This April, one of Asia's biggest stars - South Korean movie idol Joong-hoon Park - will be coming to the Burns for a unique and unprecedented mini-retrospective of his work. A household name in Asia, Park started out in dramas in the mid-'80s but hit it big in comedy and action films as part of the huge South Korean cultural rebirth that's stretched its influence across the continent. As Variety recently put it: "In terms of pop culture, perhaps no country in the world has ever experienced a greater renaissance than South Korea."

Opening Night with Joong-hoon Park
RADIO STAR Wed. April 11 at 7:00
Jun-ik Lee. 2006. 115 min. NR. South Korea, in Korean with subtitles.
Megastars Joong-hoon Park and Sung-kee Ahn come together for the fourth time in this award-winning, moving film about friends who stick together through thick and thin. Park plays a has-been rocker with an attitude problem who can't seem to stay out of trouble. His faithful manager (Ahn) bails him out time and again, finally pushing him onto an unlikely path for a new kind of success - as a radio DJ in a small town.
Q&A w/Joong-hoon Park, Sung-kee Ahn & Jonathan Demme. Reception to follow.
Tickets: $12/members; $16/nonmembers.
This evening is made possible with support from the Korean Cultural Service in New York.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE
Thurs. April 12 at 7:15
Jonathan Demme. 2002. 104 min. PG-13. US/Germany, in English/French. Universal Pictures.
Exhilarating romance and suspense ignite against the backdrop of an edgy, modern Paris in Jonathan Demme's "dazzlingly nimble" (Variety) modern take on Charade, filled with nods to the French New Wave, including cameos by Annie Karina, Charles Aznavour, and Agnès Varda. Joong-hoon Park appears in his first American role as one of many bad guys out to relieve the heroine (Thandie Newton) of her money.

TWO GUYS Sat. April 14 at 7:45
Hun-su Park. 2004. 116 min. NR. South Korea, in Korean with subtitles.
A playboy named Hun has racked up so much debt that the enforcer (Park) who comes to collect threatens dismemberment if he doesn't cough up the dough. But the tables are turned in this fast-paced drama, after the two witness a murder and suddenly find themselves being hotly pursued by foreign spies and Korean intelligence agents alike.

NOWHERE TO HIDE Sun. April 15 at 6:00
Myung-se Lee. 1999. 112 min. R. South Korea, in Korean with subtitles.
An athletic, macho Park leads a group of detectives in hunting down the head of a massive drug cartel in this adrenaline-filled, violent manhunt. Racing from one jaw-dropping set piece to the next, Nowhere to Hide boasts "enough visceral appeal to rival Hong Kong's John Woo" (L.A.Times). The villain is played by Sung-kee Ahn, who also costarred with Joong-hoon Park in his latest, Radio Star. A big hit at Sundance.
Q&A w/Joong-hoon Park, director Myung-se Lee & Jonathan Demme.

MY LOVE, MY BRIDE Mon. April 16 at 7:15
Myung-se Lee. 1990. 111 min. NR. South Korean, in Korean with subtitles.
A pair of starry-eyed sweethearts wed in a sea of romantic bliss - and almost immediately things take a dramatic turn for the worse. This sumptuously filmed comedy of errors kicked off the sex-war comedy genre that took Korea by storm in the 1990s. It earned Park the Best Actor award from the Asian-Pacific Film Festival, where Myung-se Lee (Nowhere to Hide) won Best New Director for his unconventional use of sets, animation, and a clever soundtrack.

RULES OF THE GAME Tues. April 17 at 7:15
Hyeon-su Jang. 1994. 110 min. NR. South Korea, in Korean with subtitles.
Yong-dae (Park) works at a car wash in a small town, dreaming all the while about one day becoming a hero. He and his beautiful girlfriend head for the big city in search of the sweet life together - and trouble meets them halfway. A violent, hard-bitten tale of swindling, prostitution, and crime, this consummate action movie caps off our series with a bang.