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5 movie adaptations of ‘A Christmas Carol’ to watch this festive season

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For some families, the season to be jolly is incomplete without watching some classic Christmas films.

And one of the most typical Christmas stories out there is none other than A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

It follows the life of Ebenezer Scrooge, a bitter and lonely elderly man who is visited by his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come.

After their visits, Scrooge let go of his old ways and becomes a kinder and more generous soul.

Since the novella was first published in London in 1843, there are many adaptations of the story over the years.

Here at KajoMag, we are breaking it all down to five of our favourite film adaptations of A Christmas Carol:

1.A Christmas Carol (1999)

Sir Patrick Stewart is mostly remembered for his role as Professor Charles Xavier from the X-Men.

But we also cannot forget his portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1999 TV film A Christmas Carol.

One of his memorable scenes is when Scrooge wakes up on Christmas morning after all three ghosts had visited him.

The gleeful Scrooge tries to laugh but for someone who hasn’t laugh for years, the sound comes out all wrong. Stewart pulled that scene off perfectly.

He was deservedly nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2000.

2.A Diva’s Christmas Carol (2000)

Here is an adaptation of Dicken’s classic with a twist. Instead of a grumpy old man, this version of the story features a selfish popular singer.

Vanessa L. Williams is Ebony Scrooge, a successful singer with a nasty attitude.

While the original Scrooge has his overworked, underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit by his side, Ebony has her underpaid manager Bob Cratchett (Brian McNamara) next to her.

There are other differences as well such as Ebony being visited by her former singing partner Marli Jacob, not business partner Jacob Marley in the original story.

Overall, it is a fun and different adaptation of what we know about A Christmas Carol.

3.A Christmas Carol (2009)

A Christmas Carol 2

When comes to animation adaptation, you have to give it to Disney to make it right.

This is Disney’s third adaptation of the novel, following Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) and The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992).

It stars the voices of Jim Carrey as Scrooge, Gary Oldman as Cratchit and Marley as well as Colin Firth as Fred, Scrooge’s cheerful nephew.

While many think this adaptation is on the darker side, but when you come think about the storyline itself is dark.

Having four different ghosts including a dead business partner visiting you in one night, which part of the story is not dark?

4.Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022)

When you think Carrey had already done a good job voicing Scrooge, then comes Luke Evans in this 2022 adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

The screenplay for this musical fantasy drama film is by the director Stephen Donelly and Leslie Bricusse who also wrote the screenplay and composed the songs for the 1970 film Scrooge.

Unfortunately, Bricusse passed away a year before the film was released.

As for Evans, he also sings a number of songs in the movie.

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022) was released on Netflix in December 2022 and it is still available for streaming on the platform.

5.Spirited (2022)

If you are getting bored of the original storyline of Dickens’ 1843 novel, how about a satire of various adaptations of the story?

The film follows the story of The Ghost of Christmas Present or better known as Present who is approaching his retirement days.

For nearly two centuries, Present along with Jacob Marley, the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Yet-to-Come have led a team of afterlife spirits to find and redeem one human soul every Christmas.

As they search for a new soul to redeem, Present sets his sight on Clint Briggs who is a renowned, controversial media consultant.

Marley believes Briggs is “unredeemable” but Present insists to make him change.

The plot continues to circle on Briggs and whether his soul is able to be redeemed in the end.

Overall, this film is a refreshing take on the classic.

The film stars Will Ferrell as Present and Ryan Reynolds as Clint Briggs.

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KajoPicks: 12 K-dramas and movies starring Kim Rae-won you should watch

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Known for his deep, baritone voice, Kim Rae-won is one of the most memorable South Korean actors out there.

It is not just his unique voice that sets him apart from most of the other actors, it is his appearance as well.

Perhaps because of his masculine facial features and slightly darker skin tone, Kim usually finds himself taking roles as both opposite sides of the law; a policeman or a criminal.

To top his voice and look, Kim also has the talent and passion for acting to make him a well-rounded performer and one of South Korea’s most sought after actors.

Honestly, it was hard to choose our favourite dramas and movies starring Kim Rae-won since he has so many impressive works under his belt.

But somebody had to make the hard decision, so here are 12 K-dramas and movies you should watch if you are a fan of Kim Rae-won:

1.My Little Bride (2004)

This film is a Korean remake of the 2002 Hong Kong movie My Wife is 18 starring Charlene Choi and Ekin Cheng.

Here, Kim plays the role of a male college student Sang-min who has an arranged marriage between a female high school student Bo-eun (Moon Geun-young).

Both of them are forced to get married due to their grandfathers’ arrangement during the Korean War.

After they got married, they decide to hide their marriage. Things get complicated when Bo-eun pretends to be single and starts to date.

And the whole situation escalates even more when Sang-min becomes an art teacher at Bo-eun’s school.

The movie became a sleeper hit and was the second top-crossing Korean film of 2004.

2.Love Story in Harvard (2004)

If My Little Bride was the film that made us to take notice of Kim Rae-won, the drama of his that really caught our attention was none other than Love Story in Harvard (2004).

In this romantic drama, Kim teams up with future female star of K-dramas Kim Tae-hee.

They both play the roles of Harvard students who find love while studying abroad.

Their career choices lead them to different parts of the world after graduation.

Years pass and the former lovers find each other again in Seoul but this time will they let each other go?

The release of the drama brought a lot of popularity to both of the main leads but specifically to Kim Tae-hee who saw an increase amount of advertisement deals after the series.

3.Sunflower (2006)

In this film, Kim takes up the role of a former gangster named Oh Tae-sik.

After being released from prison, Tae-sik heads back to his hometown to start a new life.

He starts a new job at a garage and in the same time tries his best to leave his criminal past behind.

It has not been easy especially because most of the people still live in fear of his past brutal reputation.

But his past eventually catches up on him when a local politician tries to demolish his adoptive mom’s restaurant in order to build a new mall.

Overall, the movie was a hit when it came out. Kim on the other hand was impressive with his acting in the film especially near the ending.

4.A Thousand Days’ Promises (2011)

What we love about Kim is that he always tries to challenge himself in different types of roles as long as there is any opportunity rises for him.

For this melodrama, he plays the role of a doting husband who never gives up on his wife who is struggling with early on-set Alzheimer’s.

Park Ji-hyung (Kim Rae-won) works as an architect. Despite having a fiancee, he has a secret affair with Lee Seo-yeon (Soo Ae).

Seo-yeon breaks up with him after being diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer’s.

After finding out the reason of the break up, Ji-hyung dumps his fiancée two days before the wedding to be with Seo-yeon.

Despite the fierce opposition from his parents and Seo-yeon herself, Ji-hyung insists to marry Seo-yeon.

Seo-yeon eventually agrees and the couple begins their marriage life together with hardship.

Even when Seo-yeon’s memories starting to fail her, Ji-hyung’s love for her never falters.

A Thousand Days’ Promises is a great drama to watch when you are feeling lovey dovey with your partner.

5.Punch (2014)

When Park Jung-hwan (Kim Rae-won) is told that he only has six months left to live, it makes him to reexamine his life choices.

As the chief of the anti-corruption investigation team for the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, he had made a lot of decisions that he is not proud of.

Since he is nearing to his death, Jung-hwan decides to pursue justice regardless of its price.

His main goal is to bring down his own boss Prosecutor General Lee Tae-joon, whose friendly public face masks his corruption.

Kim was nominated for the Top Excellence Award at the APAN Star Awards as well as Best Actor in Television at the Baeksang Arts Awards for his role in this drama.

6.Gangnam Blues (2015)

Kim returns to Set in the 1970s during the height of political corruption in South Korea, this action film stars Kim Rae-won and Lee Min-ho.

Kim returns to play a role he is familiar with; being a gangster.

Childhood friends, Jong-dae (Lee Min-ho) and Yong-ki (Kim Rae-won) struggle to get by, until their shanty homes are demolished by local thugs.

Desperate for cash, they get involved in violent political clashes, and are separated during one of the skirmishes.

Three years later, Jong-dae lives as an adopted son of a former gang leader, Gil-soo (Jung Jin-young) and unknown to him, as a small-time gangster.

