2007|
102 MIN |
Comedy, DramaDIRECTOR RA Hee-chan
CAST JUNG Jae-young, SON Byong-ho, JOO Jin-mo
RELEASE DATE Oct 18, 2007
CONTACT Film It Suda
Tel : +82 2 744 0414
Fax : +82 2 744 0434
Email :
suda2005@empal.com
In 2007, emanating from the comic hive of
JANG Jin, the former playwright and prolific director, writer and producer who over the years has surrounded himself with talented filmmakers and actors, came the high-concept comedy
Going By The Book. A clever gag that lovingly lampoons popular cinematic genres while also making some timely comments about the power and methods of media and authority in contemporary Korea, the film is a rare Korean comedy able to transcend language barriers.
After experiencing a string of bank robberies, the new captain (
SON Byong-ho) of a police station in a small town decides to stage a special practice drill, where his officers draw roles from a hat to put on a fake robbery. Except for the central role of the robber, he has a particular person in mind: Jung Do-man (
JUNG Jae-young), the taciturn traffic cop who dared write him a ticket on a barren road the day that he rolled into town.
Taking his job ever so seriously, Do-man dutifully stages a robbery at a local bank to the delight of the police captain, until the moment that the media he has invited to record the success of the experiment instead witnesses it spiral out of control when no one can bring the siege to an end.
Endlessly poking fun at the ineptitude of law enforcement and the casual arrogance of people in positions of power, Going by The Book turns the simple gag of a fake bank hostage situation on its head by pushing the real conflict onto the people outside of the bank who have created the situation in the first place.
Much of
Going by The Book’s success comes down to the presence in the lead of JANG stalwart JUNG Jae-young, the droll and stoic leading man whose dry delivery and pitch perfect comic timing have turned films such as 2005’s
Welcome To Dongmakgol and
Castaway on the Moon (2009) into modern classics. Wringing an empathetic and hilarious performance without so much as cracking a smile, JUNG seems to become more effective the more he holds back.
Serving only as writer and producer, JANG cedes the directing reigns to his former assistant director
RA Hee-chan, much like he did with 2005’s
Welcome To Dongmakgol, which was directed by
PARK Kwang-hyun. Admittedly, the film derives its strength from its JANG’s witty script and JUNG’s riotous central performance rather than RA’s merely functional staging, which leads to a few awkward set pieces. But even if it misses a few beats,
Going by The Book has enough heart, ideas, and most importantly, big laughs, to overcome its lack of directorial focus.