9 Muses of Star Empire

Stefan Drees

A vivid, well made and frustrating potrait of today’s music industry (and not only related to K-Pop): music and performance as calculated product, living persons taken as valuable investment and treated like replacable objects, depressions taken into account.

MATTEO BITTANTI

I was hoping for something illuminating à la The Great Happiness Space - which deals with apparently unrelated yet similar themes, i.e. the commodification of feelings, bodies, and performances- but this documentary is rather superficial and inconclusive. The topic is fascinating but the approach is weak.

anarresti

Quite interesting. But still, isn't the question worth asking about this, more "the documentary, does it reveal, or is it part of the package?". Wouldn't a fan get served a more humane (to use the strange word choice by Sera, in the english translation version) side of the girls, by watching this? Isn't this a very good marketing tool, whatever the intent of the filmaker was? In a youtube and reality show era...

RockFuzzEleven

Horrifying What a movie. I can still feel the shivers in my body from that final demon sacrifice scene. The end credits was stylish but a bit long. 2/5

Lthm2

While embracing the silliness of idol band, it captures korean unique behaviorism. The film is culturally relevant while very simple, mixing PopStar narrative with in-depth observations about professional relationships, and the workplace. Korea is so singular and fascinating, Kim Ki Duk should do a fiction in that vein.

Quattro

A glimpse in the backstage of the unluckiest K-Pop group ever, I guess. People are reduced to images, personalities forced into stereotypes, lives squeezed out to the last tear. Not to mention how Music is treated – that you easily can tell by just listening to the final product. The saddest thing to say, is that the movie shows really nothing you wouldn't expect. I wondered if it's all really worth it. (btw Sera <3)

Alex Khype

Una mirada interesante al mundillo emergente del Kpop. Si bien no inventa el hilo negro, a través de la historia de nueve chicas obsesionadas por alcanzar la fama, el documental deja entrever los alienantes engranajes de la industria musical.

Chloé

Un documentaire éclairant, qui montre en quoi les jeunes femmes sont prisonnières du regard masculin et de la pression de l'industrie musicale, qui va parfois jusqu'à une impression de dictature. Il aurait peut-être été éclairant d'aller voir également ce qui se passe du côté des fans. Un documentaire spécifique s'est-il déjà penché sur le sujet ?