[Interview] "The Great Flood"... Failure Or Success, Keep Trying New Things

Mixed reactions continue to surround the Netflix film "The Great Flood". In terms of performance alone, the results since its release on the 19th have been undeniably strong. According to Netflix on the 23rd, the film ranked No. 1 in the Global Top 10 (Non-English Films). It also topped the charts in 54 countries, including South Korea, Spain, Brazil, Qatar, and Thailand, and entered the Top 10 list in 93 countries overall.

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Domestically, however, the film has also faced a fair share of harsh criticism. Some viewers have taken issue with the genre hybrid of disaster and sci-fi, the lack of user-friendly explanations for its SF concepts, and what they perceive as an overemphasis on motherhood.

When asked about the wide range of reactions during a recent interview at a café in Samcheong-dong, Jongno District, director Kim Byung-woo replied half-jokingly, half-seriously, "I stopped reading comments this summer, so I'm not really sure". (Kim Byung-woo also directed the blockbuster "Omniscient Reader", released last summer, which disappointed some fans of the original work due to changes in certain settings.)

"I think those reactions are understandable. The title is "The Great Flood", so people might wonder why the flood itself only takes up half the film. If there are ten thousand people, there will be ten thousand different opinions".

"The Great Flood" is an SF disaster blockbuster that depicts a desperate struggle inside an apartment complex slowly being submerged, set on the last day on Earth after a catastrophic flood, as people cling to humanity's final hope for survival. It took roughly ten years for the initial idea to finally become a finished film. Saying, "My job is completely done now", Kim Byung-woo appeared visibly relieved, just as he described.

The film begins with the image of a woman holding her newborn baby.

"After my older sister gave birth, I went to her place for a meal. When I saw her holding my newborn nephew at the front door, I almost made a mistake that would've gotten me teased forever. My eyes welled up. (Laughs) I thought, 'What is this? I've never seen her like this before'. At some point, she looked like a mother, and I felt this contradiction and these unfamiliar keywords I couldn't quite process at the time. As time passed, those thoughts gradually settled and took shape".

According to Kim Byung-woo, "The Great Flood" was created by combining those hard-to-explain emotions he felt while watching his sister, along with ideas about the biblical story of Noah's flood and thoughts on evolution.

Some viewers have expressed frustration, calling the character Jae-in (Kwon Eun-seong), the son of An-na (Kim Da-mi), a 'villain', since his constant wandering away from his mother's sight triggers many of the film's events. In response to criticism of this setup, Kim Byung-woo emphasized that it is grounded in reality, saying, "People who have a deep understanding of mothers raising children will relate to this much more".

"If you closely observe a real mother raising a child, you might find yourself thinking, 'How does she do this?' Anyone who spends the entire day, day after day, attached to a child is incredible. Children can be extremely difficult. Every single day is exhausting. Sometimes it feels like they were born just to torment their mothers. In dramas and films, child characters are often used as mere tools, a cute, bunny-like daughter waiting at home, a quick 'aww, how cute', and that's it. But in "The Great Flood", that wasn't possible. We had to show how drained a mother becomes by childcare day after day".

Throughout his career, Kim Byung-woo has presented technically demanding and ambitious genre films such as "Omniscient Reader" (2025), "Take Point" (2018), and "The Terror Live" (2013). Each project posed significant challenges and represented a new attempt. While critical responses varied, one constant was his pursuit of something new.

"I believe we have to do something. I'm not sure exactly what form that should take, but I don't think we can keep doing things the same way as before. That's also connected to the current state of our market. Even in the past, whenever I made something, there were things I wanted to change, and now that feeling is even stronger. A single attempt might end up a failure or a success, but it shouldn't stop there. We have to keep trying different things, continuously. Especially when we feel ourselves shrinking back, that's when it matters most".