''Intimate Strangers'' is a 2018 South Korean

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Lee Jae-kyoo Lee Jae-kyoo (born October 7, 1970) is a South Korean television and film director. Lee directed the television series, '' Damo'' (2003), '' Fashion 70's'' (2005), '' Beethoven Virus'' (2008), ''The King 2 Hearts'' (2012) and '' All of Us Are De ...

and written by Bae Se-young, based on the 2016 Italian film '' Perfect Strangers''. It features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

that includes

Yoo Hae-jin Yoo Hae-jin (born January 4, 1970) is a South Korean actor. Career As a child, Yoo Hae-jin would often slip in through the backdoor of a cultural center near his home to watch events that were being held there. After seeing a play in eighth gra ...

Cho Jin-woong Cho Jin-woong (born Jo Won-jun; March 3, 1976) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles as Sejong's loyal bodyguard in ''Deep Rooted Tree'' (2011), a mobster in '' Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time'' (2012), and a mysterious vil ...

Lee Seo-jin Lee Seo-jin (born January 30, 1971) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for the reality shows ''Three Meals a Day'' and '' Grandpa Over Flowers''. As an actor, he came to prominence with his leading roles in television series '' Damo'' (2 ...

Yum Jung-ah Yum Jung-ah (born July 28, 1972) is a South Korean actress. Her notable films include ''A Tale of Two Sisters'' (2003), '' The Big Swindle'' (2004), '' The Old Garden'' (2007), and ''Cart'' (2014), as well as the television series ''Royal Famil ...

, Kim Ji-soo,

Song Ha-yoon A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

and Yoon Kyung-ho. The film was released in South Korea on 31 October 2018. It is a remake of the 2016 Paolo Genovese film '' Perfect Strangers'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

: ''Perfetti sconosciuti''), one of several remakes of this film.

Plot summary

Lifelong friends and married couple Seok-ho and Ye-jin, invite their close friends over for a housewarming dinner. They end up playing a game where they must share all new incoming messages and calls of their cell phones. Initially starting off lightly, the game gets more and more uncomfortable as hidden truths start to surface, making them start to feel more like strangers.

Cast

Main

as Tae-soo *

as Seok-ho *

as Joon-mo *

as Soo-hyun, Tae-soo's wife * Kim Ji-soo as Ye-jin, Seok-ho's wife *

as Se-kyung, Joon-mo's wife *

Yoon Kyung-ho Yoon Kyung-ho (, born 5 July 1980) is a South Korean theatre, film and television actor. He debuted in 2002 in SBS's documentary drama ''Savage Age''. He came into prominence in KBS's 2017 legal drama ''Witch at Court'' and tvN's 2019 TV series ...

as Young-bae

Supporting

Ji Woo Ji Woo (born Choi Ji-woo on November 25, 1997) is a South Korean actress. Life and career She attended Morak Middle School. In 2017, she was an honorary ambassador of the 9th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival alongside Cho Jin-wo ...

as So-young, Seok-ho and Ye-jin's daughter

Special appearances

Lee Soon-jae Lee Soon-jae (; born November 16, 1934) is a South Korean actor. He has had a prolific career on the small and big screen spanning over six decades, and was given a second-class Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit for his work as an actor. Early an ...

as Young-bae's father (voice) *

Ra Mi-ran Ra Mi-ran (born March 6, 1975) is a South Korean actress and television personality. Career Before making her film debut in ''Lady Vengeance'' (2005), Ra Mi-ran spent years acting in theatre. Afterwards, she appeared in more than 40 films but di ...

as Kim So-wol (voice) *

Jo Jung-suk Jo Jung-suk (born December 26, 1980) is a South Korean actor. He began his career in theater, starring in '' Spring Awakening'', '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'', and the stage adaptation of ''The Harmonium in My Memory'', among many other music ...

as Yeon-woo (voice) *

Kim Min-kyo Kim Min-kyo (, born April 15, 1974) is a South Korean actor and director. He is well known as a cast member ('crew') on the tvN entertainment show ''Saturday Night Live Korea'. Career He has been performing as a stage actor on several Korea ...

as Min-soo (voice) *Jo Dal-hwan as Det. Kang Kyung-joon (voice) *Lee Do-kyung as Ye-jin's father (voice) *

Jin Seon-kyu Jin Seon-kyu (born September 13, 1977) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles on the big screen, such as '' The Outlaws'' (2017) and ''Extreme Job'' (2019). He won Best Supporting Actor award at the 38th Blue Dragon Film Awards ...

as Facebook's guy (voice) *

Choi Yu-hwa Choi Yu-hwa (born October 10, 1985) is a South Korean actress. Choi entered the entertainment industry after winning the Fashion Model Award at the fashion magazine CeCi's Model Contest in 2005. She debuted in the one-act ''Drama Special'' "The ...

as Chae-young (voice) *Jung Suk-young as Joon-mo's friend (voice)

Production

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began on 27 December 2017, and concluded on 12 February 2018.

Release

''Intimate Strangers'' was released on 31 October 2018, alongside Hollywood films ''

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack ...

'', ''

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

'' and ''

The House with a Clock in Its Walls ''The House with a Clock in Its Walls'' is a 1973 juvenile mystery fiction novel written by John Bellairs and illustrated by Edward Gorey. It is the first in the series of twelve novels featuring the fictional American boy Lewis Barnavelt. P ...

''. On 6 November 2018, the film was reported to have been sold to 44 territories, with release date in Australia and New Zealand on 8 November, the United States on 9 November, and Singapore on 22 November.

Reception

Critical response

Yoon Min-sik from ''

The Korea Herald ''The Korea Herald'' is a leading English-language daily newspaper founded in 1953 and published in Seoul, South Korea. The editorial staff is composed of Korean and international writers and editors, with additional news coverage drawn from int ...

'' gave a mixed review and wrote, "Though it starts off dull, the film quickly heats up -- both in terms of fun and drama. This is largely due to quality acting from most of the cast. The mundane lines seemed generic, and the characters were stereotypical. However, these were small problems compared with how the film ended, which left me feeling confused about how I felt about the film."

Box office

The film topped the local box office during its opening day, attracted 273,972 attendance with gross, the biggest opening day for a 2018 comedy. On 3 November, the film surpassed 1 million admissions, fastest comedy to hit the milestone in 2018. The film surpassed its

break-even Break-even (or break even), often abbreviated as B/E in finance, (sometimes called point of equilibrium) is the point of balance making neither a profit nor a loss. Any number below the break-even point constitutes a loss while any number above i ...

point at 1.8 million admissions on 5 November. During its opening weekend, the film topped local box office with gross from 1,173,171 attendance, leaving ''

'' in second place. It is second biggest opening weekend for a local 2018 film, behind '' Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days''. On 6 November, the film surpassed 2 million admissions, becoming the third fastest local 2018 film to surpass the milestone. As of 30 December 2018, the film grossed from 5,292,649 total attendance.

References

External links

* *
''Intimate Strangers''
at

Naver Naver (Hangul: 네이버) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. It was launched in 1999 as the first web portal in South Korea to develop and use its own search engine. It was also the world's first operator to in ...

''Intimate Strangers''
at Daum {{Perfect Strangers 2018 films 2010s Korean-language films 2018 comedy-drama films South Korean comedy-drama films Films set in Seoul South Korean remakes of foreign films Lotte Entertainment films Remakes of Italian films 2010s South Korean films