There are two contemporary Korean films (neither of them very good, I'm
afraid) which feature poetry in interesting ways.  "Mystery of a Cube" (May
1999) is about a group of university students who form a club to honor the
late poet Lee Hyun.  In researching his past they discover his tomb, and
this leads to a series of "Indiana Jones"-style adventures.  From all
accounts the movie is nothing exceptional, but it does give significant
exposure to a genuinely interesting poet.

"The Letter," Korea's top-grossing movie of 1997, is the story of a woman
whose husband dies shortly after they get married.  In the early part of the
film she requests a love letter from her husband as a birthday present, but
he presents her with a famous poem instead.  The poem is revisited later in
the film when the words take on added meaning.

Also, "Art Museum by the Zoo" (1998), a much better film, has a nice scene
in the middle with the main character reciting some poetry.  Here it is not
so crucial to the plot, however.

If you would like more information about any of these films, feel free to
contact me off the list.

--Darcy

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Darcy Paquet
Inst. of Foreign Lang. Studies
Korea University, Seoul

The Korean Film Page:
http://myhome.shinbiro.com/~darcypaq/koreafilm.html

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Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite