Woochi: The Demon Slayer

In the Joseon era, Jeon Woochi is a vain, powerful and irresponsible Taoist wizard. Blamed for his master's death, he is sealed inside a painting. Five hundred years later, when demons appear in Seoul, the same wizards are forced to let him out. The subject is not the demon hunt but an irresponsible man being pushed into responsibility. Woochi spends the film wanting to be taken seriously while doing nothing to deserve it; the actual change arrives late and reluctantly. The form is a genre mixture: fantasy, comedy, martial arts and city film at once. The best of it is in moments like a Joseon wizard dropped into modern Seoul staring at a shop sign full of fish. Choi Dong-hoon directs, and the crowded ensembles and sly plotting he would later build works like The Thieves around are already in place. It was one of the most-watched Korean films of its year, passing six million admissions. Gang Dong-won plays Woochi, Kim Yun-seok the Taoist priest tailing him, and Lim Soo-jung the woman he meets five centuries on. Who it is for: viewers who like Korean genre cinema and fantasy comedy. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a consistent rule system; the limits of the magic shift with the needs of the plot.