Phantom

Q&A with Lee Hanee

One of South Korea’s biggest hits of 2023, this brilliantly lensed, action-packed spy drama is set in 1933 Korea, during Japanese colonial rule, and features a cast of Korean stars speaking almost entirely in Japanese. After a failed attempt to assassinate the new Japanese resident-general in Seoul, the colonial government rounds up five suspects, each of whom might be the infamous anti-Japanese spy “Phantom.” As the five desperately attempt to prove their innocence (often by implicating one of the others) one suspect is secretly trying to capture the spy himself, to exact revenge on his old nemesis, the security chief. But it’s really the women’s show, and when Lee Hanee and Park So-dam are forced to forge a bond amidst the most hideous of male-afflicted abuse, they prove to be not only highly skilled, but unstoppable.