CASCADING FILMS DOT COM

The latest film from award-winning Korean director Bong Joon-ho (THE HOST), MOTHER is a unique murder mystery and tale of primal love that Vogue calls “…riveting and darkly funny…” The film served as South Korea’s official entry for the 82nd Academy Awards® in the Best Foreign Language film category. Mother (Kim Hye-ja - THE RUSTIC DIARY) is a devoted single parent to her simple-minded son, Do-joon (Won Bin). His foolish behavior is a constant source of anxiety for Mother and one night, while walking home drunk, Do-joon follows a school girl a ways before she disappears into a dark alley. The next morning, she is found dead in an abandoned building and authorities accuse and soon convict Do-joon for the murder. Mother refuses to believe her son is guilty and immediately undertakes her own investigation to find the killer; in her obsessive quest to clear her son’s name, she steps into a world of unimaginable, shocking chaos.

Korean vampire themed movie, Thirst, will begin its Houston showing on August 28 at Angelika Film Center Houston.

Want to know more about the Korean film industry, its history, and the latest Korean box office figures all in English? Then check out the rarely mentioned but extremely resourceful Korean Film Council's website.

A priest becomes a vampire…another man’s wife is coveted…a deadly seduction triggers murder. Thirst is the new film from director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance). Already a boxoffice smash in Korea, Thirst was honored with the Prix du Jury [Jury Prize] at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival.

From the Academy Award®-winning director and world-renowned Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki comes PONYO, a story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid. Already a box-office success in Japan, the story of a young and overeager goldfish named Ponyo (voiced by NOAH CYRUS) and her quest to become human features an outstanding roster of voice talent, including CATE BLANCHETT, MATT DAMON, TINA FEY, FRANKIE JONAS, CLORIS LEACHMAN, LIAM NEESON, LILY TOMLIN and BETTY WHITE.

Finally! We won't have to wait for year 2019 to be able to own a descent, affordable, domestic copy of the cult, sci-fi classic Blade Runner! This will be the biggest and the single most awaited DVD release worldwide. Or should I say, releases.

Known for his disturbing, sometimes experimental and consistently prolific filmography, Kim Ki-duk at times is unable to communicate to his audience like his last film, The Bow. But regardless of the fact that The Bow had close to no ticket sales in Korea, which was foreseeable considering its limited and private distribution method, it is saddening to know that his 13th and new film, Time, will not be released in Korea.

The latest film from director Bong Joon-ho of Memories of Murder had its world premiere at Cannes International Film Festival. With most of the film selections in competition being rather lukewarm to disappointing, audiences that caught the two screenings of The Host (괴물) found themselves enjoying a rather unique breed of monster film. It is said to be darkly comic, genuinely horrific, thrilling, and comes with a social commentary relevant to the Korean society. It's too bad for the programmers at Cannes for choosing to put the film out of competition.

Ryu Seung-wan is famous amongst Korean film lovers for his unique action films ranging from raw independent feature debut Die Bad (죽거나 혹은 나쁘거나) to commercial action-fantasy Arahan (아라한). With his last film, Crying Fist (주먹이 운다), showing his maturity as a director capable of handling human drama and packing quite an emotional punch at that, Ryu had clearly moved on from his 'action kid' days. But despite this change that even Ryu himself admits in several interviews, fans and critics alike kept asking for something similar to that of Die Bad, as if Ryu has to stick with that same genre forever. Ryu grew tired of this.

Here's a link to one of the first Korean remakes to make it out to the marketing stage: The Lake House.

THE PROMISE Opens 5/5

MOUNTAIN PATROL Opens 5/12

Here are some words from Alamo Drafthouse, although I'm not sure I'd agree with Hollywood doing a wonderful job this year. -_-;

Night Watch - Starts Friday, March 3 at the River Oaks Theatre

Here's an interesting news sniffed up from Kaiju Shakedown.