HomeActor/ActressNah Mun-hee
Nah Mun-hee
나문희
Nominees Announced for the 2008 Korea Drama Festival Awards
Nominees for the 2008 Korea Drama Festival Awards, scheduled for November 1st at Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, were announced yesterday on October 7. For the best acting award, nominees include respected actress Kim Hye-ja of “Angry Mom,” charismatic actor Choi Soo-jong of “Dae Joyoung,” acclaimed actors Kim Myung-min of “White Tower” and Jo Jae-hyun of “New Heart,” and top actresses Bae Jong-ok of “My Man’s Woman” and Kim Ha-neul of “On Air.” Nominees for the best drama category include “Legend,” “Angry Mom,” “Dae Joyoung,” and “Gourmet.” Life time achievement nominees are Choi Bul-am, Baek Il-seop, Na Moon-hee, and Kang Bu-ja. The first international festival for a single genre, the festival will feature a wide variety of interesting events, such as drama photo exhibition at the Jinju National Museum, Asian drama screening show, an international forum on Korean dramas, and a talent search.
Veteran Actress Na Returns to Theater
Veteran actress Na Moon-hee, 68, will return to stage with ``'night, Mother'' 12 years after her last work, ``Mother'' in 1996. The play is the eighth among the Yeongeuk Yeoljeon picks (Best Play Series) now performing in Daehangno and also stars prominent actresses Sohn Sook, Seo Ju-hee and Hwang Jung-min. ``'night, Mother'' is a 1983 play by Marsha Norman about a daughter, Jessie and her mother, Thelma, or Mama in the play. The drama deals with the story between Jessie and Thelma one night after Jessie calmly tells her mother she intends to commit suicide before morning. The play explores the meaning of life and sheds light on a woman's identity. The dialogue between Jessie and Thelma portrays how Jessie has planned her own death and Thelma's frustration, reaching a disturbing climax. Na will play the role of Thelma who tries to turn her daughter's decision but helplessly accepts it. The 68-year-old actress is one of the top actresses who can play the role of a maternal figure. ``Unlike TV dramas or films which are made with machines, the play is pure and interactive with the audience experiencing empathy face to face,'' Na said in a press conference. Na, who has three daughters in real life, said that the play is more like her own story. ``I am trying to express myself as it is rather than thinking I am acting,'' said Na. ``I thought I have good communication with my daughters but while acting the role of Thelma who realizes Jessie's solitude only just ahead of her death, I come to think I haven't,'' she said. Na garnered enormous popularity from her appearance in the hit sitcom, ``High Kick'' with her comic and warmhearted character, widening her acting scope to comic characters. For the Korean versions, veteran actress Yoon Seok-hwa starred in the premiere in 1985 and Sohn Sook and Jung Kyung-soon in 1998, Park Jung-ja and Youn Un-kyung in 1990 and Yoon So-jung and Oh Ji-hye, who are mother and daughter in real life in 2004. The play won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the original production at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, starred actress Kathy Bates as Jessie. The play will open on Aug. 29 and will run until Nov. 2 at Nemo Theater in Wonder Space.
