Not Coming to a Theater Near You

The President’s Last Bang / Gueddae Geusaramdeul / Korea / 2005

Well, this was fun. The film recreates the 1979 assassination of South Korean President Park Chung-hee. People compare this to Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and I suppose it’s justified, though Im Sang-soo seems more interested in dramatizing the psychology of contemporary corruption than strictly lampooning it. I wasn’t sure how to take the mix. Certainly, Sang-soo has guts. As KCIA Director Kim, Baek Yun-shik Song is impressive and fits well into the scheme, but as cheif agent Ju, Han Suk-kyu is often simply out of control, which is great to watch, but takes away from Sang-soo’s overall vision. In fact, in the supplemental interview Sang-soo complained about Suk-kyu’s wildness. Suk-kyu’s no Mifune (by a long shot) but I think the right project (and director) would do him (and his career) a world of good.

Many scenes are quite funny and others simply don’t fly – due, probably, to my lack of knowledge of the political climate of 1970s South Korea, though ideally this should hardly matter. The narrative doesn’t have the dramatic build-up that the blurbs suggest. There are lapses in between the more dramatic action scenes that have no particular psychological or dramatic import. Especially puzzling are scenes where characters are shot in close-up seemingly for no other reason than to feature their looks or attitudes while mumbling inanities. Some smart editing might have made this wild ride even more fun.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: Kino Video DVD
20 Nov 2006 3:06 PM | Comments (3)

Comments / 3 total / Submit Comment

1. ed / 24 November 2006 / 1:54 PM

   i loved im’s humor in this too. however are you sure you don’t mean baek yun-shik’s wildness? he’s the only who underlines every word of his dialogue with shrill romanticism (see him in Save the Green Planet for a more controlled, less charisma-dependent performance.)

   not sure about comparing han suk-kyu to mifune, since the 2 are completely different in performing style (the former an almost painfully restrained minimalist, the kurosawa alter-ego a barnstorming raw passion closer to method actors so championed by US tastes.)

   im has some axe to grind with han regarding behind-scenes politics, and one should keep in mind why a filmmaker as courageously outspoken in his controversial film, gives wildly different versions about working with an actor prized by the very people funding im’s film.

   most people i’ve talked to thought baek stood out the most, b/c of his volatile, out of control psychosis (the “bring me a gun!” scene, and during torture.) perhaps you thought han was “wild” due to im’s interview comments, and his vocal pyrotechnics in setting tone of black comedy as film’s probable and only point-of-view role?

2. Tyree / 24 November 2006 / 4:49 PM

   Why not compare Mifune with Suk-kyu? I can’t think of too many other Asian actors who could make sitting on the john with nothing to deliver as funny as these two could. Suk-kyu has great comic timing of the physical sort I’m use to seeing in a Mifune performance. I just don’t think Sang-soo was able to capitalise on the range of his talent. But another director, who isn’t intimidated (infact, encouraged) by Suk-kyu’s instincts might bring out far more than what we see in this film.

3. ed / 3 January 2007 / 9:40 PM

   oh you mean baek (surname) yun-shik (first name), he’s the older guy who has liver & constipation problems. han suk-kyu is the younger stooge who chews gum. yes baek’s given free reign in Save the Green Planet, that you probably have seen as it’s popular abroad. in The Big Swindle he’s very Walken-like.