Meanwhile, Yong-ki has risen as a made man inside Seoul’s most powerful criminal organization.

To play this role, Kim was asked to shed 15 kilograms for his character, which he did in less than a month.

7.The Doctors (2016)

Kim switches his usual police and prison uniforms for some scrubs in this medical drama.

He plays the role of Hong Ji-hong, a doctor who needs to step back in his career and become a biology teacher.

As a teacher, he plays an ‘extra’ attention to a rebellious student named Yoo Hye-jung (Park Shin-hye).

Both are caught in some dramas and eventually separated.

But 13 years later, the teacher-student pair is now reunited as colleagues as both are now surgeons working in a private hospital.

When it was aired, the drama was a hit which lead to Kim experiencing a surge in his popularity and commercial offers.

8.Prison (2017)

In this movie, Kim takes up the challenge playing someone is from both sides of the law.

He plays the role of a former detective Song Yoo-gun who got sentenced in prison for hit-and-run, destruction of evidence and bribery.

In the prison, he catches the attention of Ik-ho (Han Suk-kyu) who is known as “The King’.

Ik-ho wields his power truly like a king from the prison up to a point that the prisoners can leave the prison at nights to commit the perfect crimes.

The film was a surprise hit and Kim received critical acclaim for his realistic execution of action scenes.

9.Black Knight: The Man Who Guards Me (2017)

If you want to see Kim rocking a historical costume, this is his drama for you.

He plays two different role in this series from two different time period.

First is Lee Myung-so, an aristocrat who falls deeply in love with his housemaid/concubine and the 21st century Moon Soo-ho, a young CEO who is still in love with his first crush.

What Soo-ho does not know is that he is the reincarnation of Lee Myung-so. Since Myung-so did not get to live happily ever after with the love of his life, Soo-ho determines that he would.

It is a romantic drama with a dose of fantasy. While the series did not gathered mainstream success like Kim’s previous works, we still enjoy the overall drama.

10.Long Live The King (2019)

Kim is familiar playing the role of a gangster but this time he is playing a mobster in love.

Mob boss Jang Se-chool (Kim Rae-won) meets lawyer Kang So-hyun at an anti-construction protest and quickly falls in love.

Unfortunately, she thinks of him as a thug. She repeatedly rejects him while telling him to live a decent life.

So-hyun eventually tries to get rid of Se-chool by saying that she can never accept him because her life goal is to become a first lady.

Meanwhile, one of Se-chool’s friends is on death row, and the only way to save him is through a presidential pardon.

When Se-chool ends up rescuing passengers after a bus accident at Mokpo Bridge, he is praised as a hero; he decides to use his newfound fame to run for public office, believing that success will lead him to win So-hyun’s heart and save his friend.

Critics has praised Kim’s performance in this movie as ‘one of his finest works’.

11.L.U.C.A: The Beginning (2021)

After dipping his toes in fantasy drama, Kim challenges himself once again in a science fiction genre.

Ji Oh (Kim Rae-won) is a man with special power and unearthly fighting skill. The only problem is, he has no memory of himself, how he got his power and why he is being pursued by a mysterious group of people.

In search of his memory and looking into those who pursued him, he comes across a mysterious group of scientists at an institution named Human Tech and a secretive biotech project code-named L.U.C.A.

Through his adventure, Ji Oh gains himself one ally Ha Neul-ae-goo-reum (Lee Dae-hee). She is a police detective who has a secret past of her own.

12.The First Responders (2022)

Kim Rae won 1
Kim Rae-won going undercover as a prisoner in The First Responder (2022)

Here is another cliche role from Kim Rae-won; acting as a police detective.

The drama circles around the cases that takes place at Taewon Police Station and Taewon Fire Station.

Both buildings happened to be located next to each other and even handle most cases together.

Kim in this criminal procedural drama is Jin Ho-gae, a police detective team inspector in Taewon who was recently transferred from Regional Investigation Unit.

He starts to make friends with firefighter Bong Do-jin (Son Ho-jun) and paramedic Song Seol (Gong Seung-yeon).

Jin Ho-gae has tremulous relationship with his father Jin Cheol-jung (Jo Seung-yeon) who is the prosecutor of the Eastern District Attorney’s Office.

His father never wanted Ho-gae to be a policeman as he wanted him to follow his footsteps to read law.

Ho-gae on the other hand, resents his father who maintains dubious relationships with those who are corrupted especially among the rich and politicians.

The series marks Kim’s first terrestrial television in six years since 2016. His return to the small screen is definitely worth it as he bagged the Top Excellence Award for an Actor in a Miniseries Genre/Fantasy Drama at the SBS Drama Awards 2022.

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KajoPicks: 5 most epic Bollywood movies of all times that you must watch

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When we talk about the most epic Bollywood movies, we are talking about something that is larger than life and beyond your wildest imagination.

Imagine having hundreds of elephants and well-trained martial artists as the extras of these movies with custom-made sets that cannot be seen anywhere else.

As you watch these movies, one cannot help but be inspired about the amount of work and dedication put into every scene.

Here are our choices for the most epic Bollywood movies of all times that you must watch:

1.Asoka (2001)

There are plenty reasons to call Shah Rukh Khan the King of Bollywood. First and foremost, the characters that he portrays in films are usually larger than life.

Take Asoka (2001) as an example in which he played the role of Emperor Asoka.

Also known as Ashoka the Great, he was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during 268 to 232 BCE.

The plot is the dramatized version of the early life of the emperor.

Do you want to know how epic the movie is? The final battle scene featured over 6,000 extras and hundreds of elephants.

Moreover, the actors portraying warriors in the film were masters of Kalari who used real weapons during the filming.

The film was selected for screening at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival where it received positive reviews.

2.Devdas (2002)

If you have watched this movie, you won’t forget that it has the most iconic running scene in Bollywood history.

It is when Parvati (Ashwarya Rai) runs out of her mansion home, knocking things with her white saree flowing behind her just to get to her lover Devdas (Shah Rukh Khan).

This Bollywood movie is iconic for many reasons. When it was released in 2002, it was the most expensive Indian film ever at made with a budget of USD 10.29 million.

Moreover, the brothel in the film was one of the most expensive sets ever built in history of Hindi cinema with USD2.47 million spent.

The film tells the story of Devdas Mukherjee (Khan), a law graduate who returns from London to marry his childhood fried Parvati or Paro (Rai).

Like a classic Romeo and Julliet story, the two lovers’ relationship is opposed by both families.

Paro subsequently is forced to marry against her own will to a widower with three grown children.

This causes Devdas to turn to alcohol and him seeking refuge at a brothel with the comfort of courtesan Chandramukhi (Madhuri Dixit).

Based on the 1917 novel of the same name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the filmmakers went all out researching on Calcuttan building design from the period of the British Raj.

The extensive research definitely paid off as Devdas (2002) is without a doubt has one of the most impressive sets and breathtaking cinematography in Bollywood history.

3.Jodhaa Akbar (2008)

Set in the 16th century, Jodhaa Akbar (2008) narrates the life and romance between the Muslim Emperor Akbar of Mughal Empire and a Hindu Princess Jodhaa Bai of Amber.

The movie plot is a partly fictionalized account of a political marriage between the emperor and the princess.

Emperor Akbar is played by Hrithik Roshan while Ashawarya Rai takes the role as Princess Jodhaa.

In real life, Jodhaa was Akbar’s fourth and favourite wife and she was the only wife buried near to him.

Famous costume designer Neeta Lulla took up the challenge to design the film’s costumes and she was the same designer for Devdas (2002).

It took her a year and a half to research the type of clothes people wore as well as the types of fabric used during the Mughal Empire.

Apart from the costumes, the shooting locations were equally impressive.

Fans would be delighted to know that some of the filming locations are historical places that have now turned into tourist attractions.

These places include Roopangarh Fort, Agra Fort and Amber Fort.

4.Padmaavat (2018)

This Indian historical drama film is based on the epic poem from 1540 of the same name by Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi.

