Behind South Korea’s economic growth, there’s a system that grinds workers to the bone at every stage of the life cycle, from high school students to retirees. The film Next Sohee dramatizes the impact of that system to devastating effect.

Not so long ago, K-movies and TV dramas were considered cool, even thought-provoking. That was before their breakthrough into the global mainstream, when ideas were typed into laptops in corner coffeehouses in Seoul by young directors and writers, rather than processed as if they were spreadsheet entries by CFOs or CFAs in cushy offices in Hollywood.

It was also when these South Korean artists abhorred clichés. Big money, both at home and from Hollywood, has probably quenched their thirst for fame and wealth, but the price was the loss of edginess. K-f

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