official site

I just finished watching the director’s cut of Jeon Ji-hyeon’s latest movie Daisy. I liked it alot. It’s directed by Andrew Lau who directed Infernal Affairs.

The movie takes place in the Netherlands where Ji-hyeon plays a street painter. I liked the painting that she was painting in the beginning of the movie (at least in the beginning of the director’s cut version, I’ve heard that things happen in another order in the regular version). It’s a big painting of a field. I’d like to have such a painting in my livingroom. I guess I’ll have to go to some exhibitions, but I doubt I’ll find anything. I’ve never bought a painting.

I highly recommend this movie. I hadn’t read anything at all about it before I bought the DVD (not even the DVD description). I’ve seen all of Ji-hyeon’s movies (that I know of) except White Valentine. I think she’s an excellent actress. If you like her other movies, then you should definitely watch Daisy.

I watched the Fast and the Furious ~ Tokyo Drift today. I was interested to see what Japanese actors they were using and if I recognized any of them. Not long after the main character arrived in Tokyo, she flashes by. The only one I recognized directly. Keiko Kitagawa (北川景子). She plays a very small part but she’s on screen quite alot. She’s the girl mechanic in the good guys’ gang. I think she had one line in the movie. I wish they’d given her a bigger part. She’s by far the cutest girl in the movie.

You may know Keiko from the Sailor Moon live action series. Ahrm… which I’ve never watched of course (go Sailor Mars!)

Keiko’s gallery

Credit for the picture to: Itsumo: Keiko Kitagawa