A new Korean film with a modern fantasy feel is currently sweeping the competition, taking the #6 spot on Netflix‘s International Top 10 Most Watched list. It boasts a unique premise, blending a strange kind of magic, emotion, and family drama—helping it to earn over a million views in the few days that it’s been on the platform.
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Number One, which is based on the novella The Number of Times You Can Eat Your Mother’s Cooking is 328 by Sora Uwano, stars Choi Woo-shik, Jang Hye-jin, and Gong Seung-yeon, and centers on a young man named Ha-min (Choi Woo-shik), who, every time he eats the food his mother cooks, begins to see mysterious numbers floating over her head. With each meal, the number decreases by one, until he realizes, thanks to a dream visit from his dead father, that upon hitting zero, his mother, Eun-sil (Jang Hye-jin), will die. To protect his mother, Ha-min starts avoiding her home-cooked meals, making all kinds of excuses, and even moving cities to keep her safe. When talking about what inspired him to adapt the novella into a film, director Kim Tae-yong said, “While there are many violent and provocative stories today, this movie talks about how valuable a single person’s life is.”
Number One Proves That Quieter Movies Bring A Lot to the Table
Number One, while not yet achieving critical acclaim, is nothing short of visually stunning, with everything from the food to the scenery in Busan stealing the show. It’s a quiet film, letting the emotional moments do most of the heavy lifting, though the tone remains surprisingly light throughout. “It may make one hungry, another cry from missing home-cooked food and one’s mother, someone laugh at the absurdity, and another feel frustrated by the unserious tone that sometimes feels pushed to its limits,” says critic Magdalena Nieświec.
Overall, Number One is the kind of movie that, while light in tone, will inevitably pull at your heartstrings. It features solid performances, expected from the powerhouse actors that first teamed up in Parasite, and a story that, for some, feels all too relatable. It’s unpretentious and lets the core message of family and connection push the narrative forward, never relying on gimmicks or style over substance.
Have you seen Number One yet? What’s your favorite moment from the film? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. And don’t forget to see what’s going on over at the ComicBook forum.
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