SAM Films: Korean Cinema's Got Style - The Good, the Bad, and the Weird

Have you heard? Korean Cinema’s Got Style!

Expand your Korean art horizons with four contemporary films that epitomize the charm, style, and innovation of Meot: Korean Art from the Frank Bayley Collection. This two-week fall series of evening and matinee screenings will genre-hop through horror, comedy, mystery, and even the Western, proving Korean cinema is anything but predictable. Showcasing a few modern masters’ early works, this series engages with Meot’s contemplations on Korean artistry through time. Join us for community activities accompanying each screening.

Tickets
$15
Your ticket to the film includes admission to the museum galleries—stop at the Ticketing Desk for your admission ticket!

Kim Jee-woon's The Good, the Bad, and the Weird

It’s 1939, and in the wilderness of Japanese-occupied Manchuria, three bandits chase each other in pursuit of a map promising endless riches. But little do they know, this trio of the Good (a lone bounty hunter), the Bad (a vicious bandit), and the Weird (a thief with little to lose) will end up swept up in a battle of empires and power beyond their imaginations.

Drawing inspiration from Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Western classic, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, this “kimchi Western” also riffs off of South Korea’s Manchurian Westerns from the 1960s and 70s to create a multicultural hybrid of gun-slinging action, comedy, and anti-colonial rebelliousness. Content Advisory: Violence.

Get in the creative spirit of the Manchurian Western with our pre-screening workshop: tying traditional Korean knots into keychains.

1–2 pm: Gallery access and special programming
1:30 pm: Doors open for seating
2 pm: Showtime!

Korean Cinema’s Got Style! is guest curated by Hannah Baek.

SAM Films are generously supported by the Bagley and Virginia Wright Endowment and The Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Film and Education Endowment.