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The Foul King

KIM Jee-woon

Korea2000111min 35mm Color

Synopsis

Have you seen the movie titled 'Looking For Mr. Goodbar'? Did you sympathize with the contradictory character of the teacher who turns into a love-seeking gigolo at night? Why? Why do we see ourselves in this contradictory character of an unlikely combination? Maybe its because of our desire to deny what we are now.Director KIM Jee-Woon brought us his second film The Foul King, an extraordinary work. The leading character, whose nickname is the same as the title, is an ordinary bank teller by day and a wrestler by night. Not just a wrestler, he's the Foul King (an unlikely combination)! KIM hasn't changed his way of dealing with characters that dont go along with the status quo, but has become smarter and more composed while overthrowing the audiences expectation. He (the Foul King) turns down a colleague's begging to accompany him to the bar saying "I'm going wrestling". When we are expecting him to confess his love to the wrestling studios daughter, he suddenly says, "Will you take a body slam?". The directors wit makes a comedy out of a miserable situation. It inspires our nostalgia, and takes us back to the time when we watched black and white TV, when we were watching and cheering the wrestling star KIM Il. The best thing about this movie is the main actor SONG Kang-Ho. He seemed to lose his type cast when he strred in Swiri. But he regained it in The Foul King and gives his full range to show his brilliant talent.For the time being, no other word than actor would be able to describe him, like Margo Channing from All About Eve. By the end of the movie, you may feel like SONG Kang-Ho is going to sneak up to you while walking out of the theater, and say, "Shall we wrestle?"

Diretor

KIM Jee-woon

KIM Jee-woon was born in Seoul, South Korea. He made his debut in 1998 with The Quiet Family. He directed The Foul King (2000), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), A Bittersweet Life (2005), The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (2013), The Age of Shadows (2016), and Illang : The Wolf Bridge (2018). Cobweb was invited to the out of competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival.