Film review: SMTown: The Stage – K-pop love-in with EXO, Girls’ Generation, Super Junior and more

A two-hour love-in for nine K-pop acts under the South Korean showbiz giant S.M. Entertainment, SMTown: The Stage features ecstatic concert footage alongside disjointed talking heads with the artists and key staff members. Playing like a symphony of platitudes, this unabashed corporate promotional film merely affirms the corporate myth: that everyone likes everyone else and is just so very glad to be there.

But if there is fierce competition among these pop idols, it’s not immediately noticeable from the squeaky-clean interviews included; the S.M. artists call themselves brothers and sisters as if they really mean it. Not only do members from the more established acts express their pride and excitement for their younger peers’ breakthrough efforts, the younger ones also praise their predecessors for paving the way for their careers.