K-Botak: K-Drama and Korean Movies

Life is But a Dream (일장춘몽) is a Park Chan-Wook directed, 20-minute short film. It is a romantic martial arts fantasy film starring Kim Ok-vin, Park Jeong-min and Yoo Hae-jin. It has amazing music inspired by pansori, rock and '70s prog, and despite being shot on an iPhone looks amazing. By default the best advert you will see all year, because Park Chan-Wook done it.

Watch it here right now! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnzKqxtnWDY

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.   

Music used in this episode:
'Life is But a Dream' soundtrack by Jang Young-gyu

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.

You need to watch Extraordinary Attorney Woo (이상한 변호사 우영우)!

This wonderful South Korean drama series is 6 episodes in at the time of recording, and tells a brilliantly written story of a young autistic lawyer Woo Young Woo making her way at the Hanbada law firm.

Starring Park Eun-bin and Kang Tae-oh, the show has an addicting case-per-episode structure with a great mix of different legal tangles and satisfying resolutions. Have a listen, and let me persuade you to join us every week watching this excellent show.

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.   

Music used in this episode:
Kim Jong Wan – Brave (용기)

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.

This supernatural action horror from South Korea is the latest by director Park Hoon-Jung, and plays out like a hyper-violent blend of Stranger Things, The Matrix, Akira and Logan.

In this episode I give a brief overview of Park as a director and his filmography so far, a recap of The Witch Part 1: Subversion, and my review of Part 2: The Other One. I think this film is a lot of fun for genre fans and enjoyers of Korean action movies.

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.   

Music used in this episode:
'Danny Boy' by IU

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.

Have you been enjoying Cafe Minamdang? On this bonus episode, I'll be going over some first impressions of the new K-drama procedural comedy mystery hybrid, starring Seo In-guk. This show blends hilarious physical and character comedy with an intricate murder mystery, and I think you'll enjoy it.

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.    

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.

This is a spoiler review for MONEY HEIST KOREA – JOINT ECONOMIC AREA. I have already posted a first impressions pod which gave some of the first takes and the vibes of the show, talked about the cast, this has a lot of spoilers so if you haven't seen it go and get it watched, it's all on Netflix globally, and then come back.

This is a Korean-language near-future remake and continuation of the Netflix hit La Casa de Papel, better known as Money Heist. After 5 successful and critically acclaimed seasons which were known for tight plotting and some great characterisations, as well as bringing Spanish-language content to a wider audience, Netflix have decided to take this further. I really like the fact they took this to SK rather than just doing a US remake, and they've been able to enlist some top quality acting talent as a result. 

They've established this as taking place in 2025, where a joint currency and widespread economic cooperation has come about between NK and SK and the war is finally over on the peninsula.

The nexus of this economic cooperation is the Joint Economic Area, on the site of what is in reality today the Joint Security Area or the Dimilitarized Zone AKA DMZ where North and South Korean troops stand facing one another and there is a truce in effect. This is traditioanlly where negotiations have taken place and visiting the DMZ is often a major diplomatic undertaking for world leaders who have singiicant relationships with SK. The opening credits of MHK JEA show the DMZ as it is now with two figures shaking hands, and this will be important later on.

That's all stuff that is added to this series and not brought in from the original, and one reason why I think this is worth watching even if you are coming to this from the OG, all the North-SOuth collaboration macro stuff is new. You're essentially getting a fun bank job wrapped in a geopolitical thought experiment wrapper.

Listen in for an episode by episode discussion.

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.    

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.

This is a 2022 drama film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, his first Korean-language feature. Broker is Kore-eda's return to  Cannes for the first time since he won the Palme d'Or for 2018's Shoplifters. It got a 12 minute standing ovation at Cannes beating the incredible Thirst by Park Chan-wook for longest Cannes standing ovation for a Korean film. It also won Song Kang-ho the best actor award.

This is a NON-SPOILER review, so you can safely listen if you haven't seen the film yet.

