Close readings of films and series — attentive to what a work does, not merely what it says. Narrative, construction, and the pressures a story places on the viewer.
《The Wailing》 dir. Na Hong-jin | South Korea | 2016 | 156 min. Starring: Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Jun Kunimura, Chun Woo-hee, Kim Hwan-hee Ten years after its premiere at Cannes, Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing still hasn’t been settled. Not for lack of trying. The film has been subjected to more forensic interpretation than almost … Read more
《Pavane》 dir. Lee Jong-pil | Netflix | South Korea | 2026 | 113 min. Starring: Ko A-sung, Byun Yohan, Moon Sang-min There is a particular kind of sadness that doesn’t announce itself. It arrives not at the moment something ends but from within it — a quiet recognition that the ending was always built into … Read more
《If Wishes Could Kill》 Netflix | 8 Episodes | April 24, 2026 | Full spoilers throughout. For plot summary, cast, and ending explained: see [If Wishes Could Kill — Review & Complete Guide]. The thing that interests me most about If Wishes Could Kill isn’t the curse. It’s the coordinate system. Four characters use the … Read more
《If Wishes Could Kill》 Netflix | 8 Episodes | April 24, 2026 | Full spoilers throughout. For plot summary, cast, and ending explained: see [If Wishes Could Kill — Review & Complete Guide]. At some point, the curse lost its face. In the horror films that defined the genre’s last century, curses lived in things … Read more
《If Wishes Could Kill》 Platform Netflix (Global) Episodes 8 (complete) Premiere April 24, 2026 Genre Korean Supernatural Horror Director Co-directed by Park Yoon-seo (박윤서) Language Korean Cast Jeon So-young, Baek Sunho, Kang Mina, Hyun Woo-seok, Lee Hyo-je, Jeon So-nee, Roh Jae-won, Lee Sang-hee, Kim Sia, Choi Ju-eun Rating ★★★★☆ 8.2 / 10 First, the Honest … Read more
Still from Sentimental Value (2025). Courtesy of Mer Film. On Inheritance, Obsession, and the Ethics of Art There is a distinction, rarely articulated but immediately felt, between films that use art as a subject and films that interrogate it. The first category is comfortable, even celebratory: art as redemption, as self-discovery, as the thing that … Read more
Source: SONY PICTURES Project Hail Mary (2026) How Phil Lord and Christopher Miller transform Andy Weir’s science fiction epic into a film about translation, companionship, and the fragile ethics of understanding another consciousness. The most surprising thing about Project Hail Mary, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel, is not its scale. … Read more
Source: SHOWBOX The King’s Warden (2026) How Jang Hang-jun reframes a Joseon tragedy through an ordinary man’s moral choice There is a moment near the beginning of Jang Hang-jun’s The King’s Warden when a village official named Eom Heung-do realizes that the exiled figure newly installed in his community is, in fact, a king — … Read more
Source: Universal Pictures Hamnet (2025) A close reading of Hamnet, exploring grief, memory, and how personal loss becomes Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The opening image gives the film away, if you know how to read it. The camera descends through a forest canopy — branches layered over branches, light coming through in fragments — and finds a … Read more
Source: Warner Bros. Sinners (2025) How blues, mortality, and human imperfection shape the emotional and philosophical core of Ryan Coogler’s vampire film A single note on a guitar and something in the room changes. This is how blues has always worked — not as melody but as atmosphere, not as entertainment but as environment. The … Read more