Author: Harrison Chute

I've been mistaken for a man

K-Drama Report: Ms. Incognito (2025)

October 12, 2025

Oh, this show is delicious. Intrigue, secrets, betrayals; all the ingredients of a howling melodrama, but arranged neatly in an understated package. Ms. Incognito is a rare sort of genre mash-up: the cozy thriller? Even before we move to the idyllic small town, where a mountain range sits in each kitchen window like a painting, there’s such a comfortable atmosphere that pulls ever so gently inward. Even the old abrasive favorites like a deadbeat mom and flashbacks to an abusive father only pause the warm feelings. It’s the product of at least two things: the lush, cinematic style, and the story premise, which is just about my favorite thing in the world – a badass woman who’s pretending to not be a badass. She carries the aura of violence, an unheeded threat or even an invitation to instant karma. … More K-Drama Report: Ms. Incognito (2025)

Year of Shu Qi?

October 9, 2025

I’d been doing some mental leaps this past year when it comes to Taiwanese superstar Shu Qi’s film and TV projects. I knew that she wrote and directed her debut Girl, which recently won her Best Director at the Busan International Film Festival, and that she was starring in a Netflix series entitled The Resurrected, which released today. I did not put together that she was also starring in a movie entitled Resurrection, which opened at Cannes. That’s confusing! All three are really interesting, though; Resurrection appears to be some kind of avant garde sci-fi movie. And she’s spoken about Girl being a first for her, encouraged by longtime creative collaborator Hou Hsiao-hsien. … More Year of Shu Qi?

K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, Part III

September 28, 2025

My girl almost got away with it, too. I know, you can’t have everything. Or can you? This is the funny thing about K-dramas, that the endings are so critical, it adds an extra layer of tension to the viewing. “Please don’t screw it all up!” It makes sense, though. Because K-dramas are, by default, limited to one season, there’s an actual expectation of a narrative conclusion, unlike in American television (where shows are either canceled prematurely or go on so long they drift off into incoherence). Thematically, there’s also an aspect of wish fulfillment. A show like Bon Appétit, Your Majesty is a romantic fantasy following the template of countless fantasies before it. We know all the beats – and we anticipate them – so laid down and preserved for their dramatic potential. Without a doubt, one of those beats is the officiation of the romance, however that takes shape (I don’t even have the term for it). The audience proxy, in this case Royal Chef Ji-yeong, lives this fantasy of winning over the palace one-by-one with her masterful cooking skills, including the scary-sexy King Yi Heon, with whom she eventually falls in love. Why shouldn’t she be able to hold onto that love, too? … More K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, Part III

The ‘94 Line: War Stories

September 27, 2025

Mijoo. I have to hand it to Mijoo. Seulgi couldn’t get it done, nor Youngji or Hyojung. Well, they did so partially. As covered last time, Seulgi hosted Youngji and Mijoo on her Hi Seulgi YouTube channel, but Hyojung couldn’t make it. Since then, Youngji had Seulgi and Hyojung on her channel but no Mijoo (and no subtitles). At some point, Hyojung managed to gather everyone, but barely filmed it. Now, believe me, I understand. These are highly in-demand people, and the whole thing here is their friendship. When I hang out with my friends (let’s say I have them), I’m not gonna think to record it. Perhaps it takes a special occasion, like a birthday, and who else’s but Mijoo’s? As it turns out, she was responsible for the entire ‘94 Line to begin with. As Youngji puts it in the resulting video on Mijoo’s channel, linked above, she was too lazy to keep meeting up with everyone individually, and had them all get together as a group. And this includes Moonbyul now, as they rechristen the group: 9294*, with the asterisk a reference to “byul” which means “star.” How lovely! … More The ‘94 Line: War Stories

K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, Part II

September 26, 2025

In its second act, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty levels up from good to great to excellent at blistering speed, centered around the latest challenge for royal chef Ji-yeong: a competition against legendary Chinese cooks to decide Joseon’s fate with the Ming dynasty. At the start, I worried the show would adopt a “dish of the week” structure, with Ji-yeong making food for King Yi Heon alone until they eventually fell in love. How would they make that interesting each time? Instead, we have this latest contest which animates the entire palace, setting conspiracies into motion and raising the stakes to the level of national consequence. The Ming envoy, Director Yu Kun, walks with the authority of his emperor, turning each exchange with the Joseon king into a careful game of feints and doublespeak. The contest itself occupies two episodes – contained almost entirely to one location – with two additional episodes of build-up. It’s remarkable, and I’ll just say now that I can’t remember the last time a K-drama made me cry like Bon Appétit’s ninth episode, with the contest’s surprising climax. … More K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, Part II

K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (2025)

