Queer Korean Cinema: An Introduction

South Korea has yet to sanction gay marriage. But you wouldn't know that necessarily from watching their movies. Repeatedly as an American fan of this country's cinema, I've been startled by how often queer characters are portrayed sympathetically. Gay, lesbian, and trans alike. Don't believe me? Below is a list of a dozen films that I've watched which reveal a spirit of inclusion. Some have won major awards (The King and the Clown, A Frozen Flower, The Handmaiden); others date back over 50 years (Seashore Village, Starting Point). All are worth watching. And in case you think I'm scraping the barrel, I promise you there's plenty more beside the ones listed below. I just figured you've gotta start somewhere.

1. Seashore Village (1965): A pair of cohabitating lesbians in a fishing village may not be the focus of Kim Soo-yong's black-and-white classic but their acceptance by the larger community defies expectations of Korean culture of the day. The real scandal -- and cause of shame -- is adultery.
2. Starting Point (1969): The homoerotic tensions between a Japanese officer and his Korean subordinates are so perverse. Which isn't to say Lee Man-hee's strange war pic condemns the gays. It's highlighting how homophobia twists familial and military relationships. Box office sensation Shin Seong-il stars.
3. Like a Virgin (2006): In this enchanting dramedy, Madonna serves as a secular icon for a trans youth struggling to maintain their dignity while pursuing a sex change operation. (Not sure how well it's aged since I first saw it over a decade ago but I liked it then.)
4. Voice (2005): The fourth installment in the famed Whispering Corridor series of horror flicks more than hints at a lesbian romance. And that's not what makes it scary!
5. The King and the Clown (2005): A tragic romance involving queer clowns sounds absurd, I know, but I promise you Lee Joon-ik's Chosun Dynasty drama will have you weeping real tears.
6. A Frozen Flower (2008): Whether the sex scene involves the king and his male lover or the queen and that same side piece, the action is hot as hell. How many movies make that claim that while decked out in period garb? Bisexuals unite!
7. Two Weddings and a Funeral (2012): Prefer a romcom? Part fluff, part fire, this one features a marriage of convenience between a gay man and a lesbian, while addressing the political realities of oppression.
8. White Night (2012): Can you have a list of queer movies that doesn't include this classic trope: Two cute guys -- one moneyed; one working class. E. M. Forster did his own spin with Maurice, in case you forgot.
9. Man on High Heels (2014): Admittedly, this one if over the top but there's pleasure to be found in Cha Seung-won's turn as a trans cop who'd like to retire so he can fully transition.
10. A Distant Place (2020): Park Kun-young's quiet, melancholic indie flick concerns a gay, small-town romance that starts out strong then falters. It's a slow burn with honest heat.
11. Pumpkin Time (2021): An overeager fairy turns a young boy into a young girl proving that love is love is love, regardless of gender. This movie is full of surprises!
12. The Handmaiden (2016): Park Chan-wook has consistently delivered complex female characters so don't skip this lesbian erotic thriller based on Sarah Waters' novel Fingersmith.

Top Ten Korean Movies of 2016 (Sort of)

Zombies on the loose. Backstabbing lesbian lovers. Amoral cops. A young man with a disease that causes him to wake up each morning in a different body. 2016 was a lousy years in some respects (job, politics, family) but at least it gave me what I needed in terms of Korean movies. Below are my ten favorite movies — all viewed within the last twelve months — in alphabetical order. It was easy to pick 'em; impossible to rank 'em.

1. Alive: In Park Jung-bum's grimly naturalistic epic, poverty is one helluva oppressor and tenderness the sweetest, most unexpected thing life has to offer.

2. A Barefoot Dream: Kim Tae-gyun's ripped-from-the-sports-pages tearjerker is about an East Timor soccer team coached by a middling, former pro soccer player (Park Hee-soon) from South Korea.

3. The Beauty Inside: This wondrous sci-fi pic from Baek Jong-yeol asks how would our relationship to our soulmate change (or even survivor) if the exterior appearance kept changing every day?

4. Cyrano Agency: Imagine a future in which a matchmaking agency "scripts" your first encounter, subsequent dates, and wedding proposal. Now make it a rom-com.

5. The Handmaiden: Park Chan-wook's always made fascinating female characters but never more so than here in this lesbian erotic thriller based on Sarah Waters' novel Fingersmith.

6. A Hard Day: How often do narrative and character shortcomings make you reflect? This sleazy cop procedural, starring Lee Sun-kyun, pleases by disappointing in interesting ways.

7. Kundo: The Age of the Rampant: The better of two martial arts flicks I really enjoyed this year, the other being The Kick, has the advantage of Ma Dong-seok in a major role.

8. Miss Granny: The central performance from Shim Eun-kyung, as an old woman miraculously gifted her young body again, is deliriously good. Plus, she can sign.

9. The Scarlet Letter: Is this the most harrowing love triangle in Korean film? It's certainly in the running. I first saw it over ten years ago and it's lost none of its power.

10. Train to Busan: Although it falls tenth on this alphabetical list, this zombie flick — with a great ensemble cast — was the most thrilling movie of the year. In short, number 10 is number 1.

The Handmaiden: Woman Is the Future of Man

Lady Vengeance marked a turning point in Park Chan-wook's career, being as it was, his first feature film to have a female protagonist. He'd had important female characters before: the radical girlfriend in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, the unfortunate daughter in Oldboy, even the special investigator in Joint Security Area. Yet, as you can see, these women were largely defined by their relationships to men. Once Park put a woman front and center, however, his female characters got a hell of a lot more interesting. The insane young woman in I'm a Cyborg, But that's Okay and his variation of Therese Raquin for his vampire flick Thirst are much more complicated than the various women who came before. I guess, Park simply realized that he couldn't get Song Kang-ho for every movie he was making.

Which isn't to say that Park has moved beyond the male gaze with his latest. To the contrary, The Handmaiden seems to revel in it. The more powerful his on-screen women become, the more sexual they become as well. This particular movie takes that idea to its utmost extreme. The love triangle that forms between an orphan-heiress (Kim Min-hee), the titular handmaiden (Kim Tae-ri), and a fraudulent Count (Ha Jung-woo) would in theory show three different pairings but when it comes to the kissing, stroking, fingering, nipple licking, felatio, scissoring, and the insertion of ringing balls, most of that's done by the two women to each other. Intercourse between a man and a woman is more likely to be threatened (or read via old smutty books) than actualized. But this it too titilating to be a feminist manifesto. Sometimes the sex is shown from a humorous vantage point (the crotch POV); other times, the nudity is highly theatrical (in profile atop a table). Park's often been criticized for the violence in his movies (and there's definitely some shockers here) but you've got to give him credit: He also knows how to compose a picture — admittedly with some serious help from Chung Chung-hoon, the brilliant cinematographer who'd worked with him on six other films before this one.