‘Decision To Leave’ Earns Korea Another Golden Globe Nomination

Nominations for the 80th Golden Globe awards are out and for the fourth year they include a nomination for Korean media. This year the nomination is for Park Chan-wook’s film Decision To Leave, a story of romantic obsession from the director of Old Boy and The Handmaiden. During each of the last three years an award has been presented to Korean—or Korean American—productions.

The winning streak began during the 77th Golden Globes, when Bong Joon-ho’s film Parasite was nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film. The story of one desperately poor family’s interactions with a careless rich family made history by becoming the first Korean film to win Best Foreign Film. It was at the 77th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony that Bong’s acceptance speech included the since-often-repeated comment that, “Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” Viewers seem to be making an effort to overcome that barrier.

At the 78th Golden Globes, the film Minari, earned nominations for Best Foreign Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Musical Score. Minari is the story of a Korean American immigrant family moving to Arkansas. It’s a story about the immigrant experience shared by so many Americans, but also a very Korean story. Minari stars Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho and You Yuh-jung. The film was a US production, directed by Lee Isaac Chung, but since half the dialogue is in Korean, Golden Globe rules limited its nomination to Best Foreign Film. It won.

At the 79th Golden Globes, the Korean TV series Squid Game racked up three nominations. The show was nominated for Best TV Series, Best Actor (Lee Jung-jae) and Best Supporting Actor (Oh Yeong-ju). Squid Game, which quickly shot to the top of the Netflix viewing charts, focuses on a group of desperate individuals who compete in deadly children’s games. The prize for winning is so big it can permanently change lives. However, the competition is so brutal that lives are demanded. Oh Yeong-ju won the Best Supporting Actor award and became the first Korean actor to win a Golden Globe.

These winners all went on to earn other prizes. Parasite won Best International Feature Film and Best Director at the 2020 Oscars. Minari earned a Best Supporting Actress award for Korean actress You Yuh-jung, while Squid Game won a host of awards, including Screen Actor’s Guild and Prime Time Emmys.

The increasing number of international award nominations for Korean films and TV reflect the ongoing globalization of entertainment and the wider access to international media provided by streaming platforms.

While Korean films have enjoyed a dedicated global following for decades, the last few years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of international viewers watching Korean TV and Korean films on TV. Between 2019 and 2021 Korean drama viewership increased 200 percent in the US, spurred in part by pandemic lockdowns. The new popularity of Korean TV has in turn further boosted the desirability of Korean films, which often feature the same stars. The current success of k-pop acts has played a part in making international audiences curious about Korean culture and media. It also helps that the nation’s entertainment companies, realizing the limit of domestic markets, have invested in publicizing and exporting media.

Decision to Leave’s Golden Globe competition includes the Indian film RRR, the German film, All Quite on the Western Front, the Argentinian film Argentina, 1985, and the Belgian film Close. The film already won the Palme d’Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where Park won Best Director. Decision to Leave is South Korea’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.

The Golden Globe Awards will be presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 10, 2023. The awards honor excellence in both American and international film and television.