It tells the story of Padmavati (Deepika Padukone), a 13th-14th century queen or Rani of the Mewar kingdom in present-day India.

She was an exceptionally beautiful princess of the Sinhalese Kingdom (present-day Sri Lanka). The news of her beauty even spread out to nearby kingdoms.

Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor), the Rajput ruler of the kingdom of Mewar eventually heard about her beauty from a talking parrot. After some adventurous quest, he won her hand in marriage and brought her back to his kingdom to be his queen.

Ratan was not the only one who heard of Padmavati’s beauty.

Alauddin Khalji (Ranveer Singh) who ruled the Delhi Sultanate was also determined to have Padmavati as his wife.

According to Padmaavat the original poem, Alaudddin laid siege on Ratan’s kingdom motivated by jhis desire for Padmavati.

There are so many things to rave about this Bollywood film. First of all, let us start with the costumes.

The costumes are simply unbelievable especially the attention to every detail. Deepika’s costumes as the queen for instance are everything you imagined how a Rajasthani queen should be.

You can tell that great amount of research was put into every costume.

The most epic part of the film is of course the war battle scene. It is on a par with Hollywood movies such as 300 (2006).

With the budget of USD27 million, it is the most expensive Hindi film and one of the most expensive Indian films ever made.

After watching how the film turned out, it is safe to say that the filmmakers made full use every single cent of the budget.

5.Bajirao Mastani (2015)

Going through the list now, you must have an idea that most epic Bollywood movies are based on historical love stories that transcend through times.

Hence, here is another epic historical romance that surely will impress you.

It circles around the story of Maratha Peshwa Bajirao (1700-1740 AD) and his second wife Mastani.

Although their marriage was a political one, the couple eventually fell in love with each other.

For the director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the film was like a dream came true. He conceived the idea for the film as early as the 1990s and even went ahead to announce it in 2003.

Bhansali had intended to make Bajirao Mastani after the release of his film Devdas (2002).

The production, however, delayed several times due to several factors.

The cast members feature Ranveer Singh as Bajirao, Deepika Padukone as Mastani and Priyanka Chopra as Kashibai, Bajirao’s first wife.

One of our favourite scenes in the film is the song ‘Pinga’. Padukone and Chopra performed the song along with their background dancers.

It is interesting to know that the less than 5-minute scene took weeks to film.

Bhansali insisted to have lit diyas (oil lamp) and torches in the background. This should not been a problem if the scene was not shot at night on an open-air set with many of the diyas would snuff out while filming.

When it was suggested that the snuffed diyas should be corrected in post production, Bhansali was not having it. The solution? At least a dozen of crew would run around the set to relight the snuffed diyas.

The results of their hard work is one of the unforgettable and beautiful dance scenes in Bollywood films.

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Know the true story behind Oscar-nominated film Sandakan No. 8 (1974)

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Sandakan No. 8 (1974) is a Japanese film directed by Kei Kumai which focused on the ‘karayuki-san’.

‘Karayuki-san’ is the Japanese term for young women forced into sexual slavery in the 19th and early 20th century. Directly translated, it means ‘Ms. Gone-To-China’, although it was expanded to ‘Ms. Gone-Abroad’ as it saw these young women being trafficked to Southeast Asia, Manchuria and even as far as San Francisco.

The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1975. (It lost to Akira Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala.) 

Sandakan No.8 2

The plot of Sandakan No.8

The film starts with journalist Keiko Mitani (Komaki Kurihara) who is researching the history of Japanese women who were sex slaves in Asian brothels during the early 20th century.

While researching, she finds Osaki (Kinuyo Tanaka), a former karayuki-san who lives in a shack in a rural village.

Osaki agrees to tell her life as the film goes into a flashback to the 1920s.

Poverty-stricken circumstances led to a young Osaki (Yoko Takashi) being sold by her family to work as a maid.

The location? Thousands of miles away in Sandakan, British North Borneo (present-day Sabah).

Osaki thought she was going to work in a hotel. As it turns out, the establishment was actually a brothel called Sandakan No.8.

She is forced to work as a prostitute at Sandakan No.8 until World War II. During her stay at the brothel, she has a short-lived romance with a poor farmer.

When Osaki finally returns to Japan, her brother and his wife who have bought a house using the money she sent them, turns her away. Osaki’s life can never be normal again due to her past at Sandakan No.8.

In the epilogue, Osaki tells Keiko about a graveyard established for prostitutes who died in Sandakan.

Later, Keiko makes her way to Borneo looking for the cemetery. When she finds the graveyard, Keiko realises that all of them were buried with their feet pointing in the direction of Japan.

It is a gesture to condemn their ancestral home for abandoning them.

Sandakan No. 8 is based on the book “Sandakan Brothel No. 8: An Episode in the History of Lower Class”

When author Yamazaki Tomoko interviewed a former karayuki-san, she gave her the pseudonym – Yamakawa Saki – to protect her identity.

Yamazaki met her by accident during a trip to Amakusa in 1968 while researching on karayuki-san. After a series of interviews with Osaki and her friend Ofumi, Yamazaki wrote the book “Sandakan Brothel No. 8: An Episode in the History of Lower Class” (1972).

Although it was Yamazaki’s first book, it instantly became a national best-seller, with her work considered as a pioneer work on karayuki-san. It was later followed by “The graves of Sandakan 1964” and “The Song of a Woman Bound for America 1981”.

The real-life Osaki was born around 1900. Shortly after her birth, her father died leaving her mother struggling to feed three children.

Osaki’s mother then remarried, this time to her own brother-in-law, moving in with her new husband and his six children. For the most part, however, her mother left Osaki and her siblings to fend for themselves.

In order to survive, Osaki’s brother sold her to a procurer for 300 yen. Osaki had also agreed to go because her best friend was going too. She was only 10 years old.

When Osaki first arrived at Sandakan, she worked as a cleaner in the brothel on Lebuh Tiga in Sandakan.

After she turned 13, she was forced to take on customers.

Osaki’s life at Sandakan No.8

Later, she moved to Sandakan No. 8, also known as Brothel No.8, which was unusually owned by a woman named Kinoshita Okuni. She was also known as Okuni of Sandakan who treated her girls well.

Before coming to Sandakan, Okuni was a live-in mistress to an Englishman back in Yokohama. After he left Japan for good, she moved to Sandakan to open a general store and a brothel.

Osaki became a live-in mistress to an Englishman in Sandakan after seven years working at the brothel.

Interestingly, the arrangement was a facade to hide the fact that the Englishman was having an affair with another Englishman’s wife.

Little is known about the Englishman. Osaki called him “Mister Home” and he worked at Dalby Company which owned a shipyard in Sandakan back then. Mister Home also had a wife and children back in England.

Nonetheless, Osaki was happy with the arrangement. She still received money from Mister Home to send it back to Japan and she no longer took customers at the brothel.

Unfortunately, just like the film, Osaki was rejected by her elder brother and the rest of her family upon her return to Japan.

So where is Sandakan No.8?

Just like Keiko in the movie, Yamazaki made her way to Sandakan in the 1970s.

To her disappointment, there were no traces left from Sandakan No.8 or any other brothels.

However, she did find an old graveyard which is now called Sandakan Japanese Cemetery.

It was founded in 1890 by Osaki’s boss, Okuni. She built it to pray for the souls of Japanese who died in Sandakan.

And just like in the movie Sandakan No.8, they were all buried with their feet pointed in Japan’s direction.

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KajoPicks: 10 South Korean mystery movies you need to watch

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If you need a dose of whodunit or what-on-earth-is-going-on type of entertainment, here are 10 South Korean mystery movies to watch:

1.Helpless (2012)

Imagine David Fincher’s Gone Girl (2014) but with an even darker approach.

Based on the bestselling novel All She Was Worth by Japanese writer Miyabe Miyuki, this South Korean mystery/psychological thriller is written and directed by Byun Young-joo.

One month before their wedding, Moon-ho (Lee Sun-kyun) and Sun-young (Kim Min-hee) decides to take a road trip to Andong.

Moon-ho plans to formally introduce his fiancee to his parents.

On their way to Andong, they pull over at a highway rest stop.

