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Director Yeon Sang-ho comes back with extremely Korean and realistic film ‘Revelations’

입력 2025.03.19 17:46

수정 2025.03.19 18:14

Jeon Ji-hyun

Director Yeon Sang-ho, who has intrigued us with his surreal worlds where the zombie virus spreads on a train (“Train to Busan”) and messengers from hell suddenly appear in the human world (“Hellbound”), is back with an extremely Korean and realistic film, “Revelations.”

“Revelations,” which will be premiered on Netflix on March 21, revolves around pastor Sung Min-chan (played by Ryu Jun-yeol), who believes that it is a divine revelation to condemn the criminal of the disappearance case, and detective Lee Yeon-hee (played by Shin Hyeon-bin), who is in charge of the disappearance case, chasing their respective beliefs. The story begins when Kwon Yang-rae (played by Shin Min-jae), a freshly released ex-convict, accidentally visits Sung's church. The film is based on a cartoon of the same name, which was serialized in 2022 by writer Choi Kyu-seok and director Yeon Sang-ho.

(From left) Actors Ryu Jun-yeol and Shin Hyeon-bin, director Yeon Sang-ho, and actor Shin Min-jae pose at a press event for the new Netflix film “Revelations” at Hotel Naru Seoul in Mapo-gu on March 18. Yonhap News

“It's like a 'condensed version' of my colors that I've had since I started making independent animations,” Yeon said at a press event for “Revelations” at Hotel Naru Seoul M Gallery in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on March 18. Unlike his previous works, Yeon's colors are evident in the fact that the film avoids fantasy elements as much as possible, and the suspense of the story is driven by the “choices” made by the characters, who are all cornered for their own reasons.

The main background of “Revelations” is a church. The staff and cast are said to have made every effort to express “Korean-style churches” well. Actor Ryu Jun-yeol, who plays Sung Min-chan, said he consulted with pastors he knew to create realistic prayers. “Because it's a realistic story, I wanted the prayers to be real, so I asked a pastor I know to record them,” he said. Actor Shin Hyeon-bin, who plays Lee Yeon-hee, said, “I was able to immerse myself in the film sets because even the small props that you can't see on screen, like the wipes with the church's name on them, were well prepared.”

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“Revelations” drew attention with Alfonso Cuarón's participation as an executive producer. Cuarón first contacted Yeon and said that he wanted to “collaborate” with Yeon. "It was a time when I was worried about whether 'Revelations,' which has more Korean factors than my previous films, could gain global popularity, but Cuarón encouraged me by saying, ‘it is not just a Korean story, but a universal story,’ and I started making the story.”

Yeon describes the film as “a story about the destruction and redemption of characters who believe only what they want to see and believe in.” He expressed his affection for the film, saying, "If you've never seen the works I've made before, you only need to watch this film.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.