Directed by Lee Harkioon
South Korea/ 2013/,82 mins
TV journalist Lee Harkjoon, previously best-known for reportage on refugees from North Korea, gained extraordinary access to the inner workings of K-pop agency Star Empire, and spent a year observing the casting, training and attempted launch of the new girl-group 9 Muses. You may be surprised to see just how “manufactured” 9 Muses are: the (very) long hours of rehearsals are beyond physically demanding, and the upper echelons of management don’t seem to have any scruples about dehumanizing the girls.
But once you’ve got used to seeing young women treated as robots, you’ll find the course of events fairly predictable: there are betrayals, rivalries and injuries, and there’s the hushed-up scandal of an illicit sexual relationship between the manager and a band member. Still, nothing beats seeing it for yourself, and this offers what must be definitive insights into the processes that keep K-pop going.