While Moon-ho goes inside the rest stop to get coffee, Sun-young stays in the car.

But when Moon-ho returns, he is shocked to discover that his fiancée is missing.

After looking all over the rest stop, Moon-ho file a police report. One thing after one another, Moon-ho begins to realise that his fiancée is not the person he thinks she is.

For starters, her name is not even Sun-young.

Helpless (2012) was the twelfth most-watched Korean film in 2012.

Watch the trailer here.

2.Moss (2010)

A remote village with villagers acting all suspicious always makes a good background story for a mystery movie.

Ryu Hae-kook (Park Hae-il) arrives at a village to attend his father’s funeral.

After the funeral, Hae-kook decides to stay to investigate as he suspects his father is a murder victim.

From there, Hae-kook finds himself entangled in murder attempt, arson, real estate fraud and corruption.

Can he discover the truth behind his father’s death?

This Korean mystery movie is based on the popular webtoon of the same title by Yoon Tae-ho.

Watch the trailer here.

3.The Wailing (2016)

Speaking of remote villages, here is a Korean horror film centering around mysterious killings and illnesses.

In the small village of Goksung, police officer Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won) investigates a series of bizarre murders allegedly caused by a mysterious disease.

Rumour has it that a Japanese stranger, who lives in a secluded house in the mountains, is responsible for the illness.

Additionally, the stranger is reportedly to be a spirit.

Jong-goo decides to visit the stranger along with his partner and a young priest who speaks Japanese.

There, they find an altar with a goat head, pictures on the walls of the infected people that died.

Among the items, Jong-goo finds his daughter Hyo-jin’s shoe. Soon after that, she becomes sick.

Is the stranger really responsible for the illness falls upon Gokseong?

The film was both a commercial and critical success.

Watch the trailer here.

4.The Silenced (2015)

Set in Gyeongseong in 1938 during the Japanese occupation, the film centers on Ju-ran/Shizuko (Park Bo-young).

She is a sickly young girl who gets transferred to a sanatorium to recover her health.

Her physical condition improves thanks to her new friend Yeon-deok (Park So-dam) and the headmistress (Uhm Ji-won)’s special treatment program.

However, she soon notices that students are disappearing one by one.

Adding on the weird thing around her, her own body is undergoing abnormal changes.

Determined to uncover the truth, Ju-ran starts to investigate the mysterious happenings around her.

Where do her schoolmates go? Who is behind it? Additonally, what is happening to her body?

5.M (2007)

After the success of his first novel, the pressure is high on young author Min-woo (Kang Dong-won) to write another best-selling book.

He is struggle with writer’s block, nightmares and hallucinations. Hence, all of these end up affecting his career and personal life.

Slowly, Min-woo finds himself unable to differentiate between fantasy and reality.

In the meantime, a charming young woman named Mimi (Lee Yeon-hee) shows up. He seems to have a history with her, but what?

The movie had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and Pusan International Film Festival.

6.White Night (2009)

When a pawnbroker is found dead in a remote town in a derelict building, the police are divided on whether it was a murder or a suicide.

Detective Han Dong-su (Han Suk-kyu) investigates the case and it leads him to a homicide case that took place 14 years ago.

The prime suspect of that case, is a woman who suspected to be the dead man’s lover. Soon afterwards, the woman is also found dead leaving behind her daughter Lee Ji-ah (Son Ye-jin).

After the death of her mother, Lee Ji-ah changes her name to Yoo Mi-ho.

Now, fourteen years later, Mi-ho is set to marry a rich CEO. Is there any connection between Mi-ho and these deaths?

White Night (2009) is based on the Japanese novel Journey Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino, who is mainly known for his mystery novels.

Watch the trailer here.

7.Forgotten (2017)

Jin-seok (Kang Ha-neul) moves into a new home with his older brother Yoo-seok (Kim Moo-yul), mother (Na Young-hee) and father (Moon Sung-geun).

One rainy evening, Jin-seok sees Yoo-seok being thrown into a van by a group of men.

After 19 days, Yoo-seok returns home but he doesn’t remember anything from his disappearance.

Jin-seok though notices enough changes in his older brother’s personality and behavior that he begins to suspect that the person who has returned is not Yoo-seok.

What if the one who lost his memories is Jin-seok and not Yoo-seok? And that even his memory fools him of what happened.

The director Jang Hang-jun said he is inspired from a story told to him by a friend whose cousin left home for about a month and returned with a drastic changes in personality.

8.Perfect Number (2012)

Here is another Korean film based on the work of mystery writer Keigo Higashino’s 2005 novel Yogisha X no Kenshin.

Kim Seok-go (Ryoo Seung-bum) is an ordinary high school math teacher who was a brilliant mathematician as a child.

He lives a normal, introverted life which includes a morning exchange with Baek Hwa-sun (Lee Yo-won).

She is a cafe employee with whom he buys lunch from.

When Hwa-sun’s ex-husband mercilessly beats Hwa-sun and her niece, Hwa-sun kills him.

Meanwhile, Seok-go overhears the fight from his house next door and decides to cover up the killing and protect her from the police.

He uses his genius in meticulously planning the perfect alibi for her, and thanks to his efforts, Hwa-sun is cleared in the case.

But is she completely cleared from the murder?

Watch the trailer here.

9.Blood Rain (2005)

This Korean mystery movie is set in 1808, touching on historical discrimination against the Roman Catholics during the Joseon dynasty.

On Donghwa Island, there is technologically advanced paper mill allowing its townspeople a certain degree of wealth.

Suddenly, this peaceful and isolated island is shaken by a string of gruesome murders.

Even more, the victims were killed the most sadistic way.

With the killer still on the loose, the government sends in special investigator Wonkyu (Cha Seung-won) to crack the case.

His investigation leads him to an incident that takes place seven years earlier, in which the former owner of the paper mill was executed for practicing Catholicism.

In the meantime, the residents are convinced that the dead man’s is back for revenge.

Can the ghost of a dead man bring so much trouble into the land of the living?

10.Intruder (2020)

After the lost of his wife in a hit and run accident, architect Kang Seo-jin (Kim Mu-yeol) is a mess.

He is struggles to manage his work and taking care of his daughter as well as finding the driver who kills his wife.

One day, he receives a call from an orphanage claiming that his long lost sister was found.

Kang Yoo-jin (Song Ji-hyo) was abducted 25 years ago and now she finally comes home.

Soon, Yoo-jin gets close to the whole family including with Seo-jin’s daughter who follows everything her aunt tells her to do.

After a series on incident, Seo-jin begins to realise that Yoo-jin might not be his sister but an intruder.

Although the film was originally scheduled for a release in March 2020, its premiere was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

After its premiere on June 5, it breaks the records of highest number of first-day moviegoers achieved by any film in South Korea since the pandemic.

Watch the trailer here.

Korean mystery movie
Watch Song Ji-hyo’s unbelievable acting in this Korean mystery movie called Intruder (2020). Credit: Youtube.

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KajoPicks: 10 motivational Korean movies to inspire your day

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Sometimes, a little short escape from reality to watch a movie can inspire your day.

These movies do not serve only as entertainment but they have plenty of lessons to teach the audience.

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Watch these motivational Korean movies to inspire you in fueling your passion.

If you are looking for motivational Korean movies to inspire your day, here are KajoMag’s suggestionS.

1.Marathon (2005)

Based on the true story of Bae Hyeong-jin, an autistic marathon runner, this movie was the fourth most attended Korean film of 2005.

Hyeong-jin’s mother, Park Mi-gyeong told in an interview that she didn’t want people want to label him as a child who couldn’t do anything.

When he was 10 years old, she started to teach him all kinds of sports, including running, swimming and hiking.

After years filled with training and challenges, Hyeong-jin finished the 2001 Chuncheon Marathon in the outstanding time of 2 hours, 57 minutes and 7 seconds.

Meanwhile, the movie circles around 20-year-old Cho-won (Cho Seung-woo). He lives with his highly protective mother Kyung-sook (Kim Mi-sook) and younger brother (Baek Sung-hyun).

