News

K-dramas have a theme for almost anything a viewer is looking for, including boss and employee dramas in which the characters fall in love. There are suspense, dramas, thrillers, and highly popular love stories. Some may not want to admit it, but love stories involving falling in love with the boss are a guilty pleasure. Maybe it involves the shy new girl who catches the eye of the handsome and rich CEO. In some cases, the power play is reversed. Regardless, K-dramas have a way of hooking audiences with their dynamic storylines.

If looking for some new K-dramas to add to a watch list, look no further. K-dramas continue to rise in popularity as streaming websites like Viki and Netflix make shows such as Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Pachinko accessible to a wider audience. K-dramas are known to feature diverse storylines and transcend genres, but nothing beats classic stories of love and romance.

Back in June, Kcon LA — the world’s largest annual Korean pop culture festival — announced that the first-generation K-pop group g.o.d would be performing at its event in July. When Kcon USA’s official Instagram account posted the group’s name without any periods, some commenters cracked religious jokes. “Is he bringing the 12 disciples?” read one comment. “The rapture is at Kcon” read another.

But for fans who’ve been listening to K-pop for many years and had long heard about these living icons, it really did feel like the rapture was here.

Pachinko is a sweeping historical drama series created by Soo Hugh. Based on a 2017 novel of the same name by author Min Jin Lee, the Apple TV+ series follows four generations of a Korean family, beginning with Sunja as she leaves her family in Korea under Japanese rule to move to Koreatown, Osaka to start a new life but struggles with discrimination in Japanese society. Pachinko stars Youn Yuh-jung, Soji Arai, Kim Min-ha, Yu-na, Jin Ha, Han Jun-woo, Jeong In-ji, Jung Eun-chae, Lee Min-ho, Kaho Minami, Steve Sang-Hyun Noh, Anna Sawai, Jimmi Simpson, and Kim Sung-kyu. So, if you loved the historical drama, epic romantic stories, and complex characters in Pachinko, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Little America (Apple TV+) Credit – Apple TV+

Little America is an anthology drama series developed by Lee Eisenberg, Emily V. Gordon, and Kumail Nanjiani. Based on true stories of...

A weak plot and laughable characters sink the South Korean sci-fi disaster film, Project Silence. Unrealistic choices and unlikable characters lead audiences to root for the killer canines, even if their CGI is murky and muddled. Scenes of the collapsing bridge and some of the canine attacks are effective, and the film certainly makes you angry about animal abuse.

Killer CGI mutts make mincemeat out of hapless drivers and a scummy politician in an unintentionally comical South Korean sci-fi disaster thriller. Project Silence will have you laughing out loud for all the wrong reasons. The spectacularly contrived plot falls prey to lame genre tropes while one-note characters do everything possible to make themselves doggy lunch. Self-preservation is clearly not their forte. The action takes place on a collapsing bridge during an impenetrable fog, which means the entire film is purposely dark and hazy. Idiocy runs rampant, but there's admittedly some entertainment value.

"Every survivor is a target." Capelight Pictures has debuted the new official US trailer for a Korean horror thriller film titled Project Silence, from filmmaker Taegon Kim. This premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival last year in their Midnight screenings, and we posted a teaser back then just before it debuted. The film takes place on South Korea’s famously long cable-stayed Incheon Grand Bridge where a thick fog causes a massive chain automobile crash, causing an overnight lockdown where an unknown beast is unleashed. It still seems like there's multiple beasts, some kind of genetically mutated zombies? Or dogs? What are they after? The ensemble cast features Lee Sun Kyun, Ju Ji Hoon, Kim Hie Won, Moon Sung Geun, Ye Su Jeong, Kim Tae Woo, Park Hee Von, Park Ju Hyun, and Kim Su An. This will finally open in US theaters in July this summer - in theaters same date as in Korea.

"Have you heard of the Silence Project?" Cj Entertainment has revealed a first look teaser trailer for the film Project Silence, a new fantasy disaster thriller / survival creature feature from Korea. The film is premiering at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival this month in the Midnight section, one of their annual Korean thriller picks to show each year. The plot of Project Silence takes place on the bridge connecting Incheon Airport to the mainland, where a bunch of people are desperately fighting for their survival. As the bridge threatens to collapse after an accident, an "unknown beast" is unleashed. That's all the short synopsis says - though this teaser hints that the "beast" is really multiple beasts. They're dogs? Perhaps manufactured super killer dogs? The ensemble cast features Lee Sun Kyun, Ju Ji Hoon, Kim Hie Won, Moon Sung Geun, Ye Su Jeong, Kim Tae Woo, Park Hee Von, Park Ju Hyun,...

Six years after his last feature “The Show Must Go On”, Han Jae-rim managed to make his overall third work “The Face Reader”, a period drama set during the Joseon dynasty, again starring Song Kang-ho in one of the leading parts. While his previous movies were certainly praised by audiences and critics alike, his third effort was his most successful one, both commercially and critically, winning major awards at the 50th Grand Bell Awards, the 34th Blue Dragon Awards and the 33rd Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, to name just a few. Apart from focusing on the power politics and scheme-making among the rulers of the time, the story is also part of a film project centered around Korean fortune-telling traditions, and was followed by “The Princess and the Matchmaker” as well as “Feng Shui”.

“The Face Reader” is screening at Florence Korea Film Festival

Skilled face reader Nae-gyeong...

“Chewing Gum”, from Mihir Fadnavis, features a strange man (Randeep Jha) tormented by an unearthly being on a trip through the city as he becomes increasingly aware of malicious forces chasing after him. This is a fairly fun and chilling short that gets the block off to a great start. The moody black-and-white cinematography from Pratik Shah adds immensely to the presentation, enhancing the shadows around him and keeping the suspense piling up with the strange creature following him almost entirely invisible as a result. The terrifying screeches, groans, and slurping sounds it emits are genuinely chilling, and add to the terrifying ordeal he experiences into the night. This segment can easily be stretched and expanded into a longer feature as the folklore and imagery provided here are top-notch.

“Things That Go Bump in the East” is Screening at Fantasia International Film Festival

“Carnivorous Bean Sprout”, by Seo Sae-rom, concerns...

A cold, snow-laden morning. Two friends meet each other after an extended period of time and after exchanging banalities in a long-take scene, they head over to have something to eat and drink. Straight away, you know you are in a Hong Sang-soo film, who is once again writing and directing for his fifth feature and the third to be screened at Cannes.

“Woman is the Future of Man” is streaming on Mubi

Said two friends are Lee Moon-ho, who now teaches art at university, and Kim Hyeon-go, who has recently returned after completing film school in America. As the two sit in a Chinese restaurant looking at the season’s first snow outside the window, over food and drinks, they are reminded of Seon-hwa, a woman they both had a relationship with in the past and with whom they both ended things abruptly and badly. On an impulse, or...