Doomsday Book

In-ryu-myeol-mang-bo-go-seo

A South Korean anthology film with three sci-fi tales united by disparate themes of the apocalypse.

Even if a screening is sold out, tickets are often available 30 minutes before the start of the film at the box office at each venue.


Image gallery

  • Director-Screenwriter Kim Jee-woon, Yim Pil-sung
  • Producer Oh Young-hoon
  • With Ryoo Seung-bum, Kim Kang-woo, Song Sae-byeok
  • South Korea 2012
  • 120 mins
  • Sales M-Line Distribution

In 2006, directors Kim Jee-woon (A Tale Of Two Sisters; The Good, The Bad, The Weird) and Yim Pil-sung (Hansel and Gretel) produced the first two segments of a proposed three-part anthology film. Production problems meant that the final section was never filmed, and the two completed shorts remained unreleased. Thankfully, years later, the pair returned to the project, collaborating on a third story and completing the long-gestating triptych. The end result was well worth the wait, and Doomsday Book offers three hugely inventive slices of science-fiction eccentricity, united by disparate themes of the apocalypse. The stories (which tell tales of a zombie-like outbreak, the existential plight of a Buddhist robot, and a meteor hurtling its way to Earth) may each be radically different in tone and approach, but all display a striking sense of style and probing intelligence that complement each other brilliantly.

Michael Blyth

Read the Time Out review.