Noticing that Cho-won had a gift for running, Kyung-sook decides to hire a proper coach to train her son.

Besides raising awareness on autism, this motivational Korean movie inspires viewers to persevere in facing adversity.

Watch the trailer here.

2.Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013)

Before you start to watch this drama, you might want to prepare tonnes of tissue. This motivational Korean drama is what happen if Sean Penn in I Am Sam (2001) was wrongly accused of murder.

The film circles around Lee Yong-gu (Ryu Seung-ryong) who is mentally challenged with the intellect of a six-year-old.

Due to an ugly twist of fate, he is wrongfully accused of molest and murder.

In the prison, he makes friends with other criminals in his cell. Touched by his kindness and purity, his cellmates help him to see his daughter by smuggling her into the prison.

The movie was a box office success, making it the fifth highest grossing Korean film of all time.

The main character Yong-gu is inspiring in a way that he teaches us to be child-like. Not in the sense of being childish and immature, but be kind to others like an innocent child.

Watch the trailer here.

3.Little Forest (2018)

If you are into a slice of life with no out of the world villain kind of movie, Little Forest (2018) is the film for you.

Directed by Yim-Soon-rye, the film is based on a manga series of the same name by Daisuke Igarashi.

The story follows Song Hye-won (Kim Tae-ri) who returns to her childhood home in a small village after failing to pass the national qualification exam to become a teacher.

In her home, she starts to reconnect with her childhood friend and trying to find her purpose of life again.

This movie carries a simple message about life. When things do not go the way you plan, it is important to take a step back and reflect on what to do next. Sometimes letting go can lead you to the things you always wanted in the first place.

Watch the trailer here.

4.The Sound of a Flower (2015)

How about a Korean movie about breaking barriers and stereotypes to inspire your day?

Here is a period drama based on the life on Jin Chae-seon. She was the first female pansori singer during the Joseon dynasty.

Pansori is a Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer.

Chae-seon grows up enjoying pansor performances. At that time, females are not allowed to learn pansori and perform in public.

She manages to find herself a pansori teacher, Shin Jae-hyo who agrees to train her for the national pansori contest organised by the king’s father Heungseon Daewongun.

However, no one must discover that Chae-seon is a woman or they both will be executed.

The movie stars Bae Suzy as Chae-seon who practiced pansori for year to prepare for the role.

Watch the trailer here.

5.Harmony (2010)

After killing her abusive husband, Hong Jeong-hye (Kim Yunjin) is sentenced to serve 10 years in prison.

Pregnant at the time of her arrest, she gives birth to a baby boy while in prison.

According to the law, she has to give the baby up for adoption. The time finally comes for her to give up the baby.

The prison chief promises that she can spend one day with her baby outside of prison if she successfully forms a prison choir group.

Jeong-hye recruits fellow inmate as the choir’s conductor. Moon Ok (Na Moon-hee) was once a musical professor at a university. But now, she is on death row for killing her adulterous husband.

Will Jeong-hye be able to succeed? This women empowering movie was the fifth best selling film of 2010 in South Korea.

Watch the trailer here.

6.As One (2012)

Speaking of women empowerment, As One (2012) is based on the first ever united South and North Korean table tennis team that completed at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan.

During table tennis competition, South Korean player Hyun Jung-hwa (Ha Ji-won) always comes up short in the gold medal matches against a rival Chinese table tennis player.

One month before the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships, she hears that a single Korean table tennis will be formed from South and North Korea.

Jung-hwa and her teammates oppose the idea. Despite the opposition, the united Korean table tennis team is formed.

When players from the South and North Korea teams meet at a training camp in Japan, they cannot even get along.

Meanwhile, Jung-hwa enters a war of nerves with the top North Korean player Lee Boon-hee (Bae Doo-na).

The movie serves as a reminder that sports has a gift to bring people together and should always stand above political barrier and differences.

Watch the trailer here.

7.His Last Gift (2008)

Tae-joo (Shin Hyun-joon) is a murderer serving a life sentence in prison. His old friend Yeong-woo has a daughter, Se-hee who is suffering from Wilson’s disease and desperately needs a liver transplant.

He is given a temporary release to save Se-hee’s life. Tae-joo then discovers that Se-hee’s deceased mother was his ex-wife.

Even more, he also discovers that Se-hee is in fact his biological daughter.

Now, he is determined to do everything he can do to save her life.

Watch the trailer here.

8.Punch (2011)

This movie brought a lot of buzz in South Korea due to its unconventional theme circling around intercultural marriage, the economic vulnerability of the disabled and stiff education system that primarily focuses on university entrance examinations.

It follows high-school student Do Wan-deuk (Yoo Ah-in) who lives with his hunchback father Jeong-bok (Park Su-yeong) and uncle Min-gu (Kim Young-jae).

His homeroom teacher Lee Dong-ju (Kim Yoon-seok) lives as his neighbour on the rooftop.

The movie circles around the student-teacher relationship between Wan-deuk and Dong-ju and how the latter inspires him to be a better person.

It is based on the novel Wandeuk by Kim Ryeo-ryeong which won the Changbi Prize for Young Adult Fiction in 2007.

Watch the trailer here.

9.The Himalayas (2015)

Um Hong-gil is the mountaineer known to be the first person to climb the 14 highest points on Earth.

This movie is inspired by his life, primarily focusing on his mentorship of two other climbers.

During a climb to Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, Hong-gil saves the life of Park Moo-taek (Jung Woo) and his friend Park Jeong-bok (Kim In-kwon).

After that, he warns them never to climb mountains again. However when a new adventure project comes up, Moo-taek and Jeong-bok are recruited into the team.

At first Hong-gil refuses to allow the duo to join, but they would not give up. So, he has no choice to let them in.

After climbing the first mountain together, friendship forms between Hong-gil and Moo-taek.

Due to his injury, Hong-gil is not able to climb mountains again. Moo-taek then decides to form his own new team using the techniques he learned from Hong-gil.

When climbing Mount Everest, Moo-taek dies during the descent. The movie continues on how Hong-gil and his old crew go to the Himalayas to find Moo-taek’s body.

The characters in the movie are inspiring as they are based on real people. Hong-gil who against all odds, climbs mountain again despite his injury as well as Moo-taek who refuses to take ‘no’ as an answer.

Watch the trailer here.

10.A Barefoot Dream (2010)

Here is another movie based on inspiring real people. A Barefoot Dream (2010) is based on the true story of Kim Shin-hwan. He is a retired Korean footballer who goes to East Timor after his business fails. There he coaches a youth football team.

The main character Kim Won-kang (Park Hee-soon) is a former footballer who has more downs than ups in his life.

He migrates to East Timor, thinking that there will be more opportunities for him.

There, he sees a group of kids playing football with bare feet. So he opens up a sports equipment store thinking that he can sell football shoes to the children.

However, none of the children can afford the shoes. He then decides to teach the kids how to play football.

The motivational Korean film was the entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards but it did not make the final shortlist.

Watch the trailer here.

Do you have other motivational Korean movies? Let us know in the comment box.

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Han Gong-ju True Story: Real Events That Inspired the Acclaimed Korean Film

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⚠️ Content Warning: This article discusses real-life incidents involving violence and trauma, which some readers may find distressing. Reader discretion is advised.

The Han Gong-ju true story continues to captivate audiences for its sensitive portrayal of resilience inspired by real events in South Korea. Directed by Lee Su-jin, Han Gong-ju (2013) is a South Korean drama starring Chun Woo-hee in the title role as a young woman trying to rebuild her life after a traumatic incident that forces her to change schools.

The film is inspired by real events in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, a 2004 case that exposed deep social issues surrounding accountability, victim support, and public perception in South Korea.

Premiering at the 2013 Busan International Film Festival, Han Gong-ju went on to win multiple international awards, including the Golden Star at the Marrakech International Film Festival and the Jury Prize, Critic’s Prize, and Audience Award at the 2014 Deauville Asian Film Festival.

While the film draws from tragic realities, it stands out for its sensitive portrayal of healing and resilience rather than violence – inviting viewers to reflect on empathy, justice, and compassion.

