Korean film is more than the modern classics like Old Boy (올드보이 2003), The Chaser (추격자 2008), and Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (태극기 휘날리며 2004).  Those titles are internationally acclaimed Korean movies–quirky, disturbing, powerful.  Film Festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, among others, represent a steady stream of nominated Korean films from independent to large studios.  (In a future post, I will get to those.)  For now, there are two, perhaps ‘B’, movies from South Korea that are part of a popular genre, hit on cultural issues, and involve current day political issues.

(Disclaimer: In no way is this intended to be a starting guide for Korean film; nor is it meant to be a representation of the finest Korean films or modern classic Korean cinema.  Some of the guilty pleasures in film are the above average ones: the predictable and unrealistic thrillers, the melodramatic and overacted dramas, the low-brow comedies.  In this article–and others in the near future–I will highlight films off-the-beaten path, ones that your Korean friends [or strangers] might easily know or never have known.  With this, I hope you will have a conversational ice-breaker, or perhaps teach them a movie or two.  Additionally, my personal favorite way to learn [colloquial] Korean or improve comprehension is by watching Korean thrillers.)

TABLOID TRUTH (2014)

More known of the two  movies featured here, Tabloid Truth (찌라시: 위험한 소문) taps into an unfortunate reality of Korean culture: paparazzi, online gossip, and its affect on suicide.  In the film, a promising actress is incorporated into a stock market “tip sheet” (찌라시) that is picked up by tabloids.  The news is whipped up by a group of men–the cast and sinister characters is male-dominate–who have meetings to see how they can shape public opinion to their interest.  The actress, who is rumored to be having an affair with a married politician, soon becomes the focus of the tabloid and commits suicide.  This leads her manager, played by Kim Gang-woo (김강우, from great films like A Better Tomorrow 무적자 and Ha Ha Ha 하하하), goes on hunt for justice, leading to the common Korean movie catch and chase game.

The film was the first movie to be filmed in Korea’s parliament.  It has been claimed, as well, that is the first film to touch on Korea’s gossip culture.  Tabloid Culture was also featured in North American theaters.  The film is directed by Kim Kwang-sik (김광식) whose only other work as a director was the stereo-typical Korean romantic gangster comedy My Dear Desperado (내 깡패 같은 애인), so one can expect a predictable plot.

MOBY DICK (2011)

The way Director Park In-je debuts on the screen–it’s his only fim to date–is with an untapped genre of film.  For domestic movie-goers in Korea, the quirky comedy–say, The Good, the Bad, the Weird (좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈)–or the over-the-top horror movie–say, The Host (괴물)–are the kinds of films that draw attention in South Korea and make directors household names.  For Park, he enters with Moby Dick (모비딕), perhaps Korea’s first conspiracy film, and it’s not too far from the truth.

For a government and country that is sensitive about its image, both geo-politically and through film, Moby Dick is the kind of risky film one would expect from a seasoned director like Park Chan-wook or Kwak Kyeong-taek.  But Park, who received the grand-prize at the 2003 Mise-en-Scene Genre Film Festival for his short film “The End of the Road”, uses the genre to explore domestic matters close to its real life source.

Moby Dick-no relation to the Herman Melville classic–is named after a website used by the Korea’s Defense Security Command in 1980s and 90s.  In 1990, in a move 20 years before the Wikileaks case, a private released top secret military files to the public.  At the time, Korea was in transition from a military dictatorship to full fledged democracy–and corruption was all too common.  Moby Dick captures that time in Korean history.  The film stars Hwang Jeong-min (황정민, from New World 신세계, 2013) as a veteran journalist named Lee.  Lee starts to investigate a strange bridge explosion that occurs outside of Seoul.  An old friend, Yun (Jin Goo 진구, from the must-see, Mother 마더, 2009), unexpectedly visits him.  Yun tells him that the explosion secretly involved the South Korean government and, in great 1990s fashion, gives him a floppy disk in order to find out what really happened.

After Lee puts together a team of investigative reporter, a group of unidentified tough guys threaten him.  Abruptly, a state-run news agency announces North Korean spies were responsible for the bridge’s explosion.  Lee, shrugging off the announcement as government backed sensationalist news, continues to dig deeper to find the truth.

Though the cast and story made this film a potential hit, the film was not a box office success.