Will 2014, Year of ‘Senior Movies’ influence the Korean Movie Industry?

(Photo : NEWSis)

The movie industry in the year 2014 was filled with ‘senior movies’: movies with themes that specifically target the elderly population. Indeed, several movies such as Miss Granny and Ode to My Father received sensational reviews with their interesting topic, dealing with an issue that is worth looking but has never got public’s attention before. The question is, would the year 2014 be evaluated as the year of senior movie boom starter?

The answer is yes, considering the public’s interest followed by a movie release and continued success. Famous Korean movies such as Miss Granny and Ode to My Father deal with the stories in the 1960s and 1970s.

Of course, we can not say that the year 2014 was the year of the senior movie simply by looking at these two movies. My Love, Don’t Cross that River which made an adventurous attempt as a documentary movie and My Dictator shed a light on the senior movie genre and received attention from the public though the latter one failed to achieve a commercial success.

Moreover, low budget senior films from foreign countries made a commercial success in Korea and Seoul International Senior Film Festival made a great leap forward and was chosen as a international film festival. These situations show that the market for the senior movie has expanded. Released in June 2014, The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared describes a story of 100-year old senior citizen and got sensational remarks from the public. Though the movie was not the movie from the ‘mainstream’ genre of Northern Europe movies the movie was competitive enough to attract viewers’ interest compared to a block buster movie from the West. The movie made an synergy effect with a Swedish writer Jonas Johansson, the author of for the original novel.

Seoul International Senior Film Festival which symbolizes the senior movie festival within Korea invited several Japanese movies for the film festival and thereby made a step forward to be an international film festival. The year 2014 would be recognized to be more meaningful if it would become a renowned international festival in the future. Lee Jae-kwang Director, Research Center for Senior Citizens at Eulji University | Summary by Lho Ji-young