Watch: Hallyu Forever – The Korean Wave Explained | Little White Lies

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Watch: Hal­lyu For­ev­er – The Kore­an Wave Explained

30 Mar 2020

Words by Will Webb

Young woman in green dress with blood on her hands and clothes, seated on the ground in a dark, shadowy environment.
Young woman in green dress with blood on her hands and clothes, seated on the ground in a dark, shadowy environment.
How South Kore­an cinema’s domes­tic boom in the late 1990s took over the world.

Bong Joon-ho’s Par­a­site made his­to­ry at the 2020 Oscars, col­lect­ing the first Best Pic­ture award for a non-Eng­lish lan­guage film. That’s even more impres­sive when you con­sid­er that South Kore­an cin­e­ma only began to gar­ner major inter­na­tion­al atten­tion in the late 1990s.

So what’s the sto­ry behind the so-called Kore­an Wave, also known as hal­lyu, and where’s the best place to start watch­ing? In this new video essay, Will Webb offers a handy explain­er, high­light­ing some of the best and less­er-seen films from this styl­is­ti­cal­ly and the­mat­i­cal­ly rich scene.

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