"Housewife Dad" Documentary Film 'The Foul King Monkey' About a Dad Who Stays Home for His Four Children

The Misfit of the 0.8 Birthrate Era: The Special Everyday Life of a Dad and His Four Kids—and a Male Stay-at-Home Parent

A Heavy Topic Thrown at the Super-Low-Birthrate Age, Documentary 'The Foul King Monkey'

In South Korea, where the total fertility rate hovers around 0.8, dual-income work has become a requirement for survival. Amid this harsh reality, there is a household raising four children—where the father, in a move that goes against the grain, declares himself the stay-at-home parent. The documentary film 'The Foul King Monkey' offers an in-depth look at the life of husband 'Mun Hyun-jun' and wife 'Anna', as the couple builds their days by turning the whole village into a playground and living in solidarity with their neighbors.

A Dad Who Calls Himself “The One Who Answers to the Family,” Standing at the Front Line of Parenting

The work unfolds based on the raw, everyday moments that husband 'Mun Hyun-jun' captures himself through the lens. Calling himself “the family’s one who stands by,” he takes responsibility for the entire range—from meal prep to dropping the children off at daycare—handling both housework and all aspects of childcare. His 모습 of cutting his hair short to match his children’s touch, then cooking while holding a newborn to his chest, upends modern society’s fixed notions and asks what the true meaning of family is.

A Family of “Many Kids” Where “Foul” Has Become Socially Typical—A Relentless Struggle Beneath the Surface

Their life seems, through the harsh standards of modern society, as if it were like a 'foul'. Even the film’s title combines this bitter feeling of the times with the husband’s nickname, 'Monkey'. Still, their everyday life isn’t simply ideal. Wife 'Anna', a working mom, battles conflicts between the crisis of a career break and the demands of raising children, while the couple worries intensely about their children’s futures—just like any other parents. By underscoring that their choice isn’t possible only in some uniquely favorable environment, the film draws out the audience’s powerful empathy.

Co-Directed by Hwang Dae-eun and Park Hong-yeol, with Deep Insight into Community

The megaphone was taken by director 'Park Hong-yeol', a well-known cinematographer for having built a reputation working behind the camera for screenwriter-director 'Hwang Dae-eun' and director Hong Sang-soo. As a real-life couple, the two—following their previous work 'I Am a Village After-School Teacher' (2023)—once again present sharp insight that cuts straight to the essence of community, education, and family.

Set to ring a warning bell against the standardized forms of family in modern society, the documentary 'The Foul King Monkey' opens on the 20th. Runtime is 105 minutes, and it is rated for all audiences.