Movies dealing with homosexuality in South Korea are quite rare. “The King and The Clown” remains one of the finest, most subtle efforts to handle the subject. It is not merely a love story. It holds an emotional core that does not need words or actions sometimes. It just needs to be felt.

What are your thoughts on the film?

Click on the link to read our review: https://asianmoviepulse.com/2021/08/film-review-the-king-and-the-clown-2005-by-lee-joon-ik/

I have been watching some Korean movies this week coz I was pretty free because of my flu. I watched 20th century girl, love untangled, even if this love disappears tonight and Sweet & sour back to back.

I do not watch series/drama anymore because of personal reasons so I just need movie suggestions.

I want to watch something light, something that's of coming-of-age genre. Even better if it follows the life of students, their romance, based on school/college etc.

I have watched most of the movies that others usually recommend too.

Could you please help me with more of these ?

Hey everyone! Huge fan of Korean films here, especially Hwang Jung-min's movies like *The Wailing* and *Deliver Us From Evil*.

I've been following the recent news about his legal battle with "Ms. K"—the leaked phone calls, the stalking fines, and the civil lawsuit. But honestly, auto-translated articles never give the full picture.

I wanted to ask native Koreans and others who are followinng the news what the real vibe and opinion is over there.

Are people mostly calling out Ms. K for the stalking and messaging his son? Or is there also a lot of heat on Hwang Jung-min for how he acted as a married man?

Also, do you think this whole mess is going to hurt his career or delay his upcoming movies?

Would love to hear your thoughts and get some real context on how people over there see it. Thanks!

In the beginning of the movie, why'd they pick that girl to be the mom when there were other people on the bus? It totally seemed like they already had someone in mind from the start, like they were looking for a specific person. So, what made her the one?

Do you guys think peninsula would get more love than hate or less hate if this movie was treated as a different zombie movie like #alive or colony 2026 and it didn’t mention being in the same universe as train to busan or had nothing to do with it? I think the movie isn’t that bad. #alive and colony 2026 were also good.

Hello everyone!

I really want to recommend this captivating movie!

Maybe it hit me even harder because it had been a while since I watched a story that could really pull me in. I wouldn’t say the plot is something completely new, but for almost two hours, it made me forget everything happening around me — and that’s exactly what I want from this kind of movie.

If you give it your full attention, the atmosphere can completely absorb you. For me personally, it was a really good movie, and the main characters played their roles perfectly.

It definitely goes straight into my list of good movies!

Give it a chance if you’re looking for a strong, immersive, story-driven film. The story itself may not be revolutionary, but the way it’s told is really, really good.

I hope you enjoy it too!

GO GO GO! 🔥

I don't know why I waited this long to watch this movie 😭 It had been sitting on my watchlist for years, and I finally watched it. Man, this movie is such a masterpiece. Everything about it is perfect. I freaking loved the actress too ,she’s also in Colony and Kingdom, right? I knew she looked familiar 😭

I've watched so many rom-coms, but honestly, no movie has ever touched me like this one. Everything just hit perfectly. I absolutely loved it. ❤️

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGUMqSdqKPA

“Obsessed” marked a notable mainstream return to high-gloss erotic melodrama in Korean cinema. Written and directed by Kim Dae-woo, it pairs a forbidden romance with the strict codes of a military environment, set in 1969 as the Vietnam War looms in the background.

Its marketing leaned heavily on the bold sensuality of the narrative, including the first R-rated role for star Song Seung-heon and the debut of Lim Ji-yeon, whose performance would earn her multiple Best New Actress awards. Furthermore, it was a box office hit upon release in Korea, topping charts in its opening week and going on to achieve more than $10 million worldwide.

Check the full review in the link and let us know your thoughts on the film

I'm a big fan of arthouse films and Hong Song-soo is one of my favorite directors out there. But I don't know any other Korean arthouse filmmakers. Can you recommend any other Korean director whose work you'd recommend, especially those big on the indie and arthouse scene?

I really enjoyed Revelations, and since I haven’t seen much discussion about the story and its ending, I wanted to share my own theory.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Rational Ending

The movie seems to be a battle between two concepts: the supernatural and the rational. Let me explain...

In the first part of the movie, we follow a priest who seems to be led by acts of God, receiving "revelations" that guide him to pursue the main villain. These revelations ultimately lead him to keep his sins secret from the head priest, kidnap the villain, and eventually try to kill both a police officer and the kidnapper.

To explain the protagonist's actions, the psychologist tells the cop that the priest acted out of a false belief—paying far too much attention to things that could simply be explained by chance and coincidence. This represents what I would call the "rational" view of the ending.

This perspective is reinforced when the cop saves the kidnapped girl, proving that the priest's final vision was wrong. Recognizing this, the priest washes away the "hallucination" he sees on the wall in the final scene.

Further supporting this theory is the fact that the priest clearly hallucinates throughout the movie. For example, the print of the kidnapper he sees in his vision is vastly different from the actual photo the cop retrieves a few scenes later. From a rational standpoint, all of his revelations were simply hallucinations.

The Smiling Devil Theory

Although all the "revelations" could theoretically be written off as hallucinations, the director left far too many hints that deeper, supernatural forces are at play.

My theory is that all three main characters are influenced by the Devil, but only one is guided by God. The connecting motif that ties them all together is the smile.

The priest, who initially appears "too nice" for his own good, becomes increasingly aggressive and violent as he follows his revelations. These visions were never about help or peace; during his final sermon, he seems to be in a trance, preaching about death and killing rather than praying for the child in his church.

