Director Ryoo Seungwan of Escape from Mogadishu, Returning with a Female Thriller Smuggle.

Director Ryoo Seungwan's 2021 film Escape from Mogadishu did not simply leave the big number with the title, ‘the biggest box office hit Korean movie of the year.’ His film once again confirmed to us the reason why we should watch Korean movies in theaters. It also reminded us of the catharsis only ‘genre movies’ can convey. If the answer to the question, "What kind of movie does Director Ryoo Seungwan enjoy most and make best?" is the film Veteran, which attracted 10 million viewers to the theater, Escape from Mogadishu is the film Director Ryoo Seungwan showed the way he wants to take. As much as the ‘car escaping scene’, which makes us awe, ‘Ryoo Seungwan is the best!’, some scenes leave long lingering impressions; the scene people from South Korea and North Korea sharing food at the dark table, or the scene showing the silent last greeting they send to each other after escaping from the land of death. The genre pleasure and universal consensus of the film are expected to shine more on the global stage. Especially, if Escape from Mogadishu, which was selected as a Korean entry for the best international feature category at the Academy Awards, is nominated, the possibility of ‘Korean film syndrome for three consecutive years’ is high enough. The Oscars especially love humanistic movies based on real stories, right? 

Director Ryoo Seungwan, who recreated significant moments of modern and contemporary Korean history into movies, from The Battleship Island to Escape from Mogadishu, is returning with his new film Smuggle in 2022. Even before recovering from the fatigue of shooting in Africa, he started shooting again in June 2021. There are two reasons why this movie raises expectations. One is that this film is an authentic action thriller genre, a hometown to the director. The other is that it is his first ‘Buddy Movie’ of the two female protagonists in 20 years after No Blood No Tears (2002).

As the title suggests, Smuggle contains the veiled enmity of two women who dominate the rough smuggling world and the desires of the people surrounding them. Actors Kim Hyesoo and Yum Jungah are playing the two main characters. In Korean cinema, it could be an adventure to make an action thriller where a female actor in her 50s plays the main character, but it is possible when Ryoo Seungwan directs it. On top of that, Zo Insung, who worked with Ryoo in Escape from Mogadishu, has joined early, and a young character actor, Park Jeongmin will also appear. "I have great fun at the filming site every day. Since most of the staff, who made Escape from Mogadishu together, are participating in Smuggle, the teamwork is fantastic. In this movie, I purely pursue cinematic fun." He plans to start his next work Veteran 2 right after Smuggle. "We have so many ideas. The production company run by his wife, CEO Kang Hyejung has made many great films besides the movies I made. We also have an idea for a ‘multi-universe,’ which connects completely different movies. For example, why don't we connect Veteran starring Hwang Jungmin and SVAHA : THE SIXTH FINGER starring Lee Jungjae? We are currently planning a scenario and aim to shoot in the second half of 2022.” Ryoo Seungwan's universe is expanding very happily.

Director Kim Younghwa, Opening the Space Age with The Moon 

After finishing the fantastic ‘hell tour’ with the Along with the Gods series, Director Kim Yonghwa flies to the moon in 2022. He already finished filming The Moon (working title) in October and started working on the postproduction. The Moon is a touching ‘space blockbuster’ depicting the people struggling to save a crew left alone in space. Doh Kyungsoo plays the role of a young crew fighting for survival in space, Sul Kyunggu plays the role of the space center chief on Earth struggling to return the young crew home safely, and Kim Heeae plays the head of NASA's space station, who holds the important key to the incident. Director Kim Yonghwa expressed expectations for his first SF movie, saying, "I was excited and thrilled as if I were filming my debut film."

Director Kim Yonghwa's film is also evidence of the development of Korean VFX technology. Starting with Mr. Go, featuring the 3D character ‘Gorilla,’ which was completed with motion capture technology, the director created the ‘movie series with 10 million viewers’ with Along with the Gods, the first fantasy blockbuster in Korean cinema. Curiosity is growing over what kind of visual images Director Kim Yonghwa will show in Korea's first ‘moon exploration movie.’ Through The Moon, Director Kim will take his first step into the era of ‘virtual production’ in earnest. Much of the movie was filmed at ‘Virtual Production Studio’ D1, which opened at Dexter Studio, a VFX company. It is also known that the entire movie will be produced in 4K. You can look forward to the ‘space age’ of Korean films that Director Kim Yonghwa will pioneer.

