Showtime: Korean movies

In spite of my obsession with Kdrama, I’ve never been very interested in Korean movies. For me, the most satisfying storytelling is done on a grand scale. I’d rather read a fat novel than a collection of short stories, and I’d rather watch a series than a movie.

The sixteen-episode running-time of most older Korean shows is perfect for my taste: there’s plenty of room for character development and expansive plotting, but the limited screen time still allows for the possibility of a satisfying, novelistic ending. But these short and sweet dramas are becoming increasingly rare as trends turn toward series that last for twenty episodes and beyond. To me, most of these super-sized shows just feel too long—they’re War and Peace when I want Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. No matter how good the show is, watching anything that lasts more than about twenty episodes starts to feel more like a pain than a pleasure.

This inspired me to give Korean movies a try. It’s a refreshing change to watch something I can finish in one sitting, to experience the beginning, middle, and end of a single overarching narrative in not much more time than it takes to watch a single episode of a drama.

Being a Chungmuro newbie reminds me of my early days of watching Kdrama: I may know more about Korean culture than I did back then, but the body of Korean film is still a complete mystery to me.

Unfortunately, the Internet hasn’t been as helpful with this as it was when I first started watching dramas. Kdrama has a true, unified fandom online, with lots of encyclopedic sources for information and insight. If you want to know what’s on the air Tuesday night at 10, you can find out on Dramabeans and then go watch it on Dramafever or Viki. This doesn’t seem to be the case for Korean movies, which lack a strong identity as a stand-alone brand. For example, take a look at the website for Asian Crush, a film distributor that has a presence on both Hulu and Netflix. It features movies from Thailand, Japan, and Korea—but there’s no way to search for specifically Korean films. In fact, the only way you can even tell a film’s country of origin is by looking at the language information, which isn’t even included in the Hulu descriptions of their offerings. Most of the movies Asian Crush carries are Korean, but the site certainly doesn’t advertise that fact.

Dramabeans and some of the other blogs I follow sometimes post about Korean movies, and Hancinema provides both reviews and box office updates. Tumblr is also home to some good sources of information—enticing gifs posted there have lured me into watching any number of Korean movies. Every once in a while a big Korean film will even get coverage in mainstream American media, like the 2009 vampire movie Thirst. But beyond that, there’s not that much information out there.

Korean movies are harder to find streaming than dramas are. Lots of movies are available in pirated versions on YouTube, but the video quality and subtitles can be pretty terrible. Netflix, Hulu, and Viki each carry a handful of films, but there don’t seem to be many other legitimate sources for Korean movies. Thee ones that do exist tend to have the same few options and to be pretty slow getting new things. I’d love to watch Covertly Grandly, which was released in Korea in June, but it’s only available streaming on illegal sites that don’t work very well. I guess I could buy it on DVD, but the price isn’t the only thing that’s prohibitive about that: it’s only available for region 3, while my DVD player is region 1.

Like its television programming, Korea’s movies seem to fall into a few key genres: romantic comedy, melodrama, thriller, and sageuk. I’m often surprised, though, by how differently Korean movies and television shows approach what are essentially the same stories.

From what I’ve seen, the movies usually feel more real world and gritty, and generally don’t include the kind of exaggerated acting that dramas do. In little ways, they also seem more Westernized—people in movies are less likely to sit on the floor, and uniquely Korean staples like soju and kimchi play a less central role in foodie scenes.

There’s another distinction between Korean movies and dramas: the movies are a heck of a lot less virginal. This is true everywhere, I guess—even in America, television shows aren’t able to include the same kind of explicitly sexual scenes that movies can. (Although for more on this topic, see thisEntertainment Weekly article about the death of the movie sex scene. In contrast, sex is the exact opposite of an endangered species in Korean movies.) Kdramas may be known for their deer-in-headlights lip presses, but Korean movies are full of steamy, genuine kisses. Their characters not only engage in sex, they even enjoy it.

