Style
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Celebrities

Netflix’s Space Sweepers marks Song Joong-ki’s first film since ‘Song-Song’ couple divorced – 5 things to know about ‘South Korea’s Star Wars’, also starring The Handmaiden’s Kim Tae-ri

STORYDouglas Parkes
The main cast of Space Sweepers, South Korea’s answer to Star Wars. Photo: Netflix
The main cast of Space Sweepers, South Korea’s answer to Star Wars. Photo: Netflix
Asian cinema: Korean films

  • Korean filmmakers have made zombie flicks like Train to Busan and romances like My Sassy Girl, but never a sci-fi epic like Hollywood’s Avatar or Alien
  • Fans want to see how Song copes with his first movie role since his divorce from Song Hye-kyo, who he worked with on Descendants of the Sun

Ever since the decline of the Hong Kong film industry in the late 1990s it has been South Korea that has produced East Asia’s most innovative and exciting films. For all the hype and prestige attached to Hong Kong directors like Wong Kar-wai and Ann Hui, it was Bong Joon-ho’s social drama, Parasite, that made history by becoming the first Asian film to win best picture at the Oscars.

Korean cinema seems endlessly inventive, tackling everything from zombie flicks like Train to Busan to touching tales of romance in My Sassy Girl, but filmmakers in Korea have never made a big budget sci-fi epic – until now. Out on Netflix on February 5, Space Sweepers is Korea’s attempt to break into the genre that Hollywood has made its own with the likes of Avatar, Alien and Blade Runner.

Which Korean icons and idols were born in the Year of the Ox?
Advertisement

Here are five things to know about what might prove South Korea’s answer to Star Wars.

Song Joong-Ki and Kim Tae-ri are the stars

Space Sweepers has two bankable big names in the leading roles – Song Joong-ki and Kim Tae-ri. This is big news since the film is the first time Song will be on our screens since the break-up of the famous Song-Song couple and his divorce from Song Hye-kyo, the pair having become acquainted when working together on Descendants of the Sun. Fans are eagerly waiting to see what kind of performance he delivers given his recent turbulent private life.
Let’s not forget the other stars, though. Space Sweepers is another significant film for actress Kim Tae-ri. The 30-year-old was a revelation in her first big movie, Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden. Although she has starred in two other films since (as well as popular TV drama Mr Sunshine), those were more low-key affairs. Space Sweepers promises her another chance to establish herself as one of South Korea’s leading actresses on the world stage.

Space Sweepers is being touted as the first Korean space epic

For all the creativity that abounds in South Korean cinema these days, there is a surprising dearth of major sci-fi movies. Wikipedia only lists eight Korean sci-fi films and each of those are rooted on Earth. Put simply, Korean filmmakers haven’t tried anything like this before.