One of the Korean performers of the first half of 2024 to have made a palpable impact in cinemas has undoubtedly been Kim Go-eun who has continued to demonstrate her wide range and an ability to draw in audiences. This was demonstrated in Jang Jae-hyun’s Exhuma (2024), one of the most talked-about features of the year selling close to 12 million tickets fuelled by explosive word-of-mouth.

Kim also stars in E Oni’s Love in the Big City (2024) that was released on October 2 and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September. It has also already been warmly embraced by many critics as Kim has shown she can adapt to changes in the film and television industry, connecting with audiences not only in feature films but also limited series made evident in shows including Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016-2017) and Yumi’s Cells (2021-2022). As such, with her content being successful both home and abroad, she has a committed fan base in and out of Korea making her one of the most successful Korean actors of her generation.

Kim made her debut in Jung Ji-woo’s drama Eungyo (2012) instantly attracting attention both within and out of the industry for what was an immensely challenging role. Despite being in a position where she was given several offers, she decided to wait and complete her degree at the Korea National University of Arts. This was telling because many young actors in Korea find it difficult to graduate while working on various projects.

She made her comeback in Hwang In-ho’s Monster (2014), and also starred in three films released in 2015: Han Jun-hee’s Coin Locker Girl, Park Heung-sik’s Memories of the Sword, and the Advocate: A Missing Body underscoring the demand she was in. She also made her TV debut in 2016 with Cheese in the Trap and has continued to feature in both films and dramas since then starring in content such as Hero (2022), Little Women (2022) and Exhuma.

This week we delve into some of these titles in what is a watchlist beginning with Eungyo before profiling The Advocate: A Missing Body, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, Tune in for Love, Hero, Yumi Cells and concluding with Exhuma.

Eungyo 

Directed by Jung Ji-woo, Kim Go-eun’s performance in Eungyo was a significant debut attracting acclaim for her role as Eun-gyo (the Korean title of the film), a high school student who enamours a 70-year-old renowned writer (Park Hae-il). The poet subsequently writes a short story that his protégé (Kim Mu-yeol) then steals, which becomes a critical hit. The film is based on the 2010 novel by Park Bum-shin.

Kim’s Eungyo is mysterious with an intensity to her performance that immediately makes her stand out and is reflective of her wider career. She also captures how her character evolves subtly during the narrative, which is all the more impressive given how this was her first role.  Furthermore, owing to the precocious nature of her character, it was a daring debut – she was unafraid to take on challenging parts.

Kim swept the new actor accolades including the Blue Dragon Film Awards, Baeksang Awards and the Grand Bell Awards, while the film accumulated 1.3 million admissions.

The Advocate: A Missing Body

In what was a different role for Kim as she was keen to embrace an array of characters, Kim’s leading role in Heo Jong-ho’s  The Advocate: A Missing Body (2015) was a young prosecutor who teams up with a cocky lawyer (Lee Sun-kyun) to investigate a homicide case – but without a body or any evidence.

Tenacious and intelligent, Kim’s rookie prosecutor along with Lee Sun-kyun’s arrogant attorney provide the film with interesting chemistry finding a curious tone mixing comedy, action, and courtroom drama.  Released in 2015 in the fall, which is typically a popular season for crime thrillers, it pulled in 1.1 million viewers.

Guardian: The Lonely and Great God 

In 2016, Kim would see her stardom propel even further, especially overseas with the drama Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (aka Goblin) that was developed by CJ ENM’s Studio Dragon, one of Korea’s leading production companies. Starring opposite Gong Yoo, Kim plays a student, Eun-tak who can see spirits and confesses to a goblin (Gong Yoo) that she is his bride that will end his torment of being immortal for 900 years.

Bringing together many of the tropes associated with Korean dramas; the melodrama, fantasy and history – along with themes of death and immortality that come to characterise some Korean content over recent years with Along with the Gods (2017-2018) and Hellbound (2021)– Kim’s energetic and enchanting performance is one of the reasons why the drama resonates as well as it continues to do so with audiences revisiting it. 

Coming in 2016 that coincided with the arrival of Netflix Korea that (along with other streamers) would later transform the industry, shows such as this would signify the potential in Korean content to travel overseas laying the seeds to what came later.

Tune in for Love

Reuniting with both Jung Hae-in (who stared in two episodes of Guardian: The Lonely and Great God as Eun-tak’s first love) and director Jung Ji-woo (Eungyo), Kim takes viewers back to the 1990s with her character as a young woman who meets a man at her bakery story. He has been released from a juvenile detention centre (Jung Hae-in) and the pair form a relationship, but his past comes to haunt him and comes between them. The film follows the pair over several years.

Nostalgia and the 1990s is a recurrent theme in Korean films and dramas over the past fifteen years with Reply 1997 (2012), Architecture 101 (2012), Reply 1994 (2013), 20^th Century Girl (2022), Ditto (2022) and Victory (2024). Tune in for Love, which is a melodrama – like much of this content - is also part of this trend with its alluring 1990s aesthetic and its soundtrack. Kim also captures the period beautifully with her nuanced portrayal as the young female protagonist.

The film was released theatrically in Korea in August of 2018 topping the box office and ended up accruing 1.2 million admissions before dropping on Netflix where it is available globally.