What's Korean Cinema? (Podcast on Fire Network) · Kenny B, Paul Quinn, Various

What’s Korean Cinema? 61 – Project Wolf Hunting, Midnight & The Moon

·1 hr 16 min·6 clips

Paul Quinn says Project Wolf Hunting has more excessive gore than any film he can think of worldwide.

Episode 61 starts experimentally. Kennedy says the title may promise Project Wolf Hunting, Midnight, and The Moon, but the episode is really a quicker, more casual pass through recent Korean films. Paul Quinn joins as the reference point. The running joke about whether he counts as an expert keeps things loose, while still making it clear that the show is leaning on his Korean cinema context. The setup is modest, and that helps. Kennedy does not pretend the episode has full access or hard verdicts on every title. The plan is a walk-through, with quick opinions where they can get them. Midnight gets the most attention. Paul places it 23rd among Korean films and 67th once U.S. releases are included. The numbers are plain: about $700,000 and 108,000 admissions for Midnight, compared with three and a half million admissions and $25 million for Escape from Mogadishu. That comparison lands harder than a neat success-or-failure label. Midnight comes across as a smaller film stuck in a brutal theatrical moment. March 2020 hangs over the conversation. Paul does not blame the filmmakers for bad timing or some obvious mistake, because the industry itself had no clean path back. The Humming becomes another point of comparison. Kennedy and Paul connect it to their earlier review, noting that both films sat around 23rd and 24th at the box office and both took a hit. Streaming comes into it too. The host asks about a Korean service he has not heard of, and Paul explains that it was already growing before COVID, then became more relevant as the pandemic changed habits. Korean cinema companies are described as historically resistant to certain release patterns, but COVID forced the issue. The episode closes with housekeeping: a pointer to Hang On Celluloid for related reviews, then a tease for a more normal episode. It feels less like a polished review trio and more like a useful conversation about access, timing, box office pressure, and survival.

As heard by us

A compact, context-heavy look at three Korean releases and the industry conditions around them.

This episode moves at an easy, unfussy pace through Project Wolf Hunting, Midnight, and The Moon, with Kennedy and Paul Quinn using the conversation to think through how Korean films arrive and how they are received once they do.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A compact, informal walk-through of Project Wolf Hunting, Midnight, and The Moon, with release-context notes and some box-office texture.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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