Korean Film Night
A weekly gathering to watch, discuss, and enjoy Korean films!
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Red Family <붉은 가족> 2013
Directed by: Lee Joo-hyeong / 이주형
Release date: November 2013
To all appearances, they are a
normal Korean family, perhaps more genteel and well-mannered than most,
especially as compared to their loud, presumptuous, and quarreling neighbor
family. Behind closed doors, the four are revealed: they are totally unrelated,
highly trained, assassin-spies from North Korea who have infiltrated South
Korea. But things don’t go as planned: first a close relationship begins to
develop with the family next door, then their missions go awry. Will they be
forced to kill their neighbors? Will their families back in the north be
punished for their mistakes? Will they themselves survive punitive action from
their handlers?
A film that had potential to
be something, but it never figured out what it wanted to be. It tried being a
black comedy, a drama, an action film, a social-commentary film; it just kept flopping
and never getting settled down into any. The filmmakers lacked any clear vision
and seemed to try a little bit of everything; it made the film an oddity to
watch and a disappointment.
My take: No stars
The
commanding “comrade” (Kim Yoo-mi), excoriates her
underlings (Park
So-yeong, Jeong Woo, and Son Byeong-ho)
when she
discovers them indulging in some capitalist chocolate.
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