영화는 영화다 A Film is a Film - Rough Cut 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Su-ta (Kang Ji-hwan) is an aggressive, arrogant star who naturally ends up playing violent gangster-like roles. His tendency to throw the occasional punch in real life too probably only bolsters his fame, but when he seriously injures another actor on the set of his new film, controversy erupts and the production is suspended. Strangely enough, none of the other available actors seem willing to fill the now-vacant role of his adversary.

 

Meanwhile, Gang-pae (So Ji-sub) is the real thing. Despite his young age, he has risen to the No. 2 position in an organized crime ring. Effortlessly effective as a fighter, he is often called upon to solve the gang's trickiest problems. In his free time, however, he often sneaks off alone to watch movies (Green Fish seems to be a favorite of his), and when he runs into Su-ta by chance in a room salon, he confesses to a lifelong wish to become an actor.

 

The conversation between Su-ta and Gang-pae (their names are a playful pun on the words "star" and "gangster") is anything but cordial: Su-ta's machismo and Gang-pae's cool mix like oil and water. But, desperate, Su-ta will eventually come back to Gang-pae and ask him to co-star in the film. Gang-pae agrees, but with one condition: instead of simulated blows, they will fight for real in front of the camera.

 

The simulated and the real... acting and real life... Rough Cut (the original Korean title is "A Film is a Film") returns obsessively to question the nature of this dichotomy. Are they two sides of the same coin, or do they each inhabit a completely different universe? Although perhaps not examined in an especially deep way, it makes for a playful intellectual exercise to complement what is, on the whole, a well told and engaging story.

 

Debut director Jang Hoon is one of an increasing number of filmmakers to have apprenticed under Kim Ki-duk (when you make 15 films in 12 years, as Kim has, you produce a lot of alumni). Kim also frontlines four names credited with writing Rough Cut's screenplay. Yet aside from a few plot points, and an obvious Bad Guy reference, this film feels very different structurally and stylistically from anything Kim Ki-duk has ever made. Jang Hoon appears to have some real talent in his own right.

 

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the film is the role of Gang-pae. So Ji-sub, who teamed with Lim Soo-jung in the cult TV drama Sorry, I Love You, is a real star, and this film shows off all of his charm. He looks menacing without ever having to raise his voice, and emotionally vulnerable without ever having to resort to the usual melodramatic tics. Not only that, his slightly unpredictable behavior produces genuine suspense. Kang Ji-hwan is serviceable in the role of Su-ta, though unfortunately Hong Su-hyun contributes nothing more to the blandly written role of the actress Mi-na than a pretty face. But the screenplay, which knows not to take itself too seriously, does provide moments for other supporting players to shine. Director Bong (Goh Chang-seok), charged with the unenviable task of pulling off this film-within-a-film, is a particularly amusing character.

 

As often happens, the progression of the story gets a bit murky three-quarters of the way through, and the film temporarily loses its momentum. I found myself not really caring about the details of the inner gang strife that provides the obligatory complications before the climax. However Rough Cut ends with a punch to the gut, and its final image will linger in the memory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm08.html