Art and Culture

It's finally Friday and we have our Michelle Kim here with us for our last arts and culture segment of the week. Today, she'll tell us about the premiere of an American movie featuring a Korean actress and .

Hello Michelle

[Reporter : ] Hello Conn-young

Let's start with the film. Which film is it and who is the Korean actress in it[Reporter : ] The film is "Cloud Atlas" and the actress is Bae Doona, who was in Los Angeles for the premiere on Wednesday.

Korean actress Bae Doona walked alongside American actor Tom Hanks and American actresses Halle Berry and Susan Sarandon on Wednesday in Los Angeles for the red carpet premiere of their upcoming film "Cloud Atlas", which opens Friday in the United States.
Directed by Tom Tykwer of "Run Lola Run" and the Wachowski siblings, who directed "The Matrix Trilogy", the film follows six stories spanning hundreds of years,.. from the 1840s to the present day to a post-apocalyptic future.
Halle Berry told the press about the themes centering the film.

[Interview : Halle Berry, Actress] "I think one of the common themes of the movie is reincarnation. We keep coming back time after time after time until our soul evolves to its highest good. I think the theme is also about how we make individual choices as people and we can make choices that affect what happens to us for generations to come".

Based on the philosophical book by British author David Mitchell, "Cloud Atlas" explores how all actions have consequences in the past, present and future.
Like the book, the film follows six separate but related stories, but instead of putting the stories in chronological order like the book does, the film intertwines the stories to show the connections between them.
Each of the leading actors and actresses in the ensemble cast play multiple roles in the film as it progresses.
"Cloud Atlas" hits theaters in the U.S. on Friday and opens in Korea on January 10th.

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From Lee Byung-hun to Rain and now Bae Doona, it's really nice to see so many Korean actors and actresses moving into Hollywood. So, what role does Bae Doona play in the film[Reporter : ] Well, as I mentioned in the clip, all of the actors and actresses, including Bae, have multiple roles that fit into each of the 6 stories. Bae's biggest role is probably that of Sonmi-451, a human clone living in 2144 "Neo Seoul".

Sounds like a very interesting role in a very interesting film. I'm excited to see it and I hope it is just the first of many roles she'll have in Hollywood. And now moving on, what else do you have for us[Reporter : ] Switching gears to music, Taylor Swift celebrated the release of her latest album on Monday with a chic party in New York. Take a look.

It's been two years since the release of her previous album "Speak Now", but Taylor Swift's latest and long-awaited album is finally out and the Grammy-award winning country singer could hardly be more excited.
Her exuberance about the music was evident at the launch party for the album, "Red", in New York on Monday.

[Interview : Taylor Swift, Singer] "I think for me, to know that people are allowed to buy the album now and able to, it's a crazy feeling of excitement and celebration. It's not as much nerves as I've felt before because I feel like with this record I know that we took chances and we were adventurous with it and it's something I'm so proud of".

The album has seen brisk sales and topped the iTunes chart within 36 minutes of its release and has gone to number-one at iTunes in 32 countries.
The album's first single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", started off at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and is currently one of the top 5 singles on the chart.
Another number one single. Wow Taylor Swift is so successful at such a young age, and she's such a great role model for other young women around the world.

[Reporter : ] I'd agree. It seems like this young lady has got it alllooks, talent, fame and wealth. And she recently topped Forbes' list of highest paid celebrities under 30 list.

Well, none of that would have happened if it weren't for her music, so I'm very excited about her new album and I'm sure a lot of our viewers will be as well. I'll definitely have to pick it up over the weekend. And now to wrap things up, you have the events bulletin for us[Reporter : ] That's right. Today's bulletin features three events, all in December. There are concerts by Lee So-ra and Jo Sung-mo and a performance of music from classic Disney movies. Here are the details.

[Reporter : ed: jenny] This bulletin features 3 events.

Singer Lee So-ra will start the winter concert season with a performance engagement that runs from November 29th to December 5th at LG Arts Center. She will be singing slow ballads for those who are in need of a soothing voice for the cold winter season.

Singer Jo Sung-mo will perform for the first time in five years for all the fans who have enjoyed his music in the past. Since his debut in 1998, the talented musician has won the most Golden Disk Awards of any Korean musician. The concert is on December 1st at Ax-Korea in southern Seoul.

People who grew up watching Disney movies may want to catch the "Disney on Classic" concert, which features songs from Disney films sung by vocalists Carlyn Connolly and Tony Gonzalez with accompaniment by Korea's Prime Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert will be at Olympic Park's Olympic Hall on December 28th and 29th.

Reporter : dainee@arirang.co.kr