Eye Candy’s Yoo Min-kyu takes the lead in indie film One Night
by javabeans
I still think of Yoo Min-kyu as Ha-jin the bassist and flirty half of Shut Up: Flower Boy Band’s bromancing duo, and it’s for that role that I carry a lot of residual affection for him. He was picked out of the Oh Boy! series’ Flower Boy auditions (which won him his debut in Shut Up), and now he’s been cast in a new film project which is particularly interesting to me for the fact that it’s the next film by Kim Jo Gwang-soo, an out director who has had modest success with two queer films: the short film Boy Meets Boy and the feature Just Friends? — which, by the way, featured early-career Lee Je-hoon (Bleak Night) and Yeon Woo-jin (Arang and the Magistrate).
Both were small coming-of-age stories depicted with a sensitive touch, so I’m expecting a similar vibe from his new film, which is called One Night. Centering around three friends, Geun-ho, Yong-woo, and Sang-soo, the film follows one them on one “hot” night after they take their university entrance exams. (Read the “hot night” descriptor as a sort of intense-passionate-youth experience, not a sexual one.) They meet a man who’s traveling on business, and decide to follow him up to Seoul on a whim. The description doesn’t tell us whether the story will have any gay characters or feature queer lovelines, but there is the hint that Yoo Min-kyu, playing main character Geun-ho, has a “melo” encounter with the businessman Joon, and it’s their connection that leads the whole group on their overnight trip.
I love these kinds of stories, with characters on the cusp of adulthood going on a free-spirited ride. And while Yoo Min-kyu is still a very new actor (and my affection for him was not quite enough for me to sit through To the Beautiful You), he’s got a fresh-faced exuberance about him and lots of experience with onscreen bromance. More of that is never a bad thing.
The other two friends will be played by Jo Bok-rae and Kim Ri-hoo, who are stage actors. In fact most of the film’s cast are either seasoned stage veterans or at least have some theater experience, including the actor playing Joon, 38-year-old Jung Won-jo.
There’s one more interesting tidbit about this low-budget indie production, which is that it is openly asking for fan and public support in funding the project, as posted on director Kim Jo Gwang-soo’s website (http://blog.naver.com/petrkim). It sounds similar to a Kickstarter-style campaign and the producers promise to include the name of every supporter who has donated 10,000 won or more (translates to about 10 dollars US) in their ending credits. I have mixed feelings about Kickstarter as a whole, but I do think that when its power is harnessed properly it can lead to some awesome results, so good luck to them.
One Night plans to begin filming mid-moth and is aiming for a November release.
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Tags: Kim Jo Gwang-soo, Yoo Min-kyu
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1 Ahjummoni
April 13, 2013 at 3:07 PM
Good luck with the funds!
I really liked Boy meets boy even though I'm not into the genre and Just Friends...errm I've seen just a few scenes.
Our new rising star is cute, but I don't really remember him in To the beautiful you, even though I've seen the whole drama. In SUFBB he was more.. memorable and I really wanted to see more of him or other actors rather than the drama itself
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hawaiianseoul
April 13, 2013 at 8:35 PM
Oooh me too! He really stood out in SUFBB because of the quirky character he played.
Boy meets boy is quite a unique film. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the two guys' innocent love. Speaking of bmb, when is Kim Hye Sung coming back from military? I heard it's suppose to be this month?? ):
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Ahjummoni
April 13, 2013 at 11:11 PM
I heard he is already out (since 13th March) and doing Laws of the jungle 3
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2 Ash
April 13, 2013 at 3:31 PM
Are those earlier films on the happier side of the spectrum then? I'd like to watch more queer cinema, but ye gods, it's a festival of tragedy out there. Something more upbeat would be welcome.
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salina
April 13, 2013 at 3:35 PM
happy endings :)
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Ash
April 13, 2013 at 5:15 PM
Thanks for the confirmation. I'll have to hunt them down. :)
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DayDreamer
April 13, 2013 at 3:40 PM
LOL. Seriously...the few I've watched almost always had suicide or other mode of death. I kinda get that probably these films are trying to raise awareness of how prejudice and discrimination can cause problems but I think I just like to see happier and more fun stories than the doom and gloom especially since there's already so many of that type out there.
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Ash
April 13, 2013 at 5:29 PM
For real. What's a girl got to do to get some warm and fuzzy movies up in here? And balance is all I want, really. Everything Is Terrible Then They Die is totally legit, but toss me some happy queer couples, too.
