The Red Shoes (2005) blends psychological horror with the New Korean Cinema wave’s cinematic style. Focusing on a cursed pair of shoes and a woman’s unraveling mind, the film explores young adult horror, striking visual contrasts, and the rise of Korean horror internationally, cementing its status as a modern classic of the genre. [Read More]
Post Series: HC essays
Hyeon Nam-seop’s Saving My Hubby: female strength, comedy and the New Korean Cinema Wave
Saving My Hubby (2002) follows Geum-sun as she navigates parenthood, marriage, and a frantic night rescuing her husband. Blending madcap comedy with New Korean Cinema trends, the film highlights modern female strength, role reversals, and the rise of light-hearted, relatable stories reflecting young adults’ evolving attitudes toward family and relationships. [Read More]
Kwon Chil-in’s Singles: modern womanhood and the rise of New Korean Cinema comedy
Paul Quinn introduces Kwon Chil-in’s Singles, positioning it as a defining New Korean Cinema comedy, reflecting shifting attitudes to love, sex and independence. Through its modern female characters, role reversals and humour, the film marks a break from decades of punitive depictions of women and celebrates changing social values in early-2000s Korea. [Read More]
Sex sells… The emergence and growth of sexual content in Korean cinema
Paul Quinn traces the evolution of sexual content in Korean cinema, showing how censorship, politics, and social change shaped its portrayal, from moral warnings in the 1950s–60s, through repression and gradual liberalisation, to explicit, socially reflective, and contested depictions in modern Korean film history. [Read More]
Love, Loss and Laughter in Korean Cinema
Paul Quinn explores how Korean cinema weaves love, loss, and laughter – especially through romantic comedies – using melodrama, gender role shifts, and humour to reflect social change, historical trauma, and national identity, with films often mirroring Korea’s turbulent past alongside evolving views on romance, family, and sexuality. [Read More]