jesse o
Essentially, this film, since there's no actual description, sees our protagonist pretending to be from Bhutan since it offers easier, but lower-paying, job opportunities. While he's there, he befriends a group of foreigners that he, obviously, takes a liking to and helps fight back against unfair working conditions or bosses taking advantage of them due to the fact they are illegal immigrants. I'll be completely honest, as much as I enjoy South Korean films, and as much as I believe that black actors have it really hard in getting breaks in American films, or any other forms of media, but there's seriously a gigantic lack of diversity in South Korean films. There's only one other South Korean film, that I've seen, that had any sort of 'in-depth' look at foreigners in South Korea and how they're treated or looked at. I wish I could remember the name because it was actually a really good movie. But that was the only other movie I could think of and that was years ago. This is only the second movie. Seriously. That should tell you about the lack of diversity in these films. Like sometimes you'd see Americans, but they would only appear in a scene or two, there wasn't any sort of focus on them. So it's surprising to see this movie rely so heavily on foreign characters. I'm not gonna say that the films portrays the plight of foreigners with any sort of complexity or insight, I'm certainly surprised that they didn't give in to the more negative stereotypes that, say, an Adam Sandler would stoop to. You know the type of shit he pulls, he makes a lot of racist or homophobic jokes, before he slaps himself in the wrist and says that it's not ok to say these things. It's the same bullshit he's done for years. So I was expecting a bit of that racial humor to be at the heart of the film, but, outside of the lead pretending to be Bhutanese, I was pleasantly surprised to say that the film isn't really like that. I mean the foreigners themselves are portrayed as muppets, but in its own simplistic way, the film also does try to showcase how immigrants have it in South Korea and try to put a spotlight on that on the poor treatment they receive. But it's also not a movie that's tonally depressing, it's actually fairly upbeat all things considered. I wouldn't call this movie good, but it was a movie that I enjoyed watching and it's because of that tone. Of course, there's the more sentimental period parts of the film, and they are pretty sentimental, but it's also, in a way, surprisingly sweet and effective. Like it's something that feels earned because the characters are likable, if not particularly complex. Perhaps what's holding the film back is that it's not as funny as one would've hoped. Like there's some real funny parts, mostly involving the lead's best friend, but he's also not as much a part of the film as I would've hoped. As I mentioned, the characters themselves aren't complex, but that's the lay of the land in these types of films. But I'd still consider it a drawback. I still enjoyed my time with this movie, but there's no denying that it could've definitely been better. This is a crowd-pleaser through and through. And there's nothing wrong with that at all, it just means that they neglected certain aspects of the film that needed working on in order to provide a simplistic story with a satisfying conclusion for a broad audience. Still, I think this is better than the rating implies. This is an enjoyable average movie, I'm sure that makes sense. Wouldn't give it a glowing recommendation, but if you like your Korean movies light in tone, then this is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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