Nov 15th, 2007
Zenkimchi’s Review of Miguk
Once upon a time I dreamed of making film. While I was teaching English in Korea, I applied to USC and UCLA film schools and was summarily rejected - two additions to what has become quite a litany of rejections I’ve encountered through the years. After pouting for a month or so I said to myself, “F%#k it, I’m going to make a film anyway,” and I borrowed some money from my family, bought a camera and started filming everything I could over in Seoul.
When I returned to the States I spent an entire Summer teaching myself how to edit, and produced a 60-minute piece I dubbed Miguk.
Over the years, Miguk has been watched by literally hundreds of thousands of people, many of them prospective teachers who wanted to learn about what life was like over in Seoul before going. I’ve connected to dozens of people through the film and one of them is now running what I consider one of the top online resources on life in Seoul.
He was recently kind enough to provide a review of Miguk on ZenKimchi for which I am very grateful to him.
“Top resources in Seoul” — heh, you’re too generous.
That is just a really good moody film. Seoul has changed quite a bit since then, I think, though.
I remember when I hit my first nine months in Korea, I said, “I’ve been here as long as Jiyan! I can survive this.”