Hallyu — a Chinese term which means Korean Wave, in correlation to the culture loosely encompassing the popular theme of music, movies, food etc…. This term is used for the explosion of Korean culture reaching the various shores of the world mainly through the music-movie route. Well that’s turned into a tsunami in the past few years and now the world is wrapped with BTS fever (mind it in such a world India is never included).
Hollywood is one of the largest movie-making industry, but our own Bollywood is even larger when it comes to the number of movies made each year. But the South Korean movie industry is not far behind. Rather currently Hollywood-Bollywood and S.Korean movie industries are the top ones. S.Korean movies, dramas, reality shows are viewed religiously in the Asian countries (even in India Zee network has started dubbing of few Kdramas- Ka-ching !!!)
I love movies (understatement), especially from all around the world. Bollywood, for now, is a topic better avoided since it became a recycling industry and utter gutter-worthy movies being produced (again its an understatement). I liked the films from Hollywood not so long ago because they offered original creativity infused with great performances. However, now it’s all just abs-laden superheroes jumping across green screens with high adrenaline background scores. But the bug in me never relied on just one source. I like the odd Thai movie, some British movies, even odder Iranian movies. As a kid who loved Jackie Chan movies, I was later amazed by Stephen Chow’s film school (call it Chinese or Hong kong). Then was the phase of great movies from Japan and finally the entertaining South Korean films.
It surprises me that the world took so long to see the excellent work done by S.Korean movies. I mean, the world suddenly discovered S Korean after Parasite. But it has been long producing incredible films even before Parasite or even Train to Busan. S. Korean moviemaking, like any other country, has its unique flavor. Especially evident when it comes to thriller, horror, mystery, crime genre. It had come to such a point that the reality shown on screen was way too real for audiences to handle.
The world is taking note of this rise of Hallyu thanks to the penetration of Kpop music into various world music charts. Kpop, which the west had demeaned using terms like factory music, chop shop music, and many other terms, is now bursting charts. Americans call their radio stations to play Kpop; even Grammy had to change their rules to incorporate BTS somehow. It was pretty evident Grammys wanted the fame, money, and audience that BTS brings. But they do not wish to accept them as musicians; hence BTS was shoved under some obscure category. As usual, the western music world has understood the economics of Kpop but cannot accept it as is. They want to make money off the Hallyu but do not accept there is this Wave.
Asians can reach the, say Moon- Mars or whatever, the West will always find it difficult the digest the truth. Truth – that reminds me of our relationship with the ancient Korean kingdom. A princess Suriratna later known as Heo Hwang-Ok was married to King Suro making her the first Queen Geumgwan Gaya. Through her arose one of the most famous clans of Gimhae Kim (current 6 mil direct descendents). We’ll return to the history lesson later someday, believe me, she was quite an influential figure in Korean history. For now, let me take you to the popular path of movies.
Long before Parasite become a world fascination, there have been some excellent movies from this peninsular country. I promise that in the coming weeks we shall try and explore these movies. They may or may not be rainmakers at the box office, but can be just a good watch. I saw the Devil, a 2010 S. Korean masterpiece was such where critics held the scenes of brutality way too real to handle. I would strongly recommend any art-loving person to watch this thriller movie.
Back in 2016, I watched the movie- The Wailing. The plot, as usual, is straightforward: a small village sort of idyllic close-knit families is suddenly taken to terror by infection spreading (not like corona), causing people to attack violently, leading to derangement. And no, it’s not a zombie movie. The movie paces slowly, from one attack to another. Our lead is a bumbling police officer with a doting daughter and his mother-in-law. He is given the strange case to be investigated. He and his investigation are what we follow. The director takes care that the audience is part of the investigation and everything that the officer experiences. He makes the audience an inseparable part of the movie, especially when evil visits his home and reacts to it.
Mind it, though this is thriller/horror genre, you will be laughing in many scenes. This is one trope of Korean movies: to make the audience laugh, even in the direst of situations. S.Korean movies deploy this light moment technique so skillfully that you as an audience are relaxed in some of the film’s most tense moments. Just then, they trash you to the ground with a precise moment of thrill. Not the usual jump-scare technique from Hollywood, but you feel a genuine cold chill down your spine.
The endearing part is the likeliness one develops with the character, it’s almost what one can see/expect to happen in real life. Moving through the day to day life of the village, tired pot-bellied police working through his existence as a cop in some small village is extremely lively. The movie which begins with a thriller mindset slowly with its damming perfect pace transitions into a master sinister plot. The is no dearth of awfulness, the whole breakdown and the built-up appears so natural that one wonders if the director has experienced evil. The director is aware of the evil in minds of audiences and doesn’t shy playing with it.
A lot of S Korean directors take to philosophical bent and experiment with it. How does one perceive evil? Must it always be something foreign/unknown to us? or Can it be something from our past lived/shared memories? How do people react to rumours of evil? Does that bring out the evil within us? and at the end do we inherently have something evil within us. One can get the vibes of such a line of thought in this movie too, and that’s the craft the director uses perfectly to make The Wailing an unsettling movie.
Like The Wailing, I saw the devil, there are many more excellent works of art, which I shall try and speak about in coming weeks. S. Korea being a different culture has a quite a unique way of approaching various human aspects, which maybe, through their movies or series we shall try and experience it.
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