Genealogy

★★★★★

Original title: Jokbo

1979 · 1 h 47 min

Directed by Im Kwon-taek · South Korea · Korean New Wave

Drama

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Cast

Seon-tae Ju Ha Myeong-jung Hye-suk Han Nam-hyeon Choi Shin-jae Kim

Credits

Written by: Woon-sa Han
Cinematography: Seok-gi Lee
Music: Min-seob Jeong
Editing: Hui-su Kim
Produced by: Jong-chan Park

Plot

During the Japanese occupation of South Korea, a Japanese bureaucrat is ordered to persuade an influential Korean patriarch into obeying the law of changing his Korean surname to a Japanese one.

Sinekatalog’s take

During Japanese rule, an official must persuade a proud Korean patriarch to take a Japanese surname. A weighty drama about identity, dignity and compromise. Recommended for viewers interested in colonial history.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

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Awards

• Grand Bell Awards 1978: Best Director — Im Kwon-taek

Ratings

IMDb: 7.0 / 10 (69 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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