Dr. Brain has not received the launch that you might expect
for a miniseries made by a significant South Korean filmmaker, one that is an
important building block in Apple TV+’s attempt to upgrade its international
content.
Hot on the heels of Netflix's breakout South Korean hit Squid Game, Apple has rolled out its first Korean-language original series this month, to coincide with the launch of its Apple TV+ streaming service in South Korea.
Based on a Korean Web comic of the same name, Dr. Brain is a
six-episode sci-fi thriller about a cold-hearted neurologist Koh Sewon who
tries to find clues to a mysterious family accident through brain experiments.
Apple's foray into original Korean content comes as the
country's entertainment industry reaches new global popularity, from k-pop
superstars such as BTS to the 2020 Oscar-winning South Korean film Parasite,
and now Squid Game, which became Netflix's biggest original series launch.
Director Kim Jee-woon said after the consecutive success of
such Korean content, global audiences began to understand Korean culture
through artistic works and that he had made an extra effort to get the
translations right.
"I hope Dr. Brain can prove there are diverse works in
South Korea that cover a wide variety of genres, sensibilities and materials as
much as previous mega hit Korean series," Kim said in an interview with
Reuters.
Lead actor Lee Sun-kyun, who will be familiar to
international audiences from his role in Parasite, said his role as Koh is one
of a man dragged into a "whirlpool of emotions" whose connections to
other people's minds made him reflect on his own faults.
"It is a very deep science fiction mysterious thriller,
but at the same time it is a drama about how a man who was destitute of
feelings happened to receive others' emotions due to side effects of brain
scanning," Lee told Reuters.
Dr. Brain debuted on November 4 as Apple TV+ launched in
South Korea, with other original content available dubbed or with Korean
subtitles. For now, it lags far behind rival Netflix in South Korea, which has
been offering licensed and original Korean content for several years.
The launch of its TV service in South Korea comes as Apple
is one of several American tech giants to face new regulations in the country
forcing them to open their app stores to third-party payments.
The increasing number of over-the-top media service (OTT)
platforms such as Netflix, Apple TV+, and Disney Plus, that found new
popularity in the pandemic era, have allowed actors to explore roles they may
not have been able to on more traditional broadcasters, Lee said.
"The era of COVID-19 has come with new age for drama
production," he said. © Reuters