Brief Story Line
Man-su (Lee Byung-hun - Concrete Utopia, Squid Game TV series season 2 & 3 etc) was a manager in paper factory for 25 years and living the dream life with his wife Miri (Son Ye-jin - The Negotiation, Thirty Nine TV series etc) and their two children & two dogs. However it suddenly turned bad when he lost his job.
After months of having difficulties in managing their finances, Man-su decided to go for the only available job. But he had to face stiff competition from people more suitable such as Gu Bum-mo (Lee Sung-min - Handsome Guys, The Queen Who Crowns TV series etc), Go Si-jo (Cha Seung-won - Uprising, Our Blues TV series etc) and the one still working in the company, Choi Seun-chul (Park Hee-son - My Name TV series, The Policeman's Lineage TV series etc). In order to ensure he got the job, Man-su really went to the most extreme.
So what would happen to Man-su and his family? And how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
As I said above, my wife and I were not aware what the story was all about. But being major fan of South Korean movies & series, my wife did not have any hesitation, while I was interested since I read somewhere about the high praise from critics. The film started off with the introduction of Man-su and his family which actually took a long while to really get to the interesting part. During this time, I was quite confused where the movie was heading and where the thrill was cause I read it was classified under thriller comedy. Frankly this part require a bit of patience.
Anyway, once we reach the point where it was clear of Man-su's intention, the film became more exciting. Although it was not fast paced, it was still quite fun watching the actions of Man-su & the complex interaction with his wife and his competitions. The movie was not very thrilling like major thriller kind but I think it's more like a dark comedy. In fact people were saying this as a satire (you could look it up what satire is about, but it should be correct since it was said by experts).
The cast did great job in this movie which was understandable considering it was filled by people who had vast experience in critically acclaimed works. I read that Lee Byung-hun was singled out by critics and the film received several minutes standing ovation when it was shown in Venice International Film Festival. It was also selected as entry for South Korean for 2026 Academy Awards. The director was Park Chan-wook who was famous for Decision to Leave, The Vengeance trilogy, The Handmaiden etc. It was actually the second adaptation of the novel titled The Ax by Donald E. Westlake (previous one was 2005 French-language film titled The Axe directed by Costa-Gravas).
In addition to the names I mentioned, there were appearances of people like Yeom Hye-ran (Wall to Wall, Law and the City TV series etc) as Bum-mo's wife Ara, Yoo Yeon-seok (My Puppy, When the Phone Rings TV series etc) as Miri's boss the dentist Oh Chin-ho, Kim Hyung-mook (Tazza One Eyed Jack, Bon Appetit, Your Majesty TV series etc.) and few others. Their characters were important to the story development. The movie itself has duration of 139 minutes which did not have any mid or post end credit scene.
Overall this was not a commercial kind of movie that my wife and I would normally see. Despite its heavy feel, we were still able to enjoy it up to certain point, even though it was not as enjoyable as those blockbuster kind. It's not that the movie was not good. It's just something that we are not very accustomed to. I believe it's not a film that would please all audience but more for specific people. The person in front of us seemed bored (or did not understand) cause he was playing with his handphone half way through till the end which bothered us. So if you are the kind of audience who love to watch festival films, then you should enjoy this one. However it would be bigger challenge for general audience like me and my wife.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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