Made in Korea

Made in Korea is a feel good emotional movie. It has comedy and romance too. It has good emotions.

Made in Korea is a Tamil film that taps into the growing fascination many young Indians have with Korean culture. Through the story of a small-town girl chasing her dream of reaching Seoul, the film explores themes of ambition, identity and cultural curiosity with a gentle, feel-good tone.

Made in Korea keeps playing it safe when it should have been brave enough to go deeper. You leave it feeling pleasant rather than moved, entertained rather than affected. For a film that begins with the image of a girl climbing an elephant for a signal, that is a little disappointing.

Made in Korea had the potential to be a culturally rich coming-of-age story but settles for a generic template with an underdeveloped location setting. Despite being set in South Korea, the film barely uses its location as a narrative or emotional tool.

Cultural appropriation seldom feels as inappropriate as it does in Made In Korea. Made In Korea is the most perfunctory a film could have been, given how it's made to cater to algorithms, with the connective tissue between scenes so awkward and implausible that it strains credibility.

Made In Korea has its heart in the right place and the premise feels fitting; it is the execution that falters. What could have been a straightforward, wholesome journey of rediscovering oneself and building a community however, feels complicated with the addition of multiple plotpoints.