Korean cinema is something that I’ve always had a familiar connection with. My first explorations into foreign cinema were Korean classics such as Oldboy and Tae Guk Ki – movies which encouraged me to broaden my media consumption beyond just what was in English.
Train to Busan is another South Korean film that has enjoyed its share of success. The 2016 horror film, directed by Yeon Sang-Ho, experienced large scale success on the domestic and international scene. Screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the film quickly became a critical, commercial and cultural phenomenon.
The plot follows a fairly simple premise – a group of ordinary individuals are trapped on a KTX 101 bullet train, during the outbreak of a zombie apocalypse.
As a symbol for Korean Cinema, and South Korea more broadly, Train to Busan presents an example of a foreign film being able to break into mainstream Western pop culture. With a feverishly gripping storyline, and a fresh prespective on the ostensibly foregone zombie trope, the reasons for its success seem fairly straightforward – and something that would would later be replicated, and exceeded, by Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite.
Yet, behind the veneer of a thrilling film, in Train to Busan, like in Parasite, lies a subversive critique of Korean society.
The film provides an enthralling exploration into corporate greed, class divide, and social expectations, among other issues. It is fascinating as an outside viewer, largely oblivious to the societal issues in South Korea, to ponder whether such critiques contributed to its broader success. Certainly, its emergence into western pop culture can be largely be attributed to its core proposition as a film. But domestically? And does the success of Parasite tell a similar tale?
Tapping off.
Lachie
Riding the Seoul Train 