One of my favourite quotes in Frieren: “Isn’t it funny?” “That one-hundredth changed you.” It is hard writing a decent review for Frieren as it is not your typical Shounen anime. Or anime in general. After catching a handful of episodes in season 1, I fell in love with it. I think it is written…

Liver or Die, also known as “What’s Wrong, Poong-Sang” in South Korea, is a blend of a family drama with distinct elements of healing and personal growth that make the series uniquely impactful for the audience – you will laugh, cry, tear your hair out in exasperation as you join the ultimate dysfunctional family on…

Squid Game was such a hit that over a year after its release in 2021, it is still the most popular series of all time with 1.6 billion hours viewed! Thankfully, Season 2 is on its way. Written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game is about a group of South Koreans mired in massive…

What does it genuinely mean to love, which comes in many forms? What comes next after losing the most important person to you? With heightened emotions and dried tears, I present to you a story sadder than sadness. That’s the direct translation to a Netflix Adaptation of a Taiwanese romance film in 2018, 比悲傷更悲傷的故事, or More Than…

Fight Club (directed by David Fincher) was much talked about when it was released in 1999, and for the right reasons. It was controversial due to its excessive violence and perhaps above all, examines modern life from an angry perspective, provoked by mindless consumerism. At the time of release, it was ranked as one of…

Like all stories, life too will come to an end one day. Some have shorter chapters, while others have slightly longer ones. Lighting up the stars tells a tale about a man (Mo Sanmei) following his father’s footsteps in the business of creating funerals for the departed. For the Chinese, as important as this line of…

When you blend a great story, witty dialogues, a good-looking cast, humour and beautiful cinematography, you get Mr Sunshine. An epic tale of friendship, love and patriotism, Mr Sunshine shines (sorry, can’t help it!) with its stellar cast of Lee Byung-hun (Eugene Choi), Kim Tae-ri (Go Ae-shin), Yoo Yeon-seok (Goo Dong-mae), Kim Min-jung (Kudo Hina)…

Based on a true story where a struggling Korean businessman, Kang Inju (played by Ha Jung-woo), took to Suriname, South America to bank on a new and unexploited legitimate business opportunity by fishing and exporting skate to his home country, it soon become a tangling mess of crime, blood and drugs. Narcos Saints, doused with…

When a kdrama roll in a veteran cast with an intense plot, I immediately added Money Heist Korea: Joint Economic Area to my to-watch list on Netflix. I’ve yet to watch the original Spanish Money Heist version, so I came into the Money Heist franchise without any expectations nor any idea of how it’s going…

A sequel to the 2017 film Confidential Assignment, the 2022 South Korean action film once again features a familiar set of cast that made the first film work enormously well. Hyun Bin returns as a detective from North Korea’s special investigation team who teams up with his South Korean peer (Yoo Hae-jin). The latest instalment…

“So, you’re searching for yourself?” “No.” “Rather, I don’t want to search for myself. Even if I don’t search for myself…I have no choice but to be here.  I’m just running away.” I love these types of ‘finding yourself’ films. It reminds me about life, and its never-ending discoveries. And on how there are so…