[HanCinema's News] Chase and Pursuit Emerge as Dominant Themes in South Korean Film

August 10th sees the release of "Hunt" at the South Korean box office. "Hunt" is the fourth of the four major summer releases this year, and also has the lowest expectations of three. The spy action film holds artistic pretensions, first premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, but is nevertheless a genre film rather than one with a high concept like its three predecessors. The movie will rely heavily on the appeal of its stars, Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung, compared to special effects oriented competitors.

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Yet "Hunt" is far from an outlier with these kinds of stories, which have been widely represented in South Korean film this summer despite their more limited appeal. Five days before "Hunt" comes out in South Korean theaters, Netflix will release "Carter" to a global audience. Where "Hunt" has spies chasing each other, "Carter" will feature a soldier played by Joo Won attempt to shield a girl from pursuers all over the Demilitarized Zone on the border between Koreas.

Such themes of pursuit have also been common in South Korean film even beyond more bombastic contexts. Though often underemphasized in marketing, the baby-box themed film "Broker" had its lead characters being chased by investigators when they swipe an abandoned baby. "Broker" has been a sleeper hit with 1,260,574 admissions- strong for this kind of artistically inclined film, even if less than "Parasite" passing the ten million viewer mark three years prior.

"The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves To Die" is another low profile title of interest. The plot, featuring Jang Hyuk as a retired killer seeking to protect a teenage girl, is highly evocative of "The Swordsman" from only two years ago. Neither one of these films have been commercially successful based on box office returns, but they're almost certainly bigger hits in the secondary markets such as cable syndication and video-on-demand services.

The exact popularity of such films on these platforms is difficult to gauge due to a lack of useful data from distribution companies. But the fact that such movies keep being made suggest that someone, somewhere is making money off of them. Even a title like "Missing Woman" from 2016 has surprising staying power in terms of appearing on South Korean television. Some viewers may just have an odd fascination for the visceral sensation of being hunted down.

Written by William Schwartz