South Korea
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The last few days have seen Hong Kong reeling from the unspeakable tragedy of the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, which has left at least 146 people… Read More
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Noisy neighbours are an all-too-common scourge of Asia’s overcrowded cities, but what do you do when their intimate nocturnal antics become too loud to ignore? For the protagonists of Ha… Read More
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Drowning in ambition but narratively adrift, Kim Byung-woo’s latest high-concept blockbuster opens with an apartment complex being consumed by a giant tsunami before morphing into a science-fiction thriller that defies… Read More
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After losing his job of 25 years, an increasingly frustrated family man is driven to the brink in his efforts to protect his comfortable life in Park Chan-wook’s outrageous black… Read More
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Good News is the new film from Byun Sung-hyun, director of The Merciless and Kill Boksoon, and opens with the caption: “Inspired by true events, but all characters and events… Read More
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The true measure of humanity’s beauty, or lack thereof, is explored in The Ugly. It marks the first cinematic release in five years from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho,… Read More
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A star-studded cast including Jun Ji-hyun (My Love from the Star), Gang Dong-won (Uprising) and Hollywood actor John Cho (Cowboy Bebop) headlines Disney+’s new K-drama series Tempest, a globe-trotting political… Read More
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As the adage goes, with friends like these, who needs enemies? This certainly applies to the female protagonists of You and Everything Else. In the new limited K-drama series on… Read More
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With Yorgos Lanthimos’ remake “Bugonia” on the horizon, James & Steve decide to do a “deep dive” into the original Korean cult classic “Save the Green Planet” that inspired it.… Read More
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A mysterious serial killer taunts a pair of mismatched detectives with a cryptic string of murders dating back years in Nine Puzzles, a new series starring Kim Da-mi (Itaewon Class)… Read More
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This week sees the cinema release of Ballerina, the first in a series of planned spin-off movies from the incredibly successful John Wick action franchise. Focusing on a new character,… Read More
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Supernatural thriller Holy Night: Demon Hunters might better have been titled “Ma Dong-seok: Demon Puncher”. This lowbrow exercise in low-rent exorcism offers little more than the hulking Korean superstar, also… Read More
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Since transitioning from animation to live action, Korean writer-director Yeon Sang-ho has struggled to recapture the success of his barnstorming breakout hit, the action-packed zombie thriller Train to Busan. He… Read More
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Just weeks after steaming up our screens as a sultry siren in the erotic thriller Hidden Face, actress Park Ji-hyun is back in Forbidden Fairytale, but her role here could… Read More
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Song Hye-kyo and Jeon Yeo-been star as demon-hunting nuns in this spin-off from the 2015 thriller The Priests. Read More
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For her debut feature, documentarian Nam A-rum takes viewers on a fascinating and surprisingly intimate journey through the last three chaotic decades of South Korea’s political history. Framed by her… Read More
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Song Seung-heon and Cho Yeo-jeong (Parasite) reunite with Kim Dae-woo, director of their previous collaboration, Obsessed, for a delightfully camp erotic thriller that flaunts a procession of ridiculous twists and… Read More
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In a year when Hong Kong cinema made history in its own backyard, and prominent filmmakers were chased out of their home countries for daring to speak truth to power,… Read More
The James Marsh film review archive 