Park Seong-gwang's 'Woongnam', harsh one-line review

≪Choi Ji-ye's Cinema Talk≫
TenAsia reporter Choi Ji-ye tells the story of the movie. We analyze every aspect of movies through live on-site reporting and write fun articles with sharp perspectives.

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The movie 'Woongnam' (directed by Park Seong-gwang) is unusual. It entered second place on the first day of release and maintained second place for the third day, achieving the best results among Korean films.

There are extreme views on 'Woongnam'. While Korean films are Mired in extreme slump, a second-place finish is like saying 'a rabbit reigns in a valley without a tiger.' On the other hand, there is also a positive interpretation that the situation is like a 'sweet rain in a drought' and protects the battered pride.

According to the Korean Council's integrated computer network for movie theater admission tickets, 'Woongnam' attracted 27,675 audiences on the first day of its release on the 22nd, 23,244 on the second day on the 23rd, and 25,114 on the third day. The cumulative number of viewers was 79,894. Considering recent trends in theater prices, this is not a bad score for a weekday. Seat occupancy rate and seat sales rate, which can determine the number of actual visitors, are also ranked first.

'Woongnam' is comedian Park Seong-gwang's commercial film debut and attracted attention even before its release. The point of interest was what kind of film Park Seong-gwang, who is attempting commercial films following comedians Shim Hyeong-rae and Lee Kyung-gyu, would make and what the quality of the film would be like. In addition, the actors Park Sung-woong, Lee Yi-kyung, Yeom Hye-ran, Choi Min-soo, Oh Dal-soo, and Yoon Je-moon, all of whom were part of the lineup, added to the anticipation.

However, after the press preview of 'Woongnam', the pen tips of reporters and critics were not friendly. Amidst the generally harsh reviews regarding the movie, one critic's one-line comment, "Did this place look that easy?" became controversial. In addition to the criticism that the evaluation was not a criticism of the work, but a personal attack on Park Seong-gwang, public opinion arose that it was an expression of the consciousness of the chosen people that movies are superior to comedies and actors are superior to comedians.

Rather than confronting him, Park Seong-gwang responded with a humble attitude. Regarding the critic's one-line comment on a radio program, he said, "Anyway, I think I have to admit it," and "I may have some shortcomings, but I try not to lose courage. I am a weak person who needs to work harder and learn more, but the actors made up for the shortcomings. “I will continue to work harder and learn more,” he said.

The controversy that unfolded in this way turned the criticism of 'Woongnam' into interest. The one-line comment served as noise marketing and resulted in a profit. Audiences visited movie theaters to see 'Woongnam', saying, 'I will watch it and judge for myself,' and the analysis of movie officials is that it led to a decent score at the beginning of the release. In addition, thanks to low expectations due to many harsh reviews, the actual audience evaluation of the work is also not bad.

However, since it is still in the early stages of release, there are predictions that it may only attract flashes of interest. While the threshold for watching movies is increasing due to reasons such as 'OTT flood' and 'rising ticket prices', if the work itself does not have great charm or fun, it quickly loses its power and is not chosen by the audience.

We'll have to keep an eye on future trends, but if we look at the early results, it seems like the controversial one-liners were successful marketing efforts for 'Woongnam'. At this time, Park Seong-gwang may be thanking the critic by shouting 'Rather good.'

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr