Moving Gay Korean Film Opens in Select U.S. Theaters

No Regret will open in West Holywood (CA Sunset 5) and New York City (Cinema Village) on July 25th; and in other cities including Portland and San Francisco, in early August.

There have been a few gay-themed movies that became sensations for Korean audiences, such as, Korea's own "The King and the Clown," the Japanese indie film "La Maison de Himiko" and the Oscar-winning "Brokeback Mountain." These were introduced into a society with little understanding of, or tolerance for, homosexuality. However, these films carved a substantial niche in Korean box office records. The epic costume piece "The King and the Clown" generated a "Metrosexual Syndrome" after its box office success, and the impressive tickets sales of "La Maison de Himiko" drew the director and actor to Korea for a visit. What's more important is that the lives and loves of gay men, portrayed in those films as being no different from that of heterosexuals, seemed to facilitate a greater sense of acceptance for the LGBT community.

"No Regret" was made before this trend, and was considered an appalling shock to the general public. It is a story of two men who fall passionately in love with each other, which is brought candidly to the screen by the director's understanding of the gay subculture. A realistic depiction of the life of homosexuals in the Seoul metropolitan area was eye-opening for critics and audiences alike. "No Regret" will go down in history as the first true gay film in Korean cinema.

Although its subject matter is certainly unconventional for a Korean film, the story is plotted in a style similar to what has become known as "hostess movies" - which deal with ambitious young women who come to the big city of Seoul, only to end up working as prostitutes. In "No Regret," Sumin, an orphan with nothing to his name, comes to Seoul as full of hope as the heroines did in those movies from the '70s, but ends up earning his livelihood through prostitution. Jaemin, who comes from a conservative and wealthy background, is burdened with the responsibility of maintaining the honor of his family name. The movie unfolds as a melodrama in the vein of Douglas Sirk and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, both of whom were masters of the form. Ultimately, "No Regret" is a classic romance interwoven with the realistic depiction of class conflict and contemporary Korean gay life.