“Old Seoul Monster (Part 1)”
Creative: Kang Eun-kyung
Address: Jung Dong-yoon
Distribution: Park Seo-joon, Han So-hee, Jo Han-chul, Wi Ha-joon
Country: South Korea
Duration: Between 67 and 73 minutes. (7 episodes)
Year: 2023
Gender: Adventure
Premiere: December 22, 2023 (Netflix)
★★★
If you’ve watched and approved ‘The King’s Affection’ and ‘Stranger Things’ recently, it’s likely that the Netflix algorithm will soon serve you ‘The Monster of Old Seoul’. Historical drama meets scary fantasy in South Korea The platform hopes to become a phenomenon at least as big as ‘The Glory’, if not as big as ‘The Squid Game’. It was one of the prominent TV series Don Kang, Vice President of Content at Netflix Korea When he spoke to EL PERIÓDICO of the Prensa Ibérica group about the many productions planned for 2023 in the Asian country.
The act of this inter-genre crossover (many more in addition to those mentioned) It takes place in Gyeongseong, former Seoul, at the end of March 1945, just a few months before the end of Japanese colonization.. Arrogant, arrogant and yet charming Jang Tae-sang (Park Seo-joonThe protagonist of ‘Itaewon Class’) is the owner of the Golden Treasure House, the best pawn shop in town. He is known as Mr. Know-It-All because he knows how to find out everything about everything and everyone in the Bojeong district. His final task, after an aggressive interrogation, find the missing prostitute Myeong-ja (Jiwoo), Commissioner Ishikawa’s girlfriend (Kim Do Hyun), before the cherry blossoms fall; If he doesn’t do this, he will lose all his money and be sent to war.
As if from heaven, the paths of two sleuths (or missing persons search experts) with extensive experience in Manchuria and Shanghai cross: the old wolf Yoon Joong-won (Jo Han-chul) and his tough daughter Yoon Chae-ok (Han So-hee, ‘Still’ and ‘My Name’ star)’s eyes catch Jang’s attention quite sensibly. They make a mutually beneficial deal with the rich man: they will track down Myeong-ja if he helps them find a local painter who might know something about Joong-won’s missing wife and Chae-ok’s mother. A shadow in the background lost woman wave As stated in the series’ prologue, these people could be turned into test subjects. monstrous experiment Led by Lieutenant Colonel Kato (Choi Young-joonseen in ‘Hounds’).
The acting claims of the series do not end with the ones listed above: There is also a popular one. Claudia Kim (“Avengers: Age of Ultron”) as Maeda, Commissioner Ishikawa’s wife; venerable Kim Hae-sookA regular of Park Chan-wook as the manager of the Golden Treasure House or Wi Ha-joonThe undercover police officer in ‘The Squid Game’ as Tae-sang’s best friend joined the independent cause behind the back of a pro-Japanese father.
But perhaps the best bet is the speculation commented at the beginning of this review:What if ‘Stranger Things’ wasn’t an American teen adventure but a scary Korean historical drama? Even music with slightly different instrumentation can sometimes be reminiscent of the artist’s work. kyle dixon And michael stein. There is a constant and natural transference between genres and tones (even more so) as one might expect from South Korean literature: pure romantic comedy We jump into the moments. a very clear terror of virulence; between melodrama we can switch to one fighting action honestly, it could be more readable, more transparent.
Director Jung Dong-yoon is the best at creating moments of horror and above all at scaring people. an overwhelming epic atmosphere when necessary, an attempt to highlight the crisis in the military pavilion, as in a short scene shot in the second episode. This occasional passion for cinema It makes the significant time investment more bearable: As is quite common in South Korean fiction, each episode runs well over an hour, sometimes an hour and a half. It will be a matter of using the brackets of these holidays to see. seven episodes available; The final three of this first season – and it has already been confirmed that it is not the last season – will arrive on January 5What an early gift from the Three Kings.