Kim Go Eun’s New K-Movie Questioned For Prudish Marketing With Its Gay Character

Love In The Big City, officially selected for a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), is a star-studded K-Movie featuring leads Kim Go Eun and Noh Sang Hyun.

Based on a novel of the same title, Love In The Big City tells the story of two “misfits… navigating growing pains in search of love and self in Seoul.”

Jae Hee was never like the others and, in a collective, uniform culture like South Korea’s, embracing her individuality has triggered endless gossip. One day, she meets Heung Soo, another misfit lost in the big city. But unlike Jae Hee, Heung Soo hopes to hide his true identity. When Jae Hee finds out his secret by chance, the two form an unlikely relationship. Misunderstood by many, the young adults navigate growing pains in search of love and self in Seoul.

— TIFF

The movie posters, trailers, and other promotional material have begun circulating online, building anticipation for its scheduled premiere in Korea on October 1, 2024 (KST). The marketing, however, has raised questions from the Korean audience who are familiar with the characters from the original novel.

In the novel, Heung Soo is a gay man. None of the promotional material really represented Heung Soo’s sexuality, and instead, “tried highlighting the movie as a heterosexual rom-com.”

A viral tweet criticized the K-Movie industry for downplaying and/or misrepresenting the Heung Soo character—assuming it to be an effort to avoid offending conservative audiences or to align with broader market expectations.

퀴어 영화를 퀴어 영화라고 말하지도 못하고 도리어 헤테로 로맨스 영화로 보이게끔 낚시질하는 2024년 대한민국 차암 대단하다👏👏👏(사실 안대단함) https://t.co/XCOEqsPIYR

— 🚬 (@3IMaEOLBBA3) August 12, 2024

Here’s South Korea in 2024, baiting the audience with a trailer that tries highlighting this movie as a heterosexual rom-com when it actually features a queer character… Incredible (not).

— @3IMaEOLBBA3/X

In response to the tweet, Korean moviegoers flocked to online communities where they, too, expressed disappointment at the “prudish marketing.”

• “Is Heung Soo being gay supposed to be some sort of a plot twist? Why are they promoting it like this? So weird, LOL.”
• “So it’s not a romance movie?”
• “Wow, I would not have known it’s a queer film. I thought it was going to be a rom-com.”
• “It’s not a heterosexual rom-com?!”
• “Shocking. From the posters alone, I would have never known.”
• “This won’t work…”
• “I knew the original novel to feature a queer character. After seeing the movie posters focusing on the leads’ faces, though, I thought maybe it wasn’t based on the novel. But it is? This marketing is so misleading and… I’m actually bummed I won’t be getting a rom-com between the leads.”
• “I could’ve sworn this is a rom-com.”
• “So it’s not a movie about the female and male leads falling in love? Then why promote it like this?”
• “What’s going on with this marketing? I almost got tricked into watching this movie when I’m not interested in queer stuff.”