Here are 5 Key Insights into the Han Gong-ju true story and its real-world inspiration

1.Behind the scenes of Han Gong–ju (2013)

In an interview with the Korean Film Council, director Lee Su-jin explained that Han Gong-ju was inspired by a real case but was never meant to recreate it exactly.

Instead of revisiting the events themselves, Lee focused on the emotional recovery of the survivor—how she copes with judgment, isolation, and the search for hope.

He shared that his goal was to give courage to others who have faced similar pain, portraying a young woman’s quiet strength rather than her suffering.

By choosing empathy over sensationalism, Han Gong-ju became a landmark in Korean independent cinema, blending realism with deep compassion.

Miryang Gang rape case
Chun Woo-hee as Gong-ju in the movie. Credits: Youtube

2.The Miryang Case Took Place in 2004

In 2004, authorities in Miryang city uncovered a serious case involving dozens of male high school students accused of repeatedly abusing several younger girls over many months. Reports stated that more than 40 students were implicated in the incidents. The case drew massive public attention, exposing widespread issues of peer coercion, victim-blaming, and social silence around abuse in schools.

3.What happened to the offenders?

One of the survivors’ relatives first reported the case to the police. Initial investigations led to only three students being taken into custody, which sparked public anger and nationwide protests.

As pressure mounted, the authorities later detained additional suspects — eventually identifying over forty students connected to the incident. Of these, five were sent to juvenile reform schools, ten received probation, and the rest faced non-custodial measures. None were criminally convicted, as they were legally minors and tried under South Korea’s Juvenile Act.

The outcome was widely criticised by the public, who viewed it as an example of systemic leniency toward youth offenders. Some reports also alleged that a few of the families involved had social or financial influence, though these claims were never officially confirmed.

This was not an isolated controversy. Around the same period, several unrelated court decisions in South Korea drew public scrutiny for what were seen as disproportionately light sentences in gender-based violence cases, fueling national debate about justice reform and accountability.

In another unrelated case, a South Korean court faced public backlash after a controversial acquittal in a sexual-assault trial, where the reasoning behind the verdict was widely criticised as insensitive and unscientific.

4.The Aftermath of the Miryang Case: Supreme Court Ruling and State Compensation

In 2008, the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that the state had violated the rights of the survivors by mishandling the investigation and allowing their identities to be exposed to the media. The court ordered financial compensation for the survivors and their families, recognising that official negligence had caused additional emotional harm.

During the initial investigation, reports indicated that some officers had made inappropriate remarks toward the victims and failed to safeguard their privacy. Documents were leaked to journalists, making it possible for local media to identify those involved.

The court condemned these actions, stating that investigators failed to protect the victims’ dignity and subjected them to unnecessary humiliation. As part of the ruling, the state was instructed to pay each survivor 30 million won and their mothers 10 million won in damages.

5.Parallels Between the Miryang Case and Han Gong-ju (2013)

Although the film never explicitly references the real incident, several scenes subtly echo what happened in Miryang.

In one moment, a classmate innocently asks Gong-ju whether she has ever been kissed, and her uneasy answer symbolically reflects the trauma she carries.

Those familiar with the background recognise this as an indirect reference to the number of perpetrators in the real case.

Another parallel appears when parents confront Gong-ju, blaming her for their sons’ troubles—a cinematic mirror of reports that one survivor in Miryang was pressured to leave school after being harassed by parents of those accused.

Through these moments, Han Gong-ju examines how survivors are often judged and silenced, transforming real-world injustices into a quiet yet powerful call for empathy and social awareness.

Sources: Korea JoongAng Daily, The Korea Herald, Korean Film Council, Vice, and official festival archives.

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#KajoPicks: 10 South Korean fantasy movies you need to watch

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A good fantasy movie is always fun to watch. Well, primarily because these movies challenge your imagination.

Here are 10 South Korean fantasy movies for you to watch:

1.Vanishing Time: A Boy who Returned (2016)

Vanishing Time: A Boy who Returned (2016) is a Korean fantasy movie inspired by true events.

Director Um Tae-hwa was inspired by the 2014 sinking of MV Sewol where 304 people died.

He believed that the government tried to hide the truth after the Sewol disaster.

The story follows 13-year-old Su-rin who moves to a remote island with her step-father after her mother passes away.

There, she befriends an orphan boy named Sung-min. One day, they decide to explore a cave together with a group of kids.

During their adventure, they discover a glittering egg. According to their local folktale, the egg could instantly turn a child into an adult.

Believing the myth, Su-rin tries to stop the boys from taking the egg. However, the boys take the egg anyway.

When she follows them out of the cave, she finds that the rest of the group have disappeared.

Hence, the police is immediately dispatched. They assume that this is an abduction case and begin their investigation.

Meanwhile, Su-rin tells the police about finding the egg but nobody believes her.

Suddenly, a mysterious man in his 30s shows up and tells Su-rin that he is Sung-min.

Starring Gang Dong-won as adult Sung-min and Shin Eun-soo as Soo-rin, the movie is Tae-hwa’s second long film. He is mainly known for his short films.

Watch the trailer here.

2.Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard (2009)

Here is another Korean fantasy movie starring Gang Dong-won. Based on a Korean folktale, the film was the third best selling film of 2009 in Korea.

The story begins in the Chosun Dynasty in 1509 when there is a magician named Jeon Woo Chi (Gang Dong-won) and his dog-turned-man.

Eventually, Jeon Woo Chi is sealed inside an ancient scroll for a crime he did not commit. Fast forward to 2009, he is summoned from the scroll to bring peace in a modern day Korea wracked by goblins.

The problem is Jeon Woo Chi becomes more interested in sight-seeing and womanizing rather than save the day.

Also known as Woochi: The Demon Slayer, this Korean fantasy movie is written and directed by Choi Dong-hoon.

Watch the trailer here.

3.The Piper (2015)

After the Korean War, Woo-ryong (Ryoo Seung-ryong) and his son Young-Nam (Goo Seung-hyun) walk to Seoul.

Woo-ryong wants to get Young-nam treated for tuberculosis. Along the way there, they find an obscured path on a mountainside road.

Woo-ryong decides to take the hidden path. The father and son pair soon come across a village. At first look, the village appears well-off and peaceful. The residents are led by a village leader (Lee Sung-min).

Subsequently, Woo-ryong learns the village is an idyllic place to live, except the area is infested with rats.

He offers to get rid of the rats and the village leader offers to pay him a hefty sum in return.

At the same time, Woo-ryong also falls for a young female shaman (Chun Woo-hee) in the village.

While everything appears to be going well, Woo-ryong’s nightmare is about to begin.

This fantasy movie is inspired by the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

The legend dates back to the Middle Ages, describing a piper who dressed in multicoloured (which is the meaning behind ‘pied’) clothing.

The piper was hired by the town to lure rats away. We warn you; The Piper (2015) is the darker and more twisted version of the legend.

Watch the trailer here.

4.Will You Be There? (2016)

Soo-hyeon (Kim Yun-seok) is a successful physician who, during a humanitarian aid operation, saves the grandchild of an elder in Cambodia.

In return, he receives a few pills, which he tries when he is back in Korea.

As it turns out, these pills take him exactly 30 years back in time.

Knowing that he doesn’t have much time left due to a serious illness, he wants to meet his girlfriend Yeon-ah (Chae Seo-jin) who died in an accident (coincidentally) 30 years ago.

When he meets his younger self (Byun Yo-han), he realises that he can change the past.

As time runs out for him, can Soo-hyeon change his future by toying with the past?

Will You Be There? (2016) is based on the French novel, Seras-tu-la?, by Guillaume Musso.

Watch the trailer here.

5.The Phone (2015)

Here is another Korean fantasy movie about people wanting to rescue their dead loved ones.

A magnetic field anomaly allows a man to phone into the past to talk to his wife before she is murdered.

To save her, he has to identify the killer and warn her before the anomaly vanishes.

Through the phone call, the man enters a thrilling battle against time to rescue his wife.

This action thriller fantasy film is directed by Kim Bong-ju in his directorial debut.