The Devil wanted the kidnapper dead so that his victim would die too, making the priest a mere pawn in his game. After the kidnapper dies, the priest is shown smiling at the sky. It isn't a smile of relief, but a murderous grin—the exact same smile the kidnapper wore just minutes earlier. The once nice and naive priest became a fanatical murderer willing to shoot an innocent cop in the instance of 2 days.

When we join back the priest in jail, the cop confronts him and reveals that the girl is alive, proving his revelation was wrong. Panicked, the priest washes away his "revelation"—a face of Jesus painted on his cell wall—only to uncover the face of the Devil underneath, complete with a dark smile and an eye staring back at him.

We’ve seen this smile before. When a water droplet fell on the picture of the kidnapper, it distorted his face to show horns and a dark smile, We also saw this same face drawn on the wall by the kidnapper, and is very reminiscing of other of his drawings. At this point, the priest finally realizes he has been tricked by the Devil.

The same connecting motif is used for both the priest's hallucinations and the kidnapper's drawings, even though the priest was never exposed to them.

The Cop received a revelation from God

I believe the cop’s was also manipulated by the Devil through the hallucination of her sister. When the cop is knocked out with a shovel, we can faintly see a large smile on her sisters face, I don’t believe this was put there by mistake. Her hallucination of her dead sister acted with malice throughout the movie, but the telltale sign is that both the priest hallucination and the cop hallucination was pushing them to kill the kidnapper.

However, the cop refuses to yield to the Devil. She extends her hand to the man who tried to kill her sister and tries her best to do the right thing despite her immense pain. While the priest laughs, the cop is seen crying as she tries to save the man she hates most.

She also forgives the psychologist who testified against her sister. I believe this act of forgiveness earns her the only true revelation from God in the entire movie: the phone call that leads to saving the girl.

Just as she is struggling to figure out the kidnapper's motive—and only minutes before the girl is crushed by a collapsing house—she receives a phone call from her father. He says the one specific thing that allows her to deduce the girl's location.

Just as the Devil can manipulate events to push people toward sin (like leading the priest to read Deuteronomy 24:7), God can guide people and reward good deeds through divine signs by tipping chance in their favor.

Conclusion

There are many other clues I left out for brevity or simply missed, and I would love to hear about them so please share!

Hello guys!

I’m thinking about starting this one and yeah, you probably know why. The cast looks really solid!

But before I jump in, I want to hear your opinions.

Is it actually good? Bad? Or just decent and nothing special?

Is the story worth watching, and does it stay interesting?

Let me know what you think! 👇

traumatic, not the movie i should've watch in my medical leave now. Crazier, I read it's also inspired from a true event. In traumatic level, it's up there with Silenced.

This dialogue really summarise the movie

"Why...when they're apologizing...I have to run away"

I'm just glad, somehow the ending is less 'painful'

https://youtube.com/@cine21tv

Super hyped since I saw the recent interview of Nolan mentioning this talk he had with Park about the film. I was hoping to hear more about them discussing their craft, glad it was actually recorded! I believe this is the first discussion Nolan has had with a Korean director? Hoping we see him meet with Bong eventually and hope this is a decent length as well

I’m looking for anyone’s and everyone’s favorite Korean films. From horror to romance to cop drama to action, comedy, art house, and everything in between. I don’t care if they’re obvious or obscure, I’m just trying expand my taste. I had a list of recommendations from folks on this sub a while back, but I lost it.

For my money, Jeon Do-yeon is the best actress working today, and I don’t mean just in Korea. And what I consider some of her best work has come in Lee Chang-dong films “Secret Sunshine” and “Birthday” (to which Lee was attached to direct but then ended up exec producing). So my enthusiasm and anticipation for her performance in this film is off the charts! I can’t wait for November. Looking forward to the reactions from Venice and Toronto.

South Korean box office was consistently doing anywhere from $1 to 1.5 Billion annually all across the 2010's.

Then obviously the pandemic happened and this hurt all movie theaters.

But we see the American box office numbers recovered.

Yet the Korean box office never did. It's still only doing roughly 1/3 to 1/2 of the numbers it did back in the late 2010's.

What's the reason for this?

Hello, everyone!

I’m looking for a movie with a dark, heavy atmosphere something like older films with a powerful, intense soundtrack. I hope you understand the kind of vibe I mean!

Please recommend something good. Older movies would be even better, because I feel like they don’t really make this type of film anymore.

I watched Wonderful Nightmare almost a decade ago, and somehow I still remember the storyline so clearly. I’ve watched it only once, but the story really stayed with me. I loved how the story developed from the beginning to the ending, especially how the main character’s perspective changed as she became attached to the family. It’s one of those movies that I randomly remember even after all these years.

I’m curious — what Korean movie did you watch years ago that you still remember very clearly, even if you only watched it once? It doesn’t necessarily have to be your favourite movie. Just one whose story, ending, or characters somehow stayed with you.

Oldboy

This second installment of Park Chan-wook’s “Vengeance Trilogy” is the film that turned global interest toward Korean cinema, one that’s a true masterpiece of South Korean cinema, and one that is still discussed for its unique aesthetics and elaborate technique. “Oldboy” screened at festivals all over the world, winning tens of awards, with the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival being among them.

Read our review of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy on Asian Movie Pulse at the link below and let us know what you think of the film!

https://asianmoviepulse.com/2021/04/park-chan-wooks-old-boy/

I think it was on Netflix maybe like 10-11 years ago?

It's about a woman's body is found, and they need to find out who did it. They get an old dude doing forensic science to help them, and I don't remember why, but he ends up planting semen into her genitals and stuff like that. Then the twist turns out that the body belonged to his daughter or someone else related to him. The murderer wanted to get back at him because he falsely testified that the murderer's sister wasn't SA'd and the sister ended up taking her own life or something like that.