September 22, 2025

Finally. You know, Yoona’s an interesting case. I’ve previously discussed how she’s this deific figure in hallyu but often plays the most mundane characters in K-dramas (faring a bit better in film, by all appearances). She takes us behind the scenes of these shows on her YouTube channel and she’s so enthusiastic, and I wish I could be, too. I really do. Unfortunately, it’s gotten to the point where Yoona’s not a selling point anymore. On one hand, she’s drawn to these safe, relatively unchallenging roles, but on the other, I don’t know if I’d be comfortable with her unsafe, thrown into the deep end of Korean movies and TV. Take Lim Ji-yeon, for example, who’s had a five-star career and now everyone knows she’s a brilliant actress, but Christ, does she get her ass kicked. She plays an abused wife in Lies Hidden in My Garden and a runaway slave in The Tale of Lady Ok. Award-nominated performances, but it’s too much for me to handle. The price of being a badass, really. A badass woman, mind you; no price for guys. Oh, I’m so nervous for my sweet baby Shasha in Project Y. I’d much rather watch Yoona in a reality show like Hyori’s Homestay or any old Girls’ Generation content, where we also see her actual, though still guarded, personality. … More K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (2025)

Palace-Minded Man | Uprising (2024) Review

September 12, 2025

The 2024 historical epic Uprising is about two things: the Japanese killing Koreans, and Koreans killing Koreans. This is literally the experience in an early sequence of two cross-cut battles, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s samurai advance beyond the Han River in the first invasion of the Imjin War, and the hungry Joseon masses turn on the fleeing King Seonjo (who Wikipedia notes shouldn’t be confused with Sejong the Great). Fans of the recent Shogun will remember Hideyoshi as the taiko whose death incites the feudal struggle for power, briefly embodied as “Nakamura Hidetoshi” by my man Yukijirô Hotaru, of Zeiram (and not actually featured in Uprising). Apparently, this guy was trying to take Korea all the way till his consequential death in 1598. And fans of Netflix’s Kingdom will remember the Imjin War, the historical backdrop to that tragically short-lived zombie masterpiece. Well, rejoice for now, as Uprising shares the same brutal world of beheadings, cannibals, and funny hats – stopping short at zombies, of course, but not before outrageous political corruption. It’s a timely tale of ancient revolution against a cruel aristocracy. … More Palace-Minded Man | Uprising (2024) Review

Critical Lore Question

September 12, 2025

My understanding of Baby Assassins was that it was, if not “a big deal,” then at least “known.” Using this very website as a record, my earliest awareness of the series dates back to 2022 (see: “Hydra review”), one year after the first movie released, and even by then, I felt late to the party. Note, in that review, I reference the movie without disclaiming that I hadn’t seen it, which might lead readers to incorrectly assume I had. Garsh, I just can’t let myself get away with anything, can I? I’m such a humble guy! I’d learned about it from an entertainment website like Polygon (which it wasn’t, as their earliest coverage is 2024), in an enthusiastic review or discussion. I suppose this is my mistake, thinking that such writing is somehow indicative of the national (or international) pulse. No, outlets like that are pretty small-time, despite all the damage wreaked by unethical games journalism. Regardless, I then assumed that there were tons of people out in the world whom I could chat with about Baby Assassins, or at least pose this burning question: “Who’s older?” … More Critical Lore Question

The Dream | Baby Assassins: Nice Days (2024) Review

August 28, 2025

For two movies, Baby Assassins has been a source of unusual joys. They’re charming even in their deficiencies, with scenes lingering on nothingness for so long that it becomes funny and the lack of plot making for unpredictable sketch comedy. With this third outing, the winning non-formula is finally given structure, which might sound unduly disciplinarian for our anarchic duo, but this was the only ingredient missing. I think that sometimes, filmmakers, film critics, and film students can romanticize the subversion of convention, when so much of the artistry and effect of movies is in the exercise of character arcs and stories which resonate with subtextual meaning. And yet, even with a Baby Assassins set to provide usual joys instead, I couldn’t have anticipated such virtual perfection as Nice Days. I was already a fan, guys. You didn’t have to do all this! A proper coming of age, it’s an optimization of every formerly experimental element; a bloodsoaked spectacle with a cathartic, heartfelt finish. … More The Dream | Baby Assassins: Nice Days (2024) Review

A Couple of Nobodies

August 25, 2025

The story of how Bob Odenkirk became an action star begins, of course, with John Wick. The 2014 film was positioned as a comeback for Keanu Reeves, whose star had been tarnished by invisible indies and outright failures like 2008’s The Day the Earth Stood Still remake and an expensive fantasy take on the 47 ronin in 2013. A sleeper hit, John Wick owed its success to Reeves’s persuasion with a global audience – soon to become legendary – and a shift behind the scenes with industry-wide implications. Beginning life as a spec script by relative newcomer Derek Kolstad, “Scorn” was reconfigured as Reeves’s “John Wick movie” by directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, two veteran stunt coordinators. These were guys from the trenches of the action genre, with Stahelski having doubled Reeves on The Matrix – as well as being Brandon Lee’s stand-in on The Crow – and directing second-unit on blockbusters like Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Even after the release of John Wick, he and Leitch returned to their day gig for the set pieces on Captain America: Civil War. A nice paycheck, perhaps, but this old way of doing things was coming to an end. … More A Couple of Nobodies