Korean Cinema For Beginners

A sea ​​monster or devouring of an octopus: what scares you the most?

Korean Cinema For Beginners

Recently, Korean films have conquered the screens of Russian cinemas. Maybe you heard something about the sensational Bon Joon Ho’s «Parasite» or the movie «Train to Busan» directed by Yeon Sang Ho which was dubbed into Russian and shown in 2016.

Those who are familiar with these films are unlikely to have remained indifferent to them. If, after watching one of these films, you have a desire to get to know Korean cinema but don’t know where to start, then this short article is for you.

Korean cinema is characterized by a high degree of realism and cruelty, in contrast to the Korean TV dramas. Perhaps this fact will not be an appealing one to humanists and hedonists. However, if you like action drama and arthouse at the same time, you will not be disappointed.

Here are two films that might interest those who liked «Train To Busan» and «Parasite».

The first one is called «The Host». It’s another masterpiece of Bon Joon Ho known for «Parasite» that received the Golden Palm. This is a pretty elegant mix of horror and drama. The film was partly inspired by an incident happened in 2000: a Korean mortician who was working for the U.S. military said that he was told to pour chemical hazardous substance into Seoul’s drain. This incident created kind of negative sentiment towards the USA. The American military showed as uncaring about the locals. However, despite having a political metaphor it’s not just an anti-American film. If you pay attention to the mood of the haul film, you can feel that the main theme of it is family. At first glance, it might seem that the film is about a «little man» who is powerless in the face of politics and society’s cruelty which is quite a cliché. Take a closer look and you will understand that the idea of family ties is the most strongly developed line in the film. Attention is paid to details: when chaos occurs around and a monster devours people, the characters sit in the van appetizingly munching Korean traditional noodles.

The second film is called «Oldboy». It will be the right decision to call it Korean rock-n-roll classics. This film might seem crazy for unprepared viewers. «Oldboy» is a South Korean dramatic detective story and the second part of the «revenge trilogy» directed by one of the most famous Korean directors Park Chan Wook. The first film of the trilogy is «Compassion for Mr. Revenge» (2002) and the last one – «Compassion for Madame Revenge» (2005) are also worth watching. The script of the film is based on the manga written by Japanese authors Garon Tsuchii and Nobuaki Minegishi. The premiere of the film was on November 21, 2003 in South Korea and on November 18, 2004 in Russia. Trying to tell the story without spoilers: during most of the film, the protagonist believed that he was taking revenge on the man who put him behind bars. However, he was avenged by this person. The film, just like the rest of the trilogy, opens up a new look at revenge that has not been shown in cinema before. If you are afraid of excessive naturalism, then take care of your nerves and choose another movie. But if you really want to «master the language» of Korean cinema, this film should be included in your compulsory program for the Korean film study.

The proposed films cannot be called suitable for a cozy and pleasant evening film watch with a cup of tea. Most likely you will be scared, puzzled and fascinated at the same time. After a while, you will realize that you have not wasted your valuable time in a useless way.

Text by
Maryana Selezneva