If you want to donate to Baby Box, please go here: https://babyboxkorea.give.asia/campaign/the-pastor-who-saved-1-600-babies#/

This film is about a baby who is abandoned in something called a baby box, and is retrieved by a pair of guys who consider themselves "good will brokers", sort of guardian angels, who try to pair up unwanted babies with good parents – for a fee. They aren't running a charity, and infact the older guy Sang-hyun is in considerable financial trouble as the movie opens which creates a bit of a ticking clock for how quickly he needs to move this baby. But the movie takes pains to show they are goodies at the end of the day and they help people "adopt" a baby when they can't otherwise, like they've helped a couple of gay guys to get a kid for example, they want the baby to have a good home, and derserving would be parents with no recourse to naturally and/ or legally have a baby have the opportunity.

His younger counterpart Dongsoo volunteers at the church where the baby box is located, and was himself abandoned as a baby.

So one dark and rainy night, a very young woman arrives at the church and drops off this baby, on the floor not even the box tbh, and leaves a note promising to come back. It's an irresistible hook for the start of the movie, everyone loves Tokyo Godfathers, we all want this baby to get home or to get to a home, and we're going to find out what happens.

After Dongsoo and Sang-hyun pick up the baby and get it warmed up and fed they plan to find it a home for its own good and their financial benefit, and plan to head off for a rendezvous with an interested couple. So-young however turns up again having had a change of heart, and goes with them to make sure the kid gets a good home. So a large part of the movie becomes a very bizarre road movie about a highly misfit group of people acting as a family to escape notice and trying to sell on this precious little bundle. Meanwhile two police detectives are trying to catch the group in the act of selling the baby, having been observing their operation.

The plotting of the movie is more intricate and faster-paced in some ways than I expected, I found Shoplifters quite gentle until the jeopardy increased in the back half of the film, whereas this really clips along and theres always a lot happening with the characters that kept me glued to the screen.

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.

Music used in this episode:
'In the Beginning was Rain'
'Saddle th

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.

Money Heist Korea is here, starring Jeon Jong-seo, Park Hae-soo and Yoo Ji-tae in this South Korean adaptation of the Netflix hit La Casa de Papel. Join me as I catch up with a very different Tokyo, Berlin and Professor, for some first impressions on this remake and spin-off.

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.    

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.

On this special episode I am  talking about SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE, OLDBOY, AND LADY VENGEANCE, all directed by Park Chan-Wook.

Park Chan-wook is a South Korean film director, an auteur known for these films in addition to Joint Security Area, I'm a Cyborg But That's OK, Thirst, The Handmaiden and the (at time of recording) upcoming Decision to Leave. He is known for combining strikingly beautiful visuals with heavy themes and often intense, graphic violence.

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.   

Music used in this episode:
"Searchers" and "Cries and Whispers" from Oldboy: Motion Picture Soundtrack by Cho Young-Wook
"Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" and "None of Your Business" from Lady Vengeance: Motion Picture Soundtrack by Cho Young-Wook
"Sympathy" by Uhuhboo Project from Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance: Motion Picture Soundtrack

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.

Why aren’t there more monster movies from South Korea? I’d love to see more creature features hit the box office from such a fine film market. On this episode I’m covering THE HOST, dir. Bong Joon-Ho and starring Song Kang-Ho and Bae Doona, and MONSTRUM, a Joseon action drama featuring Choi Woo-shik and Hyeri.

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.    

Music used in this episode:
“Prologue - Mighty Han River - The Creature is Growing”
“In Praise of the Han River - B4-A3”
“In Praise of the Han River - Trumpet Version”
By Brian Suits and Byeong Woo Lee, from “The Host: Original Soundtrack.”

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.

Mr. Sunshine is a critically lauded drama romance from South Korea. It is one of the smash K-dramas that has come from the creators of shows like Descendants of the Sun, The Guardian: Great and Lonely God, Sweet Home and Jirisan.  Lee Byung-hun and Kim Tae-ri dazzle as the leads in this gorgeously staged and photographed period piece.

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.    

Music Used in This Episode:
“Mr. Sunshine” 
“Wild Flower”
By Nam Hye Seung and Park Sang Hee
“Like A Beautiful Flame”
By Shin Seung Hun
From “Mr. Sunshine (Original Television Soundtrack)

The K-botak Podcast is a podcast where I review Korean films and television series or K-dramas.

Join the conversation on Twitter, be part of the K-botak community and discuss your favourite shows, movies, actors and more.

Follow K-botak on Buzzsprout and catch the show on Spotify, Apple, Google and most places you get podcasts.