The K-movie adaptation of hit feminist novel 1982 Born Kim Ji Young opens next week in Korea and all eyes are on whether mainstream audiences will embrace it and whether the fringe right will successfully stifle a story that highlights all the minor and micro injustices Korean women have faced culturally. The movie is 100% about Jung Yumi‘s Kim Ji Young but only makes sense in the broader context of her parents, her husband played by Gong Yoo, her child, and of course her in-laws. To have top Hallyu actor Gong Yoo take a supporting role was strange until he explained it so clearly – he loved the story, he loved the message, and he is thrilled to play the devoted husband and let the spotlight for once shine on the female lead completely. He’s just an awesome actor and it turns out he was on an intentional acting break for the last two years after the hit drama Goblin because he was burned out by that drama and also right before he had the hit movie Train to Busan. So he took time off, did things he enjoyed, learned new things like tennis and fishing, and generally lived an ordinary life because he could and now he’s ready to come back and give it his all. Continue reading →