International Premiere | In Competition | Online
South Korea, 2026, 105’, Korean
Directed by: Kim Tae-yong
Screenplay: Kim Tae-yong
Cinematography (color): Moon Yong-gun
Editing: Yang Dong-yeop
Production Design: Kim Bo-mi
Music: Kim Hae-won
Producers: Yoon Seok-chan, Jo Gun-won, Lee Jeong-im
Cast: Choi Woo-shik (Ha-min), Jang Hye-jin (Lee Eun-sil), Gong Seung-yeon (Ryeo-eun), Yu Jae-myeong (Ha-min’s dad)
Date of First Release in Territory: February 11th, 2026
Ha-min, the protagonist of
Number One, suffers an unexpected heartbreak as soon as the film opens. The death of his older brother leaves him feeling stunned and disoriented. His loving family of three (Ha-min’s father died when he was just an infant) has now suddenly shrunk to two, just him and his mother. Then, in the midst of trying to adjust to his new life, he notices something strange. Every so often, he looks up and sees a number floating in the air. Nobody else can see it, leading him to suspect something is wrong with his eyesight, or worse, his sanity. What’s more, the numbers are slowly descending. Eventually he identifies the trigger that causes the number to decrease: it happens when he eats a meal, or more specifically, when he eats a meal cooked by his mother.
In terms of genre,
Number One can be described as a fairly realistic family melodrama, except for this one element of fantasy threaded throughout the story. It’s an odd but undeniably unique concept on which to hang a film, and it originally comes from Japanese writer Uwano Sora’s novella
You Have 328 More Chances to Eat Your Mother’s Home-Cooked Meals. Although the protagonist of the novella is a school-aged boy, director Kim Tae-yong re-imagined the story to center around a young man starting his life as an adult, looking ahead to the future, but tormented by this ominous countdown that only he can see.
It’s when his deceased father begins visiting him in his dreams that Ha-min realizes what the numbers mean. When the countdown reaches zero, his father says, his mother will die. This is enough to put Ha-min into a panic. And yet he has some control over the situation. If he consumes a meal cooked by someone else, or goes out to eat at a restaurant, the number stays unchanged. Some conflict starts to arise between him and his mother, who can’t understand why her son suddenly refuses to eat her cooking. Ha-min eventually decides it will be best for everyone if he moves from Busan to Seoul and starts a new life there.
One of the reasons to watch
Number One (a title that sounds upbeat and optimistic until you realize what it means in this context) is the acting of Choi Woo-shik and Jang Hye-jin, reunited here six years after playing son and mother in Bong Joon Ho’s
Parasite. Both are naturally gifted actors who are capable of expressing the contradictory emotions felt by their characters in subtle ways, and they play off each other’s acting well. They are joined by Gong Seung-yeon, who plays Ha-min’s new girlfriend in Seoul: a woman who grew up without parents, and who is eager to form a meaningful relationship with Ha-min’s mother.
In this way,
Number One is centered around themes related to family – what it is like to grow up without a parent, or how it feels to contemplate saying goodbye to a parent. These are sad questions to think about, but Director Kim infuses the story with a great deal of warmth. No one can accuse this film of not having a heart.
Kim Tae-yong
Director Kim Tae-yong (not to be confused with the other director of the same name) first attracted attention in 2010 when his short Frozen Land screened at Cannes’ Cinefondation section. He shot five more short films in the next three years, including Negligence of Service (2011) which won a prize at Korea’s Mise-en-Scene Genre Film Festival. His debut film Set Me Free, partly based on his own experience as a teen living in a shelter, was critically acclaimed and screened at Rotterdam. He followed that up with the psychological thriller Misbehavior. Number One is his third feature film.
FILMOGRAPHY
2014 – Set Me Free
2017 – Misbehavior
2026 – Number One