Take the 2004 movie My Little Bride, which was released just one month after the finale of the similarly themed drama Sweet 18. Both focus on a teenage girl marrying an older man. In the movie, it’s made perfectly clear from the beginning that sex is an aspect of the marriage everyone has considered. The mothers-in-law pull the new bride aside at the wedding and assure her that no funny business by her husband will be tolerated until she graduates from high school. Sex is the elephant in the room throughout the movie, and the male lead teases his new wife about consummating their relationship. In the drama, the possibility that a husband and wife might actually kiss doesn’t even occur to either the impossibly naive bride or groom until well after the wedding. And when the drama finally gets around to acknowledging the existence of bedtime activities, it treats them as a disembodied sacred duty necessary for the birthing of babies.

I can’t say whether this laissez faire attitude toward sex is really representative of Korean movies as a whole or an artifact of where I’m watching them. The online popularity of all things porn means that practically all the Korean films available streaming have names and cover images designed to entice people looking for naughty viewing. I’m all for on-screen sexytime now and again, but it’s actually so bad that I don’t like watching Korean movies on YouTube—as soon I start searching for them, the site populates my suggested video sidebar with naked people. (Maybe it’s because I watched Frozen Flower?)

Here’s a quick rundown of what I’ve seen so far.

All the swoons and tears of a Kdrama melo distilled into a bite-sized movie. A lonely blind girl falls in love with a bad-boy professional boxer who vows to restore her sight, even if it means sacrificing himself to earn the money for her operation. Han Hyo Jo and So Ji Sub make the movie with their smoking chemistry and quiet intimacy. A-

This epic sageuk is lavish and gorgeous in every way. It’s also softcore porn—no way would a comparably big-budget Hollywood movie ever, ever feature so much graphic banging. It has a horrible ending but is worth watching just for the pretty. (As difficult as it may be to believe, Jo In Sung is even better looking out of clothes than he is in them.) Also notable for tiny, early-career appearances by both Song Joong Ki and Im Joo Hwan. B+

Even Jaejoong couldn’t keep me watching past the twenty-minute mark. Damn pretty, but so physically inert it feels like a badly adapted stage play. This movie is a treacly mess, and turns Han Hyo Jo into perhaps the single most annoying manic pixie dream girl in recorded history. Lethargic and Lame. dropped

A sageuk about a performer who finds himself drafted as stand-in for an ailing king. Provides some good laughs, but mostly schmaltzy. C+

This tear-jerker traces the burgeoning romance between a terse, unhappy carpenter and his boss’s forgetful daughter (hint, hint). Like the long-lost Endless Love drama, only shorter. And sexy. A-

A fifteen-year-old girl is manipulated into marrying the much older son of family friends. More adorable than a roomful of puppies if you can get past its icky premise. B+

Less naked and kitcheny than the title might lead you to believe, this light melodrama revolves around a pair of childhood sweethearts whose relationship is tested by infidelity. Shin Min Ah at her most gamine makes it easy to forgive her character’s (amazingly hot) dalliance with a handsome young stranger—even after he turns out to be her husband’s close friend and professional mentor. And did I mention that he moves in with them? B

A cute romantic comedy that revolves around a couple brought together by money: he’s a penniless playboy; she’s a scrappy Candy girl looking for ways to hide the fortune she’s amassed through years of hard work. Note that this will have to tide us over until Song Joong Ki finishes his military service, so don’t waste it. B+

Part lurid exploration of sexual abuse at a school for the deaf, part courtroom thriller, this movie is well-made but painful to watch. Not to be missed by Gong Yoo fangirls—he was instrumental in getting Silenced made and does some of his finest work as the case’s conflicted whistleblower. B+

In this racy rom-com, a wrong number leads to phone sex with a stranger. Which leads to friendship. Which leads to love. Which leads to lots of boobs and butts. (And don’t forget the panties.) C

Are there any must-see movies out there that haven’t hit my radar yet?