Miss Granny (수상한 그녀) at Pitt, March 18.

The first of two selections in Pitt's 2015 Korean Film Festival is Miss Granny (수상한 그녀), which will play on Wednesday, March 18. Han Cinema provides a summary of the 2014 movie, which was the sixth-highest-grossing film in Korea last year:

Oh Mal-Soon (Nah Moon-hee) is a 74-year-old widow that realizes she is becoming a burden on her family. As she is roaming the streets, she comes across a photo studio and decides to dress up for a self- portrait. When she walks out of the photo studio, she mysteriously turns back into her twenty year old self. Making the most out of this one in a lifetime opportunity, she changes her name to Oh Doo-Ri (Sim Eun-kyeong) and decides to make the most out of her youth.

A New York Times review points out of the "comic-fantasy":

While the broad comedy is entertaining (a youthful Audrey blowing on her grandson’s food and force-feeding him), the film also takes unexpected darker turns. “Nobody raised her baby better than I did — that’s why my baby is so good to me!” Mal-soon shouts when her son is about to send her away. This weird comedy meanders into heartfelt, complex areas about the regrets, attachments and abandonment of the aged.

The movie plays from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (campus map), and is free and open to the public.

"Victims, Martyrs, and Heroes: A formation and manipulation of Historical Memory in China" at Pitt, March 17.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures presents M.A. Candidate Deena Horowitz and her colloquium "Victims, Martyrs, and Heroes: A formation and manipulation of Historical Memory in China". The talk begins at 12:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (campus map) and is free and open to the public.

Korean film Joint Security Area (공동경비구역 JSA) at Pitt, March 20.

The University of Pittsburgh chapter of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) will present the 2000 Korean movie Joint Security Area (공동경비구역 JSA) on Friday, March 20. The movie stars Kang Song-ho (The Host, Secret Sunshine), Lee Young-ae (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, TV drama Jewel in the Palace), and Lee Byung-hun (All In, G.I. Joe series), and was the highest-grossing Korean film of all time until the following year. A 2005 New York Times review writes of the movie:

Set in a particularly tense area of the demilitarized zone between the Koreas, it is a fairly straightforward whodunit with a pointedly political theme and an unapologetically humanist message. Major Jean (Lee Yeong-ae), who grew up in Switzerland, comes to South Korea, her father's homeland, to investigate an incident that took place inside the Joint Security Area, administered by Swedish and Swiss peacekeepers.

Collecting depositions from both sides, she encounters two predictably opposed accounts of the shooting, which left two North Korean soldiers dead. Lee Soo-hyeok (Lee Byeong-heon), the South Korean officer who has admitted to the shooting, says he shot his way out of an attempted kidnapping. The Northerners insist it was an unprovoked attack. With the specter of nuclear hostilities hovering, Major Jean's investigation is a lot more than routine police work.

And "Joint Security" itself departs from routine as the real story behind the skirmish emerges in a series of long, cleanly filmed flashbacks.

The movie starts at 7:00 pm in room G8 of the Cathedral of Learning (campus map). The event is open to the public, and tickets range from $1 to $5.

MEPPI Japan Lecture Series – Obento: Japanese Culture in a Box, March 26.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania and Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc. will present "Obento: Japanese Culture in a Box" on March 26 as the next installment of the MEPPI Japan Lecture Series. An introduction, by the JASP:

Do you enjoy Japanese cuisine?

Learn to make a Japanese lunch box with Boston Globe food writer and cookbook author Debra Samuels. Participants will have an opportunity to learn the cultural background of obento, a Japanese term for box lunch, through a presentation by Ms. Samuels and a hands-on workshop. Ms. Samuels will illustrate common differences in value, presentation, and nutritional balance between typical American and Japanese lunches. Under Ms. Samuels' guidance, everyone will have the opportunity to make their own bento.

The talk will be held at the Marshall Twp Municipal Building in Wexford (map) from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. Registration is required and can be done via the JASP website.

Korean movie The Attorney (변호인) at Northland Public Library, April 8.

Northland Public Library in the North Hills will show the Korean movie The Attorney (변호인) on April 8 as next month's installment of the Foreign Film Series. The Washington Post summarizes the 2013 movie starring Song Kang-ho (JSA, The Host, Secret Sunshine):

The recent South Korean box-office hit observes the progress, beginning in 1978, of a lawyer with few credentials but much ambition. Song Woo-seok (Song Kang-ho) is snubbed by other lawyers because he passed the bar exam without attending law school, or even college. These cohorts are further scandalized when Song begins registering real-estate transactions, a task previously restricted to notaries.

His most inexcusable offense? Song makes a lot of money while doing work other attorneys thought was beneath them.

. . .

Fictionalized from actual events, “The Attorney” shows the transformation of a character based on the late Roh Moo-hyun, who became a human-rights advocate and later South Korea’s president.

