2019 was a good year for the Korean box office, with a new movie sitting pretty at the number 2 spot for highest box office of all time list with Extreme Job. We also had two other movies crack the top 25 in Parasite and Exit, and all three movies had strong female roles. The disaster escape movie Exit gave Yoona her first big movie break and she really picked a good movie and got a great male lead in Jo Jung Seok who singlehandedly carried that movie on his versatile back. He was the heart and soul of the film (and his parents) when I watched it, and found Yoona really solid and much improved. This week she took home a Best New Actress award at the 2019 Women in Film Festival in Seoul, and taking home the Best Actress prize was Jung Yumi for her performance in the feminist movie 1982 Born Kim Ji Young. Yoona was there in person to accept her award and it’s great that there is a film festival event focusing on women in South Korean films. Continue reading →