In this era of provocative ‘one-person broadcasts’ that claim to ‘implement justice’ and believe they can punish criminals themselves, a work that sounds an alarm has appeared. ‘Streaming’ is a film that does not miss anything from Kang Ha-neul‘s insane acting to the unique genre fun of thrillers.

The film, which opens on the 21st, stars Woo-sang (Kang Ha-neul), a streamer who hosts a live broadcast that deals with violent crime cases. Woosang, a popular streamer with the most subscribers on his live broadcast ‘Wag’, accidentally discovers a clue to the case while covering the subject of the ‘Skirt Murderer’, who cuts off the hem of a woman’s clothes after murdering her, and ends up broadcasting the process of tracking down the culprit in real time.

Oh, so timely!

The movie was released in theaters four years after filming was completed in 2001, but it is drawing attention as the most timely work in 2025, when social problems of ‘one-person media’, such as provocative one-person broadcasts that promote personal revenge and cyber wreckers, have become serious issues.

In the play, Woosang releases horrific crime scene photos without filtering under the pretext of ‘profiling’ the criminal, and even gives the killer a nickname, thereby showing his deep concern for the victims. A representative example is that it only flaunts the sensationalism of the incident, not the condolences.

In particular, the fact that he, who had been increasingly seeking out provocative content, eventually makes an irreversible choice reminds us of the YouTube channel Karicula, which sensationalized various incidents and accidents last year under the guise of ‘justice’, but ended up being accused of extortion, etc., which increases the sense of immersion.

It‘s not just the main character, Woosang. The movie centers around provocative one-person content and includes various ugly human figures. These include streamers who stage plays to get more attention and make a lot of money in a short period of time, and men who are obsessed with female streamers to the point of stalking them.

Above all, the movie continuously shows the chat contents of live broadcast viewers who not only encourage more stimulating behavior in the streamer but also encourage her to die, thereby sounding an alarm to the unspecified number of viewers who consume one-person media indiscriminately and stimulatingly.

Kang Ha-neul’s proper ‘one-man show’

The movie also doesn‘t miss out on the fun of the movie. The screen that perfectly transfers the one-person live broadcasting platform adds to the fun, and the fast-paced development during the short 90-minute running time maximizes the thrill.

In addition, the commercial videos inserted in the middle of the streaming broadcast add new fun. These commercial videos do not just provide light laughter and disappear, but are also used as detailed foreshadowing in the development, drawing attention.

The person who contributed the most to maximizing the genre-specific fun of the movie is Kang Ha-neul, who played the main character Woo-sang and gave a one-man performance that was close to a ‘one-man show’. In line with his real image as an actor who is a ‘maker of good stories’, he mainly played the role of a naive and kind young man, and he perfectly played the role of a BJ who is full of pretense but focuses only on showing off without any substance.

In particular, in the beginning of the movie, the character who was simply a ‘simple spectator’ who was difficult to hate gradually became engulfed in madness and went crazy, convincingly acting out his scene, further broadening his acting spectrum.


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.