Based on true events in 1979, director Im Sang-soo’s political satire on the last hours of South Korean President Park Chung-hee is a biting black comedy…
In the last hours of excess for President Park Chung-hee’s leadership, an assassination is being plotted. KCIA Director Kim (Baek Yun-shik, Save the Green Planet!) is consumed by a disgust of his nation and his president’s appetites for young females, excessive drinking and Japanese pop music to the extent that it’s ruining his health.
At the latest alcohol-fuelled banquet at a KCIA safehouse, Kim, his Chief Agent Ju (Han Suk-kyu, Shiri, A Bloody Aria, Eye For An Eye, Tell Me Something) and his most trusted subordinates hatch a plan to kill the president and his closest, and most corrupt, advisers. Of course, there’s no way they can walk away from a deed this significant, is there?
New label Third Window continues to release Asian films that might otherwise get overlooked, and this political satire from director Im Sang-soo is no exception. Sang-soo spares no time depicting a government, overblown on it’s excesses, oblivious to public opinion and utterly corrupt.
Even so long after his passing, it’s not surprising his depiction of the former president was going to be controversial. Portrayed as squalid and repulsive, with no redeeming facets at all, Park’s son Ji-man brought a suit against the film, which ended up requiring a cut for both the national and internationally run theatrical version. Mainly documentary footage, eventually the ruling was overturned and the film shown here is in its complete, unabridged form.
As the assassination attempt unfolds, and things get pretty messy and unpleasant, that darkly played, (dare I say it) almost typically Korean black humour comes to the fore. The ungainly efforts of Kim’s men to subdue the President’s bodyguards, as far from the precision of Hollywood or Hong Kong action as possible, brings to mind many Korean works. Kim Jee-woon’s The Quiet Family, for instance, or Park Chan-wook’s grisly final act to Lady Vengeance are but two of many examples.
It also reminds the feeble attempt of the eponymous assassin in Chen Kaige’s The Emperor and the Assassin, having spent most of the film misleading the audience into thinking that he had some superhuman power.
Comparisons to Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove are fair, but in many respects The Last President’s Bang has much more in common with the more politicised films of the early 70s, Alan J. Pakula’s All The Presidents Men or Robert Altman’s MASH. There’s a futility to the leads actions, a knowing pessimism that their actions can ever truly make a difference. Somehow, through the distance in time the film lacks the resonance it may have had, say, 15 years ago.
Indeed, the original Korean title for the film comes from the song The Person Of Those Days, sung by Shim Su-bong who allegedly sang for the President that night. Though she always denied it, the song has become synonymous with those events. Here the West (and probably even with a younger Korean audience) miss out on much of the context of the film. I wish I knew more about the relevance of these events and the effect they had in South Korea. (Though that distance has no doubt allowed Sang-soo to take more liberties with the events.)
An intelligent, funny and often bloody thriller.
DVD details
Distributor: Third Window Films (UK)
Third Window rather let themselves down somewhat on this release The film is reproduced well, but often you feel that you’re missing out on parts. Like the songs, rarely subtitled you can’t help but think the director wouldn’t have used them unless they were in some way relevant.
Indeed, context here would really bring much to the DVD. A fair-sized interview is included, but even if you forgive the poor sound quality (noted on its introduction) it is still overlong, badly recorded and seriously in need of editing. At the very least, some notes on the history of the time would have added so much more to the release. And considering the quality of the definitive Korean 2-disc release, you might expect Third Window to at least be able to licence more of that content?
Ah well - at least they are releasing it!
