5 Korean films for the festive season
From zombies to romance here are 5 suggestions for films over the festive season. I watched all these films on Netflix. Have a great Christmas and New Year!
Luck-Key (2016) 럭키
An action comedy starring Yoo Hae-jin as a wealthy hit man who loses his memory when he slips and falls on a bar of soap in a public bath! A suicidal and poor actor (Lee Joon) at the baths happens to see the fall. Remembering the man’s expensive suit and watch, he decides to swap the rich man’s locker key with his own. Meanwhile our hit man wakes up in hospital and has to put the pieces of his life back together.
Despite not being able to remember who he is, he still has a variety of skills from his past life that help him along the way. This is a remake of a Japanese comedy and it’s got a fun twist at the end. I love this film.
Train To Busan (2017) 부산행
I am NOT generally a zombie fan but I really enjoyed this zombie apocalypse action thriller!
The action takes place on a KTX (Korea’s high speed train). Little do the passengers know there’s been a leak from a biotech company and a virus is causing havoc – an infected young woman manages to stagger onto the train and turns into a zombie…
Gong Yoo (loved him in Coffee Prince) plays a divorced workaholic father who is on the train with his daughter. The mix of characters (including the freaky zombies of course) are what make the film so engaging and exciting. Cold corporate selfishness is contrasted with the working class hero with the big heart (Ma Dong Seok). You can feel his compassion bursting through the screen.
It’s great casting. Although I would have liked at least one stronger female character contributing to the cause (the little girl, a heavily pregnant lady, and two elderly ladies are all helpless). Themes include corporate responsibility and remembering what is important in life.
Okja (2017) 옥자
This action-adventure film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
Mija (Ahn Seo Hyun) grows up in the Korean countryside with a genetically-engineered super pig, Okja. 10 years have gone by and now the company that created Okja wants their pig back for financial gain. With the help of the Animal Liberation Front Mija travels to New York to save Okja. Tilda Swinton plays two very different twin sisters in charge of the American corporation.
In a mix of Korean and English, the film was written and directed by Bong Joon-ho (The Host (2006) and Snowpiercer (2013)) It’s a visually beautiful film with a palette of ‘rebellious reds and piggy pinks’ , stunning cinematography, and magnificent visual effects by Erik-Jan de Boer (who won an academy award for Life of Pi). Despite acting with foam models Mija really seems to have bonded with Okja, a hybrid elephant-pig-hippo.
It’s a sad film too though and if you’re an animal lover there are some harrowing moments. The taste test for one – were a sample of meat is taken out of Okja while she is alive – yikes. If you weren’t vegetarian before you might be after watching this.
Miss Granny (2014)
A comedy drama dealing with current issues – ageing and living with extended family. A 74 year-old widow (played by Na Mun-hee) has a strained relationship with her family due to her cranky personality. That is until she miraculously has a metamorphosis and arrives back in a 20-year-old body!
It’s an outstanding performance in the lead role by 21-year-old Shim Eun-Kyung. (Read more about Shim Eun-kyung and her acting here) And it’s a fun film as now we have a young woman with the mannerisms and language of a typical halmoni grandmother! But the impossible scenario somehow feels believable!
Read more about the film and music in my review here.
Dancing Queen (2012)
A romantic comedy starring Uhm Jung-hwa (top singer/entertainer since the mid 90s) and Hwang Jung-min who has starred in a string of box office hits. This was the second most watched film of 2012.
After dating at college in the hectic 80s – big hair, big phones, discotheques, and student demos on the street – the couple’s dreams and goals are put on hold as they settle into married life with children.
Hwang Jung-min (they use their real names in the film) is a lawyer who gets drawn into politics and running for Seoul Mayor! His Gyeongsang dialect (the south east of Korea) adds to his image of the ordinary man and it creates opportunities for comedy too -such as when he tries (without success) to speak in the more acceptable Seoul dialect!
His wife (Uhm Jung-hwa) had dreams of being a singer/dancer and now gets another opportunity. But she has to deal with ageism and family commitments as well as the responsibilities that come with the role of politician’s wife.
Yes it gets a bit gooey in parts, but with singing and dancing and some laugh out loud comedy, its a great festive film. And the message is important too – Don’t give up on your dreams. It’s never too late! So true. Time to write those New Year’s Resolutions…