No pain, no gain for the streetwise ajumma squad
Life is tough for four ajumma, or housewives, in “Girl Scouts,” an action comedy directed by Kim Sang-man. The film was released last Thursday. It is the only Korean film that was included among the top five ranking, as of Monday. The film takes place in Bongcheon-3 dong, a deprived area in Seoul where this aggressive middle-aged squad lives. The squad members are I-man (Na Moon-hee), a woman in her 60s working at a supermarket to look after her unemployed son; Bong-soon (Lee Kyung-sil), a widow who lives with an ill child; Mi-kyung (Kim Sun-ah), a divorcee; and Eun-ji (Ko Jun-hee), a caddie. The four women are determined to raise the money to open up a store in their neighborhood. It is their sole hope and dream. Though they try their best, they are hit by a piece of news that comes at them like a bolt from the blue. Hye-ran (Lim Ji-eun), who used to be one of the squad members and who is in charge of their collective savings, runs away. The four ajumma, ranging from their 20s to 60s, chase down Hye-ran. Mi-kyung, in her 20s, is the main character in the film. She aggressively drives a yellow van, and in one scene she makes a dramatic 360-degree turn in the road while giving chase. Her scenes, though, are more serious than comic. “I made an agreement with the director that the character shouldn’t be funny,” Kim said. “Mi-kyung is a divorcee with a child to look after. Her life is tense.” If Mi-kyung made people laugh, the story wouldn’t be realistic or deep, according to the actress. Instead, Mi-kyung responds to other comic plays. It was challenging for the unmarried Kim to be an ajumma. During the pre-production meetings, the crew and the director wondered if Mi-kyung should be married with or without kids or just remain single. “The life of a married mother with kids is more complicated,” the director told Kim after the meeting. And the actress agreed. “Mothers who look after children tend to be stronger,” Kim says. “Despite life’s up and downs, they [single mothers] have a reason to live ? their kids.” The actress explained that Mi-kyung becomes more resistant and mentally much tougher when Hye-ran kidnaps her daughter. Kim believes the film’s emotions are based on similar events that have taken place in real life. “In most films and dramas, ajumma appear with tight perms and loose pants,” Kim says. But she questions whether housewives really dress like this these days. “No matter how poor their living conditions, middle-aged women rarely wear loose pants,” Kim says, according to her observations. Instead of baggy pantaloons, Kim shot her scenes wearing three T-shirts, two pants and one pair of sneakers. That’s all she needed, though later on, one shoe wore through. “It’s probably because I had so many action scenes,” she said. In fact, Kim’s experience on the set proved to be a physical one. She showed her swollen anklebones and legs due to the shoot. And that’s not all. While shooting, “Yesterday” (2002), she hurt her pelvis ? there were many kicking scenes. “I can still feel the pain,” she says. While filming “She’s On Duty” (2005), Kim’s legs were always swollen, she said, because she had to run so much. “I always had to wear my ankle brace and a slip-on compression wristband,” Kim said. To Kim, however, the level of scars or aches are in proportion to how earnest or eager she was in the film. As they say, no pain, no gain. “I’m most happy when I’m asked if making the film was a painful experience,” she said. “The aches I receive reflect the amount of effort I put into the film.”
Korean movies leap into box-office fray
In late April, Iron Man arrived in the Korean cinema, smashing the box office into very profitable pieces. In mid-May, Prince Caspian took the baton and kept up the pressure on Korean competitors. Last weekend, whip-wielding Indy joined the Hollywood-only party, roped in plenty of movie tickets sales. The bombardment of Hollywood films dragged down the share of Korean films to a record low. But the bleak development was widely predicted since only a couple of new Korean releases were made. June might be slightly different, as eight Korean movies are set for release. "Girl Scout", directed by Kim Sang-man, will hit theaters on June 5, featuring well-known actors such as Kim Seon-ah, Nah Moon-hee, Lee Kyeong-sil. The film will test whether the audiences still have an appetite for a chase-the-money drama with fewer funny moments than publicized. Waiting in line for the June 12 release are four Korean films: "Life is Cool", "Beyond All Magic", "Spare" and "Like Father, Like Son". "Life is Cool", directed by Choi Ik-hwan, will introduce a love story where three men fall in love with the same woman. The film uses "anigraphics", putting together conventional shooting of real actors and animation. Kim Soo-ro, Kang