The director of this film, Kim Tae-yong, is not the husband of Tang Wei who directed Late Autumn. He is the Kim Tae-yong who directed Set Me Free and Misbehavior.
Usually, after graduating from high school, people leave the home they grew up in and their parents as they move to other cities for university or jobs—much like Andy in Toy Story. In the journey of life, one thing we often forget is to count how many meals we have actually eaten that were prepared by our mothers—the so-called "home-cooked meals." If you return to your hometown for holidays like Seollal (Lunar New Year) or Chuseok and sit down with your family for a meal after a long time, you might find yourself doing the math: "How many more times will I be able to eat a meal prepared by my mother?" At this point, it might sound like a public service announcement—reminding you to be filial to your parents while they are still with you as their hair turns whiter each year, or to at least give them a phone call. Director Kim Tae-yong's film Number One, released just in time for the Lunar New Year holidays, is exactly that kind of work. Yes, it is a story about what happens when there is only "one" chance left to eat a mother's home-cooked meal.
In an apartment in Busan, where warm sunlight streams into the living room, high school student Ha-min (Choi Woo-shik) is eating alone when he looks up at the wall and sees a number: '365'. He wonders what it could be. But from that day on, numbers continue to flicker before his eyes—364, 363... 200... 150... No one else can see them. Soon, he discovers a pattern: the number appears whenever he eats a meal prepared by his mother (Jang Hye-jin). Whether it's the breakfast she sets out, the lunch box she packs for a school trip, or the dinner he eats after coming home from school, the number decreases by one with every meal. Ha-min eventually becomes convinced that once that number reaches '0', his mother will die. From then on, he refuses to eat any more meals prepared by her. He even throws away his lunch boxes. He moves to Seoul for university and finds a job there, determined never to eat his mother's cooking again.
Can one truly change a given fate by defying or following a mysterious law visible only to themselves? Ha-min ends up severing ties with his mother just as he planned. While the mother desperately wants to feed her child just one more meal, the son turns away from her selfless, one-sided love.
The film Number One is based on a short story by Japanese author Sora Uwano. The author primarily writes in a light style, including picture books, short essay-like texts, and light novels, capturing the poignancy, lyrical emotions, and the importance of family relationships that seep out of ordinary daily life. His novels have been translated and published in Korea as well. The book includes the original story for this film, titled "The number of times you can eat your mother's home-cooked meal is 328," along with other short stories such as "The number of times you can call yourself is 5," "The number of times you can attend class is 16,213," "The number of times misfortune will visit you is 7," and "The number of days you have left to live is 7,000." One can guess the content and the ultimate message from these titles.
Number One follows the main arc of the original short story. Out of fear that his mother might die, the son rejects the home-cooked meals filled with her love, lives away from home, and finally realizes the true meaning of the numbers, leading him to eat his mother's cooking one last time. Director Kim Tae-yong adds more depth to the short storyline by introducing family history—an older brother who died in a car accident and a father who passed away from stomach cancer—and emphasizes the role of Ha-min’s girlfriend, Ryeo-eun (Gong Seung-yeon), who is a nutritionist by profession. Although the film presents a "surprise show" regarding the secret of the numbers, its ultimate theme is the preciousness of family. Even if it isn't a grand feast or the finest cuisine, children often too hastily kick away the table filled with a mother's love, sincerity, and worry. Between convenience store lunch boxes and fancy restaurant dinners with lovers, the taste of a mother's home-cooked meal might have long been forgotten.
Kim Tae-yong's film asks a simple yet sharp question: Do you know when was the last time you ate your mother's home-cooked meal, and how many more times you can have it? The dining table is just an excuse, and the home-cooked meal is just a reason. The core of it all is the connection between mother and son, parent and child, and the simple act of calling to say hello. Of course, we don't realize how precious it is. We believe the numbers will last forever. Jang Hye-jin and Choi Woo-shik, who played mother and son in Bong Joon-ho's Parasite, once again show their chemistry as mother and son. Director Kim Tae-yong, Jang Hye-jin, and Yoo Jae-myung are all originally from Busan. ★★★ By Jae-hwan Park, Seoul (2026)
