Offshooting from its inaugural May events, the Korean Cultural Center New York is back at it this month announcing Korean Movie Night at Home Part II, with ten new titles to comprise this month’s stay-at-home holiday line-up. Audiences will have the opportunity to access Korean films for a limited run through December 31, and…they’re free!
That’s right. Titles like the highly revered Miss Baek and Artsploitation’s most recent acquisition, Beasts Clawing At Straws, compelling inspirational period drama Forbidden Dream and action thriller Hit And Run Squad are just among the raft of titles you can’t miss that you now get to access freely until New Years’ Day. So if you’ve been slow to hitch onto the virtual festivals this year or attend any festivals since 2017, then now you have no excuses!
Korean Movie Night At Home is an offshoot of the KCCNY’s Korean Movie Night feature which launched in 2010. All titles for this month’s second Korean Movie Night At Home installation were released in the last three years, ranging from award-winning festival hits to feel-good family comedies, and are all shown in Korean with English subtitles.
Read on below for the line-up, note the ratings and key asterisks, and then head over to the official website and endulge to your heart’s desire.
Beasts Clawing at Straws (지푸라기라도 잡고 싶은 짐승들)
Director: Kim Young-hoon
Cast: Jeon Do-yeon, Jung Woo-sung, Bae Seong-woo, Shin Hyun-been, Youn Yuh-jung, Jung Man-sik, Jin Gyeong
Running Time: 108 min
Genre: Thriller
Release Year: 2020
Rating: No one under 18 is allowed to watch this Film
*Please note this film has strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and sexual imagesThe destinies of hard-luck lowlifes slowly converge and come crashing down: Jung-man barely gets by working at a sauna and taking care of his sick mother until he finds a bag full of cash in the locker room; Tae-young is in trouble after his girlfriend runs away with the money he borrowed from a loan shark. Soon, a dead body mysteriously turns up; Mi-ran, caught between her husband’s violence and a dead-end job as a bar hostess, finds a young lover Jin-tae, who offers to kill her husband… And now their dog-eat-dog game starts.
Feng Shui (명당)
Director: Park Hee-gon
Cast: Cho Seung-woo, Ji Sung, Kim Sung-kyun, Moon Chae-won
Running Time: 126 min
Genre: Drama, Period Piece
Release Year: 2018
Rating: Film intended for audiences 12 and over (Underage audiences accompanied with a parent or guardian is allowed.)In Joseon, geomancers help people find lucky sites for houses, stores and even graves. Park, a royal geomancer, loses his family because he exposed the powerful Kim’s conspiracy. Park plans revenge and learns that Kim is looking for the grave site that would make his son the King. Heung-seon, a faithful friend of the King, joins Park to prevent Kim from usurping the throne by finding it first.
Forbidden Dream (천문: 하늘에 묻는다)
Director: Hur Jin-ho
Cast: Choi Min-sik, Han Suk-kyu, Shin Gu, Kim Hong-pa, Heo Joon-ho
Running Time: 132 min
Genre: Drama, Period Piece
Release Year: 2019 (2020)
Rating: Film intended for audiences 12 and over (Underage audiences accompanied with a parent or guardian is allowed.)Sejong, the 4th king of Chosun, has been interested in advancing science and technology. He appoints Jang Young-sil, a slave and scientific genius, to be a low-level officer despite a bitter opposition of the court. Jang blossoms his talents by making the most accurate water clock that has ever made. Sejong wants to create a new calendar that can replace the Chinese one from the Ming Dynasty.
Hit and Run Squad (뺑반)
Director: Han Jun-hee
Cast: Gong Hyo-jin, Ryu Jun-yeol, Jo Jung-suk, Yum Jung-ah, Jeon Hye-jin
Running Time: 133 min
Genre: Action
Release Year: 2019
Rating: Film intended for audiences 15 and over (Underage audiences accompanied with a parent or guardian is allowed.)A car-chasing action movie about an ace policeman in the hit and run department with a knack for cars, a detective who was demoted, and a man who is crazy about cars and speed.
