Culture News Roundup

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Director Park Chan-wook's "The Handmaiden" was named by an American media outlet as a must-see movie of the year. This and more to come on this week’s culture news roundup.

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The American media company Vice has chosen director Park Chan-wook's "The Handmaiden" as this year's must-see movie. The leading youth media company wrote that "The Handmaiden" was a beautiful movie and cited its lush and sensual imagery as the reason for its selection. Moreover, the Vice article explained that director Park Chan-wook of "Oldboy" fame has created quote: "another suffocatingly beautiful world." In addition to "The Handmaiden," the entertainment magazine has named five other films, including this year's Cannes festival jury award winner "American Honey," as movies people will be watching this year. U.S.-based business magazine Forbes wrote a piece on the continuing popularity of Psy's "Gangnam Style" music video and how it was unusual for any title to receive significant attention for such a long time. First released in July 2012, the "Gangnam Style" music video has garnered the greatest number of hits of any video on YouTube and continues to add an average of about 3 million more clicks a day four years after its release. Forbes projected that "Gangnam Style" may never relinquish its title as the most watched video. Two Korean movies have been invited to the out-of-competition category at the Venice International Film Festival, one of the world's most respected film festivals. One is director Kim Jee-woon's "The Age of Shadows" about the animosity between a Korean resistance group and the Japanese police during the colonial period. The other is director Kim Ki-duk's "Net" telling the story of a North Korean fisherman who drifted into South Korean waters. Meanwhile, Korean actress Moon So-ri has been appointed as a jury member at the Venice Film Festival. Moon will serve on the jury for the Orizzonti section to judge cutting-edge avant-garde films. This is the first time that a Korean actress has been invited to be a juror at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. Previously, director Park Chan-wook took part in the festival as a jury member in 2006 and director Gina Kim in 2009. The 73rd Venice Film Festival will be held for 11 days, starting on August 31st.