London Korean Film Festival 2025: Once again, the Korean Film Festival explored many different styles and genres, from comedy and thriller to dark and domestic dramas. Despite that, however, there were multiple recurring themes that have obviously sprung up because of the social and political issues Korea has been facing. The huge elephant in the room for many societies now is care, and how we help our ageing population, plus the generational divides over money and values.
And from the highest echelons of society down there are also secrets and lies swirling around, with many of these issues just under the surface and waiting to break through. Korean films take viewers with them as they tackle these ideas head on, with complexity and subtlety. Another satisfying festival.
Land of Morning Calm (top pic) from director Park Ri-woong is an atmospheric story of a scam that starts out smoothly, but perhaps inevitably goes wrong. Set on the Korean coast in an impoverished community, it centres around a young fisherman, Yong-su, buried under caring duties for his mother and craving a better existence for his devoted Vietnamese wife and himself. The scam is for him to disappear and be presumed dead, so those he’s left behind can get the insurance money. But his only confidante is a bad choice, an alcoholic fellow fisherman, grizzled by life and bitter experience and unable to keep a secret. At the film’s heart are issues of caring, generational divides, and feeling excluded from the wealth elsewhere in Korea. The secrets and lies always threaten to burst forth, in this lament that is buoyed up with plenty of comic touches.
Time to be Strong from director Namkoong Sun is reminiscent of the 2018 documentary about British boy band, Bros, After The Screaming Stops. This, though, is a drama about three retired, yet still very young, twentysomething K-pop stars, heading off to the island of Jeju. We witness the after-effects of fame in the cutthroat music industry once they’ve been cut adrift. But we also see they have a chance to do normal things in the real world and maybe achieve some self-discovery along the way. All in all, it’s a bit of a cold shower, or wake-up call, for the hopeless, naïve trio, who have been left with nothing. And it’s pitched somewhere between a cautionary tale and an observation of arrested development and trauma finally addressed.
The Informant (above) is a fast-paced comedy-drama from director Kim Seok with non-stop thrills and gags. There’s lots of double-crossing and it’s hard to know who to trust in the rippling, twisty plot. The main protagonists are an incompetent cop and a confident informant, but nothing is quite what it seems as the unlikely duo’s plans crumble and they have to unwillingly join forces. They bounce around locations, betrayals and bust-ups, and the fighting is somewhere between Quentin Tarantino and The Fast Show. But you never regret joining this highly entertaining ride.
Save from director Bang Mi-ri again addresses the all-too-prevalent issues of care, generational divides, and secrets and lies, with a big twist and pay-off. Women are at the heart of the film, with orphan Se-jeong finally graduating and going out into the world. But her new life and freedom are abruptly interrupted by Eun-sook, who claims to be the woman who saved baby Se-jeong from a fire. And she tells Se-jeong that she needs a big loan to help with a terminal illness. Which happens to be the exact sum that Se-jeong received on graduating from the orphanage. This is where viewers will probably divide into those who really want to believe Eun-sook’s story and those who see her as an elderly scammer, on the hunt for easy money. The truth is not quite so black and white, and both women are empathetic characters, and the complexity of their relationship is highly credible.
Red Nails (above) from director Hwang Seul-gi is another voyage into the pressing issues of care and money, along with family secrets. With her mother Seo-hee suffering from dementia, Hong decides to bring her home from the care home to save money. This though, is not as easy as she imagined, as Hong still wants her own independence and life, but caring is pretty much a full-time job in itself. The cynical end game for Hong is to get hold of her mum’s money to sort out her debts, but messy emotions and family entangle both women. A very familiar caring story.
Break Up the Chain is a 1971 classic from director Lee Man-hee which nods back to the Spaghetti Westerns of the Sixties, like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, while going on to influence the likes of 2008 Korean Western The Good, The Bad and The Weird. The plot is essentially a race between three outlaws to get hold of a Buddha statue… and a woman! But it often seems like the statue is a MacGuffin as the trio – a patriot, a gangster and a spy – double-cross and fight their way through the movie. It’s very much a case of “my enemy’s enemy” as they team up, divide and team up again with frequent fight sequences, all laced with intrigue. There’s also the matter of the outlaws’ conscience and national loyalties despite their individual ambitions, which could scupper their plans. Set in 1930s Manchuria, the palette of bright reds and greens gives it a distinctive look and feel, and this was shown to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the director’s death. A worthy tribute.