[Once again, thanks to Joshua Chaplinsky to following a review.]
The Foul King
screens Tuesday, March 1, in the retrospective of Kim Jee-woon - BAM Rose cinema severely damaged: Kim Ji-woon film.This ain't no catch Wallace Beery picture, it is certain.
1998 saw the release of debut darkly comic Kim Jee-woon, The quiet Family. Two years later, it came flying high with the coarse Kingtensioner, a nice crowd allowed to trundle along in a luchador mask and a singlet. According to Grady Hendrix, extraordinary co-founder of the New York Asian Film Festival, is the film that broke the Director outside his native Korea. Hendrix knows a thing or twelve on Asian cinema, so I tend to trust when it comes to such things. I personally did not take knowledge of Ji-woon until I saw his crossover of torsion of brain horror tale of two sisters, which resurfaced later as a horrible remake called the uninvited. Although not as flashy as his later work, The King Foul is interesting in that it represents a Director about to hit its creative stride.
the foul king is the story of Dae-Ho, a perpetual counterfeiter cum employee of bank suffers daily indignities in the hands of his boss alpha male. To to harden, Dae-Ho fits with a coach local wrestling, which he turns the terrible coarse King. This alter ego athletic provides Dae-ho with the confidence that it lack in everyday life, him to confront accompanied by street youth and ask pretty out ladies with impunity. Finally he even allows him to confront his boss, abusive, in a hilarious climate post-climax anti-climax.
DAE-Ho is played with kindness without any effort by the future (then) star, Song Kang-ho, in his first leading role. He would go to star in these Korean blockbusters that Joint security area and the host, and a number of future films of Jee-woon. If The King Foul is the film that broke Kim Jee-woon at the international level, it is also the film that broke Song Kang-ho, and the two men have with each other to thank for their mutual success.
For all the honours he received, and taking into account the considerable talents of the people involved, I found The King Foul a bit lacking in the Department of script. I am well aware of the fact that countries outside the United States meet as strictly in a rigid narrative structure, but in a film like that - with high concept, many conflicts and even a true antagonist - I feel that the script could have been stricter. However does not prevent the viewer's enjoyment of Kang-ho, agile comic performance. It is a physically demanding role, and I could swear it was Kang-ho taking most of the assaults in the ring.
The production side, ...King has some very nice choreography, especially in the climate team game. It is less WWE RAW and ballerinas more old school wrestling. There is here a nostalgia which translated well to a Western audience and could explain a large part of the international popularity of the film. As it has already proven with the quiet family, Ji-woon is capable of appealing to moviegoers around the world.
Those only later the familiar with the Director work should not be surprised by Jee-woon comedy roots. Humorous flourishes continue to permeate his recent films, even with their dark subject. More it away from the most simple comedy, becomes more clear with her talent. JI-woon is like a chameleon when it comes to genre, weaving seemingly disparate elements in a fluid everything. Although not the full genus exercise A Tale of two sisters or The Good, The Bad and The Weird , and despite a loose script, The King Foul is able to operate on several levels of stylistic and dramatic.
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