Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“My ID is Gangnam Beauty” specifically tackles South Korea’s obsession with physical looks, but the storyline carries over to many cultures, where the standards of beautiful — especially for girls and women — is unrealistic.
I am a complete sucker for shows that stress the importance of childhood relationships — the kind that last from adolescence through adulthood. And K-Dramas are chock full of them.
There’s no doubt that actors and actresses in their 20s are wildly popular with K-Drama viewers. And as with actors worldwide, some will be offered less substantial roles as they age. But then you have Hyun Bin and So Ji-Sub, who have not only maintained their popularity, but thrived in a highly competitive market filled with young models and idols.
Just because you look good strutting down a runway doesn’t mean you have what it takes to be a good actor. But K-Dramas are full of models who have successfully navigated their way from the catwalk into television and films. Here’s a look at some of my favorites who made the transition look effortless.
One of the things that has impressed me about K-Pop’s idol system is that it has developed some truly talented actors. They remind me of performers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, when entertainers were trained to sing, dance and act. Two highly-acclaimed K-Dramas — “SKY Castle” and “Memories of the Alhambra” — featured young K-Pop stars in strong co-starring roles. In the former, SF9’s Chani (né Kang Chan-Hee) put in a stellar performance as a high school student framed for murder. In the latter, EXO’s Chanyeol (né Park Chan-Yeol) played a terrified teenage game developer.
Four years after “The King Of Mask Singer” premiered on MBC in South Korea, “The Masked Singer” made its U.S. debut on FOX. The American remake — in all its gaudy splendor — is a bonafide hit.
“Encounter” is a treat for the eyes. Besides the obvious attractiveness of lead actors Song Hye-Kyo and Park Bo-Gum, the scenery — especially in Havana, Cuba — is a lush, welcome guest star. Unfortunately, by the time the credits have rolled, I realized that most of the series was much ado about nothing.
A unique series that kept me guessing until the end, “Memories of the Alhambra” starts off with a strong, intriguing premise: A teenage videogame developer has created an addictive world of augmented reality (AR), where players interact seamlessly with medieval warriors. Gamers go to real-life places (e.g. restrooms in neighborhood bars) to acquire weapons, which are only visible to people wearing special optical lenses.
Having just finished “Sky Castle,” I am left with a little lump in my throat, not because it’s over, but because I know there are so many children out there who are at the mercy of a brutal educational system — where you are told your life means nothing if you don’t get into Seoul National University, Korea University or Yonsei University.
Hallelujah! Kim Soo-Hyun, Ji Chang-Wook and Lee Min-Ho will be discharged from their mandatory military duties in South Korea later this year. As fans anxiously await their comebacks, let’s head back in time to revisit some of the actors’ most iconic work.
Before I watched “Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth,” I was looking forward to seeing how the romance between Dog Bird (Park Seo-Joon) and Ah-Ro (Go Ara) played out. But after the finale, I realized that what stuck with me wasn’t their tepid relationship, but that of the young men who formed a relationship — which at times was adversarial, but also based on friendship, honor and righteous morals. In other words, I was all about the poet warrior youth’s bromance.
Helmed by writer Kim Eun-Sook and director Lee Eung-Bok — who previously collaborated together on “Descendants of the Sun” and “Goblin: The Lonely and Great God” — the misleadingly named “Mr. Sunshine” does a beautiful job of juggling multiple story lines that are full of suspense, intrigue and achingly quiet romance.
Near the end of “My Lovely Sam-Soon,” the titular character has an epiphany: “Even though I liked you, without you, I will live well.” Does she stick to her guns? Or does she relent and allow a man to boomerang back into her life?
Released in 2011, “Sunny” focuses on a group of middle-aged women, who reunite to fulfill their terminally-ill friend’s wish to see them all together again. The premise sounds maudlin, but deftly directed by Kang Hyeong-Cheol, the film moves seamlessly between the women’s current lives and their (relatively) care-free high school days.
“Burn the Stage: The Movie” is a taut, entertaining look at BTS — the world’s most famous boy band. While the music, choreography and comic elements will endear the group to moviegoers, it’s their kindness that I remembered long after I had left the theater.
A spy and a widowed housewife become embroiled in espionage, kidnapping and murder. But it’s not all thrills in this breezy series (also known as “Terius Behind Me”), which offers comic relief in the form of an apartment complex full of nosy neighbors, who are almost as skilled in ferreting out secrets as the secret agents.
A remake of the 2002 Japanese TV series, “Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi,” “The Smile Has Left Your Eyes” wasn’t nearly as subversive as the original, which had almost no moral compass (incest, murder, underage sex). A Korean film could’ve tackled those topics. But I knew there was no way a primetime Korean drama would delve too much into the seamier aspects of society.
“I grew up traveling to Korea often,” says author Crystal Hana Kim. “My parents are both immigrants from Korea and my mother’s side of the family still lives there. She’d take me and my little sister back during our summer breaks to visit our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. All of those summers in Korea helped me to develop a deep love for my culture. When I began writing my novel during graduate school, I visited Korea specifically to do research. ‘If You Leave Me’ is about five characters growing up during and after the Korean War.”
I had no idea this series even existed. It popped up on YouTube when I was looking around for something to watch while I ate my late-night snack. (It was tteok-bokki and japchae, for those who have to know.)
“It’s Okay, That’s Love” is sold as a wacky K-Drama about a psychiatrist and a playboy celebrity author. And the first couple episodes did little to disprove that storyline. But as it progressed, the series laid out the plot in a beautiful, languid way that was full of love and heartbreak, before culminating in the kind of glorious truth that is both liberating and intoxicating.