HONG KONG -- When director Woo Min-ho first thumbed through the novel "The Man Standing Next," he knew he had found the perfect template for a film that could tap into increasing domestic and global interest in South Korea's often fractured political history.
"Films that deal with the painful political past have been well-received by the critics and gained commercial success [recently]," said Woo. "Also, there are many TV series that depict and criticize social and political weaknesses. I believe today [Korean audiences] are almost entirely open-minded."
