Korean docu film tops box office, beats 'Interstellar,' 'Exodus'

A scene from “My Love, Don’t Cross That River” / Courtesy of Argus Film

By Baek Byung-yeul

Hollywood films “Interstellar” and “Exodus: Gods and Kings” and Korea’s huge budget film “Big Match” paled next to low-budget documentary film at the local box office this month.

“My Love, Don’t Cross That River,” a story of elderly couple’s 76-year-long marriage and death of husband, has garnered more than 776,000 admissions as of Saturday, according to the data from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

Ever since the 85-minute-long film soared to the top of the box office last Thursday, “My Love” has been cruising at the top. Released on Nov. 27, the film became the first local indie film to rack up 100,000 audiences in seven days.

Thanks to the huge popularity, the numbers of screens has rapidly expanded from 186 to 728, according to the KOFIC.

The film’s director Jin Mo-young said he first “came to know” about the elderly couple through a television documentary show which was aired in 2011.

“After watching the TV documentary, I rushed to Hoengseong County in Gangwon Province and asked their permission to make their story into a film,” Jin said to reporters at the press premier last month.

After obtaining their permission, Jin followed the couple for 15 months and documented life of 98-year-old husband and 89-year-old wife.

“I tried to shoot the lifelong love of the couple without affectation. I would like to say about endless love through this film,” he added.

The film won the Audience Award at this year’s DMZ International Documentary Film Festival.

Official from the film’s production company Argus Film said that they also didn’t even expect such a response.

“Before premiering the film, we received positive responses from the reviewers, but didn’t expect that the film would be such a huge box office hit,” the official said.

Expectation is also mounting as to whether “My Love” can become the most watched documentary film in the country past 2009 indie film “Old Partner,” which drew more than 2.93 million viewers. The film which depicts royal relationship between an old farmer and his 40-year-old ox, exceeded the 200,000 and 600,000 marks, on the 24th and 31st day of opening, respectively, while “My Love” has drawn 500,000 in 16 days.