| There's a great Korean proverb that goes, "If there's a creature that crawls, there's a creature that runs. If there's a creature that runs, there's a creature that flies." It means that no matter how good you are, there's somebody better. It's a proverb that nicely applies to the characters that Han Seok Kyu typically portrays. I'm thinking of films like "Shiri," "Tell Me Something," "Comrade," and "Forbidden Quest," among others. His characters are very good at their job, they're cool, they're beautiful, but they always have the misfortune of being up against someone who's at least one step ahead of them. In this case, it's Cha Seung-Won, who's pretty good in the competent, cool, and beautiful department himself; and who's out to "resolve his han" (i.e., get revenge) on Song Yeong-Chang, another trickster, who really deserves it. Song's character finally gets to say his favorite line when an elderly woman begs him to give her financial aid to help save a dying relative, and he says, "If you don't have money, die."
I liked the new texture that Han gives to his portrayal. There's the familiar restrained cop Han under a lot of tension, but there's also the new aspect of the unrestrained cop who howls, squeals, mocks, wisecracks, insults, abuses, intimidates, and is arrogant and excitable. Han slips from the cool into the crazy with ease. It's a nice contrast with the always cool Cha, who's always up to the situation; and who in the end, has to set up his own arrest in order to make it happen.
The film has a wonderful texture: high style, great lighting, rapid scenes (some almost at the speed of thought), hand-held camera shots, multi-split screens, spare but effective dialogue, great music, and Han with never a hair out of place sporting a jacket-coat that he could have borrowed from a very stylish big sister. It's a male-bonding film with homoerotic overtones. The major "female" character in the film is a male transvestite, and the last image that we have of Cha is in a photograph that he sent to Han from his Island retreat, showing his handsome face and his bare manly chest. The photo accompanies a plane ticket and an invitation to Han to join Cha and his buddies in their island paradise. |
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