Juror 8 (배심원들)
Director: Hong Seung-hwan
Cast: Moon So-ri, Park Hyung-sik, Baek Soo-jang, Kim Mi-kyung, Yoon Kyung-ho
Running Time: 114 min
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2019
Rating: Film intended for audiences 12 and over (Underage audiences accompanied with a parent or guardian is allowed.)The story of South Korea’s first trial by jury in 2008, it follows the case of a son brutally murdering his mother, with all factors seeming to point to a guilty ruling. However, the trial does not go as smoothly as expected. The eighth juror, young entrepreneur Kwon Nam Woo questions the defendant’s self-declaration of guilt. As a result, the judge calls for a new debate to establish a guilty or not guilty verdict.
Little Forest (리틀 포레스트)
Director: Yim Soon-rye
Cast: Kim Tae-ri, Ryu Jun-yeol, Moon So-ri
Running Time: 103 min
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2018
Rating: Film suitable for all agesHye-won grows tired of life in the city and returns to her hometown in the countryside. After a year of living in the countryside with her old friends, Hye-won finally realizes what she has always been searching for. Based on an original story by Igarashi Daisuke, which has been nominated for the Tetsuka Osamu Culture Award, one of the top 3 comic awards in Japan, this adaptation is created in director Yim Soon-rye’s warm conceptualization of Korea’s beautiful nature and various foods.
Miss Baek (미쓰 백)
Director: Lee Ji-won
Cast: Han Ji-min, Kim Shi-A, Lee Hee-joon
Running Time: 98 min
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2018
Rating: Film intended for audiences 15 and over (Underage audiences accompanied with a parent or guardian is allowed.)A woman’s (Han Ji-Min) past as a convict follows her everywhere and, because of this, she doesn’t open up to others. The woman meets a girl and decides to save her from the cruel world. A man (Lee Hee-Joon), who holds feelings for the woman, tries to protect her in his own way.
OK! Madam (오케이 마담)
Director: Lee Cheol-ha
Cast: Uhm Jung-Hwa, Park Sung-Woong, Lee Sang-Yoon, Bae Jeong-Nam
Running Time: 100 min
Genre: Comedy, Action
Release Year: 2020
Rating: Film intended for audiences 15 and over (Underage audiences accompanied with a parent or guardian is allowed.)Mi-Young runs a shop at a traditional market, where she makes and sells twisted breadsticks. Her husband Seok-Hwan works as a computer repairman. One day, Seok-Hwan wins a free trip to Hawaii. Mi-Young and Seok-Hwan will go on their first international trip together. When they get on the airplane to Hawaii, things don’t go as expected; terrorists, including Cheol-Seung, who is chasing after a secret agent, get on the same airplane and the passengers soon become hostages. Suddenly, Mi-Young and Seok-Hwan begin to rescue the passengers.
Sunset in My Hometown (변산)
Director: Lee Joon-ik
Cast: Park Jung-min, Kim Go-eun
Running Time: 123 min
Release Year: 2018
Genre: Drama
Rating: Film intended for audiences 15 and over (Underage audiences accompanied with a parent or guardian is allowed.)Hak-soo has challenged TV audition programs for 6 years but never gets into the finalis. On the day he fails his 7th audition, he receives a call from his hometown that his father is in the hospital. He rushes to his hometown Byeon-san, only to find that his father lied to bring him to Byeon-san. He heads back to Seoul, but he is suspected as a phishing scam criminal there.
What A Man Wants (바람 바람 바람)
Director: Lee Byung-heon
Cast: Lee Sung-min, Shin Ha-kyun, Song Ji-hyo, Lee El
Running Time: 100 min
Genre: Comedy
Release Year: 2018
Rating: No one under 18 is allowed to watch this Film
*Please note this film has strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and sexual imagesSeok-geun is a middle-aged taxi driver who loves his wife but constantly cheats on her. His younger sister Mi-young and her husband Bong-soo live right next door to Seok-geun and his wife, and Bong-soo doesn’t understand why his brother-in-law keeps having affairs. However, everything changes when Bong-soo meets Jenny, a woman with irresistible charm.
