Sightlines · reception

How Hope was received

2013 · Lee Joon-ik · Hope on Sightlines

The arc

A wrenching sell in 2013 — a drama drawn from a real, notorious Korean criminal case — it stunned everyone by taking Best Film at the Blue Dragon Awards over Snowpiercer and Miracle in Cell No. 7; it has since traveled abroad via streaming and Letterboxd as one of Korean cinema's definitive tearjerkers.

What’s debated

The perennial debate: is dramatizing a real child-assault case (the Nayoung case) an act of empathy and restraint, or something no film should attempt at all?

Its footprint

The image of a father hiding inside a giant Cocomong cartoon-mascot suit to reach his daughter is the film's shorthand — endlessly clipped, screenshotted, and cited as one of the most devastating gestures of parental love ever filmed.

Where it stands

A fixture of 'Korean films that will destroy you' lists — mentioned in the same breath as Miracle in Cell No. 7, and rated remarkably high on Letterboxd for a film so few can bear to rewatch.

Did you know? Hope was the shock Best Film winner at the 2013 Blue Dragon Film Awards, beating Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer, Miracle in Cell No. 7, and The Face Reader — Bong took Best Director as a consolation.