![]() ![]() Below are the 10 Korean films that caught the eyes of both domestic and international audiences.Ī scene from "The Man Standing Next" / Courtesy of ShowboxĪ political thriller chronicling the 40-day power struggle among former President Park Chung-hee's top aides before one of them assassinated him in 1979 has been selected as a national contender for the 93rd Academy Awards in the International Feature Film category.ĭirected by Woo Min-ho, "The Man Standing Next" unfolds a hidden story of political maneuvering by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) in the 1970s, a time of military dictatorship under Park. "Space Sweepers," starring Song Joong-ki and Kim Tae-ri, is taking the safe route by premiering on Netflix in 2021.īut a slew of good local films still made it onto screens during this exhausting year. Highly anticipated big budget films like "Seobok," "Mogadishu" and "Hero" have pushed back their releases to next year. Leading multiplex operators raised ticket prices as part of their attempts to survive the pandemic. Shortly after the historic moment, however, the Korean movie industry experienced a drastic pandemic-driven decline, with theaters around the country closing indefinitely and studios moving most of their big releases to 2021. Netflix and other streaming services have seen that expanding their offerings to include foreign language productions has only helped the bottom line and, with it, opened up new opportunities for storytelling and audiences.The year 2020 started off strong for Korean cinema with "Parasite" making history by winning four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director and the International Feature Film category. This resonance, of course, is what matters in attracting a global audience - not whether productions are free of subtitles scrolling across the bottom of the screen. ![]() One man in Pakistan was even forced to sell his own kidney to ensure his daughter’s survival. Medical bills continue to be the top cause of bankruptcy in the U.S., while getting treated for Covid-19 can leave you hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. ![]() Most of all, the story captures the relatable struggle people face to stay financially afloat. There’s a lot to enjoy about the series, including the suspense and the many grim decisions characters are forced to make, leaving us to ask ourselves how far we would go for our loved ones. Gi-Hun and other characters are presented with an opportunity: Play a series of children’s playground games and potentially win billions of South Korean won lose and be fatally “eliminated.” Gi-Hun’s character and others in the series can feel overly melodramatic, making it a struggle to empathize with them early on.ĭon’t get me wrong. We learn that the mother of one of the main characters, Seong Gi-Hun, has no medical insurance and needs lifesaving treatment that the family can’t afford. The first few episodes tediously set the scene for various characters and their struggles with debt. I have to admit that I don’t understand the hype. Falling into the FOMO trap, I tuned into the show a little over a week ago. Just on the video app TikTok, #SquidGame has been used over 22.8 billion times. Indeed, the rampant popularity of “Squid Games” is what got me to start watching it, as talk of the show on social media is almost impossible to avoid. ![]()
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