Seong-jin, Kim Jin-soo play three close friends competing for the affection of a woman played by Park Ye-jin. While "Life is Cool" is about three men, "Beyond All Magic" (Heuksim-monyeo) is about three women falling for the same good-looking guy (played by Lee Sang-woo). Directed by Jo Nam-ho, this comic fantasy relies on the reputations of veteran actors, such as Shim Hye-jin and Kim Soo-mi. "Spare", first introduced at the Pusan International Film Festival last year, will feature well-organized action performances from the Korean and Japanese cast. Director Lee Seong-han, who started to work on the film in 2006, finally brings his debut feature to theaters, but the competition will be tough. "Like Father, Like Son", director Lee Moo-yeong's third film, portrays a rock musician who reunites with his son after a 15-year separation. A real drama begins to unfold when the two characters have to live together with a woman named 'Marie'. The film stars Kim Sang-joong as the father and Kim Heung-soo as his son, and Yoo In-yeong plays Marie. A bigger Korean film project will come out on June 19. "Public Enemy Returns", the third installment of the police action series helmed by director Kang Woo-seok, will bring back the foul-mouthed yet justice-obsessed police detective Gang Cheol-jung played by Seol Kyeong-gu. The original "Public Enemy" was a commercial hit in 2002, and the sequel "Another Public Enemy" ("Public Enemy 2" in 2005 fared relatively well. Expectations for the third one are building, not least because it has a solid supporting cast, including Jeong Jae-yeong, Lee Moon-sik and Yoo Hae-jin, and the screenplay is written by Jang Jin, a popular filmmaker. "Crossing", to be released on June 26, is one of the most notable Korean films this summer, largely due to its realistic depiction of North Korean defectors. Directed by Kim Tae-gyoon, the film stars Cha In-pyo as a North Korean who crosses the Chinese border to get food and medicine for his ailing wife, only to find himself on the run. His 11-year-old son (Sin Myeong-cheol) also risks his life to trace his father in China. Shot in Korea, Mongolia and China between July and September last year, "Crossing" portrays the plight of North Koreans desperate to survive in a way that raises the awareness about this serious issue. Set for release on the same day as "Crossing" but with a far brighter tone is "My Mighty Princess". Directed by kwak Jae-Yong, this romantic comedy stars Sin Min-ah as a female college student armed with unexpectedly good skills in martial arts, and the storyline revolves around her topsy-turvy quest for her Mr. Right. The eight Korean films will surely make some headway in their concerted efforts to fight off the attacks from their Hollywood counterparts, but the fight will be nothing if not tantalizing and cutthroat. The tantalizing aspect will come from "Sex and the City: The Movie", which makes its debut June 5. The big-screen adaptation of the hit HBO series will reunite Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, and given that Korea has a solid female fan base for the four fashionable New Yorkers, the R-rated film is expected to sashay the box-office runway with some confidence. The cutthroat front has two muscular players: "Kung Fu Panda" and "The Incredible Hulk". The most feared adversary of the two is a pot-bellied panda named Po. The podgy panda turns into an unlikely kung fu hero in a clever animated marital arts adventure by the DreamWorks Animation team known for its "Shrek" franchise. The beautifully rendered graphics and intricately organized animated sequences give the film enhanced dramatic effect, and it will strongly appeal to audiences of all age groups when it opens on June 5. "The Incredible Hulk", based on the classic Marvel Comics superhero, depicts Bruce Banner (Edward Norton), a mild-mannered scientist who has been traveling the world to find an antidote that will allow him to break free from his primal alter ego. For better or worse, Panda and the Hulk will not pay much attention to the eight Korean films opening in June. Their focus will be on Iron Man, Prince Caspian and Indy. The three movies took a combined 81 percent share of ticket sales last weekend, according to the Korean Film Council.
'Girl Scouts' Showcases 'Ajumma' Power
``Ajumma.'' The word can be roughly translated as ``auntie,'' normally referring to married women or those past the rosy bloom of their youth. In certain contexts it can be derogatory or even sexist, but it's also a fond term for all the mothers ....
What Hallyu Stars are asking for in Hallyu
The 'FACE in Japan Premium Event' was held at the Tokyo Dome on the 14th and 15th where we asked participating actors and singers about the way Hallyu should be heading. Na Moon Hee: I am happy that the Hallyu Expo was able to be hosted on Korea's....
