Synopsis
Japan in the near future, where everything, absolutely everything from a behavior of the members of the society to the density of acid rain is detected beforehand and duly coped with. Hide MATZUMOTO is living in this stifling, controlled society but one day, an official message arrives from the national medical center that he is to die in exactly 29 days. Hide turns himself up to the city office in order to do the necessary paperwork and hears that if he accepted GONG instead of death, he could live forever. When he arrives at the office, he finds out that he’s already fired. In desperation, Hide buys a sports car with all his savings and goes ride the highway where not a soul is to be seen. A philosophical fantasy from the director BAE Tae-su, the graduate from the department of drama and cinema of the university of Chungjoo, known for short films such as Vietnam, 1995(1995), Awkward People(1996). After studying at Osaka art college, he’s mainly working in Japan. Neat and stylish black-and-white images show various influences from the masters from Stanley Kubrick to David Lynch and Wim Wenders. It doesn’t matter whether the center concept, Gong, signifies the “gong” ringing in the ring of the life or emptiness, since GONG is really about the alienation of the pathetic modern people and confusion of values. In many ways, this little gem of film reminisces of The Butterfly, the beautiful fantasy film by MOON Seung-wook. (KIM Sang-hoon)