In My Mister, Park Dong-hoon (Lee Sun-gyun) is forced to admit that his life is not a happy one. Lee Joon-gi’s portrayal of Hee-sung, a character who struggles to understand the despair and anxiety he feels as his wife uncovers the truth about him, won him a 2021 best actor nomination for a Baeksang award for excellence in film, theatre and television in South Korea. This moving, sometimes chilling, drama places an emphasis on emotion, because for Hee-sung, that is an elusive human trait he is yet to grasp. Visually beautiful, the show’s locations match its dark and mysterious themes, from Hee-sung’s eerie childhood home to the gloomy abandoned swimming pool where he meets his sister. Flower of Evil was nominated for best drama in this year’s Baeksang awards for excellence in film, television and theatre The plot is carefully crafted and the show is pacey and suspenseful, with well-timed revelations and a haunting original score. While this K-drama keeps viewers guessing, an occasional sprinkling of comedic relief and romance ease the tension. Hee-sung watches his lies unravel as his wife digs deeper into his past. But while investigating a series of unexplained murders, Ji-won begins to suspect that her perfect husband may not be who he says he is. Flower of Evil (2020)Ĭha Ji-won (played by Moon Chae-won) is a homicide detective who is happily married to Baek Hee-sung (portrayed by hallyu star Lee Joon-gi). With South Korea stepping up its soft power in recent decades, bands such as BTS have become a global phenomenon 1. Here are six, hit K-dramas that are worth the hype. Squid Game follows a legion of critically acclaimed K-dramas, some of which have gone unnoticed on the global stage. But South Korean series are not far behind feature films in terms of production standards. An increase in budget means more sophisticated production, better acting, impressive scores and huge improvements in cinematography.Īnyone who has seen the Oscar-winning film Parasite is likely to agree that it is worthy of the universal acclaim it received, with a 98 percent approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Today, this price tag can easily top one billion South Korean won (about $850,660). Two decades ago, the budget for one K-drama episode was estimated to be approximately $30,000. Over the years, avid K-drama fans have seen the Korean wave grow exponentially. This has culminated with K-pop acts such as BTS, the biggest pop group in the world, and K-dramas such as 2019’s Crash Landing On You and Squid Game accomplishing success on an unprecedented global scale.īut for those familiar with South Korean cultural exports prior to the success of BTS and Squid Game, this global craze has not come as a surprise. Pop culture is big business in South Korea, and the government invests heavily in cultural productions – earmarking $440m in 2021 to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), which funds and oversees shows, games for mobile and virtual reality platforms, fashion, animation and other endeavours. But it is merely the crest point of “hallyu”, the Korean wave of pop culture – and there is more to this phenomenon than meets the eye.įor at least three decades now, South Korea has been gradually increasing its soft power by stepping up exports of its pop culture in the form of K-dramas, K-pop and K-beauty, among others. The dark drama exploring themes such as capitalism and class disparities is Netflix’s most-watched series to date. The sweeping success of the South Korean show Squid Game is undeniable.

Korean series on mbc4