The movie will play at Northland from 1:30 pm, and the library is located off of McKnight Road and Rt. 19 in McCandless Township (map). The Attorney will also play at the University of Pittsburgh as part of this year's Korean Film Series.

Free Japanese language class at East Liberty Carnegie Library, March and April.

The East Liberty branch of the Carnegie Library periodically holds free Japanese classes, and the latest session will run on Wednesdays in March and April.

Learn Japanese in a comfortable and relaxed setting among native speakers. All are welcome.

The classes run from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, and the library is located at 130 S. Whitfield St. (map). A reminder that the Oakland branch holds Japanese for Beginners, Japanese II, and a Japanese Conversation Club on biweekly schedules each month. Each class is suited for a different level, so check the course descriptions for more information.

Miss Granny (수상한 그녀), The Attorney (변호인) at Pitt in March for 12th annual Korean Film Festival.

Today the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh announced the lineup for the 12th annual Korean Film Festival. The 2014 film Miss Granny (수상한 그녀) will play on March 18, and the 2013 movie The Attorney (변호인) will plan on March 25.

Han Cinema summarizes the former:

Oh Mal-Soon (Nah Moon-hee) is a 74-year-old widow that realizes she is becoming a burden on her family. As she is roaming the streets, she comes across a photo studio and decides to dress up for a self- portrait. When she walks out of the photo studio, she mysteriously turns back into her twenty year old self. Making the most out of this one in a lifetime opportunity, she changes her name to Oh Doo-Ri (Sim Eun-kyeong) and decides to make the most out of her youth.

And the Washington Post summarizes the latter:

The recent South Korean box-office hit observes the progress, beginning in 1978, of a lawyer with few credentials but much ambition. Song Woo-seok (Song Kang-ho) is snubbed by other lawyers because he passed the bar exam without attending law school, or even college. These cohorts are further scandalized when Song begins registering real-estate transactions, a task previously restricted to notaries.

His most inexcusable offense? Song makes a lot of money while doing work other attorneys thought was beneath them.

. . .

Fictionalized from actual events, “The Attorney” shows the transformation of a character based on the late Roh Moo-hyun, who became a human-rights advocate and later South Korea’s president.

Miss Granny will play from 6:00 to 8:00 pm on the 18th, and The Attorney from 4:00 to 7:00 pm on the 25th. Both will play in 4130 Posvar Hall (campus map), and both are free and open to the public.

Pittsburgh City-Paper: "[T]he opening of Nak Won Garden marks the full-fledged arrival of Korean cuisine in Pittsburgh."

The March 11 issue of the Pittsburgh City-Paper contains a review of Nak Won Garden, which opened in Shadyside in November. Food critics Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth write of it:

But there is a difference, we think, in the way that smaller, tighter communities like ours adopt foreign cuisines. Instead of becoming fluent in them through full immersion, we tend to hold dear one or two iconic, gateway dishes, like Mexican tacos, Japanese sushi and Vietnamese pho. Once these have become established, often after several years, we are primed to explore and embrace a broader, more authentic menu.

If this theory holds, then the opening of Nak Won Garden marks the full-fledged arrival of Korean cuisine in Pittsburgh after a decade or more of enthusiasm for Korean barbecue. Open since November on busy Centre Avenue, at the seam of Shadyside and Bloomfield, Nak Won Garden is Pittsburgh's most ambitious Korean restaurant to date.

5th annual Matsuri at CMU, March 27.

The Japanese Student Association at Carnegie Mellon University will present its 5th annual Matsuri on Friday, March 27. The spring matsuri (meaning festival in Japanese) benefits Minato Middle School in Ishinomaki city, which was destroyed by the March 11, 2011 tsunami. More information, from the CMU JSA:

Join us in celebrating aspects of Japanese food, culture and society. We will be hosting the event at Merson Courtyard outside of the Cohon University Center on Friday March 27th, from 3:30 to 8:30 PM. While you enjoy these acts, traditional Japanese decorations and festival games, feel free to eat a variety of foods from our Food Booths such as Takoyaki, Yakisoba, Okonomiyaki, Onigiri and a variety of other Japanese foods! Small carnival games will be available, and J@CMU's origami and cooking groups will also be in attendance to further promote Japanese culture at CMU.

All profits go to recovery efforts for the Minato Middle School in Japan which is still suffering from the earthquake and tsunami three years ago. Your contribution is valuable and we hope to send a sizable amount of supplies this year, as we did last year. For more information regarding donations please go to this site: http://matsuri.cmu-jsa.com/cause.html.

Admission is free and the event is open to the public.

Peking Acrobats at Byham Theater, April 2.

Tickets went on sale in November for the Peking Acrobats at the Byham Theater on April 2, 2015. Prices run from $15 to $35.