Look forward to Director Yim Soonrye’s Scale in The Point Men 

Director Yim Soonrye has been to Jordan with Actors Hwang Jungmin and Hyun Bin. Based on the kidnapping of Koreans in Afghanistan in 2007, The Point Men depicts the story of a diplomat and an NIS agent who struggle hard to save 23 Koreans kidnapped by terrorists. Hwang Jungmin, the most beloved actor of Korean directors, plays the role of the diplomat, and Hyun Bin, who returned to the screen after a long time since the zombie historical drama Rampant (2018), plays the role of an NIS agent. Particularly, attention is focused on the fact that it is Yim Soonrye and Hwang Jungmin’s first new film in 20 years after Waikiki Brothers (2001).

In addition, The Point Men makes us look forward to Director Yim Soonrye's new challenge in many ways. She has been making delicate and warm humanistic films since her feature debut Three Friends (1996), Forever The Moment (2008), and her latest film Little Forest (2018). The Point Men, worth 20 billion won, is the largest-scaled film ever made by Director Yim. This is also the first time for her to shoot an overseas location. However, Director Yim Soonrye will never miss ‘humanism’ in Jordan's unfamiliar landscape.

Director Han Jaerim’s Super Luxury Aviation Disaster Movie, Emergency Declaration 

Emergency Declaration, which was invited to the non-competitive section of the 74th Cannes International Film Festival in 2021, has been confirmed to be released in the first half of 2022. The release date has been postponed several times due to the Pandemic, but expectations for Director Han Jaerim's Emergency Declaration do not cool down. First of all, super-luxury casting we have never seen anywhere raises such expectations. Representative actors in the Korean film industry, including Song Kangho, Lee Byunghun, Jeon Doyeon, Kim Namgil, Yim Siwan, Kim Sojin, and Park Haejoon, boarded the director’s plane. With both thumbs up, Director Han Jaerim said, "As the story takes place in a closed space called an airplane, we focused on showing the dense acting of the best actors. I can't brag too much about the actors' acting." Especially, the 74th Cannes Film Festival, where Emergency Declaration was invited, was staged by Actor Song Kangho as a judge while Actor Lee Byunghun was a presenter for the closing ceremony. "Since it is a very commercial movie whose goal is to entertain the audience, I had little expectation of being invited to the Cannes Film Festival. However, I felt the vibe that ‘Korean movies are considered important’ at the Cannes Film Festival. I think I felt more comfortable visiting there with Actors Song Kangho and Lee Byunghun." 

The title of the movie ‘Emergency Declaration’ is an aviation term that refers to an emergency in which the captain of the airplane declares an unconditional landing if he determines that the aircraft cannot operate normally. The director came up with the idea of the movie 10 years ago. "We meet disasters without any preparation just because we are at the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought if the place was an airplane, the ironic situation could be further maximized.” At a time when a disaster is no longer a ‘fiction in the movie’ but reality, the power of empathy Emergency Declaration has is likely to grow even more.

Director Choi Donghoon’s Blockbuster Beyond Imagination, Alien

Director Choi Donghoon is returning six years after Assassination, which attracted 10 million viewers. Having always shown his genius imagination, the director challenges a blockbuster that crosses the past and the present this time. It is a movie about an extraordinary story that unfolds as the door of time opens in 2021, when gurus and aliens appear to occupy the divine sword in the rumors of the late Goryeo Dynasty. The director depicted the world of sorcery, which didn’t exist in his previous film Woochi. As Director Choi’s The Thieves and Assassination attracted more than 12 million viewers in a row, his new SF action fantasy film also drew a lot of attention from the production stage. The encounters between aliens and humans and the stories with unique characters crossing the modern times and Goryeo Dynasty evoke admiration that ‘Choi Donghoon never lets us down as expected.’ The casting of Alien is also very special. Stars appear, such as Ryu Junyeol, Kim Taeri, Kim Woobin, Lee Hanee, and Yum Jungah, who is one of Director Choi's long-standing personas. 

Alien began filming in March 2020 and finished it in April 2021. It took more than a year for the filming alone because the first and second episodes were produced at the same time, like the Along with the Gods series. After finishing the filming, Director Choi Donghoon said, "The filming ended in 387 days. It is the most difficult movie I’ve ever filmed and had a lot of twists and turns. However, looking back after the filming, this movie is the greatest joy to me." It is clear that the Alien series, which features all of SF, fantasy, action, and even 'aliens', will be beyond our imagination no matter what we imagine.