It stars Son Hyun-joo, Uhm Ji-won and Bae Seong-woo.

Watch the trailer here.

6.The Restless (2016)

The Koreans believe that when a person dies, their soul spends 49 days in Jungcheon before their eternal fate is decided.

From there, they either go to heaven, hell or rebirth. And that is where accomplished demon hunter Yi Kwak finds himself as he lies on the edge of death.

Following his fiancee Yon-hwa’s tragic death, Yi enlisted with the royal squad of elite demon exterminators.

He enters Jungcheon where he finds Yon-hwa again. Unfortunately, she does not recognise him as she is a spirit of the afterlife now.

Moreover, she is deeply entangled in a great war between the white-clad warriors of reincarnation and a swarm of dark spirits determined to invade the living world.

The battle is desperately close to a terrifying ending, so Yi must draw his sword to defend the woman he loves.

To make matter worse, his deceased former mentor Banchu is the mastermind behind the demonic rebellion of dark spirits in Jungcheon.

Directed by Jo Dong-ho, The Restless (2006) stars Kim Tae-hee and Jung Woo-sung.

Watch the trailer here.

7.Psychokinesis (2018)

This movie is the first Korean superhero film. It is also director Yeon Sang-ho’s second live-action film after his live-action debut Train to Busan (2016).

It revolves around a bank security guard who gains telekinetic superpowers after drinking water from a mountain spring affected by a meteor.

Shin Seok-heon (Ryu Seung-ryong) then decides to use them for saving his estranged daughter and her neighbourhood from an evil construction company.

Many critics praised this movie saying it is one of the finest superhero movies of the decade.

Thrillist writer Karen Han stated, “The only pity is that Psychokinesis isn’t receiving a theatrical release outside of South Korea. Despite being about an ultimately mundane conflict, it’s filmed with the same energy and grand sense of scales as any recent blockbuster. Maybe it’s a little silly, but all superhero films are. Yeon is just the rare breed of director who knows how to turn that kind of genre stamp to his advantage.”

Watch the trailer here.

8.A Werewolf Boy (2012)

A mother moves with her daughters Sun-yi (Park Bo-young) and Sun-ja (Kim Hyang-gi) to a large home in the countryside.

They moved there under the advisement of her doctor as Sun-yi suffers from a lung ailment.

The home is provided by Ji-Tae (Yoo Yeon-Seok), the son of a business partner who worked with their deceased father.

While the family gets acclimated to their new surroundings, Sun-yi finds that a wild boy (Song Joong-ki) lives within a locked room in the barn.

At first, the family takes him in believing he is just an orphan with little social skills. Not everything in life appears like it seems, so is the boy hiding a secret?

The movie had its world premiere in the Contemporary World Cinema Section of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.

Besides that, it was screened at the 17th Busan International Film Festival that year.

This movie is one of the most successful Korean melodrama movies of all time.

Korean fantasy movies 2
A Werewolf Boy is definitely one of the must-watch Korean fantasy movies of all-time. Credits: Youtube

Watch the trailer here.

9.Heaven’s Postman (2009)

If you could write a letter to your loved one in heaven, what would you say?

Kim Jae-joong plays as Shin Jae-joon who used to be a promising young CEO of an IT company.

One day, he unexpectedly becomes a postman. His work? To deliver the letters grieving people have written to their loved ones in Heaven.

Eventually, Jae-joon comes across Hana, who writes a letter full of resentment to the dead man that she used to love.

So he proposes that Hana delivers responses which come back from Heaven. Then they both think up various ways to give peace and happiness to those who are alive and left behind, sometimes by writing the responses themselves.

It is a story of love and acceptance as well as finding closure in the sorrowful experiences of life.

10.Along with the Gods series

Along with the Gods movies series are definitely on our list of must-watch Korean fantasy movies.

This action film is directed by Kim Yong-hwa and based on a webtoon by Joo Ho-min.

It stars Ha Jung-woo, Cha Tae-hyun, Ju Ji-hoon and Kim Hyang-gi. The film was shot as one but presented in two parts.

The first part, Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds, was released on Dec 20, 2017.

In the meantime, the sequel,titled Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days, was released on Aug 1, 2018.

The third and fourth installment is currently in development with Kim Yong-hwa returning to direct the sequels.

As for the plot, the first movie follows a firefighter navigates the afterlife with the help of three grim reapers.

Meanwhile, the second film circles around the three grim reapers guiding their 49th soul. After guiding their 49th soul, only then they could gain reincarnation.

Overall, the storytelling, CGI, and especially the acting for both movies are all terrific. The second film broke the opening day record in South Korea with more than 1.2 million viewers on the first day of its release.

Watch the trailer here.

Korean fantasy movies
The third and fourth of Along with The Gods are another two must-watch Korean fantasy movies. Credits: Youtube.

Do you have any favourite Korean fantasy movies? Let us know in the comment box.

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What to know about the real story behind Korean movie Silenced (2011)

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Starring Gong Yoo and Jung Yu-mi, Silenced or Dogani is a 2011 South Korean drama film.

The plot is based on real-life events of young deaf students sexually assaulted by faculty members for over five years in the early 2000s.

Here what you need to know about the real story behind Silenced (2011):

1.The movie was inspired by Gong Ji-young’s novel The Crucible

The title of the novel is taken from Arthur Miller’s play of the same name which was based on the real-life events leading to the witch trials of Salem in 1692.

In order to write the story, Ji-young visited the school more than 10 times. She also interviewed those connected with the case, including the victims.

2.How the sex abuse came to light

Gwangju Inhwa School was first established on Apr 17, 1961. Initially, it was founded as the Jeonnam Deaf-Mute Welfare Centre before becoming a junior high school.

Then in 1993, they opened the senior high school section.

Just like in Silenced, a teacher came out to report on the sexual abuse. In 2005, the newly appointed teacher alerted human rights groups. He disclosed that the headmaster had raped a girl in his office while an administrative officer groped a 22-year-old student.

Overall, six teachers were accused as nine victims came forward. Even though the number of victims were believed to be higher, most victims refused to testify out of fear.

The maddening part was that half of the accused were freed immediately because their cases’ statutes of limitation had expired.

At first, the court sentenced the headmaster, the son of the school founder to a five-year term in prison. But the court later reduced the sentence for the headmaster, giving him probation and a 3 million won fine. The rest also received reduced sentences.

The worst thing after the trial was that the victims were ousted from the school. Meanwhile, the school kept 22 students while receiving 1.8 billion won in state subsidies annually.

Some of the teachers who were accused of the sex crimes even returned to the school to teach.

The teacher who complained about the abuse was subsequently fired from his job.

3.The school is also accused of starving their students to death.

While the school was accused of sex crimes since early 2000s, the crime against students reportedly goes back as early as 1964.

A former teacher came forward claiming two students were abused to death and buried them secretly.

According to Kim Yeong-il, the first case took place in October 1964. The vice principal reportedly starved a seven-year-old orphan boy and later beat him to death.

Together with a teacher, the vice principal buried him on a mountain about 7 kilometers from the school.

Six months later, another child died. Kim alleged that the 6-year-old was also starved by the teachers there. The poor starved girl even resorted to eating wallpaper. She was then killed by a caretaker who threw her off a building.

Kim reported both cases to the police in the 1960s but since there were no dead bodies, there were no cases against the school. After he reported the cases, the vice principal and principal (both brothers!!!) locked Kim up and beat him.

Other alumni claimed the son of the school’s board of directors forced two female students to undress and drew nude paintings of them in 1975.

4.The school where the crimes took place is now closed.

Two months after Silenced came out on cinema, Gwangju City officially closed the school in November 2011.

At the time of closure, 22 students were attending the school, 57 stayed at the dorm while 55 received training. All of the students were then transferred out to other schools.

Silenced (2011) caused an uproar among the Korean public and eventually put pressure on politicians.

In October 2011, the South Korean parliament passed the Dogani Bill which eliminated the statute of limitations for sex crimes against children under 13 and disabled women.

Additionally, the bill increased the maximum penalty to life in prison.

Silenced Movie
The screenshot of Silenced’s trailer from Youtube.

