Asian cinema is under a global spotlight right now. Thanks to the success of movies like Parasite and the rising profile of Asian actors and TV shows, east Asian productions are surging in popularity with mainstream and arthouse audiences alike. While recent hits such as Past Lives and Tainted Love are garnering plenty of attention, and we eagerly wait for Lulu Wang’s Expats to drop, here are four seriously underrated East Asian movies to check out in 2024.
Breathless (2009)
Director: Yang Ik-june
Directed by and featuring Yang Ik-june in a lead role, 2009’s Breathless is a great example of Korean cinema that’s very much a hidden gem. Exploring the unlikely friendship between a hard-nosed debt collector and a student, the movie delivers an unflinching portrayal of the harsh realities of life.
The narrative unfolds as Sang-hoon (Ik-june) and Yeon-hee (Kim Kkobbi), two strangers from different ends of the spectrum dealing with great personal distress,...
Breathless (2009)
Director: Yang Ik-june
Directed by and featuring Yang Ik-june in a lead role, 2009’s Breathless is a great example of Korean cinema that’s very much a hidden gem. Exploring the unlikely friendship between a hard-nosed debt collector and a student, the movie delivers an unflinching portrayal of the harsh realities of life.
The narrative unfolds as Sang-hoon (Ik-june) and Yeon-hee (Kim Kkobbi), two strangers from different ends of the spectrum dealing with great personal distress,...
- 1/15/2024
- by Peter Adams
- AsianMoviePulse
In recent years, South Korean cinema has received well-deserved international attention for its unique blends of genre, societal commentary, and unpredictability. While several prominent Korean films garnered significant attention abroad, namely Parasite, there is one film that deserves more recognition: Bedevilled, the 2010 directorial debut of Jang Cheol-soo. While Cheol-soo became most known for his comedy-drama movie Secretly, Greatly, his horror film Bedevilled is a must-watch for any genre junkie.
The trick to understanding South Korean horrors is they often explore multiple intense emotions outside of fear. This includes sadness, despair, regret, and helplessness. They don’t scare us in a way that evokes our fight-or-flight response. Instead the movies’ themes provoke us to question society, the human condition, and our own personal actions. Bedevilled, which means to torment or harass, introduces us to childhood friends Hae-won (Ji Seong-won), an office worker in Seoul, and Bok-nam (Seo Yeong-hie), a lifelong resident...
The trick to understanding South Korean horrors is they often explore multiple intense emotions outside of fear. This includes sadness, despair, regret, and helplessness. They don’t scare us in a way that evokes our fight-or-flight response. Instead the movies’ themes provoke us to question society, the human condition, and our own personal actions. Bedevilled, which means to torment or harass, introduces us to childhood friends Hae-won (Ji Seong-won), an office worker in Seoul, and Bok-nam (Seo Yeong-hie), a lifelong resident...
- 11/7/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
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