First Teaser Trailer for South Korean Thriller Hindsight (Blue Salt) by a Il Mare director Lee Hyun-Seung.

Synopsis:

Retired mob boss Du-heon enrolls in a cooking class with the hopes of making a fresh start as a restaurant owner. In the class he meets a quirky girl, Se-bin, and finds himself drawn to her mysterious charms. Despite his determination to wipe the slate clean, Du-heon is summoned back into the criminal fold by his old colleagues to stop his successor expanding the mob business into prostitution and drug-dealing.

But there’s more to the girl from the cooking class than meets the eye: Se-bin is a contract killer hired by the new boss. She keeps a close eye on Du-heon and watches for an opportunity to take him out. However, she comes into conflict with herself as she grows attached to him.

[via Film Smash & Official Site]

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After the item has been listed in the shop for several months, K2DVD.com has now announced the release date for the Korean Blu-ray Disc release of Chan-wook Park’s Thirst (Bakjwi, 박쥐) coming on June 18th.
As you can see in the picture below, CJ Entertainment will use the same kind of fold-out digipak as in their recent Blu-ray Disc releases, but thanks to Kang-ho Song and Kim Ok-bin’s indecent (at least for Korea) pose, this one will stick out in your shelf.
Although it isn’t mentioned in the item description, the runtime of 144 minutes would mean that this release (unlike the Region B release from Palisades-Tartan running for 133 minutes) will include the longer director’s cut version of the film that was screened during last year’s Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) in October. I just hope K2DVD didn’t add the runtime of the extra features to this figure like they sometimes do…

Pre-order THIRST on Blu-ray Disc from YesAsia.com

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Great news for fans of director Chan-wook Park’s teen angsty-less vampire drama Thirst (Bakjwi, 박쥐).
Today the Asian retailer YesAsia.com added the Korean 3-Disc DVD release (coming March 15, 2010) that will not only include the theatrical cut (that’s already available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc) but also the extended director’s cut with English subtitles. The latter was screened during last year’s Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) in October with about ten minutes of added and extended scenes.
Judging from the product photo, CJ Entertainment’s release should (as always) also put the packaging of the recent International releases to shame, especially since it features the “banned” artwork with Kim Ok-bin’s intact legs. If the already announced Korean Blu-ray Disc release will also include the Director’s cut is currently not known.
Preorder Thirst 3-Disc Special Edition at YesAsia.com

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Synopsis

Ji-won Song (Dong-won Kang) is a North Korean resident spy, is contacted by an agent “Shadow” and begins a mission to assassinate a traitor. Hot-tempered South Korean intelligence agent Han-kyu Lee (Kang-ho Song) gets to know such plot from a liaison and attempts to prosecute “Shadow” without permission but fails. As a result Han-kyu resigns from the agency. 6 years later, he operates an investigation agency and come across Ji-won once again. Wanting the bounty for bringing in a Ji-won, Han-kyu offers him a partnership to keep him close. Ji-won assumes that Han-kyu is still the agent and agrees to get rid of his false accusation of a traitor. As they work and live under one roof, they maintain a tight-rope tension but an unusual friendship.

[via Filmsmash & AsianMediaWiki]

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Looks like once again Japan will get the biggest and sweetest piece of the Blu-ray disc release cake.
While Kim Ji-Woon’s oriental western The Good, The Bad and the Weird has already been released on Blu-ray Disc in several countries, all these releases have some kind of small drawback. The British release by Icon Home Entertainment offers the International version (and the Korean ending as an bonus feature) but suffers from several small cuts that were made because of animal cruelty (falling horses) during the showdown.
The Korean release (looking great in the digipak and sleeve) is fully uncut in this department but only includes the shorter International cut (just like the French release), a fact that has only been announced a few days before the release.
Now Warner Japan announced to bring a release that includes the Korean and International cut (both with falling horses) and English subtitles on February 10, 2010. The only setback could be the price of currently 5,905 Yen (~45 € or 66 US$) without shipping…
[thanks to AnimeOnBlu for the heads up!]

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Good news for Chan-wook Park fans who want to quench their thirst for high definition. DVD Times reports that Palisades Tartan will release the vampire thriller Thirst in the UK on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on January 25, 2010.
Since the label only got the distribution rights for the UK, the Blu-ray Disc will most likely be coded for Region B like their recent releases. Focus Features will release Thirst on November 17th in North America but sadly only on DVD.

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Just in time for the limited theatrical release in Germany via MFA+ on October 15th, Empire has posted a new clip from Chan-wook Park’s Thirst. Those of us without a proper cinema around just have to wait a few more days longer since the US DVD from Focus Features will already be released on November 18th. A Blu-ray Disc release is listed on Amazon.com as well, but currently without a release date.

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Packaging

HD Screenshots

Region: All Disc: BD50 Audio: Korean (DTS HD MA 7.1 (48kHz 24Bit)) Subtitles: English, Korean (Main Feature only) Runtime: ~130 Minutes

The Good, The Bad, The Weird Blu-ray Disc @ Asian Blu-ray Guide

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DVD Times has posted first details and the cover artwork for Universal Studio Home Entertainments US DVD release of Chan-wook Park’s Thirst. The DVD will be released on November 17th, four months after the US and over half a year after the Korean theatrical opening. There’s no word of a Blu-ray Disc (yet), but I can’t imagine that Universal won’t bring us Thirst in sweet HD as well….DVD only releases are soooo 2007 after all!

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YesAsia has listed the first “real” picture of the upcoming (September 17th or 30th, depending on the retailer) Korean Blu-ray Disc release of Kim Ji-Woon’s oriental western The Good, The Bad and the Weird:

Looks quite good, just as expected from a Korean release. But I’m a bit worried about the part in the article description that says that the Blu-ray Disc will include the shorter international cut while the Korean DVD Special Edition released back in March included both cuts.
I’ve contacted the K2DVD support about this, they seem to be pretty reliable when it comes to things like this.
Update: K2DD cofirmed that the Blu-ray Disc release will only include the International cut and will b delayed to September 24th.

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