5.Ji-young was a student activist in the 1980s and her past has inspired her writings.

In the novel, Ji-young portrays the male protagonist as someone who gives up his fight for justice and returns to his hometown in Seoul.

Ji-young’s past as a student activist during the 1980s inspired most of her writing style. She told The Korea Times in 2009 that if she wrote the novel at a younger age, she might have portrayed the male protagonist as a betrayer.

Since she was writing the book in her 40s, she portrayed him as a tortured human being.

In her home country, Ji-young was given a lot of ‘attention’ by the Korean press, and it wasnot for her writing.

Her personal life – she has been married three times and her children have different fathers – was apparently more shocking than the issues she highlighted in her works.

Ji-young’s other notable work is Our Happy Time in which she addressed the issue of capital punishment. The novel was adapted into the film Maundy Thursday.

Watch the trailer here.

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Top 18 Hollywood movies to watch in 2020

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Following KajoMag’s past new year tradition, we are coming up with our top 18 Hollywood movie to watch this 2020.

Before we get down to our list, we have to warn you that our list is full of sequels and remakes.

Here our Top 18 Hollywood movies to watch in the year 2020:

1.Bad Boys For Life (January 17, 2020)

As much as we are looking forward to this third and final installment in the Bad Boys trilogy, we are a little worried about how it might turn out as the original director Michael Bay is no longer on board.

Looking on the bright side, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back to reprise their roles as Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett respectively.

They both reunite in this movie when a mob boss, whose brother they defeated years ago, sets on revenge against them.

2.Birds of Prey (February 7, 2020)

This superhero movie follows Harley Quinn as she joins forces with Black Canary, Helena Bertinelli and Ranee Montoya to save Cassandra Cain from Gotham City crime lord Black Mask.

After the events of Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn left the Joker and became a vigilante.

When Black Mask places a hit on a young girl named Cassandra Cain, criminals in Gotham City turn the city upside down to look for her. And that is when Harley Quinn comes in to rescue the day.

3.A Quiet Place: Part II (March 20, 2020)

Paramount Pictures released this for the synopsis, “Following the deadly events at home, the Abbot family must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realise that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.”

This sequel is written and directed by John Krasinki with Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe reprising their roles.

4.Mulan (March 27, 2020)

So what if there is no Mushu in this live action adaptation of Disney’s 1998 animated film of the same name? The original folklore “The Ballad of Mulan” which the movie is based on in the first place also did not have Mushu.

We are just thankful that Disney did not white-wash the movie as it boasts a host of heavyweight Chinese actors like Donny Yen, Jet Li, Gong Li besides its lead, Liu Yifei as Mulan.

5.No Time To Die (April 2020)

In this 25th installment of the James Bond Series, No Time To Die will have the world’s famous spy being forced out of retirement.

Daniel Craig as Bond retires to Jamaica after the events of Spectre. His retirement did not last long as Felix Leiter, his friend/CIA officer asks his help to look for a missing scientist.

Craig himself confirmed that this would be his final appearance as Bond.

6.The New Mutants (April 3, 2020)

Based on the Marvel Comics team of the same name, this is an upcoming horror film in the superhero genre.

It circles around a group of young mutants held in a secret facility fight to save themselves.

So how many who are the main mutants in the movie? We have Illyana Rasputin/Magik who uses teleportation discs to travel, Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane who is able to turn into a wolf.

Additionally, there is Sam Guthrie/ Cannonball who can propel himself into the air and is invulnerable while doing so and Roberto da Costa/Sunspot who can manipulate solar energy.

7.Black Widow (May 1, 2020)

We all know that Black Widow aka Natasha Romanoff died in the last Avengers movie, so what’s with this solo film?

This movie follows the Black Widow confronting her past following the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016).

However, what we all need to ask is how will this movie fit in with the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe?

8.Fast & Furious 9 (May 22, 2020)

Will there be enough Fast & Furious movies for the world to watch? Apparently not. This ninth installment of the movie will be starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Nathalie Emmanuel, John Cena, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron and Michael Rooker.

If you haven’t seen the trailer, that is because it will be released on Jan 31, 2020.

9.Wonder Woman 1984 (June 5, 2020)

After watching 2017’s amazing Wonder Woman movie (twice!), we really hoped there would be a sequel.

Thankfully our prayers were answered with Gal Gadot and Chris Pine returning to their roles and Patty Jenkins coming back as the director.

We have so many questions after watching Wonder Woman 1984’s trailer that we can’t wait to have them answered.

For now all we know is that Diana will be facing Maxwell Lord (played by Pedro Pascal of The Mandalorian and GOT fame) and Cheetah (Kristen Wiig) in this sequel.

10.Top Gun: Maverick (June 26, 2020)

How long does it take to have a sequel for an iconic movie? For Top Gun (1986), apparently it takes more than 30 years.

Tom Cruise reprises his role as Maverick, now one of the Navy’s top aviators. Even if you belong to the younger generation, we bet that you have heard about Top Gun from your parents or older siblings.

Now this is the year to see what is the buzz about. Will the sequel make so much waves that we will start seeing people rock the Aviator Ray-ban sunglasses again?

11.Ghostbusters: Afterlife (July 10, 2020)

Unlike the 2016 reboot, this movie is the direct sequel to Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989).

The plot goes that after being evicted from their home, two children and their single mother move to a farm in Summerville, Oklahoma inherited from their late grandfather.

The children then discover their family’s link to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy that their grandfather left behind.

12.Tenet (July 17, 2020)

We only have one reason looking forward to watch this movie and that is Christopher Nolan. No other reason but Christopher Nolan.

Directed by Nolan, the movie stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and Dimple Kapadia.

The movie circles around a secret agent who is tasked with preventing World War III through time travel.

Nolan and another time travel movie (Think Memento and Interstellar)? Just prepare to crunch your brain again.

13.Jungle Cruise (July 24, 2020)

Based on the Disney theme park attraction of the same name, Jungle Cruise is an adventure movie set during the early 20th century.

The story starts with a riverboat captain named Frank who takes a scientist and her brother on a mission into a jungle to find the Tree of Life which they believe possesses healing powers.

Their obstacles? Dangerous wild animals and a competing German expedition.

14.Morbius (July 31, 2020)

A lot of people were saying Jared Leto failed as the Joker in Suicide Squad (2016), will he fail again as Michael Morbius?

After trading DC Comics for Marvel, Leto in this movie plays a scientist suffering from a rare blood disease who attempts to cure himself.

Morbius will be the second film in Sony’s Marvel Universe after Venom.

15.The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It (September 11, 2020)

Movies to watch in 2020 1

Some said the title of this third The Conjuring movie sounds like a comedic parody of the film and we kinda agree.

Unfortunately director James Wan could not return to direct the movie due to other work commitments, but he is co-producing it.

The Curse of La Llorona director Michael Chaves sits on the director’s chair for this one with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprising their roles as Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Instead of a haunted house, the couple turn their focus on a man on trial for murder who claimed he was possessed.

16.Venom 2 (October 2, 2020)

With Woody Harrelson making a brief appearance as the supervillain Cletus Kasady at the end of the first film, we knew that there would be a potential sequel.

Tom Hardy is confirmed to reprise his role as Eddie Brock/Venom, an investigative journalist who is the host of an alien symbiote.

Expect another sequel of this movie as Hardy had already confirmed to star in a third Venom movie.

17.The Eternals (November 6, 2020)

When you think Hollywood had already got over superheroes movies, here comes the 25th film in the MCU.

It is a superhero movie based on the Marvel Comics race of the same name.

The movie follows the Eternals, an immortal alien race created by the Celestials, protect humanity from their evil counterparts called the Deviants.

Previously in MCU movies, the Celestials actually are the ones who utilized the Infinity Stones as a means of power against lesser life forms.

Memorably in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord’s father is actually a Celestial.

18.Godzilla versus Kong (November 20, 2020)

This is not the first time Godzilla encounters King Kong in a battle; it happened before in a Japanese movie way back in 1962.

Besides, this will be the fourth Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio.

What happen to Earth and humankind when these two legendary monsters collide in a battle?

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