I have a feeling their popularity is increasing due to the current political climate in SK.

An indie political movie that was released around the time there was a huge protest in SK (November 2016) earned more than some mainstream movies at that period. Chungmoro like to capitalize on trends like how bromance has been a trend since late last year, so expect more of testosterone-loaded movies.

Political movies about this particular era of Korean history had been somewhat popular in the mid-90's to mid 2000's to varying degrees of success. That was most likely due to Korea becoming a newly formed democracy and Chungmuro filmmakers finding their footing. So this movie isn't too much of a surprise. However, I think it also depends on who is in power in Korea.

However, this reminds me of the large number of Japanese-occupation era films that were out in the last year or two. A completely different dilemma from dramas, where they try to avoid both eras as much as possible.

Yea I see that too, is it hard to transition from a drama actor to chungmuro?

OMGeeee!!! Me too! I'm a big fan of Ha Jung Woo! and Kang Dong Won too! so I'm pretty much in heaven right now.

probably.

Yes. The movie with Im Shi-wan and Song Kang-ho is "The Attorney."

It is not the same plot as "The Attorney" was loosely based on the life of former South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun when he was a human rights attorney. The case it was based on was the "Burim Case," in which he was the defense attorney for in 1981.

However, the protest at the end of the "The Attorney" was about Park Jong-chul and the June Democratic Uprising, which is the main subject of this film.

This reminds me of the 2008 crisis in Chungmoro. Very few movies were produced because there were not a lot of producers who were willing to risk. I think there was also problem with government support then. Cha Tae Hyun's December '08 movie "Speedy Scandal was a low-budgeted film, but it was a sleeper hit (8million audience), and sort of became a "wake up " call that low-budgeted movies can still turn to blockbuster hits. But, that's like one in a hundred chances.

Also, I think it's also important to consider the monopoly of CJ GROUP in modern cinema--from film production, distribution, music, malls, CGV, etc. Of course, they'll distribute more theaters to CJ E&M-produced movies that is disadvantageous to smaller production companies.

IMO Kdramas are the ones which are tiring love triangles everywhere,and if you like an actor you wont get tired of him ,i would seriously watch Hwang Jung Min and Kang Dong Won in 100 movies per yea without getting tired of them.

I think blockbusters tend to be pretty "meh" everywhere, not just in Korea. At least they had films like The Wailing and The Handmaiden among their box-office hits of 2016 -- unusual stuff by any standard. As for Korean cinema in general: IMO they are currently producing a far wider range of films than the afore-mentioned blockbusters; or, say, what is mentioned on this site. I, for one, can't wait to see Lee Kyoung-mi's The Truth Beneath, Yoon Ga-eun's The World of Us and Lee Soo-youn's Bluebeard, as well as some of the films reviewed here: http://koreanfilm.org/biff2016.html.

He did say he wants to do drama, but maybe not so much offers like chungmuro. TVN or OCN, time to grab him!

And I want to see Kim Tae Ri in small screen too. If Park So Dam, and Kim Go Eun made it, she should too. Of course in good project.