If in the past Korean healing films were often associated with gentle narration, warm love and pleasant endings, in recent years, audiences have begun to witness a different trend: healing through facing very real injuries.
Prominent among them is "War in Us" - a work that is creating a lot of discussion even though the viewership rating is not too outstanding.
The film tells the story of Hwang Dong Man (Koo Kyo Hwan) - an ambitious director but always tormented by the feeling of inferiority as friends around him become more and more successful. Accompanying him is Byun Eun Ah (Go Youn Jung) - a cold, sharp producer famous for his frank comments.
Not based on dramatic love stories or scenes created to spread on social networks, the film focuses on discomfort, feelings of insecurity, moments of silence and ambiguity in the character's psychology.
The first episodes are deployed quite slowly, allowing viewers to feel emotions through their eyes, expressions and dialogue instead of a rush of climax. This is also the reason why the film has created mixed reactions on Korean forums.
Notably, although the rating is not too outstanding, "The War in Us" still created a lot of discussion thanks to word-of-mouth and social media effects. According to Nielsen Korea, the film started with a rating of 2.2%, maintaining around 2-3% and gradually increasing to 4.3% before the final episode.
Meanwhile, according to statistics from the FUNdex platform - Good Data Corporation, the film ranked 2nd in terms of online and television interaction after only two episodes aired. Actors Koo Kyo Hwan and Go Yoon Jung also continuously appeared in the list of actors mentioned the most this week.
Korean media assessed that "The War in Us" is imbued with the style of screenwriter Park Hae Young - the person behind works like "My Uncle" or "My Freedom Diary".
The common point in these works is that the characters are no longer built as ideal role models. They are lonely, exhausted, easily hurt and sometimes very difficult to empathize in the early stages. The above works also have connectivity.
In "My Freedom Diary", the characters are immersed in feelings of disorientation and exhaustion due to repetitive rhythms of life. Meanwhile, "My Uncle" was once haunted by the heavy atmosphere surrounding the pressure of food, clothing, debt and the loneliness of adults.
Even recent Korean films considered "healing" such as "Chút nắng ấm mỗi ngày" or "Blues nơi đảo xanh", "Một Seoul chưa biết đến" no longer avoid psychological problems such as depression, anxiety disorders or feelings of failure in life.
Unlike the "soothing" healing style before, current Korean films tend to force characters to go through trauma before finding peace. Many opinions believe that this change reflects the current social psychology, when competitive pressure, job crisis and feeling of isolation are increasingly common among young people.
This is also the reason why "unpleasant" and negative characters like Hwang Dong Man still create certain empathy. They are no longer perfect role models but like people struggling with real life.
Korean media commented that television ratings no longer fully reflect the influence of this film genre. Although "The War in Us" has a modest viewership rating, the film still maintains a large amount of discussion thanks to its contemplative dialogue and the way of dissecting the character's psychology.
