European Premiere | In Competition
South Korea, 2024, 106’, Korean
Directed by: Yang Woo-seok
Screenplay: Yang Woo-seok
Cinematography (color): Son Won-ho
Production Design: Yang Hong-sam
Editing: Kim Seon-min, Kim Chang-joo
Music: Kim Tae-seong, Kim Yeon-jeong
Producers: Yang Woo-seok, Jeong Jae-won, Song Soo-hyun
Cast: Kim Yun-seok (Ham Mu-ok), Lee Seung-gi (Ham Mun-seok), Kim Sung-ryoung (Jeong-hwa), Kang Han-na (Han Ga-yeon), Park Su-young (Monk Inhaeng), Kim Si-woo (Min-guk), Yun Chae-na (Min-sun)
Date of First Release in Territory: December 11th, 2024
The year is 2000, and Ham Mu-ok, the owner of a legendary dumpling restaurant that has made him extremely wealthy, is despondent. As successful as he has been, no amount of money can buy him what he wants most of all: a grandchild. As a member of the last surviving line of the illustrious Ham family clan, he himself has produced an heir – but his estranged son Mun-seok has decided to become a Buddhist monk. The fact that Mun-seok himself is a minor celebrity, admired for the eloquent way he preaches the Buddhist faith, is no consolation.
Then one day, a young boy and girl visit the dumpling restaurant with a story to tell. After both their parents were killed in a car accident, the aunt who is their last remaining relative told them that actually, there is no blood relation between them. Refusing to take them in, she put them in an orphanage and registered to have them sent abroad for adoption. Confused, scared and looking for answers, the boy Min-guk visited the hospital where he was born, and someone there gave him the name of his biological father: Ham Mun-seok.
Suddenly, everything is turned upside down. Mu-ok is beside himself with joy, immediately embracing the two children who represent the continuation of his family. As for Mun-seok, the news is broken to him in a particularly public way, and now he is the one scrambling for answers. How did this happen? And what exactly was going on in the years before he became a monk?
Director Yang Woo-seok had a dramatic start to his career, becoming the first Korean director ever to break the 10 million admissions mark with his debut feature. That film, The Attorney (FEFF16), starred Song Kang-ho as a lawyer who comes up against the authoritarian military government of 1980s South Korea. Yang followed that up with Steel Rain and its sequel Steel Rain 2: Summit, thrillers set against the backdrop of North-South Korea geopolitical tensions. This latest work is on a much more intimate and comic scale than his previous work, but one can feel his affection for these characters, and the personal crises that grip their lives. Yang also managed once again to cast a major actor in the leading role – the very talented Kim Yun-seok (The Chaser, Escape from Mogadishu) takes what could have been a one-dimensional role, and turns Mu-ok into an intimidating but ultimately warm and charismatic grandfather who sees his entire life change before his eyes.
About Family has an unusual story structure, in that the most dramatic reveals and plot twists all take place within the first half of the movie. For another work this might be a flaw, but by the second half, we have become so engaged with the various characters and their stories that no further plot twists are needed. It’s a film that celebrates family, and human connection, and the things in life that make us happy – and in this case, it is more than enough.
Yang Woo-seok
Yang Woo-seok released his first feature
The Attorney in 2013 to runaway success, becoming the first Korean director ever to sell more than 10 million tickets with his directorial debut. Starring Song Kang-ho, the film also won an Audience Award (2nd place) and the Black Dragon Audience Award at FEFF16. Yang’s second feature
Steel Rain, based on his own webtoon, depicted tensions on the Korean peninsula, accumulating 4.5 million admissions. He followed that up with a sequel,
Steel Rain 2: Summit, before making his first family drama
About Family in 2024.
FILMOGRAPHY
2013 – The Attorney
2017 – Steel Rain
2020 – Steel Rain 2: Summit
2024 – About Family