Korea Advice

The Fourth Korean Festival is due to kick off again this Saturday and as usual it's a fantastic line up and yet again puts other events of a similar nature to shame by remaining FREE.

Saturday at the Mean Fiddler you get the opportunity to see Crying Nut billed as the best punk rock band in Korea along with Wanderlust and a surprise special guest - we think we know who that will be, but we're not allowed to spill the beans. Doors open at 6pm and it'll be first come first served. See you down at the front.

Monday and things move over to our favourite cinema, the Prince Charles for a week of free screenings. This was crazy popular last time so get there nice and early. They did have extra tickets thirty minutes before each screening last year, but the queues were enormous. The line up this year is as follows:

Monday 22 May, 8.30pm - RULES OF DATING: Lee Yu-rim is a high school teacher. Choi Hong is a student teacher. When they go out for drinks one night, Yu-rim confesses to Hong that he wants to have sex with her. This sets off a tug of war as Yu-rim in which dating and desire mix explosively…

Tues 23 May, 6pm - MURDER TAKE ONE: A female copywriter is found dead in a five-star hotel room. The suspect is her younger brother who is arrested. But lie detectors seem to prove his innocence and after an unexpected shamanic ritual turns the case on its head, prosecutor Choi Yeon-ki finds himself in a deadly game.

Tuesday 23 May, 8.40pm - ALL FOR LOVE: Seven intertwined relationships in one love story in which, for all the characters, one week in their lives will change everything

Wednesday 24 May, 6.30pm - MY SCARY GIRL: A timid college lecturer meets a mysterious but charming lady and they begin a passionate relationship. However, as they fall in love, he soon begins to realise she is not who she says she is…. …

Wednesday 24 May, 9pm - SEE YOU AFTER SCHOOL: In this award-winning drama, high-school kid Koong-dahl, can do nothing to rid himself of his ‘loser streak,’ so he signs up for a year-long psychological therapy course. Fresh out of the clinic Koong-dahl confronts a dangerous high school bully who challenges him to a duel on the school rooftop.

Thursday 25 May, 6.30pm - ART OF FIGHTING: A coward by nature, Byung-tae has to endure plenty of bullying at school. One day, he meets Pan-su, an expert at martial arts, and under Pan-su’s guidance, he learns how to fight back. Now he is going to need all his learned skills as he faces his darkest enemy.

Thursday 25 May, 8.50pm - LOST IN LOVE: A drama in which two lovers, separated for ten years, meet again…

FRIDAY 26 MAY, 6.30pm - LOVE IS A CRAZY THING: In this award-winning psychological thriller Au-jin receives a call from a stranger offering her relief from her crushing monotony. This stranger’s voice becomes her only outlet a personal friend she can pour her heart out to. It also becomes her most dangerous predicament….

Friday 26 May. 9pm - PRINCESS AURORA: Three women are murdered by a serial killer and the evidence left at the crime scenes is a sticker of the toy character “Princess Aurora.” A veteran detective, OH suspects an attractive woman named JUNG. The only problem is she happens to be his ex-wife.

We'd guess Princess Aurora, Art of Fighting and My Scary Girl tickets will go fast and wouldn't be too surprised if there were some free gifts floating around.

The following Saturday events take a different track with Korean Day at the Victoria and Albert Museum and then a week of art at The Air Gallery before the Festival closes with a lecture at SOAS on the 5th of June. Full details here. We'll bring you a review of Art of Fighting later this week.