The Best Days (2026): Cast, Story and Release Details

Prepared by Movies Dock Editorial

The Best Days follows photographer Yang Seung-woo, whose intimate images of people living on society’s margins grew from years spent alongside them. As he reflects on photography, friendship and loss, the documentary connects his award-winning career with the personal memory that continues to shape his work.

The Best Days is a South Korean documentary centered on photographer Yang Seung-woo and the unusual closeness of his work. For almost three decades, he has photographed homeless people, Yakuza and others whose lives are often overlooked, building his images through sustained contact rather than conventional reporting.

Directed by Kim Byoung-soo, the film also considers the private memory behind Yang’s camera. His career includes becoming the first foreign photographer to receive the Domon Ken Award for documentary photography, while his life in Japan includes working as an okonomiyaki cook on a festival street outside Tokyo.

The Best Days movie details

Story without spoilers

The documentary introduces Yang Seung-woo through the people and communities he has photographed over many years. His pictures are notable for being made from an exceptionally close distance, a result of spending time with his subjects instead of simply observing them as a reporter.

Alongside his photographic career, Yang makes a living cooking okonomiyaki on a festival street on the outskirts of Tokyo. The film also follows the personal significance of his camera: an old friend died without leaving behind a single photograph, and that loss has remained connected to Yang’s relationship with photography.

What to expect

The Best Days is a character-focused documentary about documentary photography, memory and the bonds formed between photographer and subject. Its premise points to a reflective portrait of Yang Seung-woo, combining his long-term work with people who are rarely remembered and details of his everyday life in Japan.

The film’s subject matter includes homelessness, the Yakuza, artistic recognition and personal bereavement. It is presented in Korean and Japanese and has a runtime of 1 hour and 53 minutes.

Cast and creative team

Yang Seung-woo appears as himself. The film is directed by Kim Byoung-soo. No writer is listed in the supplied credits.

• Yang Seung-woo as Self

Release and production context

The Best Days is a 2026 documentary from South Korea, produced by Artizan. It is listed with a release date of October 10, 2026, and a runtime of 1 hour and 53 minutes. The spoken languages are Korean and Japanese. The film is marked as released in the supplied metadata.

Production companies: Artizan

Movies Dock view

With its focus on Yang Seung-woo’s close photographic practice and the personal history attached to it, The Best Days presents a portrait of an artist whose work has developed through time spent with people on the margins. Its documentary subject and bilingual South Korean production context give the film a clear connection between photography, place and remembrance.

Film data:
TMDB