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ravens_nest
April 14, 2013 at 8:17 PM
So true. In case y'all were curious there are a few happy or non-effed up queer Asian films I've seen:
Boy Meets Boy and Just Friends? were both pretty happy films. Two Weddings and a Funeral had a death (obvs from the title) but it ended happily with both a lesbian and gay couple. Those are all Korean.
Formula 17 remains the happiest and most happy-go-lucky queer film I've watched to date. It's probably my favorite gay male film. That one is Taiwanese tho.
Yes or No and Yes or No 2 are the best lesbian films I've ever watched. The couple is happy and there's no suicide or death or anything like that. These are Thai films.
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jubilantia
April 14, 2013 at 12:28 AM
That's definitely an issue with queer cinema, or even gay characters featured in other kinds of fiction. People are either afraid to treat it with a light touch, or it's wrapped in some warped morality play.
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3 salina
April 13, 2013 at 3:35 PM
Yay! Loved both of Kim Jo Gwang-soo's films and can't wait to see this upcoming feature^^
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4 DayDreamer
April 13, 2013 at 3:36 PM
Ahh, I've seen both of those works (Boy Meets Boy, Friends?). I thought they were pretty good for a casual viewer like me of the homosexuality theme. Especially since the director interjects a sense of humor in it unintentionally or not (ie, fairy princess in Boy Meets Boy and the mother discovering her son as a homosexual in Friends). Both films were cute so I think I can look forward to this one too if it has a similar light tone to it. Good luck to the director in receiving funds.
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5 sun yue
April 13, 2013 at 3:51 PM
As a bassist, I really hated his terribly unrealistic bass playing.
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liz
April 13, 2013 at 5:09 PM
LOL poor him he is just an actor not real bassist
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6 snow_white
April 13, 2013 at 7:44 PM
Not too excited for the movie..but good luck with the funds..
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7 Fasr
April 13, 2013 at 8:40 PM
aww minkyu :). i find myself rooting for all model turn actors because of wc/sufbb (i even got excited when i saw that go kyung pyo used to walk fashion shows with the cast of those dramas). gosh so shallow, but a lot of them has oodles of charisma. minkyu is not one with explosive presence but he seems decent enough an actor. and also the producer/cast seems promising enough. i hope they do well :)
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8 redfox
April 13, 2013 at 10:00 PM
he is really cute. hope he becomes a strong actor too. but I don´t mind if he just plays silly cuties. sometimes we need that too! the world cant do without such characters.
in SUFBB I could totally understand the many noonas thing and his characters personality. that was so logical!
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9 alua
April 14, 2013 at 12:30 AM
Ahhh, added to my films-to-watch list already, not per se for Yoo Min-kyu but because coming of age stories are one of my favourite things when well done. Let's hope we get a trailer soon!
Very much enjoyed Boy Meets Boy, so I'm happy knowing that there's a good director behind this.
I wish this were on Kickstarter though, I'd be happy to support it with a penny or two. I quite like Kickstarter for indie films or projects, I was thrilled to see the results of the theatrical adaptation of Princess Mononoke last week and can't wait for the K-indie film 나를 잊지 말아요 (Remember O Goddess) to be completed, both projects I helped fund.
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10 khina
April 14, 2013 at 4:39 AM
while following news around Lee Jongsuk and Kim Woobin i got to watch his resent runways. i didn't knew it was him untill Woobin said he is from SUFLBB ^^ Good that he got act again.
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11 maldita
April 14, 2013 at 5:27 AM
Yay! I loved him as Hajin in SUFBB, so I'm really glad he's getting more projects. :)
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12 Lilian
April 14, 2013 at 7:50 AM
Ooh...I loved all the band members from Eye Candy. So far, I've seen Sung Joon in another drama (Can We Get Married) and it was awesome. Hope to see the other cast members continue to progress too!
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13 Rovi
April 14, 2013 at 8:09 AM
Any mention of Kim Jo Gwang-soo makes me smile, inasmuch of his out-ness is concerned; his films are just heart-warming. Even though I've just watched of "Boy Meets Boy" (which BTW has same character names with "Just Friends?"; there's also a Seok-i there...), I'm just happy he's cropping up again with another film.
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14 FerCGtz
April 15, 2013 at 12:03 PM
Good to see the 'kids' working ^^ I fell so hard for SUFBB that I just get happy to hear the boys are doing alright after it's finale.
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